Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

From Goodreads:

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?

Unearthly is a moving tale of love and fate, and the struggle between following the rules and following your heart.

I'd have to say that, at first I wasn't thrilled with Unearthly. It seemed to start out typically as a girl being fascinated by a boy (for a good reason, but still familiar) and swooning whenever he is around. However, when Clara and Angela become good friends my interest picked up. And although it starts out as the typical YA book, but slowly morphs into an interesting paranormal tale once Angela hits the scene. I am very interested in what happens in the next book. It's not end in a cliffhanger, but just enough is not revealed that it is more than curiosity that makes me want to know the answers to the questions you are left mulling.

Despite what I said above, the romance in this book actually ends up being much more believable than typically presented in a YA book, and it leads to the question of Clara's destiny. As with destiny and visions alike, this is not clear, and with most things in reality, it is never fully answered. However, it didn't seem to frustrate me like I would have guessed. The questions left felt right and if they were answered this early it wouldn't have fit with the whole story.

I do have a huge criticism with Clara's mother. She answers none of her children's questions about being a quarter-angel and what that means. She only asks them to blindly trust. Not even the reasons for the silence are revealed. Characters like this really annoy me. People and especially children learning cannot exist in a vacuum. It leads to destructive behavior since the only other option left to them are those that are willing to answer those questions or experiencing it themselves. This might be the worst scenario since the one answering may not have their best intentions or they may stumble onto the exact problem that the silence was trying to prevent. Now as much problem as I had with this I give total props to Ms. Hand for not forgetting this. We see what problems this can cause and I suspect we will see more in the coming book(s).

I give this book 4 stars. Although I was not thrilled with the beginning, I enjoyed the ending. My favorite quote:

I think he seriously believes that deflowering an angel could mean an eternity in fiery hell.

That one made me snort quite loudly. ;D No I'm not telling who what or where that quote comes from. *evil laugh* (you were waiting for that, weren't you?)

I was given this ebook by netgalley.com and HarperTeen. No compensation was given for my review. The book is scheduled to be published today!