Clarity by Kim Harrington
Clarity
Product Details
Pub. Date: March 2011
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Format: Hardcover , 256pp
Sales Rank: 48,497
Age Range: Young Adult
Lexile: HL580L
ISBN-13: 9780545230506
ISBN: 0545230500
Rating ***
Clarity is about a young girl named Clarity (Clare) who has a special ability. Actually, her whole family has special abilities. Her mom can read people's minds, her brother can talk to the dead, and she can tell what has happened to someone by touching an object they have touched. It's almost like she can live part of their lives while she is grasping something that they held. Living in a tourist town, you would think that these would be excellent abilities to have. It's a family business. The problem is, Clare is consistently made fun of and a new person has come to town who claims to be able to tell the future. This coupled with a murder that happened to a tourist in a local hotel has really taken a chunk out of business.
The only good thing is that a detective has come to town, bringing with him a very yummy boy that happens to be around Clare's age. While the case is being worked, Clare begins to be heavily involved with the police and attempts to help to solve who the murderer is. Someone very close to her becomes one of the top suspects and two more murders turn up. What is a psychic to do?
Overall, this was a very fun book to read. The mystery kept me guessing through about ¾ of the book. Then I was pretty sure what was going to happen. I wish there was a little more description of Clare's visions. She is obviously put into these situations because of those visions, but Harrington seems to rush through her visions instead of describing them as thoroughly as the scenes when Clare is being made fun of. As a reader, I would have liked to see more of what she was going through. Also, I would've liked to have a bit more development between Clare and her family. Why are they so important to her, other than they are her family? Was there something that drew them together so closely? It seems like if I had a mother that could read my mind; I would rather spend my time away from her. These aspects didn't take away from the read; they just would have made it more interesting to me. I like stories where the character is bared to me completely, and Clare was just not really like that. I hope that Harrington writes another story with these characters so I can get to know them better.
Clarity
Product Details
Pub. Date: March 2011
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Format: Hardcover , 256pp
Sales Rank: 48,497
Age Range: Young Adult
Lexile: HL580L
ISBN-13: 9780545230506
ISBN: 0545230500
Rating ***
Clarity is about a young girl named Clarity (Clare) who has a special ability. Actually, her whole family has special abilities. Her mom can read people's minds, her brother can talk to the dead, and she can tell what has happened to someone by touching an object they have touched. It's almost like she can live part of their lives while she is grasping something that they held. Living in a tourist town, you would think that these would be excellent abilities to have. It's a family business. The problem is, Clare is consistently made fun of and a new person has come to town who claims to be able to tell the future. This coupled with a murder that happened to a tourist in a local hotel has really taken a chunk out of business.
The only good thing is that a detective has come to town, bringing with him a very yummy boy that happens to be around Clare's age. While the case is being worked, Clare begins to be heavily involved with the police and attempts to help to solve who the murderer is. Someone very close to her becomes one of the top suspects and two more murders turn up. What is a psychic to do?
Overall, this was a very fun book to read. The mystery kept me guessing through about ¾ of the book. Then I was pretty sure what was going to happen. I wish there was a little more description of Clare's visions. She is obviously put into these situations because of those visions, but Harrington seems to rush through her visions instead of describing them as thoroughly as the scenes when Clare is being made fun of. As a reader, I would have liked to see more of what she was going through. Also, I would've liked to have a bit more development between Clare and her family. Why are they so important to her, other than they are her family? Was there something that drew them together so closely? It seems like if I had a mother that could read my mind; I would rather spend my time away from her. These aspects didn't take away from the read; they just would have made it more interesting to me. I like stories where the character is bared to me completely, and Clare was just not really like that. I hope that Harrington writes another story with these characters so I can get to know them better.
I really enjoyed this book. The characters were well done and cute. The family dynamic is sweet and enjoyable to read and the paranormal part is almost realistic. Loved it. I was rivited to the mystery even though things don't happen all at once, enough happened to keep me turning the pages and worrying about who did what. This starts off with one chapter in present where something bad is going to happen and then goes back a few days so we can see how the character found herself in this mess. Kind of exactly like the Twilight books open. Hmmmm. But the similarities end there. Clare can see events that happened when she touches objects. There is a murder in her sleepy little town and she is pulled in to help find him or her.
The story itself isn't too realistic. The psychic part? No, I was fine with that, but the teenagers running their own psychic Scooby Doo/Veronica Mars squad - not sure that could really happen, but since this is a small little tourist town, I could see how it might. There are two boys which creates a a delicious little love triangle with Clare in the middle. But it isn't annoying, it is squee worthy for a while. I felt like a little fangirl all aflutter. She and her ex still have feelings for eachother and the new swoon worthy detective's son looks like a serious contender. He doesn't believe in psychics though, so they are at odds with eachother for quite some time. Deliciously tense and Clare has to remain sassy and tough for him to respect her. Loved it!
Her family and her powers are on the line unless she can help the police figure out who killed the tourist. Clare tends to look at one person pretty closely and worry that they did it to the detriment of looking at anyone else. Good thing she isn't the police...but she is 16 and doing her best to find the bad guy.
Also, she is fairly mean to the new competition, the psychic down the street and is just as mean to her as people are to Clarity. Bratlet. Though interestingly they are only mean to Clare, her brother is popular enough, but not her. Kinda weird.
The characters are well drawn. I love Clare's family dynamic. Her mom can read minds - I don't know about growing up a with mom who can do that! But it certainly keeps her kids honest, that or really good at thinking about mundane things when they are at home! Perry, her brother can talk to ghosts and Clare reads an object's pschycic residue I guess you could say. It is a quick read, a little over 200 pages and a good time. I was sorely tempted to peak into the back, or the next book even to look for names. But I refrained! So tempting because I was working myself up about certain things. I had a strong idea of who the killer was...it took a while, but then I just figured it had to be him but not why. The reveal was interesting and tense with a bit of some monologuing by the bad guy to wrap things up.
There are loose ends dangling at the end of this story, but there is a second book out there, I saw it at the library and I am going to go pick it up sooner rather than later. Even though there were some issues with it, I still really enjoyed the ride! I recommend this for when you want to suspend your disbelief and run around with teen mystery solvers who aren't very good at it yet. :) 3.5 stars.
The story itself isn't too realistic. The psychic part? No, I was fine with that, but the teenagers running their own psychic Scooby Doo/Veronica Mars squad - not sure that could really happen, but since this is a small little tourist town, I could see how it might. There are two boys which creates a a delicious little love triangle with Clare in the middle. But it isn't annoying, it is squee worthy for a while. I felt like a little fangirl all aflutter. She and her ex still have feelings for eachother and the new swoon worthy detective's son looks like a serious contender. He doesn't believe in psychics though, so they are at odds with eachother for quite some time. Deliciously tense and Clare has to remain sassy and tough for him to respect her. Loved it!
Her family and her powers are on the line unless she can help the police figure out who killed the tourist. Clare tends to look at one person pretty closely and worry that they did it to the detriment of looking at anyone else. Good thing she isn't the police...but she is 16 and doing her best to find the bad guy.
Also, she is fairly mean to the new competition, the psychic down the street and is just as mean to her as people are to Clarity. Bratlet. Though interestingly they are only mean to Clare, her brother is popular enough, but not her. Kinda weird.
The characters are well drawn. I love Clare's family dynamic. Her mom can read minds - I don't know about growing up a with mom who can do that! But it certainly keeps her kids honest, that or really good at thinking about mundane things when they are at home! Perry, her brother can talk to ghosts and Clare reads an object's pschycic residue I guess you could say. It is a quick read, a little over 200 pages and a good time. I was sorely tempted to peak into the back, or the next book even to look for names. But I refrained! So tempting because I was working myself up about certain things. I had a strong idea of who the killer was...it took a while, but then I just figured it had to be him but not why. The reveal was interesting and tense with a bit of some monologuing by the bad guy to wrap things up.
There are loose ends dangling at the end of this story, but there is a second book out there, I saw it at the library and I am going to go pick it up sooner rather than later. Even though there were some issues with it, I still really enjoyed the ride! I recommend this for when you want to suspend your disbelief and run around with teen mystery solvers who aren't very good at it yet. :) 3.5 stars.
