Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Unearthly - Cynthia Hand

Synopsis: When Clara Gardner learns she’s part angel, her entire life changes. She now has a purpose, a specific task she was put on this earth to accomplish, except she doesn’t know what it is. Her visions of a raging forest fire and a mysterious boy lead her to a new high school in a new town but provide no clear instruction. 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 the boy in her vision and the boy in her life, 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?


I was a little worried going into this book that the angel thing would start to get old - there have been a lot of angel books this year - but this was so wonderful and so different from other angel books, different from other paranormal books, that my fears went away after the first chapter. Not to mention, this is the closest to an actual angel that anyone has seemed to come - at least the angels in my imagination. This was just one of the things I loved about Unearthly. All the characters were wonderful, vivid, and worth loving. The storyline was great, and despite the synopsis and the visions that predicted the end of the book, I was always pleasantly surprised at the turns the plot would  take. And as far as book boys go, Clara is a lucky, lucky girl/angel.


This was a fresh take because Clara was the paranormal being and the people who became close to her had to figure out who she was. They were in the dark, not her. Generally, it seems that most books spend a lot of time making the protagonist try to figure out what type of paranormals they are dealing with. Clara, instead, has to find a human in a pile of humans, with only clues from her heaven-sent visions. Then try to figure him out. Which, in some ways, is harder than trying to match symptoms to the paranormal creature. 


Plus, you have the girl who's sent to save the boy. WHAT? Yeah, that's right. Girl power. So Clara is sent to save Christian, who's great and all, but then there's Tucker. Both boys are so different, but are so great. I loved them both, although I have to say that if this series doesn't go the way I want it to, I might cry.


Hallowed, the second book in the series is out on January 17th and I will be jumping all over that as soon as I can. I don't know why I waited so long to read Unearthly, but I won't be making that mistake with the second one. And I'm not going to keep reading this series because I'm dying to know where the story is going (although I desperately want to know) I'm going to keep reading because I love all these characters so much and I'm not ready to let them go. I'll follow them anywhere. 

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Unearthly - Cynthia Hand

Synopsis: When Clara Gardner learns she’s part angel, her entire life changes. She now has a purpose, a specific task she was put on this earth to accomplish, except she doesn’t know what it is. Her visions of a raging forest fire and a mysterious boy lead her to a new high school in a new town but provide no clear instruction. 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 the boy in her vision and the boy in her life, 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?


I was a little worried going into this book that the angel thing would start to get old - there have been a lot of angel books this year - but this was so wonderful and so different from other angel books, different from other paranormal books, that my fears went away after the first chapter. Not to mention, this is the closest to an actual angel that anyone has seemed to come - at least the angels in my imagination. This was just one of the things I loved about Unearthly. All the characters were wonderful, vivid, and worth loving. The storyline was great, and despite the synopsis and the visions that predicted the end of the book, I was always pleasantly surprised at the turns the plot would  take. And as far as book boys go, Clara is a lucky, lucky girl/angel.


This was a fresh take because Clara was the paranormal being and the people who became close to her had to figure out who she was. They were in the dark, not her. Generally, it seems that most books spend a lot of time making the protagonist try to figure out what type of paranormals they are dealing with. Clara, instead, has to find a human in a pile of humans, with only clues from her heaven-sent visions. Then try to figure him out. Which, in some ways, is harder than trying to match symptoms to the paranormal creature. 


Plus, you have the girl who's sent to save the boy. WHAT? Yeah, that's right. Girl power. So Clara is sent to save Christian, who's great and all, but then there's Tucker. Both boys are so different, but are so great. I loved them both, although I have to say that if this series doesn't go the way I want it to, I might cry.


Hallowed, the second book in the series is out on January 17th and I will be jumping all over that as soon as I can. I don't know why I waited so long to read Unearthly, but I won't be making that mistake with the second one. And I'm not going to keep reading this series because I'm dying to know where the story is going (although I desperately want to know) I'm going to keep reading because I love all these characters so much and I'm not ready to let them go. I'll follow them anywhere.