4.5

They're right. It's really hard to rate, because it wouldn't appeal to everyone. But heck yeah, it did to me.

So, as the synopsis said, this is more about loss, love, confusion, hope, fear and struggle to know who you really are. And I admit, it contains so many revelations - I mean it - that I thought my head was going to explode! I just finished it and I can't believe it's the same thing I was reading yesterday. For me, I thought it was amazing because it was a perfect sequel. The first book is quite more straightforward and shallow, but in this one things were a bit deeper and you need some thinking to fully understand everything. There's no doubt that others might think that Hallowed is tedious and boring.

Please let me vent all my feelings for a short while.

Spoiler

How cool is that to have angels as parents?! I FEEL SO JEALOUS! Tucker, oh my gully, you don't deserve what you got I'm a hundred percent sure! I do not care about Clara's screwed up purpose, please, no. God, why. And Christian, I don't know.. I seriously doubt everything about him right now. His revelation is sooo huge I just can't..you know. If somebody told you that you belong together, what would you do? I don't have the faintest idea. Eeek, I haven't had these kind of feelings for a while. It's obvious that I loved it. With the tiniest hint of pain. Of waiting.

Sometimes, I even found myself crying. I envy Clara so much. Because I'd rather live a week with my family radiating off love and joy (cheesy, eh?), than stay in this house of ours with this f*cked up fake family of mine. Yeah, I got emotional. Sorry for cursing. And Angela's speech kinda summarized everything. Something like "..You must live now, right now.." And Margaret's words stayed with me too. пїЅпїЅпїЅMy dear sweet girl. You take on so much. You feel things so deeply. But you will be happy, my darling. You will shine.пїЅпїЅпїЅ

Let that happen when the third book comes.

PS. I loved the part when Cynthia Hand mentioned Hulk a.k.a Bruce Banner. He

Clara's summer ends, the school year starts, and her belief that her purpose is behind her are blurred by a persistent dream. Like the first book she struggles to understand the meaning behind the short clip of events. Someone she loves will die, but who, and can she stop it?
While this novel has few action events, it's steady pace and the authors eloquent writing style kept me reading. The last two chapters are worth the sometimes slow pace. This author gives us a natural story, an empathy and deep understanding of each decision, with believable consequences. I simply cannot wait for the next book.

This 2nd book was as fantastic as the first. Much more emotional, drawing the reader into the situations of good vs. evil, Tucker vs. Christian, purpose vs. want. I can NOT wait until the 3rd book comes out! This is my newest favorite trilogy.

Okay. It was great, but there were a few predictable things. For example: Jeffery starting the fire and Clara’s mother being the one from the vision- the one destined to die.

One things that annoyed me: when Clara almost slept with Tucker and was “caught”. It added nothing to the story and wasn’t mentioned again after a chapter. It was totally unesscesqary.

But, wow. I had a feeling Clara wasn’t only a quarter angel.
Not to mention her father was an angel, but he was Michael, the archangel.
Naturally, Christian’s father also had to be an angel because Clara and Christian are meant for each other. He is her destiny and she is his.

I hate romances where you are supposedly destined to be with someone so you are forced into them out of necessity instead of choosing who you really love (cough cough stefan elena and damon) if clara doesn't choose love instead of letting the heavens tell her what to do I WILL BE PISSED. end this series right cynthia or I will hate you forever.

After the wonderful surprise that Unearthly gave me in Hand's debut, Hallowed takes the series to the next level. It's very different from the first book in the series, but it was SO good.

Where Unearthly mainly focused on Clara's visions of the forest fire and Christian, this book centers around Clara getting more involved in the angel world and the new vision that she's been having. I'm having a difficult time to put my thoughts into words without spoiling the story, since everything mostly surrounds one event, so this review will be short.

What I will say is that Hand proves that she can write an emotional story. I was completely sucked into the book, and got quite emotional at times. There's one particular scene that made me cry because it was so beautifully written, but there were several scenes that were simply making me experience it as if I was actually there.

While I was firmly on Tucker's side in the first book, things have shifted now that I've read Hallowed. Christian was so much more likable in this book than Tucker was, even though Tucker is going through some crazy stuff with his supernatural girlfriend and it's totally understandable that he's struggling to cope.

Since this book was so different from its prequel, I can't say if it's better. I can say that it was awesome and if you haven't read the first book in the series yet, I suggest you go do that this year. You won't regret it.


My overall rating: 4.5/5


Four and a half stars for Hallowed and me going crazy while waiting for the final installment! Need it now!

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Review was published on Loving Books.

"Don't be sorry. It's part of who you are. You shouldn't have to apologize for who you are"

Clara saved Tucker from the fire in [b:Unearthly|7488244|Unearthly (Unearthly, #1)|Cynthia Hand|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1324782984s/7488244.jpg|9621771] and helped her mother fight Samjeeza, but there are other problems. Clara didn't fulfill her vision. And now she's seeing visions of a funeral, feeling the presence of Samjeeza, and learning some startling facts about her own angelic heritage. What will happen now that Clara has disobeyed her purpose? Who will die and can she prevent it? And what will she do about Christian?

NOTE: Possible spoilers! I will try my absolute hardest not to spoil the major revelations, but the teeny ones may escape me.

As soon as I finished [b:Unearthly|7488244|Unearthly (Unearthly, #1)|Cynthia Hand|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1324782984s/7488244.jpg|9621771], about a year ago, I've been eager to read the sequel. Unearthly was a rare YA angel book: great characters, interesting mythos, and a romance that actually involved the couple knowing and falling in love with each other. So pretty much as soon as I could get my hands on it, I bought Hallowed and dived in.

The results? A very pleased girl, eager for Book 3.

Hallowed picks right up where Unearthly left off. Hand does a bit of recapping, but just enough to remind us what we read a year ago. Immediately, things start happening. Clara gets visions of a new future, a future where someone dies. But there is also the strange activities of her brother, Jeffrey, the behavior of her mother, Angela's investigation into the history of angels. And of course, Samjeeza is always a threat on the horizon.

Our characters haven't changed from book 1. Clara is still an awesome girl, Tucker is charming and adorable, Clara's mom proves to have a fascinating history and still be a solid presence in Clara's life, Christian really evolved before my eyes, and Angela remains a good friend for Clara. I was upset at how infrequently Wendy appeared. Samjeeza could be pretty corny at times, but even he had some developments that elevated him from stereotypical baddie. Some new characters crop up. Billie, Clara's Mom's friend, was pretty cool (though it was odd that the kids hadn't met her sooner.

Spoiler

We also meet Clara's dad and find out he isn't human, but an Intangere. Interesting development, one that had been hinted at in the previous book...but I have some comments on this that will come later.

What is probably going to be most predominant, and the dealbreaker for many a reader, will be the love triangle. While Unearthly teased with the concept, this book definitely dives headfirst, going so far as to hang a lampshade to the plot device:

"Before I moved here, I never got the whole love-triangle thing. You know, in movies or romance novels or whatnot, where there’s one chick that all the guys are drooling over, even though you can’t see anything particularly special about her. But oh, no, they both must have her. And she’s like, oh dear, however will I choose? William is so sensitive, he understands me, he swept me off my feet, oh misery, blubber, blubber, but how can I go on living without Rafe and his devil-may-care ways and his dark and only-a-little-abusive love? Upchuck."

In this book's defense, the Love Triangle is handled better than I've seen in most other media (books, movies, etc.). Clara and Christian remain friends, but as Clara is with Christian, she realizes not all of her thoughts to him are "just friends". Meanwhile, Clara pulls back from Tucker, believing he will die. This is the most realistic portrayal of "moving on" in a relationship. Most other YA books would just throw up two guys--sometimes not even that much different from each other--and say, "OH NO, how can our super speshul girl choooooose?"

That said...must we rely on the Love Triangle plot line at all? Why can't Clara just struggle with the vision and Samjeeza? Why does her purpose have to rely on a boy at all?

The next point that I kinda have some problems with concerns some revelations Clara finds out about her history and her mom's history.

Spoiler

Turns out, Clara isn't a Quartarius; she's Triplare. Add to the specialness that already comes with being angel-blood, Triplares are super-rare, super-speshul angels that have the ability to exert free-will. I don't have a problem with her being a Triplare, but I can't help rolling my eyes how she is now "super rare and super speshul", even more than an "ordinary" angel blood.

Finding out who was going to die and actually going through the person's death was truly heart-breaking. Hand doesn't pick some random person; the astute can probably already guess who it is. But that doesn't soften the blow. And Clara's reaction to that death is completely understandable and relatable.

Hallowed is an amazing follow-up to Unearthly, one that didn't disappoint me in the slightest. The characters are great, we finally get some answers to the questions that have been burning (and somehow, the purpose problem I had with Unearthly was cleared up here--either that, or it didn't bug me anymore), and important stuff happens. The only reason I held back the final star (actually probably half star) is because of some of the later revelations and definitely the Love Triange (though, like I said above, it is very well-done). If you loved Unearthly and don't mind testing out the Love Triangle, you will not be disappointed in Hallowed.

4.5 stars

after this book, i am not sure what tema i should be on. in this book, Clara's mom does bring up to a point. Tucker isn't going to last forever, so when he is gone, what will clara do? i hope we get some answers in the next book, i just can beleive that we have to wait a whole year before the next one comes out.