Review: Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Title: Unearthly

Author: Cynthia Hand

Published: January 4, 2011 by Harper Teen

Pages: 435/Hardcover
Series: Unearthly #1

Overall: 5 out of 5

Source: My personal library

Challenge: 2011 Debut Author Challenge

Summary: 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.

Review: One of the best things about this book was the fact that going into the book Clara already knows she's part angel. We don't have to read half the book to see her realize what she is. And Clara herself is an amazing character. For most of the book she's training mentally and physically to fulfill her purpose. At first she's not very strong, but she perseveres and that's one of the things that I love about her. Also, at first it seems like she's going into her purpose blind, but she refuses to stay in the dark. When she has questions about something her mom's not always a fountain of information, but she still refuses to let it go. 

This leads me to her friends. I loved how Clara had a normal friend and then an angel friend. It let her experience normal life and also learn more about her angel-blood abilities. I wish we had learned more about Christian but he still seemed well rounded as a character. And Tucker, oh Tucker. If this becomes one of those book series with teams I am going to have to be team Tucker. He's so sweet and just overall adorable. 

The plot itself is very interesting. It puts a new twist on angels and doesn't go with the old cliches. The plot is mainly about Clara finding out what her purpose is, and also about her making friends and her relationships with Christian and Tucker. I was definitely thrown for a loop when her purpose finally came and you find out what the outcome of it was, but I was happy with the ending. It was, to say the least, satisfying. You're left kind of confused like Clara, but not unbearably so, and it makes me very antsy to get my hands on the next in the series. 

Overall this was an AMAZING book. If you haven't read it then you need to...NOW. Plus, look at the cover! It's such a pretty cover!