Unearthly

 

Title: Unearthly
Author: Cynthia Hand
Publisher: Harper Teen
Release Date: January 4, 2011 (Today!)
Received From: Net Galley

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Summary:

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?

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Review:

I have not traditionally been a big angel fan. All the angel books I have read were too “unearthly.” This was not the case with Unearthly, Clara was a real girl who happened to be part angel.

I liked that Clara knew that she was an angel because it made the story less “oh look what I can do” and more about her journey. I really liked the variety of characters in this book, and the real way that Clara interacted with them. Especially her relationship with her mom, it was a fresh breath of air to find a character who did not hate her mom 100% of the time, and to find a mom that for the most part was in the story. Even though sometimes she was kind of AWOL.

The one thing that I absolutely loved about this book was the slow growing relationships. During the relationship that was important it was a slow love not just ‘ooh a boy, I love him!” I liked the way it developed and was not just instantaneous as it is in many other books.

The ending was very unexpected, while I did kind of guess at one of the things, many of the twists were completely unexpected. Hopefully there is going to be another book because with that ending it needs one!

This book was beautifully written, and the characters and relationships were relatable. A fabulous Debut!