Sara in Bookland: Blog Tour: The Claires by C.L. Gaber [Review + Giveaway!]

The Claires

An Ascenders Novel

Author: C.L. Gaber

Published: January 14th 2020

Publisher: Big Picture Media Inc.

Number of pages: 321

Format: eBook

Source: Received from author

Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis:

Four beautiful girls. Quadruplets. They are not identical.

But each is named Claire.

Claire V is Clairvoyant—clear seeing with visions of the future.

Claire S is Clairsentient—clear feeling as she embraces another’s pain.

Claire A is Clairaudient—clear hearing to tap into the spirit world.

Claire C is Claircognizant—clear knowing with 100% accuracy.

Born in 1911, they first died together in 1928 at age seventeen. Two months later, they were reborn. And reborn. THE CLAIRES only live to seventeen and then they’re violently murdered. Somewhere in the world, a woman finds out she’s pregnant with quads. The Claires return to a new family as they try to break a curse that guarantees they die young.

It’s current-day Los Angeles, and once again, their seventeenth birthday is looming. Can they save themselves, clean up the streets in the name of penance, and crash their own prom?

The Claires is the first novel spin-off of the best-selling Ascenders Book Saga. Also available in paperback starting on January 14, 2020.

My Review

The synopsis of The Claires had me immediately hooked up: 4 sisters, 4 different superpowers, all four destined to die at 17. I have to admit, that I was expecting a book filled with darkness and a creepy atmosphere, but I certainly couldn't imagine that the author's style was definitely different! The Claires, in fact, is at times hilarious, at times gruesome, with heroines that are more concerned about losing their virginity instead of breaking an everlasting death curse. For those of you who watched it, I got similar vibes to when I followed the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Spellman - that I loved, by the way!

The most interesting thing about this book is that for once, we have protagonists who are definitely evil, even if they try to make penance through all their lives. The author gives us a clear picture of the complexity of these characters, making me at times pity them, but most of the times hate them. The Claires are teens, and as teens they have their desires and their frustrations, but unlike most teens they also have a deep rage and thirst for revenge that they mostly vent on those who don't deserve it. On this matter, I found it super interesting the fact that the author does not only give us the point of view of all four sisters, but also of one of the main victims of their wrath: Cass, or, their brother of "this" lifetime. Cass was possibly my favorite character and I couldn't stand how he was treated by his sisters. If at times you felt compelled to feel pity or compassion for the Claires, Cass' POV made you immediately acquire an objective opinion of these evil creatures. There are times when their human emotions prevail, and it is exactly during those times that your judgement will mostly swing: when they demonstrate to be just girls looking for love, for example, or when they try to hide how attached they actually feel to their parents. The main thing with these protagonists is that you never know how to judge them, and that's what kept me reading till the ending, to see if redemption was actually possible for the Claires. I will just say that the ending was quite satisfying for me and I liked it how the author managed to put an ending to this story withouth leaving out any character introduced during the narration.

Despite the story being good, there were times when I felt really confused about what was going on and there are several things that might have contributed to my confusion. First, I believe that the fact that the Claires are just called with the initial letter of their names can be quite confusing! At times, I couldn't understand who was speaking, especially because not even their classmates or family called the Claires by name! Second, I believe there were too many elements inserted to the story, making it hard to follow at times. Moreover, with so many things happening, I believe that the part of the curse does not get the importance it deserved and I have to admit that all the part regarding the visit to their ancestral home and all the following, magical events are still a little blurred in my memory. Speaking of the magical and paranormal elements in this book, I always felt like I was missing something and I'm sure that reading the Ascendant series might certainly help in better understanding a supernatural world that is not thoroughly explained here.

Overall, I found the Claires to be an entertaining read, with just the right amount of dark humor that makes it stand out from a romance. I won't lie, I am now curious about the Ascendant series, especially because I just found out that I know the protagonist! So, who knows? Maybe I'll go find some clarity and binge into this new series! For now, it's a 3 stars for the Claires.

Rated

About the author:

I’m C.L. Gaber, an author and film journalist for the New York Times Syndicate and Chicago Sun Times. I also co-authored Jex Malone series. Originally from Chicago, I make my home in Nevada with my husband, bonus daughter and two unruly dogs. My husband knows that Ascenders began with me in bathroom half the night writing on tiny notepads because I didn’t want to wake him. When daylight did roll around, I told him, ”Baby, I had the most incredible dream”.

Website: http://ascenderssaga.com/