Unearthly: an amazing debut novel that you’ll be thinking about long after finishing the last page.
Unearthly is Cynthia Hands debut novel and it’s a real hit. It’s the first book in the ‘Unearthly’ series. And after reading this book, you’ll simply be craving the next one!
Unearthly tells the story of Clara, part-angel, which she found out 2 years ago when she turned 14. In this book she finds her ‘purpose’, something every angel has to fulfill. Clara’s purpose has her and her mom and brother moving to Wyoming to find Christian, the boy in her visions. Her visions include him and a raging forest fire which Clara supposes she has to rescue him from. Christian is her sacred duty, her destiny. But what happens when Clara meets Tucker? He gets under her skin and makes her feel things like nothing before. What will Clara do, follow her heart or fulfill her destiny?
This book is written smoothly in Clara’s POV. Clara is a very likeable character and I loved getting in to her head. I liked the way she reacted to Tucker at first, he wasn’t her favorite person in the world to be honest. I actually couldn’t see anything happening between them, she was so into Christian. But when Christian goes away for spring break and Tuckers sister Wendy, gives Tucker the duty to take care of Clara on her birthday, things seem to take a whole other direction...
Christian was a likeable character, but he somehow sounded like a god in the book. Good looks, smart, nice person to everyone, not too cocky, etc. They don’t really come in such packages in real life, do they? Well, it does makes a lot of sense near the end though, so I can let that one slide.
I really liked, no let’s say loved Tucker. At first I wasn’t really into him, but his character really grew on me. He was just so down to earth and true, what you see is what you get. And I really enjoyed the parts where he was in. I just couldn’t get enough of him. It’s amazing how he deals with everything. And he loves horses *sigh* What more do you wish for? Haha.
I wasn’t too happy with Clara’s mom and Jeffrey, Clara’s brother. It was like her mother was pushing her towards Christian. And I honestly couldn’t understand that. Then again, we didn’t know the entire story of what happens when you don’t fulfill your purpose, so I’m guessing her mom had her reasons.
Jeffrey took quite a lot of risks to fit in at school I think. His behavior was dangerous in terms of exposing the family as ‘special’, which they are trying to avoid at all costs. No human can ever know about them. But then again, he was dragged to Wyoming and had to leave his life and friends behind. As a teenage boy I can understand he wanted to fit in just right somewhere new. Let’s hope that his behavior won’t get them into trouble next time!
Then there is Wendy, Tuckers brother. I guess she was an okay character, but I just didn’t understand why she was so against Clara’s ‘crush’ with Christian. Maybe she knew her brother liked Clara and she was trying to open Clara’s eyes or something. Or protect Clara from getting hurt.
And then there is Angela. Well… you’ll have to read the book to find out more about her, I tell you, it’s worth it! I am very curious about her character though, I hope we see her again in the next books.
It took me some time to pick up this book due to work and education overload. But once I started this book I just couldn’t put it down and had to finish it as soon as I could (which was in like one day). The story had me compelled and the characters were intriguing. I just had to know what was going to happen! I’m very glad I picked up this book and I can’t wait for the next installment!
Unearthly is an amazing teen read and a fantastic debut novel. I would recommend this book to all young adult fantasy readers. Everyone who likes the paranormal and some sweet romance story along the way, will love this book! I sure did.
Thank you HarperTeen and Netgalley.
Cynthia Hand: Unearthly, HarperTeen, hardback 435p., ISBN 0061996165, published January 4th 2011
Carmen Belgium
20 March 2011
