Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
Release Date: January 4th 2011
Publisher: Harper Teen
Add it: Goodreads
Overall:  ♥♥♥♥♥


Ahhhh. Unearthly is the story of a 16 year old quarter angel named Clara. Every angel or angel blood on Earth has a purpose and they find out hints through visions, daydreams or dreams. Clara begins to have visions of a forest fire and a boy she has to save. Her mum packs up and moves them (Clara and her brother) from California to a place called Wyoming.

This book is everything I could ask for in terms of paranormal romance, in particular angel YA. I for one really enjoyed Fallen (shh) and I managed to not despise Hush Hush, but Unearthly shits all over any other YA angel novel.

I loved so many things about this, it's refreshing and gave me hope that there are authors in the YA/Paranormal genre that don't just stick with the cliches - So far, I've decided Kiersten White and now Cynthia Hand, they are both AWESOME - Once Clara moved to a completely new town for her purpose, she goes to a new school where she actually has to try to fit in and doesn't just attract every second guy for no particular reason. I love how Clara actually struggles. She eventually finds the boy in her vision - Christian - at school, and is drawn to him, however, this is not the kind of instant love that makes you want to projectile vomit.

The characters, oh, how I adored each and every one of them. They were all rounded, they weren't boring, they had personality. It's so refreshing to read about characters that have a personality, and if I could, I would immediately befriend Clara, man I love her, I really felt like I could relate to her certain situations (apart from the whole angel shiz). This is largely due to Ms. Hand's writing. It's beautiful and clever. Unlike other YA authors, all of the character's dialogue is how people would really speak. I found myself relating to Clara because I basically talk and think the way she does most of the time. Throughout the novel, we see that Clara has a close friendship with her mother, but they still have beef everynow and then, which is realistic, and her relationship with her brother is exactly how my bestfriend is with her brother. I love it! Angela and Wendy were awesome. So was Tucker, and Christian and the Black Wing. Ahhh, this book just makes me sigh :) Another thing I loved is that Clara knew she was an angel blood straight away, but didn't necessarily know how to fly or reveal her wings straight away. We learn with her and share her frustrations as she tries to prepare herself for her purpose.

 Now, the twists and turns this book takes! Ohh man it's freaking awesome! I was shocked several times and honestly, I knew something was up with Christian but I never guessed exactly what was up with him, this is awesome. The relationship building in this was brilliant. Clara did not immediately fall at her love interest's feet, wanting to makeout with the ground he walked on, but it was realistic, they were strangers, it wasn't love at first site, they actually FORMED A FRIENDSHIP (*shock, horror*) before declaring their love to one another. This. Was. Amazing. My god, I enjoyed Fallen, and Twilight and all those other YA novels - apart from Hush Hush, that wasn't really my cup of tea - but I always secretly hated the love at first sight crap. 

I don't know a hell of a lot about angel mythology because I haven't had the intense desire to research it yet like I have with other topics, but from what I know and can compare to other angel books, this book was brilliant in regards to it's mythology. It's refreshing to know that some author's do actually do research. I also loved the way Ms. Hand delivered her knowledge of angel mythology, it wasn't shoved down your throat like some other angel books, but it was subtle, like I loved the thing about the sadness and the fallen angels, and I loved how the fallen angels and nephilim were distinguished apart from their wing colour. 

I definitely recommend reading this because damn it's so worth it. I probably don't have to recommend it seeing as I'm probably the last YA reader on the planet to read it, but if you haven't DO IT. My head is swimming with the marvellousness (is that a word?) of this book. 

I WANT THE SEQUEL NOW.