Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

Last week I finished Hallowed, the sequel to Unearthly by Cynthia Hand. Most of the time, I dread the second book in a series, mostly because of the ever present "Second Book Curse". But, much to my surprise, Cynthia Hand did not suffer from said curse. Even though the book was a little bit of a downer, I really enjoyed it, just like I loved Unearthly.

Let's start with the pros: Just like Unearthly, the writing style is great, and I found myself getting lost within this book. I wouldn't even realize how long I'd been reading until it had been like 4 hours! Another thing I like is the way it gets into the angel history a little more. And, trying to stay away from spoilers here, there is a few big shocks that I was not expecting! Christian is present a little more in this book, and you start to see how Clara is really torn between him and Tucker. While Tucker is the ultimate perfect boyfriend, Christian is who Clara is destined to be with.

The pacing of this book was also great. I never really thought to myself "This is moving too slow." Everything happened at a perfect pace.

The last pro that I can think of (there are probably many I am forgetting) is the end. It had a generally happy ending, all though the overall mood of the book is kind of sad. There is going to be a third and final book, though, so that's when Clara is going to go through with her purpose.

Now for the cons: This book was just really sad. You have Clara, who's trying to figure out what her purpose is, and you have Christian, who's also trying to figure out what his purpose is, and when he does, he as to convince Clara that they're destined to be together, even though Clara wants to be with Tucker. You have Clara's mom, but you'll just have to read the book to see what that's about. Angela figures out her purpose, and decides to go to Stanford. Clara applies for Stanford. Samjeeza is also around a lot more, but his character turns out to be pretty surprising, and that's all I'm going to say. It wasn't depressing per se, it just wasn't overly happy.

So overall, I really enjoyed this book, and if you liked Unearthly, I definitely recommend you read this book. And even if you haven't read it, pick it up, it's a great series!