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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
OMG. That was so good, I can't stop grinning. :D review soon.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder
Moderate: Bullying
Minor: Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic friendship
This book was not one I'd normally read, it being about the paranormal world of psychics. I am happy to say I could not put the book down. Usually I watch crime shows, but never read about them because they're boring with all the details and possible suspects. But this book created a character that was involved and had a personal life going on at the same time.
Review originally posted on Heise Reads & Recommends
I had heard so many positive reviews of this book that I was eagerly anticipating reading it, and it didn't let me down. Once I looked at the first page to see how it sounded - I was gone for the next two days reading it every chance I got. "You don't want to kill me," I said. "Of course I don't, Clare. But I have to." And a paragraph later, "...On my right was the crumpled body of a guy I hadn't fully realized the depths of my feelings for until I saw a bullet rip into him." OK - I was hooked - there was no chance I was putting this book down.
Clarity (Clare) Fern is a psychic from a family of psychics, and not the kind you normally think of as the scammers, but the real kind. She, her mother, and her older brother all have different psychic abilities, and they use them to entertain the tourists in their Cape Cod town. I loved Clare - she is full of snark and sass and wit in a Veronica Mars type way - and I totally want to be her friend. She doesn't take any crap from anyone, and is fiercely loyal to her family. She's been hurt, but she still has hope for finding a good guy (and there are a few to go around apparently!) Plus, she's just really likeable the way she's written. This book, and her character, reminded me of other favorite mystery books THE LIAR SOCIETY and DEATH BY BIKINI, all with kick butt, tell-it-like-it-is girls who are smart, but vulnerable and whose mysteries are sometimes usurped by their teen relationships with family and boys.
The secondary cast of characters in this book was fun, as many small town novels tend to be, and I enjoyed seeing Clarity struggle with the boys she was surrounded with. Although it was a little predicatble in the end (as I did guess earlier on who might be the culprit), it still kept me guessing throughout and I was never quite sure if my guess would turn out to be right or not. The mystery kept me on my toes, and Clare's realtionships kept me turning pages to find out what would happen next.
CLARITY was a fun, light read, even though there were some serious elements with the mystery, the murder, and the people trying to figure everything out, and I would definitely recommend it to students who are looking for a mystery, and even to students who maybe need to be exposed to a mystery book. It's got a great main character, an interesting mystery, and lots of snark and sass and laugh out loud comebacks, with a touch of vulnerability. I also appreciated the underlying story of not judging people before you know them and know the truth, and Clare's battles to stand up for herself and be confident even when others are doubting her.
I'll be eagerly waiting on the sequel, PERCEPTION, coming March 1st, to find out what Clare decides to do and what happens to her next.
I had heard so many positive reviews of this book that I was eagerly anticipating reading it, and it didn't let me down. Once I looked at the first page to see how it sounded - I was gone for the next two days reading it every chance I got. "You don't want to kill me," I said. "Of course I don't, Clare. But I have to." And a paragraph later, "...On my right was the crumpled body of a guy I hadn't fully realized the depths of my feelings for until I saw a bullet rip into him." OK - I was hooked - there was no chance I was putting this book down.
Clarity (Clare) Fern is a psychic from a family of psychics, and not the kind you normally think of as the scammers, but the real kind. She, her mother, and her older brother all have different psychic abilities, and they use them to entertain the tourists in their Cape Cod town. I loved Clare - she is full of snark and sass and wit in a Veronica Mars type way - and I totally want to be her friend. She doesn't take any crap from anyone, and is fiercely loyal to her family. She's been hurt, but she still has hope for finding a good guy (and there are a few to go around apparently!) Plus, she's just really likeable the way she's written. This book, and her character, reminded me of other favorite mystery books THE LIAR SOCIETY and DEATH BY BIKINI, all with kick butt, tell-it-like-it-is girls who are smart, but vulnerable and whose mysteries are sometimes usurped by their teen relationships with family and boys.
The secondary cast of characters in this book was fun, as many small town novels tend to be, and I enjoyed seeing Clarity struggle with the boys she was surrounded with. Although it was a little predicatble in the end (as I did guess earlier on who might be the culprit), it still kept me guessing throughout and I was never quite sure if my guess would turn out to be right or not. The mystery kept me on my toes, and Clare's realtionships kept me turning pages to find out what would happen next.
CLARITY was a fun, light read, even though there were some serious elements with the mystery, the murder, and the people trying to figure everything out, and I would definitely recommend it to students who are looking for a mystery, and even to students who maybe need to be exposed to a mystery book. It's got a great main character, an interesting mystery, and lots of snark and sass and laugh out loud comebacks, with a touch of vulnerability. I also appreciated the underlying story of not judging people before you know them and know the truth, and Clare's battles to stand up for herself and be confident even when others are doubting her.
I'll be eagerly waiting on the sequel, PERCEPTION, coming March 1st, to find out what Clare decides to do and what happens to her next.
Last night, I was suffering from a bout of insomnia. So I got up to read. Three hours later, I was finished with the book.
Needless to say, I enjoyed the book, and I think the series can only get stronger from here.
Needless to say, I enjoyed the book, and I think the series can only get stronger from here.
Great plot and story line. Not your typical mystery murder novel. Romance, suspicion, endless dead ends and smart ass remarks are all tied into one to make a great plot!
definitely a great read, i absolutely loved it! the whole 'psychic' abilities within Clare's family are so interesting, and all the characters are well-developed, hilarious, adorable, and all around fun! this is definitely one to classify as a funk-breaker; it's quick, easy, entertaining, and let me just say, this 'love triangle' we've got going on is the most believable thing on the face of the planet. finally, i cant decide who i want her to be with...wait, yes i do, but i'm definitely in love with both guys. take it from me, who is so anti-love triangle i could write a whole book on it, it does not in any way detract from the story. gotta love this whole damn thing, i cant wait for the sequel! ;)
Now this is the fluff I've been looking for! And I know it has a murder and everything, but it's still delicious, delicious fluff.
We'll get the bad stuff out of the way first: it was cliched. I guessed who the villain was as soon as they appeared in the book. I even guessed the why of the murder correctly. If you've seen enough cop shows, you'll get it, too. And the love triangle was weak. There's nice-guy ex-boyfriend Justin, who has always accepted Clare for exactly who she is, but whose betrayal Clare can't forgive. And there's bad-boy cop's son Gabriel (comes complete with mysterious tattoo!) who thinks Clare and her family are frauds (they are for realz psychic). Both boys were cookie-cutter and I do not care who she ends up with. Also, I wanted to shake sense into Clare's mom, who acts about sixteen years old most of the book.
BUT none of those complaints matter. Why? Because it was just...fluffy. And not boring. And nothing that was wrong with the book bothered me while I was reading. It's basically like a Meg Cabot book. Sure, it's about as substantial as cotton candy, but who cares? It's so enjoyable while it lasts.
I think my favorite part of the book was Clare being in the family business, which is to be psychic. Mom can read minds, brother can talk to ghosts and Clare can glimpse the past through touching objects. It's a fun twist to the whole I-have-to-work-at-my-parent's-business thing. Giving psychic readings is much cooler than working in your parent's grocery store! But both come with certain obligations and responsibilities and the complicated dynamics of family. Also liked that Clare's brother was the main murder suspect (to the police, not to Clare). It gave Clare more of an incentive to actually solve the murder and again has the family dynamic thing that really gets me in stories (ah, blood loyalties).
This is pretty much the perfect beach read. You can practically smell the ocean from the book (takes place in the summer in an East Coast beach town).
One more thing that's not a knock on the book but that has been bothering me recently that happened to come up in the book: you know how sometimes in movies (and books) bystanders have completely unnatural reactions to actual events and instead act as audience surrogates? Like, at the end of The Proposal the two main characters share The Big Kiss and everyone in the audience is going Awww and inwardly cheering. But, strangely, the other employees who are standing around during The Big Kiss scene form a circle around the couple and start clapping. You know what real people would do if they saw their co-worker and boss making out in the middle of the office? Either start gossiping like mad immediately or give looks of disgusts and silent disdain toward unnecessary PDA in the office. This relates back to Clarity because there's a scene where Clare confronts the resident Mean Girl in the restaurant where Mean Girl works. Mean Girl spit in Clare's drink and after some sniping between them, Clare throws her drink at Mean Girl. The audience, of course, cheers, because we hate Mean Girl. Weirdly, though, cop and cop's son (aforementioned love interest Gabriel), who have never met Clare before and probably only know Mean Girl as their waitress, are all impressed and give her "give 'em hell!" looks. Umm....if a random girl threw a drink at the waitress, I wouldn't know if they were bitter rivals or if random girl was just angry because her food was cold. I'd be a little worried if she came over to my table and started talking to me.
We'll get the bad stuff out of the way first: it was cliched. I guessed who the villain was as soon as they appeared in the book. I even guessed the why of the murder correctly. If you've seen enough cop shows, you'll get it, too. And the love triangle was weak. There's nice-guy ex-boyfriend Justin, who has always accepted Clare for exactly who she is, but whose betrayal Clare can't forgive. And there's bad-boy cop's son Gabriel (comes complete with mysterious tattoo!) who thinks Clare and her family are frauds (they are for realz psychic). Both boys were cookie-cutter and I do not care who she ends up with. Also, I wanted to shake sense into Clare's mom, who acts about sixteen years old most of the book.
BUT none of those complaints matter. Why? Because it was just...fluffy. And not boring. And nothing that was wrong with the book bothered me while I was reading. It's basically like a Meg Cabot book. Sure, it's about as substantial as cotton candy, but who cares? It's so enjoyable while it lasts.
I think my favorite part of the book was Clare being in the family business, which is to be psychic. Mom can read minds, brother can talk to ghosts and Clare can glimpse the past through touching objects. It's a fun twist to the whole I-have-to-work-at-my-parent's-business thing. Giving psychic readings is much cooler than working in your parent's grocery store! But both come with certain obligations and responsibilities and the complicated dynamics of family. Also liked that Clare's brother was the main murder suspect (to the police, not to Clare). It gave Clare more of an incentive to actually solve the murder and again has the family dynamic thing that really gets me in stories (ah, blood loyalties).
This is pretty much the perfect beach read. You can practically smell the ocean from the book (takes place in the summer in an East Coast beach town).
One more thing that's not a knock on the book but that has been bothering me recently that happened to come up in the book: you know how sometimes in movies (and books) bystanders have completely unnatural reactions to actual events and instead act as audience surrogates? Like, at the end of The Proposal the two main characters share The Big Kiss and everyone in the audience is going Awww and inwardly cheering. But, strangely, the other employees who are standing around during The Big Kiss scene form a circle around the couple and start clapping. You know what real people would do if they saw their co-worker and boss making out in the middle of the office? Either start gossiping like mad immediately or give looks of disgusts and silent disdain toward unnecessary PDA in the office. This relates back to Clarity because there's a scene where Clare confronts the resident Mean Girl in the restaurant where Mean Girl works. Mean Girl spit in Clare's drink and after some sniping between them, Clare throws her drink at Mean Girl. The audience, of course, cheers, because we hate Mean Girl. Weirdly, though, cop and cop's son (aforementioned love interest Gabriel), who have never met Clare before and probably only know Mean Girl as their waitress, are all impressed and give her "give 'em hell!" looks. Umm....if a random girl threw a drink at the waitress, I wouldn't know if they were bitter rivals or if random girl was just angry because her food was cold. I'd be a little worried if she came over to my table and started talking to me.