Monday, January 3, 2011

Review: Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Unearthly (Unearthly, #1)
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.

Book Details:
Publisher: HarperCollins (HarperTeen)
Pub. Date: Jan 4, 2011
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 448

My Review:
I simply love Angel books. So when I found out about Cynthia Hand’s debut novel Unearthly I just had to have this book. I can honestly say Cynthia is one of those authors that make such a stellar debut that they make it on the must buy everything from this author list! Cynthia writes in a way that makes you feel like you are there. Literally, no lie, while I was reading I was actually smelling the smells and picturing the world that she was describing. Don’t worry though the descriptions are not boring or painfully redundant.

Instead of mysterious and dangerous fallen angels Cynthia writes about the good Angels. Well there is a dangerous fallen angel in the book but that’s only a minor character. The main character, Clara, is an angel but she is not a full blooded angel. All angels are sent to Earth to fulfill a certain purpose. Clara starts to get visions of what her purpose is. Her visions include a boy and fire.

Clara’s mother soon decides its time to move to a town that is out in the middle of nowhere. It doesn’t take long for Clara to meet the boy in her visions, Christian. Christian is the kind of boy that is too perfect. Even though he has a girlfriend Clara can’t stop thinking about him and what exactly it is she has to do with him in her visions. But is Christian all that he appears to be? To make things worse Clara seems to have a guy out to make her life a pain. That guy whose name is Tucker happens to be her new best friend’s brother. What is Tucker’s problem anyway? Well us girls (and maybe guys who do this) should know what his problem is. I don’t want to spoil anything but as the book progressed I started to love Tucker. He is a really down to earth kind of guy. In my opinion Christian seems more friend material for Clara. Boys aside, Clara made some pretty cool friends one that seemed to know what was best for Clara before Clara even knew what was best for her. This girl would be none other than Tucker’s sister Wendy. The other friend is quite quirky. I hope I’m using the right word to describe her. But I still don’t know whether Clara should trust her or not. Clara’s mother and brother. Well gotta love them. I’m glad Clara has them in her life.

With Unearthly I don’t ever remember being bored. The mystery, characters and the ending was enough to keep me on the edge of my seat until I finished reading.

I don’t know what else to say without giving out a review that is over 600 words. I’ll just say buy this book for Tucker, Clara, the story itself, and for Cynthia Hand because without her this extraordinary book would not exist. Most of all buy it because I’m sure you will fall in love with this book as much as I have. Plus how many YA books have girls as the Angel instead of the guy being an Angel falling for a mortal? Only one other that I can think of. So if you want to read a book that puts a fresh spin on Angels read Unearthly!

5 Stars!

1 comment:

Katie said...

This sounds awesome. It's sitting on my bookshelf, so I better get to read it. Great review, you really made it sound fantastic!