Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

Hallowed by Cynthia Hand
Unearthly #2
Release Date: January 17, 2012 (UK)
Publisher: HarperTeen
Rating: Enjoyable

For months part-angel Clara Gardner trained to face the raging forest fire from her visions and rescue the alluring and mysterious Christian Prescott from the blaze. But nothing could prepare her for the fateful decisions she would be forced to make that day, or the startling revelation that her purpose—the task she was put on earth to accomplish—is not as straightforward as she thought. Now, torn between her increasingly complicated feelings for Christian and her love for her boyfriend, Tucker, Clara struggles to make sense of what she was supposed to do the day of the fire. And, as she is drawn further into the world of part angels and the growing conflict between White Wings and Black Wings, Clara learns of the terrifying new reality that she must face: Someone close to her will die in a matter of months. With her future uncertain, the only thing Clara knows for sure is that the fire was just the beginning. - Goodreads

I absolutely adored Unearthly when I read it towards the end of last year. It was such an unexpected read for me, because I was honestly expecting it to be preachy. Nevertheless, I adored it and I was excited to read Hallowed because Cynthia Hand has a beautiful writing style and I was sure I was going to be dragged in.

While Hallowed didn't completely live up to my expectations, I still enjoyed it. It just didn't have the same feel as Unearthly did, and I was a bit disappointed by the love interests.

I felt that this book focussed a bit too much on the love triangle for me to thoroughly enjoy it. There were some instances where it just wasn't realistic for Clara to be worrying about her love for either boy, and I also wasn't impressed with Christian and his near Edward-esque ways. Tucker wasn't in this book much at all, and he was my favourite in the first book, so as you can imagine I felt really let down.

I did, however, love the focus that was put on the family relationships between Clara and her mum, and her brother. Her dad also made an appearance, which was unexpected and totally awesome.

Like I said, Cynthia Hand has a beautiful writing style, and I was totally sobbing throughout the final four chapters. It really hit a nerve with me, as I had been through a similar situation and I just cried and cried.

There were some twists that I didn't see coming at all. I was expecting something completely different to happen, but the plot went in the opposite direction and I was kind of stunned.

Overall, this is a good book and I adore Cynthia's writing, but I think if there had been more focus on the angel lore and the family, and less on the 'epic-love-we-belong-together-it's-destiny', I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

Unearthly series:

1. Unearthly

2. Hallowed

3. TBD