Throwback Thursday Review: Hallowed 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
Genre:	Young Adult, Romance, Angels, Paranormal
Publication.Date:	January 17, 2012
Pages:	403 (hardcover)
Published By:	HarperTeen
Website:	Cynthia Hand
	Hallowed on Goodreads
My review copy:	Borrowed from the library

Where to get:

For months Clara Gardner trained to face the fire from her visions, but she wasn't prepared for the choice she had to make that day. And in the aftermath, she discovered that nothing about being part angel is as straightforward as she thought.

Now, torn between her love for Tucker and her complicated feelings about the roles she and Christian seem destined to play in a world that is both dangerous and beautiful, Clara struggles with a shocking revelation: Someone she loves 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.

In this compelling sequel to Unearthly, Cynthia Hand captures the joy of first love, the anguish of loss, and the confusion of becoming who you are.

(Goodreads)

Originally posted March 6, 2013 on Beauty but a Funny Girl

Oh, the feelings. I am feeling so many different things right now.

Cynthia, how could you do this to me?!

Hallowed starts off with a bang. Somebody Clara knows/cares about is going to die. Super. Chances are there’s nothing she can do about it and it’s only a matter of who and when. I mean, that alone would be enough to keep me reading just to find out the who and the why.

However, Cynthia doesn’t need those gimmicky tricks to keep me interested. There are so many ups and downs through out this novel that I couldn’t put it down, even when I had to. (Fortunately, I’ve mastered the walking-and-reading skill years ago. Now, I’m working on the cooking-and-reading. I’m getting there.)

The plot reveals so much more about the history of Angels – both the real deal and the half-bloods. (It always comes back to Harry Potter, doesn’t it?) We’re talking revelations where I was completely blind-sided and my only response was “whoa.”

We also learn A LOT of what Clara’s mother was keeping from her and Jeffery, along with why she kept these things hidden from them. This is a tough situation because I completely get why Maggie hid these information tidbits, but I also completely understand why Clara and Jeffery are annoyed – for lack of better wording – that she hid them in the first place.

The love triangle gets even more complicated. Tucker or Christian. Christian or Tucker.

I grew to like Christian more in Hallowed than I did in Unearthly. I can see Clara’s attraction to him outside the lines of “We belong together! It’s destiny!” Even though there were times where I thought he overstepped his bounds and got what he deserved (this will make sense once you read), he really proved himself by the end of the novel.

However, I am still Team Tucker. It’s just now of a 60/40 ratio that the 80/20 of Unearthly. Tucker is such a good guy that I feel for him. It can’t be easy when your girlfriend is “meant to be” with another guy. He does his best to be strong and understanding of a world he doesn’t fully understand – a world Clara herself doesn’t fully understand either for that matter.

I found Angela and Jeffery to be a tad annoying. Angela is always going on and on about theories – I do love when Maggie informed Angela that she could be really stupid sometimes – and Jeffery is mopping around because of whatever happened in the end of Unearthly. Yes, I get where Angela is coming from. She wants to know more about herself and there’s really nobody providing the answers.

Jeffery… Holy crap. Once we find out what is deal is… Holy crap. Part of me feels bad for him, but the other part of me is like “Why didn’t you say anything earlier?! This whole messy situation would be a lot easier to deal with.” Boys are stupid.

The ending was amazing. I loved it. And I hated it. It was very bittersweet and I think Hand did an amazing job handling the situation.

If you liked Unearthly, you’re going to LOVE Hallowed. The characters really shine, the plot is engaging and emotional, the writing has matured, and it’s all around an amazing story that you will not want to put down.