Review: Unearthly (Unearthly #1) by Cynthia Hand

Unearthly (Unearthly #1) by Cynthia Hand

Hardcover, 435 pages
Published January 4th 2011 by HarperTeen
Source: Library

Synopsis from Goodreads:

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 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.

I was very reluctant to read Unearthly, especially after reading so many positive reviews of it. And the blurb/description of this book in no way made me want to read it. I am glad I ignored that and decided to give it a chance. It far exceeded my expectations.

The writing is terrific. Especially for a debut author. At over 400 pages, I was afraid it would have a lot of 'filler' moments, but that wasn't the case at all. The beginning may have started off a little slower than I prefer, but I soon got caught up in the storyline. The rest of the book flowed quite nicely.

Even though there was a love triangle of sorts, there was no insta-love going on (thank goodness). I liked that the characters actually took the time to get to know each other. Their relationship took time to develop, and we get to follow along as they fell in love.

Unearthly is different from a few of the other angel books that I have read recently. Clara actually has a purpose, a reason that she is here on earth. And figuring out that purpose isn't as simple as Clara thought it would be.

There was no real ending to the first book in this series. It wasn't a cliff-hanger either. Just a sort of stopping point. And all of the unanswered questions will make you want to read the next book to find out what is going on.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars