Friday, February 24, 2012

First Book Review: Unearthly

Book being reviewed: Unearthly (Unearthly #1)
Author: Cynthia Hand
I give this book:
3 out of 5 owls
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 is a moving tale of love and fate, and the struggle between following the rules and following your heart.
I must say with a heavy heart, I wasn’t fortunate enough to like this particular book. I had such high hopes for it, especially since so many of my Goodreads friends had rated it highly. But I just couldn’t get the feel of the story. Not to mention the book’s events seemed very predictable to me. Halfway through the book, I was hoping to blame the fact that I was slightly doped up on pain meds after having my wisdom teeth removed. But even then, I couldn’t. I kept telling myself that I may have to reread the book to possibly get the feel again, thinking that I may have forgotten what the book was about. But, again, I couldn’t blame that either. I just truly couldn’t get into the book. 

As I previously stated, the book was highly predictable. Girl moves away from all she’s known, girl isn’t very pleased about it, new girl is hardly accepted within her new town and school, new girl hates her life, and so on and so forth. I think you get the point. The only difference is, the new girl happens to be part-angel. I can honestly say that I liked that little twist, seeing as most angel-type books I’ve read usually have the angel being the lead male character.

The other part that wasn’t very predictable at first, although eventually became predictable, was the love story aspect of the book. When you first begin reading through the chapters, you get the inkling that the heroine, Clara, is going to fall in love with Christian, the oh-so-beautiful-popular-boy-toy. But such is not the case after we meet Tucker, the completely handsome and rugged cowboy. Clara's feelings battle it out between the two. And in the end, Tucker the cowboy wins Clara’s heart.

All in all, I wouldn’t exactly recommend this book to a friend. There are many other books I’d choose before this one. If you’re one of the readers who enjoyed reading Unearthly, then I’m glad you got something out of the pages that I didn’t.


On to the next book, I say!

Read on, Bookworms, read on,

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Me, The Fanatical Bookworm

It’s safe to say that I’m a blogger, not much of a blogger, as I have only blogged some in the past.  And lately, I’ve been thinking about creating my own blog.  My only issue being what to ramble about in said blog.   Thankfully, because of a suggestion from a super special friend who I truly adore, I decided to go with a book blog.  She knows me and my love for books. And honestly, what better subject is there for me to blog about than BOOKS!?

Reading is a passion of mine.  Reading comes before certain things in my life such as bathing at times, eating, and obviously, since I’m a house wife, it comes before cleaning sometimes.  Although it is safe to say that my bathrooms are usually clean.  And my kitchen.  And laundry... when no one has anything to wear.  Meh, you only live once, right?

Just a few days ago I was watching some show on TV about a young mother who had died suddenly.  It was all very, very tragic.   So I got to thinking, what would be my regrets if I passed on too soon?  Obviously the first thing that popped in to my head was an image of my kids, thinking that I’d regret not physically being here for them as they matured into the adults they will someday become.  And the second thought was about all the books I would never have had the chance to read!  I know there should be more to the list.  And I know if I think more about it, not growing old with my husband is somewhere in there.  But since this blog is about books and my love for the literary world, can you imagine the gigantic heavy emptiness I feel in my heart at the thought of never reading a book again?   It makes me want to grab my favorite books and hug them close to me.  Yes, I am that FANATICAL.  Who’s to say, there could be millions upon millions of books placed perfectly on beautiful bookcases past the pearly gates into Heaven -- who knows? Hopefully one day I’ll find out.

So this is me, a book lover through and through if you haven’t already caught onto that fact.  Please feel free to comment on my reviews, opinions, or just plain craziness that I post here.  I do ask that you agree to disagree at times and respect everyone's opinions here, because I do not love every book I have ever read -- I’m sure you can agree, we’ve all been there.  I do, however, WHOLEHEARTEDLY respect every author who decides to take that terrifying leap as they put their stories out there for us to read.

With all that said, welcome to my little piece of the bookish world and happy reading, my fellow book lovers!