Review: Unearthly

Title: Unearthly

Author: Cynthia Hand

Date of Publication: January 4, 2011

Formats Available: Hardcover, Paperback, E-Book

Buy This Book: Amazon

Synopsis: 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.

My Review:

I ended up liking Unearthly much more than I thought I would. I've never been a huge fan of angel books but despite having a few bad experiences in the past I was willing to give this one a try. While it wasn't exactly anything earth shattering or memorable it was a quick read and a fun story that left me wanting more. Clara was an interesting heroine and I loved the take Hand took on angels and their purpose.

Unearthly has one of my favorite takes on angels so far, instead of having some huge battle or obligation to take on (yet) Clara has no idea what she's doing. She has visions but she doesn't know what they mean or what her true purpose is in the grand scheme of things. Even though I was a little confused at first it wasn't hard to get caught up on the back story and I really liked learning more about Clara and her abilities. I'm honestly a little jealous of the language one!

Not only was the plot interesting but a cast of ambiguous characters made the story even more fun to read. Clara's mom seems to have all the answers but she never divulges anything and Angela seems to know it all but there is no way of knowing what her true motive is. It's impossible to tell which characters know what and what that information is going to mean to Clara. I loved the way Hand was able to make the reader just as confused and frustrated as Clara was as she searched for answers.

Despite the synopsis making it sound like there is a huge love triangle I was happy to find that the love triangle was pretty minimal. I was a little annoyed with the first half of the novel as Clara fawned over Christian but as soon as Tucker showed up I started to really enjoy this novel. Even though I'm not really into the cowboy/farmer type I liked Tucker much more than Christian, who was a little to stuck-up in a "he-knows-he's-hot" way. Besides I just loved the banter between Clara and Tucker.

Unearthly was a really enjoyable book and I can't wait to continue on in the series. With an interesting take on angels, a fantastic love interest, and plenty of action Unearthly was not a disappointment! For teen fans of paranormal fiction this is a definite winner!

4/5