By now most of you know how I feel about YA paranormal romances. Well just leave that at that. But there are a handful of YA paranormal books that I would be less skeptical of, less hesitant in considering reading, and Cynthia Hands interesting and well-written angel series is one of those few. Despite it unfortunately taking on a few more YA paranormal cliché characteristics, HALLOWED remains a well-written and even funny second book in the trilogy.

One of my favorite parts of Unearthly was Clara and her narration. Too many paranormal YA female protagonists have no personality, no sense of humor. Clara has both. I cant get enough of the moments when she actually pokes fun at her own fictional genre, referencing the melodramaticness of YA paranormal romances, love triangles, and stalker paranormal love interests. I love when fictional characters are, metaphorically, self-aware: it happens so rarely that Im inclined to laugh out loud and share with everyone around me when it happens.

Unfortunatelyalthough in some ways I suppose it was inevitableHALLOWED acquired a few more YA paranormal conventions as it continued Claras story. Despite its subtle jabs at Twilight, Twilight fans will like this series, and HALLOWED reminded me of that pervasive YA paranormal franchise more often than I would have liked. HALLOWED dilly-dallies: the story within probably couldve been told in 150 pages instead of more than 400. It contains few surprises: a large portion of the book seemed to consist of Clara waffling between Tucker and Christian.

Sadly, the attractive and confident Tucker of Unearthly is reduced to being stubborn and petty and just not all that appealing in HALLOWED. Methinks I spot a setup for the third book in here? And Clara finds out something shocking about herself, thereby changing her from (relatively) ordinary girl we can empathize with to character whose struggles are legitimized by her newfound understanding of herself and her role. If Hand had wanted to blow readers away with so-called shocking revelations and twists in HALLOWED, well, lets just say that all I felt was a tickle of a breeze.

HALLOWED wasnt as strong of a read as Unearthly was for me, but fans of Unearthly should still love this second installation in the series. Despite its at-times conventional plot development, HALLOWED is still a well-written and unique take on the angel conceptemphasis on well-written. A strong successor to both the deserved and not-quite-so-deserved financially successful YA paranormal series.

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I loved the first but but this one just didn't do it for me. I found myself getting very bored and loosing interest in the characters. I wasn't terrible or anything, it just didn't hold my interest nearly as much as the first one.

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Don't have much to say other than...I'm so glad I started this series. I'm glad I found a beautifully written angel series! Fallen was a let down for me. I know a lot of people liked it and I did too, at first. I quit reading halfway through the third book. I found myself not caring what happened to the characters or the story in book 2. That did not happen with this series. The author wrote each character with so much thought and care that I find myself rooting for every one of them. Even the so called evil ones. I have so many questions and theories and I can't wait to see how it all plays out in the next book. So far every book I have read in this series I've given five stars. There is only one other series I've read so far that all books have a five star rating. That would be the Twilight Saga. Well played Cynthia Hand, well played.

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This was an absolute stunner of a book; it is beautifully written and absolutely engaging. Very hard to put down and lots of surprising revelations that made this book even better than the first one (and I absolutely loved the first boo).

Clara and her family moved to Colorado so she could fulfill her angelic purpose. Well at the end of Unearthly she made a different choice, the choice to not fulfill her purpose. That decision will have repercussions that even Clara could never had expected. Clara is trying to get on with life and enjoy time with her boyfriend Tucker. That's when the dreams start; Clara is having dreams that someone very close to her will die, she thinks it might be Tucker. Clara's worry over Tucker puts strain on their relationship and she finds herself spending more and more time with Christian, another Quatarius angel whose fate seems tied closely to Clara's.

When you look at the synopsis this sounds like just another paranormal YA book. The difference is this is a really, really well written YA book with a lot of heart, and a lot of humor. The writing is beautiful. Clara is funny at points and absolutely honest. I love the relationship she has with her mom and what a loving family they are.

Clara makes a wonderful heroine, the mistakes she makes are in an effort to do the right thing. She is constantly torn between following her heart and following her destiny. She also has to go through some truly heartbreaking stuff in this book. Seriously you will laugh out loud and then be in tears by the end of the book.

If you were a Tucker fan in the last book, sorry to say you might be changing sides. Christian plays a huge role in this book; his respect, understanding and constant support of Clara make him a wonderful character and I was really rooting for him by the end of the story.

The book is mostly drama, not a ton of action, but there is some action and mystery as Clara struggles to solve the mystery of the Black Wings and uncover the history of her mother. The plot takes some amazing twists at the end and there are some revelations that are truly jaw-dropping. There is a lot in this story I would never have been able to predict, it was all very well done.

Overall this book is even better than the first one. Clara is such a likable character that she is easy to get attached to; she is forced to dealing with some heartbreaking stuff. Christian really comes into his own in this book; he is so supportive and understanding of Clara. Some truly surprising plot twists occur that really upped the ante. Highly recommended to fans of YA paranormal books; this series is so well written that it is really one of the better YA series out there.

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