Unearthly by Cynthia Hand | Audiobook Re-Read Review

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MY THOUGHTS

I read Unearthly last year but did not get a chance to do a full review. I re-listened to the audiobook on Scribd (love this subscription, BTW) and fell in love with the story again. Initially, I was not expecting to like the story. I had already read a couple of “angels” books (read Fallen by Lauren Kate and Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins) and I was not into it. With those two books in mind, I was pretty apprehensive with Unearthly. Plus, the washed out cover didn’t really capture my interest but since I run out of reading material, I decided to give it a go.

I was really surprised. This book was not “preachy” at all despite it being a book about angels, which was something that I really liked. I also liked that the setting was in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and I had already been there! So yeah, I could easily picture the story in my head.

Unearthly is about part-Angel Clara Gardner who moved to Jackson Hole to fulfill her purpose. She is supposed to save a boy. We meet him as super cool and popular Christian Prescott. At this point, I thought that I had this book all figured out. The “awww not again” thoughts were running through my head while listening to this and in fact, when the “bitchy” girlfriend introduced herself, I was like DONE. But I soldiered on and was glad that I did! There was NO INSTA-LOVE in this book. And just because he was the boy she is supposed to save [spoiler]does not mean that he was the boy she would FALL IN LOVE with.[/spoiler] Oh, did I mention it? THERE WAS NO LOVE TRIANGLE!

This book was well written and flowed really well. I love the development of relationships in this book. From Clara’s friends to Clara’s love [spoiler]Tucker Avery![/spoiler] to her family. For once this YA book had a healthy family life, despite Clara’s parents being separated. I love Clara’s mom who was with her every step of the way. When she called, her mom was there to help her, albeit not giving her everything she needed to know about Angel-bloods.

Clara was also NOT the usual YA heroine. She was just a normal teenager: not popular and not an outcast (not Bella, thank God) which was very refreshing. I am so OVER those types of heroines.

The end really cinched this story for me. It was so unexpected and VERY believable. I mean, if I were Clara, I probably would have done the same thing. This book is part of a trilogy so I pretty much expected it to end with a cliffhanger. There were a lot of questions that were answered BUT there were also issued that NEEDED addressing which I know will be addressed in the second book.

Unearthly is definitely not your usual YA-angel-love story-love triangle fluff. And yes, NOT PREACHY!

THOUGHTS ON THE AUDIO

Narrator: Samantha Quan

Narrated in the first person, Samantha Quan really captured Clara’s voice – cute and down-to-earth (pun intended). The pacing was good and despite her using a few voice inflections/accents, I felt that Ms. Quan was talking to me directly.

RE-READ AUDIOBOOK REVIEW

TIMES READ

This is the second time I listened to the audiobook just so I could write a review.

WHEN I FIRST READ

I read this in October last year when I run out of reads and all the books I wanted to read was in queue at the library.

ORIGINAL REVIEW

The original review is above!

WHAT I REMEMBER

I remember that this story was unique. The plot was NOT predictable and when I thought that I had the book figured out, Ms. Hand totally surprised me.

WHY I WANTED TO RE-READ

Because I wanted to read the final book Boundless. I was already in the 5th chapter of Boundless when I decided to re-listen to the whole series again!

HOW I FELT AFTER RE-READING

My opinions to the book and whole series did not change. I still enjoyed the book and fell in love with Tucker Avery all over again (LOL)

WOULD I RE-READ THIS BOOK AGAIN

Most definitely!