Unearthly, by Cynthia Hand

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?


I'm finally starting to get sick of all the teen books where some supernatural sort of creature disguised as a teenager finds his/her true love. Yet, my heart still melts when I read them, and Unearthly did not disappoint despite its similarities to all other books about angels. I know, they all have angels, there are supposed to be commonalities, but they're all so similar that I don't know if I'd be able to differentiate between them. So if I confuse Unearthly with other books in my review, please forgive me.

All angels have a mission they are destined to perform, and Clara's will be to save some gorgeous guy from a forest fire. She knows that because she had visions of it. Yup, not only is she an angel, but she has visions too. (Sorry, I actually liked the book, I just can't help my snarkiness.) So then she and her mom go all stalker and try to find the guy so that when the time comes, Clara will be there to save him. But then, the annoying brother of Clara's new best friend gets in the way. You can guess how. What kind of young adult fantasy would this be if there wasn't a love triangle?

Despite all my complaints, I couldn't put Unearthly down. It had that "oomph" quality that can only be found in some books and cannot be described. (Hence the word "oomph"). I would recommend this book to anyone who wants her heart melted or to anyone who wants a light read. World-changing literature it is not, but nothing will stop me from reading the sequel.

But, seriously, Christian? Really? She had to choose the name Christian in a book about angels? I would be offended if I actually cared about the missionary quality of the book.

5 stars.