Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

Hallowed (Unearthly #2) by Cynthia Hand
Release Date: January 1st 2012
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia
Add it: Goodreads
Overall: ♥♥♥♥♥

I went shopping with my Mum the other day, and of course, I went into the bookstore (although I shouldn't be spending money I don't have!) and wasn't planning on getting anything, then I see this lovely gem, in THREE WEEKS early in Australia! I started squealing! Mum asks me what's wrong (probably thinking I saw a cockroach or something), so I show her and then I started jumping up and down squealing whilst the store-manager is busting herself laughing at me! Needless to say, I ended up buying it :D

All I can say is that I wish I could've rated this 6 stars (or 10) on Goodreads.
Cynthia Hand has done it again, this is far better than I expected as the second book in the series, and honestly as soon as I was finished, I wanted to re-read it all over again - this was at 2.00AM mind you!

Cynthia Hand has this beautiful way with words and story telling; If you've read Unearthly and thought that was a fluke, well I'm sorry, but in my opinion you're wrong. Cynthia Hand is an author all aspiring writers (especially YA angel writers) should look up to. Whilst this is an angel book, this book is so incredibly realistic, heart-warming, heart-breaking and incredible, it left me so emotionally strung that I read from page 30-the end in one sitting.

Of course, Clara and Tucker's cuteness personified relationship is as funny and as touching as it was in Unearthly. Their time spent together were so real. Whilst the plot of Hallowed may not be everybody's cup of tea, it was still amazing because it focuses so much on Clara and her relationships with Tucker and Christian (Yay! I personally love both of them - SO not ashamed to say!) and we make huge progress with Clara's mum. The character development in this instalment is as wonderful as it was in Unearthly, except somehow, better. One of my many favourite things about Hand is that she doesn't just introduce a character for the sake of it, they are introduced to help advance the plot - not just to make us "sympathise" for the heroine or to make her look better in comparison (ala, Nora Grey and Vee in Hush Hush). The major and minor characters are all so three-dimensional and lovable characters. Just quietly, I still want to meet Clara in real life. (Shh, I'll seem like a crazy person).

One thing that I was terrified about before reading this was the love triangle rumours I'd been hearing about, my thoughts were sort of like this: "NOOOO Cynthia! You can't do this to us! You can't follow in the footsteps of every crappy YA novel and do the unthinkable!" but IT'S INCREDIBLE.
Award to the best "love triangle" - and I put quotation marks because I don't want Cynthia Hand to have bad cliches associated with her, it's just THAT good - in YA literature goes to Cynthia Hand!
I was Team Tucker in Unearthly although I  had a bit of a thing for Christian, but now my heart is taken by both of them. Christian definitely won over my heart in this, but in saying that, Tucker still has my heart too (oh, the agony!). We see Clara and Christian's friendship bloom and we see Clara making incredibly smart decisions for the wellbeing of others and not just what she wants. Clara is easily the #1 heroine because she is so selfless, she is smart and she has flaws. I love her for it! Clara goes through an incredible amount of pain and the entire time I just wanted to give her a big hug.

This book had me crying, laughing, smiling and worried. I love a book that can make me feel so many things. Whilst some parts may upset some fans of Unearthly, I thought everything was so well-done and necessary.

I award this book with 6 shiny, gold stars and I would like to say, this is up there with Harry Potter as my favourite series ever (and THAT is saying something!)
Thankyou Cynthia Hand for once again delivering such an incredible novel.
I will without a doubt read and buy whatever Hand writes in the future (2013 for Unearthly 3? *sobs*) just because she really deserves everything for writing such an incredible series.

Oh, and we can't forget the poking-fun-at-Twilight lines :)

"This isn't going to become one of those creepy situations where you show up at all hours of the night to watch me sleep, is it? he asks playfully.
"Every moment I'm away from you, I die a little," I say in return.

Before I moved here, I never got the whole love-triangle thing. You know, in movies or romance novels or whatnot, where there’s one chick that all the guys are drooling over, even though you can’t see anything particularly special about her. But oh, no, they both must have her. And she’s like, oh dear, however will I choose? William is so sensitive, he understands me, he swept me off my feet, oh misery, blubber, blubber, but how can I go on living without Rafe and his devil-may-care ways and his dark and only-a-little-abusive love? Upchuck

It's not like I can be with him all the time. I did get so wigged out that I sneaked out to his house a couple of times in the middle of the night to watch over him while he slept, just in case, I don't know, his comic book collection decided to spontaneously combust. This was dumb and admittedly creepy in an Edward Cullen kind of way.