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September 09, 2012

Review: Hanging by a Thread by Sophie Littlefield - Juhina

Hanging by a Thread
Title: Hanging by a Thread 
Author: Sophie Littlefield
Publication date: September 11, 2012
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Genre(s): Young Adult (Paranormal/Mystery)
Source: NetGalley
Format: Digital ARC
Pages: 288
Summer is the best part of the year in Winston, California, and the Fourth of July is the highlight of the season. But the perfect town Clare remembers has changed, and everyone is praying that this summer will be different from the last two—that this year's Fourth of July festival won't see one of their own vanish without a trace, leaving no leads and no suspects. The media are in a frenzy predicting a third disappearance, but the town depends on tourist dollars, so the residents of Winston are trying desperately to pretend nothing's wrong.

And they're not the only ones hiding something.

Clare, a seamstress who redesigns vintage clothing, has been blessed—or perhaps cursed—with a gift: she can see people's pasts when she touches their clothes. When she stumbles across a denim jacket that once belonged to Amanda Stavros, last year's Fourth of July victim, Clare sees her perfect town begin to come apart at the seams.

In a town where appearance means everything, how deep beneath the surface will Clare dig to uncover a murderer?
Hanging by a thread is a murder mystery novel with a touch of paranormal. We’ve got our main protagonist, Clare, who has recently moved back to her mother’s hometown. Town is an exaggeration; it is more like a cluster of people living within each other’s earshot. Which is why everyone was shocked when a murder occurred in two consecutive years. The whole town is scared, which is why when Clare and her mom moved, the town wasn’t welcoming. This is mainly due to the fact that her family line has been known to be a little too para-normal, with creepy freaky things happening. No outsider knows but when Clare touches someone’s clothes, she can remember the darkest, most wrongful thing the wearer has committed. Convenient for a town that has witnessed two murders right? That’s not what Clare thinks. She just wants to be normal and enjoy designing and sewing her line made form vintage clothes. 
I really enjoyed Clare’s voice. She wasn’t whiny, but life has handed her an unfair hand. She is physically, emotionally, and mentally suffering by getting involved in figuring out who is the murderer, but her guilt would eat her up if she doesn’t. I also really liked the mystery behind it; In all honesty I couldn’t guess who was the murderer until the very end. Also, you get to witness a little of the dark side of every connected character in the novel when Clare touches a piece of their clothes. This definitely added an aura of mystery and distrust for every character; even the one Clare has started to develop a crush on. 
The author’s writing was not complicated at all. You get so sucked into the story and there are no complex words to get in the way of your reading. The build up of the plot and the addition of this paranormal theme to a mystery novel all added up my enjoyment level while reading Hanging by a Thread. I would definitely recommend it to all young adult lovers. You get a bit of contemporary, paranormal, and mystery all in one book you don’t want to miss out on! 

14 comments:

  1. This sounds real neat and I've been putting it off since I was seeing a lot of meh reviews on it but I'm kind of curious to give it a try, now. I love the mix of paranormal and contemp! Great review, chickie!

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  2. I have not heard of this book until now :) Thanks for the awesome review Juhina! I don't really read too many mystery books, but the fact that this has a bit of paranormal to it, makes me want to read it.

    Janina @ Synchronized Reading

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  3. I haven't heard much about this one and haven't read the author yet, but it sounds really good! And I like murder mysteries with a touch of paranormal so this one might be my thing! Awesome review!

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  4. Great review, you have certainly peeked my interest. I will have to have it for sure.. Thank you for stopping by earlier.

    Jenea

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  5. Oh man, I love that cover! Gorgeous. I haven't heard much about HANGING BY A THREAD, but it sounds awesome. I love mysteries with a little bit of paranormal! I really like the sound of Clare--I'm not a fan of whiny protagonists at all, so I'm relieved to hear that she's, uh, normal. :)
    Great review!
    - Lauren

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  6. I haven't read many reviews for this book so it hasn't really been anything I've considered too greatly. I'm starting to really warm to it now! It sounds like my type of read and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Brilliant review! :)

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  7. Oooh your review makes this sound better than the blurb does! I love murder mysteries where you are kept guessing right up until the very end. Awesome review!

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  8. WOW, this one sounds very interesting. A murder mystery with paranormal! VERY EXCITING! I've never heard of this, but I am definitely checking this one out now! I'm glad you enjoyed it! Lovely Review!

    ~ Maida @ Literary Love Affair 

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  9. I actually never herd of this book until now, and I'm glad there's still a good YA mystery out there! Keeping this in mind!

    Thanks Juhina!

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  10. I'm glad you really enjoyed this. I liked it, but I had a hard time with the characters and felt that it was a bit predictable. Still a good mystery though.

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  11. This book looks really interesting. I love that the main character isn't whiny. I can't stand that! I haven't seen too many reviews on this one so I'm intrigued.

    Thanks for the great review Juhina! :)

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  12. Cool review. I've been iffy about this one but glad you liked it.

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  13. I hadn't heard of this before, but it looks awesome and I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'll have to try and get my hands on a copy!

    Steph @ SOOTP

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  14. The main character in this book is going into her Junior year of high school. All of her friends are in high school. Simple plot with some magic thrown in. I would recommend the book to young readers but not adults.

    regards,
    rowena of Dallas IT Support

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