Clara Voyant | Review

Greetings readers!

Let me tell you that one of the best features of this book is the title. When I first saw it at the Penguin Teen Canada social event I went to in May, and read the glorious title, I was 100% ready to read it. I am also just a huge fan of the zodiac signs, so I knew that I really wanted to pick up this book. Lucky for me, the lovely people at PenguinTeen CA hooked me up with a copy!

Clara Voyant by Rachelle Delaney

Publisher: Puffin Canada
Pub Date: May 15th, 2018
Price: $19.99 CAD
ISBN: 9780143198536

A wannabe journalist and reluctant astrologer turns out to be clairvoyant in this charming middle-grade coming-of-age novel; for fans of Rebecca Stead’s novels.

Clara can’t believe her no-nonsense grandmother has just up and moved to Florida, leaving Clara and her mother on their own for the first time. This means her mother can finally “follow her bliss,” which involves moving to a tiny apartment in Kensington Market, working at a herbal remedy shop and trying to develop her so-called mystical powers. Clara tries to make the best of a bad situation by joining the newspaper staff at her new middle school, where she can sharpen her investigative journalistic skills and tell the kind of hard-news stories her grandmother appreciated. But the editor relegates her to boring news stories and worse . . . the horoscopes.

Worse yet, her horoscopes come true, and soon everyone at school is talking about Clara Voyant, the talented fortune-teller. Clara is horrified — horoscopes and clairvoyance aren’t real, she insists, just like her grandmother always told her. But when a mystery unfolds at school, she finds herself in a strange situation: having an opportunity to prove herself as an investigative journalist . . . with the help of her own mystical powers.

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Buy It!

Amazon | Chapters-Indigo | McNally Robinson | Book Depository

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*I was provided a copy by the publisher in exchange for an honest review!*

This book was absolutely positively adorable and I loved every second of it. It was a fast and funny read, and I found the zodiac element very entertaining. Plus, it is set in Canada, specifically Toronto, so stay tuned for an appearance by Patriotic Rendz later on in this review!

What I Liked:

Characters:

Clara: My fellow Cancerian, she was an absolute rock star and I loved her! Clara at the beginning of the book would probably roll her eyes (just a little) at the fact that I called her a Cancerian and say it’s all woo! But she goes through such growth in this book! She learns that its okay to embrace some of your eccentric abilities and that it’s important to pursue every goal you have with all your heart. Clara was intelligent, caring and quite practical throughout the whole book, until her sense of adventure kicks in and she finds herself doing things she might have never imagined doing before! It was all quite fun and I really enjoyed reading about her!

Clara’s mom, Gabby, was quite–how do I put this–special, she really loved all things supernatural, and while I felt that this sometimes blinded her from seeing Clara’s distress, I think she was fun addition to the story!

Each and every character had this spunk that I just loved to read about!

Zodiac fun!:

Clara writes her own original horoscopes for each sign in this book and the way that Delaney made them play out was fantastic! The way in which her fortunes affected different people in Clara’s life was both hilarious and heart warming. Clara’s journey to managing her clairvoyance was exciting and caused a lot of trouble, but it was all in all a perfect element to keep the plot moving forward!

It was all so Punny!

The puns in this book! Can we start by appreciating the title because I am still not over its genius! Trust me there are a lot more puns in this story to be read and laughed at. As an aspiring journalist, Clara goes out of her way to make catchy headlines and whats catchier than a well put pun? But honestly this book was hilarious. I’m usually just a silent laugher when it comes to reading, but this book actually made me giggle.

*Incoming of a red and white dressed blogger*

The Setting:

Hi everyone, this is your new captain speaking, Patriotic Rendz! And I have dropped by to yell about how perfect the setting was for this book!

Other than taking place in the homeland of Rendz, this book takes place in one of–what I might say– the most funkiest and eccentric places in the city. Kensington Market.

Kensington Market in Toronto is a neighbourhood filled with different stores, restaurants and attractions. And it is home to some…very exciting people. It’s the place where you’ll find lots of interesting stores that sell interesting products, similar to how Clara’s mom sells herbs and natural medicines/elixirs. You can find a psychic on basically every corner and it has its fair share of dark alleys.

It was the perfect setting for this book because it contrasted so well with Clara’s personality. Where she wanted the pristine and beautiful sanctuary of High Park (A beautiful park in the city), she instead got the very rundown and outlandish market. (The market is not all bad, but is definitely not where Clara would choose to live!)

What I Disliked:

Not much really. Could it lag here and there, a little. But it was a really short book and it kept me tuned in for the most part so not much for me to complain about!

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Overall, I loved this and clearly Patriotic Rendz has never been more happy about a book set in Canada. It was fun, fast and colourful. There were lots of funny moments and triumphant moments and other moments where I was quite quite taken aback with a wide-eyed expression. All I’ll say is that people really do love their horoscopes!

Rating: 4.5 / 5 stars

Recommend: Absolutely! So much fun!

Let me know what you think! Have you read this? Do you follow your horoscope closely? Have you ever found one that is so YOU!?

Happy reading!

~ Rendz