Review : Perception

Posted by Kay on May 6, 2012 12:46 am in 3.5 stars reads | 1 comment

Perception by Kim Harrington
Pages : 275
Genre : YA, Mystery, Paranormal
Series : Clarity, Book 2
My Rating :

What it’s about :

Clare’s life has never been normal: she’s always been the weird psychic girl the other kids wanted nothing to do with.

Things have changed after the events of the last summer though : people who used to whisper behind Clare’s back suddenly make friends with her, and two boys are now trying to win her heart.

Then, secret messages and gifts start to appear on her doorstep, in her locker. As the messages get more and more insisting, Clare feels the danger is real and starts doubting even the people close to her. Can she find her mysterious stalker before it’s too late?

My Thoughts :

Like its predecessor Clarity, Perception was a fun, quick and intriguing read. Clare was still as likable, and I love that she is quite the logical girl with just a touch of snark. She thinks things through and seem to be well aware of her own limitations. Same thing goes for her love interests : while she was having a hard time choosing one, I could relate to the emotions that had her hesitate. I’m grown tired of love triangles over the years, but this one kept things real enough that I actually enjoyed it.

The paranormal aspect of the novel was again very subtle – perhaps even more than in the first novel – leaving more place to the mystery and the characters. The fact that Clare has grown up with her power in the open, perceived as a freak, ironically makes her less of a freak show as a main character. She is such a regular girl, and her powers are almost useless in her situation. She also has a great relationship with her family, even though this, too, comes with a few difficulties.

While I enjoyed the read, I have to say I found the mystery’s solution a lot more obvious this time around. In Clarity, the suspects were numerous and I couldn’t settle on one single ending; I had a handful of suspects I imagined could be the culprit, and though one of them turned out to be guilty one, it was almost pure luck that had me guess it right. In Perception, I had a very strong hunch about one particular suspect. I still enjoyed the book, but it made the ending predictable.

I really liked that Clare had new friends – thought friends isn’t always the word you would use to describe them – and I particularly liked Mallory. She was a tad strange, but her personality felt compatible to Clare’s. She was a great addition and, if there is a third novel in the series (I am still a little unsure about this), I hope we get to see a lot more of her.

I believe fans of Clarity will be pleased with this second story with this sequel to Clarity. While the mystery part was a little disappointing to me, the characters still had a great chemistry, the romance had me guessing and the final scenes had plenty of action. I really hope we get to read more of Clare’s story in a near future!

Series reading order :

1. Clarity
2. Perception