Review Detail

Paranormal romance has never been my genre. I don’t care for vampires, werewolves, shape-shifters, ghosts, demons or mythological figures. However, I’ve decided that 2012 is the year I step out of my comfort zone, so I decided to give an angel book a try. Plus, Unearthly was a 99 cent ebook.

Surprisingly, Unearthly was actually a very good book.The first thing that stood out to me was Hand’s writing; it was crisp and clean and effective. I was honestly expecting something less mature, less precise.

The main characters were excellent. Hand obviously worked hard to make the people in this book realistic, even though Clara isn’t a “normal” girl. Clara’s family was interesting and supportive, her friends Wendy and Angela were neither perfect nor terrible. One of the love interests was a likeable, down-to-earth guy, while the other I’m still a bit iffy on.
I also thought the actual “angel” aspect was handled well. It’s a tough topic, because angels, by necessity, bring a Christian element into a story intended for secular audiences. In order to “secularize” the Biblical concept of angels and angel-bloods, Hand somewhat had to tone things down. Granted, my views of Christianity and religion are different than most of Unearthly’s intended audience, so I imagine that Hand wished to avoid offending her readers. As it was, I was impressed by the way this author approached the subject.

From what I’ve read, some readers didn’t like the way this book wasn’t very action-intesive. Mostly, it was a build-up to the major conflict that’s going to take center stage in the second book. I didn’t actually mind that this book was mostly exposition, as it gave Hand a lot of time to develop characters, setting, and motivation, something that is greatly under-done in YA fiction.

From what I’ve read on the back of book covers, paranormal romance generally takes place in a high school setting. Now, I haven’t read many high school books, but if the high schools in those books are represented in the same way that Hand represented Jackson Hole High, we’re going to have an issue.To begin with, I did some research on Jackson Hole High—that’s the nice thing about picking a real school; I can fact-check you. While there is a class in aerodynamics, there is no British History class (which was a center-point of the story). Pictures of the exterior and interior show the school to be like a “typical” high school, not at all the ski resort/art museum Hand describes. Obviously, more research would have been good.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say this again: high school is not like Mean Girls. I’m not saying it’s rainbows and unicorns—everyone’s experience is different. But there’s not one “head popular girl” who rules the roost, and there’s not a “popular clique,” at least, not to the extent that media would have us believe. Popular people do talk to the “Invisibles,” and they do get along on occasion (revolutionary thought, right?)

That was my big complaint with this book. Sometimes when I read these books, I wonder if these authors actually remember what high school was like. Maybe they’ve been watching too much Glee?

I’m not saying high school isn’t a bad, unfair world. I’m just saying that you don’t need to blow things way out of proportion in order to portray that.

(Also: this has turned into quite a rant, and I’m sorry. But it’s aggravating when an otherwise good book fails where only a simple fix is needed.)

For my first foray into the world of “angel romance,” I was pleasantly surprised by Unearthly. The story is captivating and the characters well-rounded. Will I go out and actively seek more angel romance? No, not necessarily. But I’m glad I tried it.