Review of Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

Title: Hallowed (Unearthly #2)
Author: Cynthia Hand
Published by: HarperCollins Publishers
Pages: 242
Source: Publisher/NetGalley
Format: ebook
Rating: ★★★and 1/2

Summary from Goodreads: 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.

Love triangle are a very popular trend in young adult fiction right now.  Do you love them or do you hate them?  If done right, where it is not obvious the main character should be with one person versus the other or when it feel natural then I love them.  Cynthia Hand did a wonderful job balancing Clara's feeling between the two main guys in her life.  She actually even has a bit in Hallowed where Clara explains that she has always despised love triangles and didn't see how people got themselves in those situations.  I loved the fact that Cynthia Hand sort of poked fun at the whole love triangle bit, when at the same time she was writing one of the more riveting triangles out there.  Major props to her!

Throughout much of the novel Clara was struggling with the issues in her life.  She felt really lost to me in this novel.  I know she doesn't understand much about who she is and what her purpose is, but instead of dwelling on it, I wish she would have been a bit stronger of a person and realized just to take things as they come.  She definitely needed a confidence boaster and I don't think she got that until the end.  She was so focused on her future that she not only neglected her family, but also her friends.

In Unearthly I was a huge Tucker fan.  He's rugged, cute and impossibly sweet...how could you resist that combination?  If I could clone him and keep him for myself I definitely would.  In this novel we get a lot of Tucker, but not as his usual fun loving self.  He's a bit more intense and serious which matches the mood of this novel.  I'm not sure I like Tucker this way.  I want the carefree cowboy fantasy to live on.  Christian on the other hand really grew for me as a character.  I learned more about him and came to respect his brooding silence.

I'm glad that along with Clara we finally learned some more information about Angel-bloods.  There were so many questions that were answered, but also many that were not.  Hopefully in the next book everything will be answered.