Today's Grateful List/31 December 2015

  • Going to get answers no matter what

Friday, June 24, 2011

Not Just Another Angel Story


Unearthly *could* have been just another entry in the rampant paranormal young adult genre...good angels (blah, blah, blah)...bad angels (blah, blah, blah)...impossible love story (yada yada yada). But almost from the get-go, I felt something was different; it felt more, well, real, than in a lot of the books similar in description. Though we know almost immediately that Clara is of angel blood, that she's pretty and fast, etc., we also learn that she's insecure, worried about her "purpose", and feels left out in her new school. Still, she's determined to follow the vision of her purpose and somehow rescue super hunky Christian...though from what or even how, she doesn't have a clue.



For much of the novel, Unearthly follows Clara as she slowly learns more about being of angel blood, though not from her mother (which becomes a source of irritation), and her quest to find out what she's supposed to do. The fact that she ends up with orange hair adds to her ordinariness; the fact that she's often tongue-tied and even a bit clumsy makes her endearing. And yes, I admit I loved that she had good banter with her best friend's brother, and I hoped that somehow, those two would find their way to one another.


While there really aren't major surprises in Unearthly, I found myself quickly turning the pages and reading past my bedtime in order to get through so I could satisfy my curiosity. I really wish I could pinpoint precisely what it is that had me so intrigued about this story; I think it's mostly that Clara, despite her unearthliness, is very real and easy to relate to. It's a thoroughly engaging story that manages to mix the paranormal with the everyday with neither going off the deep end. I'm hooked.
 
~taminator40

No comments: