Book Review: Mark of the Seer by Jenna Kay

I have to say, there's just something about YA supernatural fiction that is hard to go past. You get to immerse yourself in surrealism, step outside the box of every day, and plunge yourself back into the waters of high school. I don't know about everyone else, but I'm thirty and I still love watching those bitchy teen movies, and in particular, burying my face in a good read branded with the cynicism of youth and the daredevil courage of years past.
Mark of the Seer by Jenna Kay puts you right back to those Saturday mornings where you wake up, rub your bleary eyes, swallow the git in your mouth from an all night drinking binge, and rub your head in self pity for the miscreants of youth.
Clarity Miller, just your average teenage girl is the protagonist of this novel. She is likable and easy to relate to as struggles with aspects of her past, namely the loss of her parents, as well as her indiscretions with her predictably wild best friend Kora, her sweet as honey boyfriend, Brenton, and her seemingly absent yet caring Aunt as the caregiver. Sum in total, the story begins with parties, boys, failed relationships, and the mundane task of school attendance. Nothing in these first few chapters is remarkable or particularly entertaining, but what you can see is good character development and clever lead up to later aspects of the plot where this information is deemed essential.
Introducing Sam, the new kid in town with an unbelievable story and heavenly intentions. Invisible to everyone else, poor Clarity begins to question her sanity, only later to discover, she's not crazy - Sam is her guardian angel, this revelation making her feel no more secure in her mission to grapple incessantly with reality.
This is when the story really begins to unfold. Without giving too much away, Clarity is soon marked as a 'seer' - the gift of vision and the ability to interpret dreams and change fate. While Sam is intent on awakening Clarity's spirit and Good Samaritan nature, Clarity just wants to hide from her potential and squander her youth as most of us do - locking lips with boys and swigging a bottle of bourbon on weekends.
What will Clarity choose? And how do the characters intermingle with her fate and the intent of others perhaps more damaged by the past than outward appearance initially perceive?
You'll just have to read Mark of the Seer to find out.
The relationship between the characters are not complex, and dialogue is easy and in keeping with the pace of unfolding events. I gathered the characters were from the South, but I still often found it a little jarring to have the word 'ya' thrown into the dialogue instead of 'you'. I also found the relationship between Sam and Clarity a little confusing at first, their seemingly instant connection difficult to swallow. And, given that we were led to believe the affection was innocent, there was a lot of descriptive element that led the reader to sometimes consider otherwise.
Narration on the whole was quite purposeful, and the last few chapters were intense, but not quite fast-paced or gritty enough to really get my heart rate entering warp speed. Imagery was good and the concept itself had a very 'nice' and comforting feel about it.
I rate this book three out of five stars. It was an enjoyable read.

Synopsis: All Clarity Miller wants is a normal teenage life and everything seems to be going in the right direction until she meets Sam. Sam informs Clarity that he is her guardian angel and she has been given the gifts of a 'seer' but Clarity wants nothing to do with magic or the spirit realm. However, when tragedy strikes her home town, she realises she has a very important decision to make.

Kristy :)