Skip to content
  • Home
  • Review Policy
  • Linktree
  • Contact
  • Menu Item
  • Menu Item
  • Menu Item
  • Menu Item
Westveil Books

Westveil Books

& Other Hobbies

  • Home
  • About
    • Meet Jenna
    • Review Policy
    • Linktree
  • Book Blog
    • Book Reviews
    • TBR
    • Old Posts Archive
  • All Bookish Posts
    • SciFi & Fantasy
    • Horror
    • LGBTQIA+ Books
    • YA Fiction
    • Historical Non-Fiction
    • Misc Fiction
    • Misc Non-Fiction
    • Canadian Authors
  • Everything Else
    • Artsy Things
    • Rainbow Things
    • Other Hobbies
    • Neurodivergence
    • Chit Chat
  • Contact
  • Toggle search form
  • Blood Sworn – 5 Star Book Review Book Reviews
  • Grown – 5 Star Book Review Book Reviews
  • A Shot of Murder – 5 Star Book Review Book Reviews
  • Hex Marks the Spot by Ani Gonzalez – 5 Star Book Review Book Reviews
  • The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson – 5 Star Book Review Book Reviews
  • Double Review! Vampires of the Daemonverse by Cee Bee Book Promos
  • From the Deep by Kateri Stanley – 4 Star Book Review Book Reviews
  • Only a Monster by Vanessa Len – 5 Star Review Book Reviews
  • The Outworlder by Natalie J. Holden – 5 Star Review Book Reviews
  • Book Review: A Tale of Two Princes by Eric Geron Book Reviews
  • Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson – 5 Star Book Review Book Reviews
  • Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson – 4 Star Book Review Book Reviews

The Claires – 4 Star Book Review

Posted on December 4, 2020 By Jenna No Comments on The Claires – 4 Star Book Review
YA Bound Book Tours Button

Welcome to one of the December 4th review stops on the blog tour for The Claires by C. L. Gaber, organized by YA Bound Book Tours. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for promos, guest posts by the author, other reviews, and a giveaway! (More on that at the end of this post.)

Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means there is no additional cost to you if you shop using my links, but I will earn a small percentage in commission. A program-specific disclaimer is at the bottom of this post.

About the Book

The Claires
An Ascenders Novel
by C. L. Gaber

Published 14 January 2020
by Big Picture Media Inc.

Genre: YA Fantasy Romance
Page Count: 321
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

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.

Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK

Excerpt

Claire S, nice to meet you. Genetically, I inherited yellow daffodil hair and sapphire eyes from a mystery source. I did manage to snag my original parental unit Lula’s long, lean frame, hatred of green beans, and the ability to feel the present, past, or future emotional states of others. It’s an awful, awful gift, thank you for that, mother dear.

This is what you will never read on my permanent record in this realm: As previously discussed, I can sense other people’s feelings while experiencing another’s deepest emotions as if they are my own. If you want to get fancy about it, it’s called psychic sensing. I can feel things about people and places, all the while draining myself of every ounce of my own personal energy while I tune in to the other being.

 Clairsentients feel things—every little freaking second—so strongly and profoundly that we’re just-ran-the-marathon mentally exhausted after wandering into a large group of people with all their emotions popping.

 Imagine taking on everyone else’s bad day, sad day, or day of joyous euphoria. It’s enough to make you long for your pillow and a week-long nap. For instance, right now, I’m crying actual tears and nothing remarkable happened to me this morning beyond fighting with my brother over the last of the breakfast cereal.

 Each day, I eat lunch alone or with my sisters if they can manage to ditch their classes and find me. Most days, one of them finds me in mid-panic attack from what I’m absorbing. My hands sweat; my heart races. It’s not easy to make a cold compress out of soggy cafeteria napkins, but I do it.

Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK

My Review

My Rating: 4 Stars
Consider “liking” my review on Goodreads.

I was granted complimentary access to a copy of The Claires by the author through YA Bound Book Tours in exchange for an honest review as part of my participation in the blog tour for this title. Thank you to both C. L. Gaber and YA Bound Book Tours for the opportunity! This has not swayed my opinion. My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

The Claires is a fascinating YA novel about a set of non-identical quadruplets, all named Claire, who are brutally murdered on the 17th birthday and then reborn, rinse and repeat forever. This time they’re determined to figure out why and survive.

Knowing I had already accepted more reviews than I should have for my December scheduled I wasn’t sure if I wanted to sign up for this one, but the premise was so fascinating I just had to! I’m glad I did. This is a very enjoyable read, and so unique! I was also hesitant because this is a companion novel to a longer series (Ascenders) that I haven’t read, but fear not, it stands well on its own and can be read separately without feeling lost.

The book is told from the point of view of the sisters plus Cass, one at a time in rotation, and the girls are distinguished by their middle initials. They’re each their own person, and Gaber has done a fantastic job of giving them each a unique voice. This book is absolutely a villain’s story (well, villains’ stories), and I love it! Be warned, however, that means it’s morally grey at the high points, and incredibly dark when the plot thickens. It’s also an origin story for these villains of the larger series and lets us in on why they were cursed to this morbid sisyphean existence.

Normally I don’t comment on editing in these tours reviews because it’s unclear whether or not the copy I received was the unedited manuscript or a more polished proof, but I’ve seen some reviews from recipients and purchasers of final print copies of the book with similar complaints, so I’ll comment. Tense is inconsistent throughout the book, and not in a way that feel intentional. Factual errors are made, such as attributing The Grapes of Wrath to Fitzgerald.

I was also quite uncomfortable reading the relatioship between Claire V and her (not technically related) brother Cass, who she’d like to get to know in an adult fun-time way, if you catch my drift. Was that needed? Really?

Overall, if you ignore that last complaint, it’s an amazing book and so satisfyingly fast-paced. I would recommend it to mature fans of dark fantasy, YA or otherwise, as long as sibling “desire” wouldn’t be a problem for them. Honestly without that and with another editing pass, it might have been a 5. I’m absolutely interested in digging up the series and reading those books, now!

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 | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Amazon | Goodreads

Giveaway Alert!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means there is no additional cost to you if you shop using my links, but I will earn a small percentage in commission. A program-specific disclaimer is at the bottom of this post.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Book Reviews Tags:4 star review, ascenders, big picture media inc, fantasy, fantasy romance, four star review, romance, the claires, ya, ya bound book tours, ya fantasy, ya fantasy romance, ya romance, young adult

Post navigation

Previous Post: The Fall of Polite [Book Tour Excerpt
Next Post: Strawberry Shifters [Book Tour Excerpt]

Related Posts

  • Yes, These Are Your Grandma’s Romances – 4 Star Book Review Book Reviews
  • Omens – 4 Star Book Review Book Reviews
  • Me and the Monkey by Andy Darby – 4 Star Book Review Book Reviews
  • Author Guest Post with Sunayna Prasad + 4 Book Star Review Author Interviews & Guest Posts
  • Frostborn by Michael Haddad – 4 Star Book Review Book Reviews
  • The Summoner’s Gem – 5 Star Book Review Book Reviews

Comments (0) on “The Claires – 4 Star Book Review”

  1. Bea LaRocca says:
    December 4, 2020 at 8:17 AM

    Thank you for sharing your review and the book and author details. I love the unoque cover and the synopsis and excerpt are intriguing, this sounds like an exciting book and series.

    Loading...
    Reply
  2. Jodie | That Happy Reader says:
    December 4, 2020 at 4:05 PM

    This book sounds like it was a bit of a challenge to both read and review (i.e. the editing situation). I’m glad you could see past these challenges, but it’s sad when what could be a great book has these flaws. Thanks for sharing.

    Loading...
    Reply
  3. WS_BOOKCLUB says:
    December 4, 2020 at 11:10 PM

    Switching tenses bugs me too. Maybe that’ll change in the final release. Here’s hoping!

    Loading...
    Reply
    1. Jenna Rideout says:
      December 5, 2020 at 8:28 PM

      I hope so, too!

      Loading...
      Reply

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

We migrated web hosts and we're still working on restoring images. Thank you for your patience!

Badges

Professional Reader
Reviews Published
80%
50 Book Reviews
NetGalley Beta Tester
Frequently Auto-Approved
Intellifluence Trusted Blogger
  • Archive Feed
  • Author Interviews & Guest Posts
  • Blog
  • Book Promos
  • Book Reviews
  • Book Talk, Tags & YouTube
  • Bookworm Things
  • Chit Chat
  • Featured-Old
  • Horror
  • Main Feed
  • SciFi & Fantasy
  • TBR
  • YA Fiction
  • July 2025
  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Original content © 2021-2025 Westveil Books | Submitted content rights remain with the rights holders.

%d