Review: Hallowed by Hand

Hallowed (Unearthly #2)
By Cynthia Hand
Published: Jan. 17, 2012
Copy: AWBTours

Goodreads (to go to the listing click here): 
For months part-angel Clara Gardner trained to face the raging forest fire from her visions and rescue the alluring and mysterious Christian Prescott from the blaze. But nothing could prepare her for the fateful decisions she would be forced to make that day, or the startling revelation that her purpose—the task she was put on earth to accomplish—is not as straightforward as she thought. Now, torn between her increasingly complicated feelings for Christian and her love for her boyfriend, Tucker, Clara struggles to make sense of what she was supposed to do the day of the fire. And, as she is drawn further into the world of part angels and the growing conflict between White Wings and Black Wings, Clara learns of the terrifying new reality that she must face: Someone close to her will die in a matter of months. With her future uncertain, the only thing Clara knows for sure is that the fire was just the beginning. 

I was super happy to return to Jackson Hole. My stay this time was....well, not as pleasant. 

My first problem is the same problem I have with all novels about angels. It is as if the writer wants us to buy into angels and not faith.  How can we have angels and no God? Seriously, it is as if the angels are all just employees at FedEx, waiting around for
a new order from the nameless, faceless boss. How can this be?
Even Jeffrey at one point says, Shouldn't we pray about this or 
something? In trying to make angels an individual creation that can stand alone (like vampires, zombies, and werewolves), it does not work if there is no mention/contact with God because there are no angels without God. 

It is as if the angels believe in the mythology of "Angels" but not of
God-even Satan gets a shout out here, but of course, he is an angel. 
Clara does seems to throw out bible
references every once in a while. Thank goodness for Angela, or no one 
would have ANY connection with the big guy (and really she is just researching old texts by humans). Faith through Milton? Oh-kay. 

Second, this book feels like a bill of sale to us about Christian. I 
have already thrown him over for Tucker (how could anyone NOT love Tucker?) 
Now we are supposed to throw that out the window and like Christian 
instead.  The reason? Because he sits outside of Clara's window all night a la 
Edward Cullen. Sure.

Thirdly, the thing I loved the most about Unearthly, see my review 
here, was the wonderful relationship between Clara and her mom. Well, in this book, 
that's out the window. There is tons of Mama Drama, and it wears thin given the 
plot line.

Here's the dealio: I love Clara and I love this world, so I was super 
happy to return to it. There are some great scenes in this story as well (many 
of them involving Tucker and Clara). The fact that I did not LOVE this book 
will not prevent me from being excited about a third one.

I have to wonder if this book is the victim of being rushed. I think 
some of these publishers are so worried about having hit series, that they are 
rushing these authors to produce, produce, and produce. I have noticed this in 
many series lately. I would rather a longer wait and a quality story, then 
everything jammed into a quick sale because Hallowed kind of felt like a set up 
for #3 with some guest stars thrown in.