Unearthly

Author: Cynthia Hand

Release Date:   January 4th, 2011

Publisher:  HarperTeen 

Genre(s): YA Paranormal 

Pages:  January 4th, 2011

*1st book of a series*

~SPOILER FREE~

Summary (Goodreads): 

In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees...
Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.

Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.

As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?

Unearthly is a moving tale of love and fate, and the struggle between following the rules and following your heart.

Review:

WOW! This book is SO GOOD!!  Honestly, I went into this book not expecting much.  Angels, fallen angels,, etc are all the rage nowadays, and I’ve read my fair share of REALLY BAD books in this area (*cough* Halo, Hush Hush, I’m looking at you- didn’t even touch Fallen with a ten foot pole).  I was super reluctant to read this book (esp. since it involved a love triangle and the fact that this boy “appears in her dreams”...), but by the insistent recommendations of friends, I caved and began reading.   BEST. DECISION. EVER.  

The plot: So many twists.  Don’t ever assume anything.  The synopsis makes it out to sound like a badly written YA angel novel BUT don’t be fooled! It does have romance (the love triangle is a bit complicated ;) can’t say anything else without spoilers), but there is an overarching plot about her needing to fulfill her purpose.  And the awesome thing is this book balances out the romance and the plot, so the plot isn’t buried under that romance.   The storyline is so good.  SO GOOD.  Can I just say I love how she already knows she has angel blood within her (in the synopsis)? It’s not that I don’t necessarily like the whole discovery and journey of finding out she has angel blood, but it’s refreshing that she KNOWS the basics already (and slowly finds out the details later), and we get to the main stuff faster. And even though I did write off the synopsis for making the book sound bad, that last line is actually true: I wouldn't go as far as to say it's moving (the book was more intense than moving for me), but the definite themes here center around love and fate as well as the struggle between following the rules and following your heart (esp. the latter!).

The romance:  Like I said, it’s complicated ;).  I wasn’t thrilled when starting out because the romance seems like your typical love triangle spiel, but PLOT TWIST.  It’s complicated-but SO GOOD (I think that’s like my theme for this book: SO GOOD ;)). I can't say a hundred percent that I'm loving this love triangle (mainly because of Christian... a little bit more on that below), but I'm getting there. ;) I like how the relationship is slowly developed between him (the main guy of course ;)) and the main character.  THERE IS NO INSTALOVE (omg). Honestly that was one of the biggest things (besides the CONSTANT pining) that I hated about all the other angel books: insta-love.  It was everywhere  -_-. I want to fall in love too, ya-know, and one swoony look from his GORGEOUS face isn’t gonna cut it if his personality is blander than cardboard.  But here, we get to see the chemistry developed between the couple, and it’s sooo sweet!:D  With the other guy... I like how it turned out; seriously thinking about it, I guess this isn’t REALLY a love triangle because she’s sort of forced by her circumstances to like him, but she isn’t really into him- she just has to be? Confusing, I know, but it’s refreshing. ;)

The characters: Clara is unexpectedly HILARIOUS.  She’s spunky, but not in an obnoxious way.  Tucker and Christian are pretty different, and while we got to see a lot of development from Tucker’s side (we go from hair pulling at the playground to some smooching ;) ), Christian is still a bit mysterious.  There’s a LOT more to him than what meets the eye, and I think that’s part of the reason why he’s seems a little bit more underdeveloped as a character in this book. As for her friends, I like Wendy (she’s a sweetie), but Angela is a little too… convenient.  It’s obvious there’s something off about Angela from the start, so I wasn’t super shocked about any of the other developments that happened afterwards. But I say she’s sort of a "convenient" friend because she seems to have a lot of information for someone who has had mainly access to books to find info out. That's a little eh. But otherwise, there's a solid cast of characters here. ;)

Final verdict: A great, refreshing book about angels that won’t disappoint!
(Now off to counting down the days until I can get my hands on Hallowed!:) )

Thanks for reading! :D

Rating: 3.5 out of 5