Hanging By A Thread by Sophie Littlefield

Hanging By A Thread
Author: Sophie Littlefield
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Delacorte
Release Date: 9-11-12
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? – Goodreads

Hanging By A Thread centers around Clare’s ability to read psychic history by touching an item of clothing.  This unique ability, which runs in her family, gives her insight into some disturbing occurrences in the small town that she and her mom just returned to.  There was an interesting sub-plot about family and acceptance in this book and I liked the conflict and interaction that occurred between Clare, her mom and her grandmother.  Clare’s desire for her mom to accept Clare’s gift and her desire to design clothes worked well as an emotional side story.  In that same vein, Clare’s relationship with her best friend, Rachel, was a part of the mystery and a part of Clare’s emotional turmoil about her move and a new high school. 

Hanging By A Thread was a fun, quick read.  It had a good combination of paranormal and good, old fashioned sleuthing.  I wanted a little more from the character development and never really grew attached to anyone, to be honest.  However, I did like the mystery that surrounded the disappearance and the twists and turns the plot took before the answers were revealed.  I found Clare to be smart and creative and while her love interest, Jack, was appealing, I didn’t real feel that I got to know him very well.  The attraction between them was strong, but there wasn’t a lot of development before they were presented as a couple.  Overall, I enjoyed this book, but I wish that it had developed the characters more completely.

This book earned 3 birds:
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I received this book as a galley from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

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Kate

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2 responses to “Hanging By A Thread by Sophie Littlefield

  1. I’d definitely be interested in finding out how the mystery plays out in this book. It sounds especially intriguing, and I love how it’s presented in the summary! Thanks for the review.

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