Unearthly by Cynthia Hand review

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 apurpose, 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?

Pitch from goodreads.

I just finished this moments ago, so bare with my rather short review.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. A lot. Which is rather surprising. I always heard that this would be a horrible book (maybe because one friend who didn't like it doesn't like love triangles (yes, there is a love triangle)).

The writing's right up my alley: first person present tense. It was easy for me to slip into it. And the setting, I'm both familiar with: I'm a born-and-raised Californian, been to the San Francisco area, and have been to Jackson, Wyoming, and to the Grand Tetons. But some aspects I liked were the facts that it took place during the winter, the originality of the angel ordeal, how Clara was flawed (which was pointed out), and other things. (Like who she ends up with.)

(Make sure you don't skip to the ending like I do; I kind of regret it. But I'll end up doing it to another book.)

There's also how the characters' react. 90% of the time, I was happy/satisfied with everything. The characters were all real. I actually noticed that there were quirks to the characters. That's some major bonus points in my opinion.

I hated, though, Clara's views on cliques. Yes, people automatically form their cliques, but they aren't always labeled. She labels everyone, thinks about popularity, etc. That part really irked me and makes her feel shallow, because she thinks about how different angels are and their aspects every hundred pages.

But, that's my only complaint. I was absorbed in this book. The past two days, I read over half of the book. Which is surprising for me. I don't have any rants, nor will I rave too much. I recommend it to those who enjoy love triangles, angels, and ... yeah, that's basically it. The book's not too mushy for me to gag, and it isn't too slow. One of the best books I've read this year (which isn't saying much; I haven't read a whole lot this year).

I'd give this five stars.