Review: Unearthly by Cynthia Hand (Unearthly #1)

Title: Unearthly
Author: Cynthia Hand
Publication date: May 1st 2011
Publisher: Egmont Books (UK)
Age group: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal -> Angels
Cover rating: 4/5
Content rating: 4.5/5
Buy: Amazon

Description via Goodreads:

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?

My thoughts:
The YA angel trend is not one I have been overly fond of. I forced myself through a lot of angel books before I found one that I enjoyed. That first one was Angelfall by Susan Ee. I can now add Unearthly to that very tiny list of good YA angel books! There's a lot of hype surrounding this series so I was a tiny bit nervous but I need not have worried. I seriously enjoyed it and I'm definitely now a fan of the series!

Unearthly follows Clara, a young girl who knows she is part angel. I thought it was awesome starting out a book where the character already knows about the supernatural! Usually half the book is about them figuring it out. In this book though, Clara has to figure something else out- her purpose. I felt like I was on Clara's journey with her and found myself racing through the book so I could discover all the secrets and what Clara's future held! I loved Clara's character, she's intelligent and brave but not without her flaws.

My favourite character was, without a doubt, Tucker Avery. If I was assigning stars to this book based on him alone, it would be a full five stars! I just adored everything about him. He's so sweet and lovely. Every conversation he had with Clara left me smiling and I was definitely wishing for the two of them to get together... even before Tucker showed his true awesome self! He's probably one of my favourite book boys and the main reason I'm super excited to read the next book.

I would absolutely recommend this one to people looking for a decent angel read. It's beautifully written with intriguing characters and a fascinating plot. It's not cheesy or over the top and Tuck will definitely have you swooning more than once! I'm looking forward to the next book- especially since many people seem to like it even more than this one!