Novel Review: Unearthly (Unearthly, #1) by Cynthia Hand

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Publisher: HarperTeen

Release Date: 2011

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads 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.

The Cover:

This cover is one of the stereotypical girl-in-pretty-dress ones, but I still think it looks pretty. It doesn't particularly stand out to me, but I think the colors of it work for the book. It does give a nice atmosphere to the book.

Review:

I have heard a surprisingly amount of good things about this series. It had me curious, but it still took me forever to read this; I’ve had it on my shelf for way too long, too.

The writing was nice, pretty and simple, and made the book go by pretty fast. It didn’t keep me glued to the pages, but it was easy to keep reading.

I enjoyed the lore of the angels. Their powers, the way that Clara grows into it. Her mom’s adamancy of keeping everything a secret, and I don’t know how much I believe her claim that it was better that way. It just makes it harder when they find out, I think.

Clara was all right; I didn’t really connect with her, but I definitely didn’t dislike her. I did have a hard time really connecting with all of the characters, though, and I think part of it was that I didn’t get to spend that much time with them. Clara hangs out with her friends often, and enough time with the boys I guess, but it didn’t all add as much depth as I thought it should. Clara’s mention of friends in her old town, for instance, wasn’t believable, because I never saw even one of them, and they were only mentioned (without names) like twice. I also had a hard time believing that Christian was some perfect boy. I saw enough people swooning over him, but he never seemed that great any of the times that Clara talked to him. Plus, since we spent more actual time with Tucker, clearly I’m going to be on his team.

I did like the twist thrown in at the end of the book. Clara’s decision was nice, and I wasn’t really expecting that surprise with Christian. I also feel like something is going to happen with Clara’s brother, and I want to know what it is.

Overall, this was an enjoyable but not amazing book for me. I want to read the next one, but I’m not anticipating picking it up.