Bookworm Blogger #YA: Review: Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Synopsis:
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.

Review:
I read this book in about 6 hours straight with very few breaks for cups of tea or to eat anything. Cynthia Hand - you should be a dietary-form, The unputdownable book diet!

I've also had to give myself a few hours before writing this review because so much happened, and so many raw emotions played along with me as I was reading, its actually difficult to know what to write.

Firstly, Unearthly was one of my books of 2011. I wanted to read Hallowed as soon as I finished it. Hallowed for me IS one of the best books for 2012 and I hope it will remain so. The writing, once again, is exquisite. The characters are all in full bloom and raring to go from page 1. And for Clara, the hits just keep on coming.

In one way this book is much darker then Unearthly. The subject of dying and death is iterated so finely with the premise of the story but underneath it IS the main subject of the book. How Clara deals with the prospect of death of a close one. How she reacts. How she deals with her friends while she's reacting. And then the truth of it all is so frightening that she finds it difficult to cope. Because the truth is always so much more painful.

I was never a Tucker fan, I have to admit that Christian was always up there for me. And I guessed he was an Angel too before I got to the end of Unearthly so I was so pleased he had more of a starring role in this book. In the end Tucker does what he can humanly do best. And his decisions are something that we can all relate to at sometime or another.

Christian ended up being the solid rock this time. He's able to deal with the situations without the possibility of freaking out - being Angel and all. Tucker would never have coped in the same way.

Clara is a bit of a mess throughout most of this book. She's indecisive, emotional, happy one minute and sad the next. But remember when teenage life was always like that? I do.

For the sequel to Unearthly, and bearing in mind that 2nd books sometimes don't meet the expectations of the first, this book is like standing in front of a tornado. You never know what is going to hit you next. It will have you spiralling so out of control that you just want it to stop and give Clara a break, for pitys sake!

An emotional and turbulent ride but one I wouldn't have missed for anything. Bring on Book 3 - I'm ready!