Book Club Discussion: Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Not yet, but there will be spoilers. You have been warned.

Provisions and Paperbacks, my IRL book club, just read Unearthly by Cynthia Hand. As I said in my previous post (you can read it here), I want to share some thoughts and ideas brought up during the book club and bring my blog readers into the discussion.


When Clara Gardner learns she’s part angel, her entire life changes. She now has a purpose, a specific task she was put on this earth to accomplish, except she doesn’t know what it is. Her visions of a raging forest fire and a mysterious boy lead her to a new high school in a new town but provide no clear instruction. 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 the boy in her vision and the boy in her life, 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? 

There will be spoilers. You have been warned.

Here are some ideas that I had during and after reading Unearthly:

• I had a hard time connecting with Clara throughout the first half of the book. She wasn’t a character that I really cared about what was happening to her. I guess this was because she seemed so indifferent about being an angel. She took everything her mother was telling her and didn't challenge her.

• was Christian ever really her purpose? in her visions, he didn’t seem to be in distress he was just there. This is revealed in the end, but was this even her purpose or was he just going to play a role in her future purpose. Were these visions just a way to bring them together?

• What is going on with the mom? She has so, so many secrets. Too many secrets. Is she good, evil? More good than evil? I’m interested to learn more about her in Hallowed. I’d even like to read a book just about her and her life. I mean she is 116 years old. I’m sure she has experienced a lot in her lifetime.

• Team Christian or Team Tucker - Team Tucker ALL THE WAY - he’s not the simple country boy that Clara thought him to be when she met him. I love how he picks on her and the banter between them (and the joke about the fish - this makes me smile) 

• I wouldn’t call the relationship between Christian, Clara and Tucker a love triangle. I really hope that it doesn’t turn out that way. I think that the relationship between Christian and Clara serves a different purpose. I mean doesn’t he still love Kay? I’ll admit I felt sorry for her at the prom. (I know what it is like to be dumped 3 days before the prom and then have your ex-boyfriend do with another girl - this really happened!!)

• The incident between Clara and Sam was super creepy. I was terrified for her when she could hear and feel his thoughts. In my mind I was screaming NO, NO, NO for her. As horrible as being dragged to hell with him was, it could have been even worse.

• Why are there so many angels and angel-bloods in this small town? What is drawing them there? And was Maggie just using Clara’s vision and purpose as an excuse to move them to Wyoming? I am so suspicious of her. I’m bet she really is all great in all of her glory, but still, there is so much more to her than she is letting on. And why did she really go to California? Hmmm. . . .

• Wendy is such a good friend and gives the best birthday gifts ever! Love this girl!

• Christian lives with his uncle, doesn’t discuss his father (from California, right) and he never said he was dead either - could he also be Sam’s son? 

So I will admit, I am very suspicious of the mom, but no one else in the club agreed with me.  This book left all of us with so many more questions than answers. Some of us loved it, some of us were on the fence. All of us want to read Hallowed to know what will happen next!

I'd like to invite anyone to join in on the discussion and share your thoughts on Unearthly by Cynthia Hand. BUT I do ask that you only make comments on this specific book in the series and that you don't reveal any spoilers for future books in the series. Please and Thank you!

Up next: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs