Review: Perception by Kim Harrington

PERCEPTION
By: Kim Harrington
Published By: Scholastic Point
Release Date: May 1, 2012
Series: Clarity (#2)
Pages: 288
Genre: Mystery / Paranormal
Reading Level: Young Adult
Source: Publisher
Buy the Book: Amazon

This summary may contain spoilers if you have not read the previous titles in the series. You can find my review of Clarity here.

Goodreads Summary: When you can see things others can't, what do you do when someone's watching you?

Everybody knows about Clarity "Clare" Fern. She's the psychic girl in school, the one who can place her hands on something and see hidden visions from the past.

Only Clare would rather not be a celebrity. She prefers hanging back, observing. 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.



I have been looking forward to Perception since Clarity proved to be such a great read last year. Although Perception doesn't have quite the same angle as Clarity, the story certainly doesn't disappoint.

Perception begins a bit after Clarity ends. Clare has returned to school and is trying to adjust to her newfound popularity. Instead of just bringing new friends, however, this popularity brings something else - a secret admirer who might also have a dangerous edge. As Clare tries to unravel her mystery, her brother struggles with one of his own. A spirit is trying to give him a message, but he doesn't know what it means. Clare wants to use her gifts not only to help determine her secret admirer but also to help police in the case of the missing girl in town, but would using her abilities really help or only put her in more danger? And as if Clare didn't have enough to deal with, there is still the matter of choosing between Gabriel and Justin...

As I began Perception, I was excited to return to Clare's small coastal town brought to life with vibrant descriptions and sometimes quirky but always memorable characters. Clare's life may have changed over the summer in Clarity, but she is still the same sharp-witted girl as before. However, she comes to grow even more over the course of this book. She develops a friendship with Mallory, a girl whom Clare previously overlooked in school. While I appreciated that Clare wasn't on her own in this book as much as the last one, I couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness at the constant reminders that this was Clare's first true experience of female friendship. We also see a different side to Perry in this book; his thread of the story is almost as important as Clare's and certainly one in which I was invested. And as for Gabriel and Justin...it is impossible to truly dislike either of them, despite some of their actions, and the connections that Clare has with both of them are very fully felt.

Like Clarity, Perception is a well-crafted mystery and quite a page-turner. Kim Harrington has once again skillfully woven false trails and surprises throughout the novel despite the inclusion of some obvious (but incorrect) conclusions. I loved how everything came together in the end, even if it the story was over before I was ready to say goodbye.

Perception is a perfect sequel to Clarity and one that still left me wanting more of the world and of these characters. I will look forward to seeing even more from Kim Harrington!