So I'm ashamed to say that the main reason I picked this book up was because of the awesome cover. I've never branched out into books about angels before, because I've heard some terrible things about some of the books out there, but this one actually got good reviews. So I picked it up. Usually an author's first book is no more than 350 pages, but this one was a hefty 450 pages. More on that later.
Unearthly Summary:
In the beginning, there's a boy standing in the trees . . . .
Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.
Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place—and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.
As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make—between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny?
Unearthly Review:
Overall, I would say that this book is excellent. The plot wasn't very original, but the story was excellent, and the characters really came to life. This was the first book in the trilogy, and was 450 pages long. To be honest it felt a little too long, and a lot of the first 200 pages could have been edited out. But the second half of the book was phenominal.
There's a little bit of a love triangle going on, but the author even jokes in the book about love triangles being overplayed in literature. Respectable. And one thing that I really liked about this book was that with the main love story, she didn't just decide that she liked him and fell madly in love with him. It was only after talking with him and being friends with him for a while that she realized she liked him. And I hate to admit this, but the first time they kissed even brought a tear or two to my eyes. The writing was just that good.
My only complaint other than the first half being too long is that the climax was sort of anti-climatic, but it set the stage nicely for the sequel. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who likes romance novels or angel stories.
Desiderium Summary:
If she could, seventeen-year-old Rhiley Winters would wish to be a normal high school student who doesn't have to work three jobs to support herself. But to want anything is illegal. With the world at the mercy of one person's desires, the government uses chip implants to monitor citizens’ desires in a race to suppress and track those of the unknown Desiderium—the one individual who unknowingly has the power to make anything happen by desiring it strongly enough.
Preoccupied with concealing
that her parents abandoned her, Rhiley has no trouble suppressing her desires
until she falls in love with Isaak, the son of a past
Desiderium who makes her question everything she’s ever been told about desire.
Then when a six-year-old Desiderium
is killed for bringing dinosaurs back to life, children and teenagers become
the target of society’s suspicions. As her life unravels, she begins to wonder
if the new Desiderium could be someone she knows. Together, she and Isaak must either
comply with the government’s stricter demands and never learn the truth about
the Desiderium or outwardly defy them and spend years in prison.
I would love to read/comment on the rewrite of the pitch - but I do not see it.....
ReplyDeleteThank you for pointing that out! It looks like it just deleted the second half of the post.
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