Clockwork Demons? It could work...

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

The year is 1878, and this story takes place in London.  Young Tessa Gray finds herself being shipped from
America to London to join her brother there after the death of their aunt.  When she arrives, she meets the Dark Sisters who take Tessa to their home to meet her brother.  When she arrives, her brother is not there, but being held prisoner and unless Tessa does exactly as the Dark Sisters say, they will kill him.  Tessa finds herself being tortured mercilessly by the Dark sisters for a hidden talent that she does not know about.  Tessa can change herself into anyone dead or alive only by holding an object that once belonged to that person.  After she masters this talent, the Dark Sisters will offer her up as a spouse to the Magister.  One fateful night, Will Herondale comes to her rescue and Tessa meets her first Nephilim.  As the book continues with twists and turns, Tessa learns more about a new world that she never knew existed and somehow she fits into this world with her power that she is learning to control and use in this war that she has been brought into. 

 Starting this book, I have to admit that I was worried.  I loved the Mortal Instruments by the same author and I didn’t know how a prequel series would sit with me.  I didn’t want to lose the magic of what I knew about this new world of Demons and Nephilim, Fairies and Werewolves, but I had a great recommendation from Laura, a Young Adult connoisseur from Books A Million.  She said that the Infernal Devices story intertwines with the Mortal Instruments in such a way that you will love it just as much as the Mortal Instruments.  I still had my doubts, but I went ahead and purchased this first book and read it.  I have not looked back or regretted my decision. 

 One aspect that I had to get over was Will.  He is briefly mentioned in City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments #4) and Magnus Bane is the person that refers back to him.  Remembering this, it was easy for me to see how the books intertwine in that small way.  At first, I thought Clare was recreating Jace through Will.  Almost like, it worked the first time with my other books, so let’s see if my fans like Jace’s great grandfather.  It was hard for me to get over how Will’s self serving attitude had the appearance of  being so much like Jace, I didn’t want him and Jace to be alike, because I always thought of Jace as such an original character, but as the story continued, I could see distinct differences in behaviors, actions and even thought processes.  It was hard not to think concepts about this book and compare to Mortal Instruments because of how similar the plots were, as a fan, I liked it, but I can see how if you didn’t just love one, you won’t love the other either.  Of course anyone who read these books, will probably want to argue with me and say that the plots are not similar, but I ask that you think for just a minute… girl goes into new world, meets boy, against all odds does not only survive but finds out she’s got skills in this whole new world.  Sound familiar?  I’m not upset, I like the plot, but I’m just saying it’s the same. 

 Clare uses the same magical writing as she did in previous books and Laura was right, she intertwines the stories just enough to make you think about your beloved character such as Jace, or Magnus Bane, and it reminds you so much about events that take place in the later books, such as City of Fallen Angels.  I have no idea what order you should read Clare’s books in, but this is how I’m going along so far. 

City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of  Fallen Angels, Clockwork Angels, and I already own Clockwork Prince (although I have not read it yet, and I have City of Lost Souls on pre-order, so I’m not sure which of these last two I will get to first, but no worries, I will read them all.)

 So, I’ve seen around the blogosphere some Team Will or Team Jem ads.  So, what are you?  I think as of right now, after book 1 I am totally Team Jem, which is actually quite opposite of me, I am usually always for the main guy character.  All of that to say, I am a fan of Cassandra Clare!  I hope you enjoyed this blog and I hope you read both series by Cassandra Clare!  Keep reading my friends!

A Whole New World for Clary, Let the Adventure Begin

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Clarissa Fray and her best friend Simon go to Pandemonium, a teenage club in New York, for a little fun on one fate-driven night.  As Simon and Clary dance, she notices a boy following a beautiful girl into a storage closet, but it just wasn’t a normal make out session, she noticed that the couple was being followed by two guys and one of them has a knife.  She sends Simon to get a bouncer and follows the group into the closet, what happens next shocks us all, they can’t figure out why Clary can see them.  As she witnesses a murder in that closet, she can’t shake the feeling that there is something quite different about her life now.  The next day, her mom goes missing, kidnapped by a dead man, Clary learns more about her life than she ever thought possible.  Will the truth set her free or dig her deeper into the rabbit hole of a world she never signed up for? 

I loved this book.  I bought this book last August, but my line-up for books has been too crazy to get them all taken care of, so it has sat on the shelf for some time.  When I decided to pick it up, I was so glad that I did.  There was mystery, suspense, and a great love story.  From the beginning to the end I was addicted to the story and wanted to get to know each character more and more.  Clare expresses this new world to Clary through Jace and the other Nephilim in a way that had me hooked.  I love it when a character learns about their life that they should have been living in from birth, but didn’t because of someone else’s decision.  Clary’s mom decided when she was born to hide her true identity from Clary and everyone she has met.  Whenever she meets Jace he explains the new world that she has just started seeing for the first time.  As the audience goes through the story, I know that I was eager to see what was going to happen.

I have read some reviews that talk about Clare’s writing style, one person said that she switches tenses not only between the character’s points of views, but within the same paragraph.  I usually have a keen eye for these types of editing mistakes, but I didn’t notice at all, I think mainly because I was so enraptured in the story, that the world could have blown up around me and I would have died happy and never known the world was on fire.  I only feel sorry that the person whose review I read didn’t have the same experience. 

Without giving any spoilers, I’m just going to say that I hated the development in the end.  But I wasn’t surprised.  I guessed Jace’s true identity almost from the very beginning and I hated it.  I don’t want to give away too much, no spoilers, I promise, just know how disappointed I was.  I hope that it’s wrong in a future book, I have a feeling that it’s not true, but I do go back and forth on my opinion. 

I can’t wait to continue this series and learn more about the Nephilim and how Clary will continue to fit into this new world of the Shadowhunters.  I hope that if you read it that you loved it as much as I did and also that you can’t wait for more of these books to come out.  I haven’t done any research on the Mortal Instrument Series, maybe it’s over, I don’t know, but I can’t wait to start City of Ashes, TODAY!  Keep reading my friends!

***Side note, I wrote this blog 2 months ago, I have finished all of the Mortal Insturments that are released to date, and I have pre-ordered City of Lost Souls, which comes out in a few weeks!

Four Pretty Liars and Been Very Bad Girls

Flawless: A Pretty Little Liars Novel (book #2) by Sara Shepard

Picking up where we left our Pretty Little Liars, Flawless is the sequel to the first introductory book.  And if you thought things were going badly in the first book, they just keep getting worse for Aria, Hanna, Spencer, and Emily.  A is still the big bad wolf, who knows everything somehow and is about to ruin everything that each girl’s lies has perfectly knit together.  Even though the girls know that Alison is gone, somehow her deceitfulness and meanness continues to move the girls like puppets for Alison’s play.  Even though the girls aren’t friends anymore, they are being brought together by their one big lie and secret. 

Spencer has ended her relationship with her family by kissing her sister’s boyfriend, Aria has a secret about her dad that would split her family up for good, Emily has a crush, but not a normal crush, it’s on her new friend Maya, and Hanna is in a world of mess with her boyfriend Sean, her mom and the cops.  Everything is crashing around the girls as A sits back and laughs. 

Things I liked: I usually dislike when an author uses the title of the book in an obviously annoying way.  But, Shepard throws the word Flawless into a sentence and the way it’s used, makes the audience glide right over it.  Then later, you get to thinking and remember that, oh, she described Hanna’s teeth as Flawless, nice…

In Aria’s AP English class the discussion turns to “unreliable narrators.”  I was never an English major, nor did I think about this type of a concept in high school or college, but when this concept was introduced to me in this book, a light bulb went off over my head.  I want to research this concept.  I love it!  Of course Aria starts to think about this in her current situation, about how Ezra just told her they needed to start over and forget their few passionate moments in the bar bathroom, but the audience does not need to overlook this very obvious insight into the Narrator of these books.  There is a very interesting thought blooming in my head about what’s going on with these characters and the narrator.

 Here are a few plot lines that are developing and I can’t wait to see what happens.  Beware, if you haven’t read any of these books, some of this could be seen as spoilers even though I’m not giving much detail.  From this point on there could be spoilers.

Aria and Sean?  What an excellent idea!  I love it, when they met in the rain, I thought Shepard did a great job of staging a great romance.  I really do wish the whole Aria and Ezra (otherwise known as her AP English teacher) idea goes away, it’s ridiculous and that could get him sent to jail, I don’t care if Aria acts like a college student, she’s not!

 I love the idea of Spencer and Andrew.  I wish she could see that he’s not trying to compete with her, he’s just trying to be sweet and hook up!  I wonder why she has blinders on it and can’t see how thoughtful and caring he is.  With a hint of obsessiveness, you know with the thought of him driving by her house several times a day “just to check on her.”  It’s a little creepy in a teenage stalkerish kind of way.

As you can see, I enjoyed the second book better than the first.  I didn’t realize that I liked it as much as I did until I started writing this blog, now I can’t wait to get book #3!  If anyone has these books that I can borrow, I would love it!  I don’t want to buy them (sorry Sara Shepard, I’m cheap and trying to put my husband through college, gotta save money where I can), and the library only has this book out of the series.  Well, keep reading my friends!  

Never Trust a Pretty Girl with an Ugly Secret

Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

Four ex-friends and the secrets that bind them together.  Throughout the first installment of this very long series of books, Aria, Spencer, Emily and Hanna have long stopped being friends after their friend Alison disappeared, but they are slowly being brought back together by a mysterious informer that signs off as A and knows too many deep dark secrets about the pretty girls. 

The plot of the book was not very detailed, after it was over, I just thought that I knew the characters pretty well and that the entire book was just the audience getting know each of the 4 girls plus Alison’s personalities.  This first book of the series does not focus on one character, but all four characters have their own chapter to tell her side of the story.  Although there are almost 300 pages to this book, nothing really happens (well except at the very end).  The audience just hears about one horrible week in each of the girl’s lives.

I enjoyed this book for what it was.  I also enjoyed that Shepard talked about how the girls were Allison's little dolls to play with and pose how she saw fit.  I loved that discription with the book cover art.  It was a very quick read, it was easy and you would have to live under a rock to not know or have heard about Pretty Little Liars, it is part of a series of books written for young adults as well as an abc Family TV show.  There was quite a bit of language and semi-adult content for a YA novel.  But overall I enjoyed the book and look forward to starting the next one.   Pretty Little Liars sets up for the next book very well and I’m looking forward to see how Shepard can continue the series and not piss the audience off with lack of answers and just more questions.  There are a lot of books, we’ll see how far I get. 

Have you read this series?  What did you think about the first book?  Let me know what you think, Happy Reading my friends!

The Thirteenth Tale, a mystery to all!

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

I have to start by saying that I am disappointed with myself in regards to this book. I read this book very quickly because of how demanding my reading schedule became at the time that I chose to read this book. Since becoming a member of the Olive Books book club in 2011, I find that I have deadlines on books and I read other books in between the book club books, and of course sometimes life gets in the way. I read the book club choice called Shadow of the Wind (one of the best books I’ve read in my life), then my friend Renae and I decided that we would read The Thirteenth Tale together before the next book club book, In the Woods by Tana French. Because of the placement of the books I took my time at first with The Thirteenth Tale and then I realized that I had to hurry because In the Woods book club was quickly approaching. I didn’t finish In The Woods and the murder mystery ending was ruined by book club and I was just upset. All of that to say, placement of books is very important to me and I need to remember that in the future.

Enough about that and onto the book. I’m not quite sure of the classification of The Thirteenth Tale, gothic novel maybe. It is a story about a young biographer, Margaret Lea, who is called on by famous author Via Winter. She is most known for her twelve enchanting stories, but no one has ever gotten the truth about her life story before. No matter how people try to get her story, Ms. Winter is never willing to divulge. When she calls on Margaret, who has been troubled by her own past, to give her story to, Margaret is shocked and reads her stories for the first time. After staying up all night reading, she decides to complete Ms. Winter’s biography and hear her story. As the story unfolds, Margaret learns about Isabelle, Adeline and Emmeline the twins born to Isabelle, a ghost, and a governess.

This is a mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat. There are twists and turns that keep you reading page after page. At the end of the book I sat very still with my mouth agape, knowing that my reading world had just been rocked! I hope that everyone has the chance to pick this book up at some point in their lives. Have you read it? What did you think? Were you surprised by the ending of Vida Winter’s story? Keep Reading my Friends!

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien The Hobbit is a fantastic epic adventure about a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins of Bag End and his unplanned quest to help Thorin and company to rid his family’s mountain of treasure and old home from an evil dragon that had conquered the dwarves many years before. Not only was this adventure not planned, but it was also not wanted by Bilbo, but Gandalf the wizard volunteered him as the burglar of the expedition.

This story is filled with adventure and was thought provoking at the same time. I enjoyed the back and forth riddles between Gollum and Bilbo and how Bilbo tricked him in the end. I also loved watching Bilbo change throughout the adventure. He was a nervous wreck before and grows to be not only a pivotal character that works the entire adventure to its resolve, but he’s also a character that the reader grows to love more and more with each flip of the page.

I was so excited when this book was picked for book club. My friend Claire said she was going to pick it before the movie came out in December 2012, and when her turn came up, I was pumped. After book club was over we came to my house and watched the trailer, I can’t wait for December 28th! Just so you know, I have read the trilogy of The Lord of the Rings probably 4 years ago and it was during a very busy time in my life so I don’t feel like I absorbed everything that was going on. With the Hobbit, it was such an easy going fun read that I loved every minute of it. I kept laughing out loud and my husband Simon would ask me what was going on, so I would read what I thought was so funny and he would laugh too.

Since this is a classic I’m not giving a lot of detail, know that this is a wonderful work that I enjoyed immensely. I would recommend this book to every book lover, even if they are not a fan of the fantasy genre. I will leave you with my favorite quote. Let me know what you think! Happy Reading!

Thorin: “We shall soon before the break of day start on our long journey, a journey from which some of us, or perhaps all of us (except our friend and counselor, the ingenious wizard Gandalf) may never return.”
Poor Bilbo couldn’t bear it any longer. At may never return he began to feel a shriek coming up inside, and very soon it burst out like the whistle of an engine coming out of a tunnel. All of the dwarves sprang up, knocking over the table.

Also, I wanted to show you a picture of the desk that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit at. It is currently on display at Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL. Simon and I went to visit the school in October of 2011 and enjoyed the display of many famous authors, C.S. Lewis and Tolkien just being two of them. Enjoy!