Clarity by Kim Harrington

Clarity by Kim Harrington
Release Date: March 1, 2011
Publisher: Point 
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 256
 

Summary: When you can see things others can't, where do you look for the truth?

This paranormal murder mystery will have teens reading on the edge of their seats.

Clarity "Clare" Fern sees things. Things no one else can see. Things like stolen kisses and long-buried secrets. All she has to do is touch a certain object, and the visions come to her. It's a gift.

And a curse.

When a teenage girl is found murdered, Clare's ex-boyfriend wants her to help solve the case--but Clare is still furious at the cheating jerk. Then Clare's brother--who has supernatural gifts of his own--becomes the prime suspect, and Clare can no longer look away. Teaming up with Gabriel, the smoldering son of the new detective, Clare must venture into the depths of fear, revenge, and lust in order to track the killer. But will her sight fail her just when she needs it most?

My Thoughts: We are introduced to Clare Fern aka Clarity and her brother Periwinkle Fern aka Perry. They live with their mom. They live in Eastport where they are considered weird or freaks. They each have a special gift and run a shop. Clarity can pick up an object and see things the object has been through, or memories. Perry can see spirits. Their mom can read people's minds. That isn't a good thing for Clarity, since her mom can read what she is thinking easily! Any teenage girl would hate that!

Clarity doesn't really have many friends. She basically hangs out with her brother and his best friend Nate. She did have a boyfriend Justin but he cheated on her with the school mean girl and she still hasn't forgiven him. She usually just does her own thing and has gotten content with being alone.

A murder occurs in Eastport! And they keep piling up quickly!  A new detective and his son Gabriel come to town to investigate the murder. Gabriel doesn't believe in psychics so he's leery when he hears about the town's psychic family. However, he ends up getting teamed up with Justin and they work together with Clarity to find the murderer. All signs lead to Perry since he was with the first murder victim Victoria the night it happened. He's quite the womanizer but he's still a good guy. At least now he hooks up with the out of towners so they know what they are getting into; a one night stand sort of thing. He finds himself as the main suspect in the murder investigation but Clarity just knows her brother is innocent and fights for him all the way.

Gabriel doesn't want to like Clarity but of course he sees himself falling for her and tries to fight it as hard as possible. Than, there is Justin, whose still madly in love with her. Of course she is going to have feelings for both guys as they are so different from one another. Gabriel seems to always be "around" and Justin will drop anything to come to her rescue.

I loved all the characters, I loved the relationships between their family and how close they all were.

Overall: I won't say much else or I'll give everything away. But this book was pretty darn great. I loved the suspense, the murder mystery, their abilities, her relationship with both boys. Harrington knew what she was doing when she came up with this storyline!

Cover: Love it! At first glance, its hard to tell her hair is red. It kind of looks blonde. I love the cover though, its very pretty and she looks mysterious. 

What I'd Give It: