Perception

by Kim Harrington

For paranormal romance fans! Everybody knows about Clarity "Clare" Fern. She's the psychic girl in school, the one see hidden visions from the past. Only, Clare would rather not be a celebrity. Her gift is not a game to her. But then someone starts playing with her head and heart. Messages and gifts from a secret admirer crop up everywhere Clare turns Could they be from Gabriel, the gorgeous boy who gets Clare's pulse racing? Or from Justin, Clare's hopeful ex-boyfriend who'd do anything to win her back? One thing is certain. Clare needs to solve this mystery, and soon. Because the messages are becoming sinister, and a girl in town has suddenly disappeared. Clare needs to see her way to the truth - before it's much too late

• ISBN10: 1407130862
• ISBN13: 9781407130866
• Publish Date: 4 March 2013 (first published 1 April 2012)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 19 September 2015
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Scholastic
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 256
• Language: English

Reviews

[layawaydragon]

I received this from...somewhere but no longer have a record of it, there's no email or notes. :( I unfortunately didn’t realize it was a series and haven’t read the first book, Clarity.

I can’t know for sure, obviously, how different this review would be if I had read the first book. I probably wouldn't have read Perception at all.

Maybe the love triangle resolution wouldn't be so obvious. Maybe the big decision based on a crush/prospective relationship wouldn't be so stupid.

But I don't think it would really help. It'd give background and the character arcs but the important details are included. It's formulaic enough to figure it out without the details.

The Good:
+Obviously others enjoy it.

The Bad & The Other:
-formulaic
-standard tropes
-flat characters
-Claire= special snowflake virgin purity
-couldn’t become engaged,
-bland and felt like I'd read it before (but I hadn't)

Perception follows Claire after helping solve a big case during the summer and suddenly becoming popular. She’s stuck in a love triangle between the new detective’s son and her cheating ex-boyfriend. She’s, of course, a virgin. It’s special and important.



I’m all for people making their own choices but it’s seems overabundant in YA and comes with purity baggage. I also think it’s a cheating way for authors to get around “the problem of sex” and reality.

Personal peeves aside, I couldn’t get involved in the story. It was just a quick couple hours read that I didn’t care for. I felt déjà vu the whole way through.



It’s formulaic with the standard tropes and flat characters. The mystery was anything but mysterious. It's the same old, same old.

Mean popular girls. Boy dichotomy. (Though at least Claire grows at the end.) Mallory is the only other girl that doesn't completely suck (Why?!?!) and she gets shafted almost the entire book. I like Mallory with her take-charge change but feel horrible about how she's used.


If this kind of main character or story you want/like, it’s worth a shot.



There’s another book, Hanging By A Thread by Sophia Littlefield with this same attributes and while I didn’t click because of the fashion, I’d recommend it higher than Perception.

For psychometry and myths, there’s the Mythos Academy series by Jennifer Estep or for another psychic family an overarching legend plot there’s The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater of course.

[Mercy]

3.5/5 stars.

[lizarodz]

Perception is the highly awaited sequel to Kim Harrington’s Clarity (at least highly awaited by me!) Without a doubt I loved Clarity and Perception did not disappoint.


If you haven’t read Clarity, I recommend that you do, although you can probably understand the sequel without it. Clare is a great protagonist, she is funny, witty, brave (even when she is afraid), loving and loyal. She also comes from a psychic family that has different abilities and Clare’s is to be able to see images of the past when she touches an object.


Clare’s family is great; they are very close to each other and really enjoy that. Oh Justin! I don’t know what happened to you in Perception! Can I change teams now? I am officially in team Gabriel now ;) I was disappointed in Justin, he claims to still be in love with Clare (and something I suspected in the previous book, was indeed the truth*hint, hint*), but he doesn’t understands her like Gabriel does. Other characters old and now were well developed and creepy, odious, or ambivalent.


I love the storyline in this book! The plot was so well crafted that I did not guess who the culprit was at all. It seems like trouble is always looking for Clare, is a good thing she is so level headed, right? Kim Harrington’s writing as easy to read, straight forward and well paced. I love the humor that makes an appearance at the most unexpected places, interlaced with the mystery that underlines the plot. I was ecstatic with the ending and I hope we have Clarity #3 soon!


About the cover: I have to say that I liked the cover of Clarity better than this one, for some reason the airy summer feel (and I liked the model better, and for some reason I don’t think Clare has such long hair) worked better for me. In Perception, we have Clare looking over her shoulder in the woods, which is very appropriate for the story.