Unearthly by Cynthia Hand (Unearthly #1)

Supernatural romance
Apr 7, 2015
3 min read

Clara and her family aren't exactly normal. Sure, they may look like anyone else, but under the surface, they are far from ordinary. Clara and her family are nephilim, or, as this book calls them, "Angel-bloods". Being an Angel-blood certainly has it's perks. For one thing, there's the supernatural strength, speed, and intelligence. And did I mention that the lucky dogs get wings? Who doesn't want wings? Anyways, it's not all good. One part of being an Angel-blood is havina purpose, something you have to do and start learning about through dreams and visions.

Clara, at age sixteen, is just begining to get glimpses of her purpose though strange visions. Following the clues from her dreams, the family moves to Jackson Hole, a town in Wyoming, to help Clara fulfill her purpose. Far from her childhood home in California, Clara feels out of place. Things start looking up when she meets Christian, the boy her visons say she's going to have to save from an unknown fire. However, as Clara tries to get closer to Christian, she also meets Tucker, who she quickly develops feelings for. Clara then becomes conflicted over the boys: She wants to do her duty and fulfill her purpose, but what if that means choosing one boy over the other?

Clara and her mother both annoy me a little bit as characters. Clara is a bit shy and not at all sure how she's going to fulfill her purpose, which is relatable. Everyone gets nervous about trying something new. However, her voice and the tone of her as a character seems almost childish and gets on my nerves. Her mother is frustrating. She keeps all sort of secrets from Clara, includig the fact that there's a wargoing on between the angels and the fallen. Considering the fact that the fallen are trying to recruit angel-bloods for their army, I would think that's a fact Clara should know about. Instead, Mom keeps it hidden and her mouth is glued shut.

The characters were also not very original. The book had no shortage of stereotypes. Clara's brother, Jeffrey, is the picture of the teenage boy. He loves sports, eats enough food to feed a small country, and doesn't have a ton of personality other than that. Kay, Christian's girlfriend, is the mean girl that I'm getting all too familiar with. As for Christian himself, I'm getting tired of the whole perfect-guy-who-has-everything-falls-for-social-nobody cliché. I wish he was a little more original.

Oh, gosh. With so many angel-falling-in-love-with-human books bouncing around in my head lately, considering very, very few of them were decent, I was more that a little skeptical about reading yet another addition to the genre. While not horrible, I can't say I really enjoyed the book. Overall, the love interests seemed rushed, with Tucker and Clara hating each other one moment and declaring their undying love the next. It doesn't work like that. The characters were bland, and the book sounded like it was written by a freshman. It just had this voice that was almost childish. I got bored waiting for Clara to get up and do something! So much of the book was just her hanging out with her friend and doing nothing. Granted, the idea was a bit creative, but I couldn't enjoy the story. 2.5/5 stars.