Hallowed (Unearthly, #2)

by Cynthia Hand

[Amber]

I've been sobbing for the past three chapters. I'll rate this later.

Full review here: http://www.booksofamber.com/2012/04/hallowed-by-cynthia-hand.html

I absolutely adored Unearthly when I read it towards the end of last year. It was such an unexpected read for me, because I was honestly expecting it to be preachy. Nevertheless, I adored it and I was excited to read Hallowed because Cynthia Hand has a beautiful writing style and I was sure I was going to be dragged in.

While Hallowed didn't completely live up to my expectations, I still enjoyed it. It just didn't have the same feel as Unearthly did, and I was a bit disappointed by the love interests.

I felt that this book focussed a bit too much on the love triangle for me to thoroughly enjoy it. There were some instances where it just wasn't realistic for Clara to be worrying about her love for either boy, and I also wasn't impressed with Christian and his near Edward-esque ways. Tucker wasn't in this book much at all, and he was my favourite in the first book, so as you can imagine I felt really let down.

I did, however, love the focus that was put on the family relationships between Clara and her mum, and her brother. Her dad also made an appearance, which was unexpected and totally awesome.

Like I said, Cynthia Hand has a beautiful writing style, and I was totally sobbing throughout the final four chapters. It really hit a nerve with me, as I had been through a similar situation and I just cried and cried.

There were some twists that I didn't see coming at all. I was expecting something completely different to happen, but the plot went in the opposite direction and I was kind of stunned.

Overall, this is a good book and I adore Cynthia's writing, but I think if there had been more focus on the angel lore and the family, and less on the 'epic-love-we-belong-together-it's-destiny', I would have enjoyed it a lot more.