Throwback Thursday Review: Radiant by Cynthia Hand

Some of you may know that I originally had my own blog, Beauty but a Funny Girl, prior to joining Bookish (now Bookish Lifestyle). I was thinking the other day about all those reviews I left behind when I transferred and thought they should get some love too - no matter how badly written and newbie they come off! So I present to you: Throwback Thursday Reviews! Every once in a while I'll post an old review from Beauty but a Funny Girl, unedited in terms of content, with the exception of any spelling or grammatical mistakes. It's definitely going to be fun and interesting to see how my tastes and writing style have changed over the years!

Series:	Unearthly #2.5
Genre:	Young Adult, Romance, Angels, Paranormal
Publication.Date:	December 4, 2012
Pages:	100 (Kindle)
Published By:	HarperTeen
Website:	Cynthia Hand
	Radiant on Goodreads
My review copy:	Borrowed from the library

Where to get:

From New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Hand comes a riveting original novella (available only as an ebook) set in the world of the Unearthly series.

Clara is desperate to get away—from the memories that haunt her in Wyoming and the visions of a future she isn't ready to face—and spending the summer in Italy with her best friend, Angela, should be the perfect escape. . . .

For as long as she can remember, Angela has been told that love is dangerous, that she must always guard her heart. But when she met a mysterious guy in Italy two years ago she was determined to be with him, no matter the costs. Now she must decide whether she can trust Clara with her secret, or if telling her the truth will risk everything she cares about.

Alternating between Angela and Clara's perspectives, Radiant chronicles the unforgettable summer that will test the bounds of their friendship and change their lives forever.

(Goodreads)

Originally posted March 9, 2013 on Beauty but a Funny Girl

Not. Long. Enough.

While it was a little tricky to be in Angela’s POV (mostly because I’m so used to the “I”s being Clara and not the “she”s), I really liked that we got to see it. It was different seeing things from Angela, because we got to learn more about her as a character. How alone she was not knowing any other angel and learning everything for herself.

And that girl has some secrets. I completely understand where Clara is coming from when she states that Angela expects Clara to share everything, and gets pissed when she doesn’t, but Angela is allowed to keep secrets. Wasn’t her second rule of Angel Club “no secrets?”

Anyway, this story is much more Angela-centered than Clara-centered, which was nice as well. And when we find out whom Angela’s Italian boyfriend is… WHOA! Talk about a dropped bomb. I can see why Clara would be so upset.

But the end, oh goodness. Clara leaves us with an ominous and foreboding line. I turned that page and uttered a sign of frustration when I realized it was the end of the book. Not cool, Cythina. Not cool.

You don’t HAVE to read this book to keep up with the series, but I highly recommend doing so. I have yet to read Boundless, but I feel like knowing this “side story” will be very insightful for the final installment of this series. Besides, it’s 100-pages and I took me about 45 minutes to read it.