Unearthly

Unearthly

by Cynthia Hand

At 14, Clara found out the family secret.  She's an angel.  Well... one-quarter angel on her mother's side.  She's stronger, faster, and just a little bit smarter than the humans who surround her.  She can speak any language.  She can communicate with animals (though birds seem to hate her).  And she's got wings.  Yup!  Honest to goodness wings!

At 16, Clara has her first vision, which reveals her "purpose".  It's her reason for existing.  And it has to do with a forest fire, silver truck, and a very, very cute boy.  Once the location of her vision is known, her family packs up and leaves California to head out to Wyoming so that she can save the boy in time.

At 17, things get very complicated.  She falls in love.  She wasn't supposed to.  She has a mission to complete and he may get in the way.

On top of all this is Clara's knowledge that she lacks knowledge.  She knows some stuff about being angel-born, but it never seems to be enough.  Her mom is keeping secrets from her and those secrets could ruin everything and get in the way of her purpose.

Final thoughts:  The last angel book I read was Hush, Hush, and I was not a huge fan, so diving into this book made me nervous.  However, I was pleasantly surprised.  Clara is as real as she can be for a teenage angel and her struggles seem realistic given the circumstances.  I had a few problems with the romantic lead.  His transformation from semi-jerk to awesome guy seemed to skip a few needed moments in the book, but I liked the relationship overall.

Rating: 4/5