Monday, January 21, 2013

From the Stacks: Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

I've been picking this book up in stores, looking at it, and putting it back down for months and months. So, when I went to the library I decided to pick it up and finally read it. Man, I should have read it a long time ago.



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 though 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 Thoughts:

Based on the summary on the inside flap of the book jacket, I expected the beginning of the story to be Clara actually learning that she's part angel, but no, in reality she's known for a couple years already, so that was a little off-putting, but Clara seemed like an interesting enough character so I kept on reading.

After a number of visions of this mysterious boy and a fire, Clara finally pieces enough together to discover where she'll find this boy, and so her whole family moves from California to Wyoming. There Clara finds that she doesn't fit in as much as she did in Cali, but it is also there that she meets Christian, the boy from her dreams. Okay, yeah, so in the beginning he was just made to seem so perfect and basically all the girls had fantasized about him at one point or another...but I just couldn't help but shake the feeling that there was something more to him, and I did not like him and Clara as a potential couple. Friends, yes, but nothing more than that really.

Enter Tucker...oh, Tuck. His little cowboy outdoorsman adorableness totally won me over. I loved him. Yes, he was a bit of an ass in the beginning, but it really was like that whole grade-school if a boy likes you then he picks on you kind of thing. My love for Tucker developed slowly because the first half of the book really made it seem like the cosmos were trying to force Clara towards Christian, but then the school year ends and over summer break Clara spends more time with Tucker (and so does the reader). He completely and utterly swept me away.

Unearthly totally sets the story up for the rest of the trilogy, with this looming battle between the good angel-bloods like Clara and the fallen Black Wings. I will say that my suspicion about Christian was confirmed towards the end of the book, but I wonder what that revelation will mean for the next book. I'm definitely going to have to pick up Hallowed so I can find out what will happen with Clara and Tucker and Christian and everyone else. And I totally admit that I'm going to hope that everything works out for Clara and Tucker, really, because they were great together. Unearthly earns a 5/5 from me.

Unearthly at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/unearthly-cynthia-hand/1100258620?ean=9780061996160

Unearthly at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Unearthly-Cynthia-Hand/dp/0061996173/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358129630&sr=8-1&keywords=Unearthly

Other Readings:

Wow, just one more book to read for my January posts, and that is Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes, and then I need to finish off the library books I have before they need to be returned. I also managed to pick up Lullaby by Amanda Hocking so I'll be devouring that soon, even though the review post won't be up for several months. And I'm also digging into my picks for February and I look forward to sharing those with all of you.

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