I’m not going to go too into detail with this review since I did with the first book on all the characters.
First off, I will address the issue of Simon being a vampire now. At first, this made me go “UHG!” because I am so over vampires after Twilight. Though Simon is a soft vampire, who still retains a lot of his humanity, I think the author did a nice job of not ruining it. I did like the ending on Valentine’s boat and what happened to Simon. No spoilers, but it was a nice twist to his development.
On the issue of Simon and Clary’s short-lived romance, my first response was “NOOOO!” I wanted them to be together so badly that I felt like I could reach inside the book and kick Simon for breaking up with her, though I understood why, which made me want to kick Clary instead. He couldn’t be with her because she’s in love with someone else…her brother! That alone gave me a weird feeling every time Jace and Clary had a “moment” together. If it doesn’t turn out that they’re not actually brother and sister, I’m going to be skeeved and pissed.
I still don’t like Jace much. He can’t pull off the smart-mouth to make it charming, as Simon does. Clary still frustrates me with most of the decisions she makes, but at least she means well. Luke has revealed himself to be a werewolf and that he’s in love with Jocelyn, which I’m sure we all knew already, but I felt a relief for him when he got that off his chest. Alec and Magnus are still dancing around their feelings for each other. I wish Alec would just get over the fact that he’s gay, not care what his family thinks, and date the poor Warlock already. I am starting to really love Magnus. I want to see him happy.
I would say the main reason I had to give this one a 3.5/5 stars is because of the relationship/not relationship/brother and sister thing going on between Jace and Clary. It’s just weird. I can’t believe he actually suggested they be together and not tell anyone AFTER he finds out she’s his sister! When I read that I was like, “WHAT THE @#$%”
And that is my short review of “City of Ashes” by Cassandra Clare. I’ve already started the next book in the series, “City of Glass”, so expect that review shortly!
He’s a loveable pup who finds Kamlyn on the streets of Boston and takes an immediate liking to her. But is there more to him than meets the eye, or is he really just a stray looking for his forever home?
THE CIVIL BALL WITH THADDEUS JONES
Kamlyn is invited to a prestigious ghostly gala when she befriends a lonely young man who fell during the Civil War.
KAMLYN PAIGE
Wandering the snowy streets of Boston alone in the middle of the night, Kamlyn contemplates many things- the death of her friend, the death of her parents, the death of her son. It seems like everyone around her dies. She wishes desperately that she could join them, wherever they are.
THE LUXE
A real hotel in the heart of L.A. Kamlyn, Don, Jake, and Holly stay there while they search for the key to finding Tamiel.
MARK
A good ole country boy, Mark sure knows how to sway the ladies in his favor with the sound of his sweet southern voice.
JOHN WESTON
After his first appearance in Earth Angel, where Kamlyn left him safely in the state of Washington after she destroyed the vengeful Spirit, Adoette, John makes an unexpected return- and he has a new job.
THE QUIVERING QUILL
A place completely designed by my own book-loving brain, this was the closest replica I could find to the hip, small bookstore that causes so much chaos in Kamlyn’s circle of friends.
MYSTERY CHARACTER
There’s no way to tell you who this is without ruining the book, so just enjoy the yummy picture and look forward to his appearance in Kamlyn’s world.
Hunted Angel will be available in the Kindle store and on Amazon in paperback May 12th! Catch up on the series now with
City of Bones was a great start to a thrilling series. YA novels are not typically my “drug” of choice, but this one didn’t feel “teeny” at all while I was reading. If you are looking for an exciting fantasy, this is the series for you!
The novel centers around fifteen-year-old Clary Fray. She seems ordinary enough with her passion for art and her ragtag small group of close friends. She’s very close with her mother, which is a foreign concept for me (when I was fifteen), but I’m sure some teenage girls would be able to relate to that. The novel picks up right in the first chapter when she and her friends go to an all ages dance club in downtown New York City, where she lives. This is where she first sees Jace and his pack of Shadowhunters. They kill a demon in front of her and she’s the only one who can see them. From there she is thrown into the Shadowhunter world when her mother is taken from their apartment and she’s attacked by a vicious demon. She does whatever it takes to get her mom back while learning new things about herself in the process.
I was torn about the character Clary Fray. Sometimes she was tough and independent with great comebacks to what others had to say about her. Other times she seemed a little Jace-needy and clingy, which I hated. All-in-all, though, I found her to be an enjoyable character. (And with the bomb that was dropped at the end of the book, I think the Jace neediness will be less of an issue.)
Jace was the main Shadowhunter the story focused on and the “love interest” of the book. In my opinion, he was the worst! I did not like him at all. He had no redeeming qualities. Sure, he had a hard life, thinking his mom and dad were both dead and having to be raised by a strange, new Shadowhunter family, but that’s no excuse for being the rude, sarcastic, vain, egotistical boy he turned out to be. There was no book crush there for me.
Simon, on the other hand, was a great boy character that I liked a lot. He is Clary’s best friend and not supernatural at all. He’s charming, friendly, witty, funny, loyal, and caring. I was rooting for him the entire book, if only Clary felt the same about him as he felt about her. I would love to see Jace rejected, the smug little bastard.
Isabelle was an okay character. She was the “foster sister” to Jace. She fell kind of flat for me, being the incredibly beautiful girl that all the boys love. There wasn’t much else to her except she was a Shadowhunter and could fight demons. That made her badass to a point, but I felt like I didn’t really get to know her deeply as a character.
Alec is Isabelle’s brother, and a much deeper character than his sister. He is hiding the fact that he is gay and in love with Jace from everyone around him. His sister knows, but keeps his secret to himself. Clary eventually finds out and uses the information to hurt him when they are having an argument. The only annoying thing about him was that he was literally against every single thing Jace wanted to do to help Clary find her mother. He was so negative, but we all knew it was because he didn’t want Jace to get hurt. He loved him too much.
Hodge was a good character. I envisioned him as this old professor, though he was also a Shadowhunter in his day. Hugo, the black raven that was always perched on his shoulder gave me the creeps from the beginning. I don’t particularly like birds. Hodge seemed wise, knew a lot about the Shadowhunter world, and was nice enough to include Clary and teach her about it. The end made me hate him, though. I hope we see him again in later novels.
Luke is the man who practically raised Clary as his own daughter since her father “died” before she was born, or so her mother told her. He wasn’t in the book that much until the end, so I didn’t have much of an opinion of him either way until I learned more about him. He’s a werewolf, which he kept hidden from Clary all her life. He is loyal and loving to her and her mother, which made me love him. When he was hurt badly by Valentine, it was the only point in the book where I felt emotional.
Valentine is the villain of the story. He is truly despicable. The way he manipulates Jace made me sick. What he did to Clary’s mother, making her think her son was dead, killing her parents, was awful. He was what made the novel feel more adult than YA for me. He was a murderous and callous character. The author did a great job in creating someone the readers could unite against with Clary. You want to see him dead from the moment you meet him.
Those are the characters I remember the most. If there are any more I am forgetting, the obviously didn’t make much of an impression on me or were not in the book much. Now for the story and setting…
Cassandra Clare’s strongest skill in writing was her descriptions. She did a great job of putting the reader into the scene. I could picture every place Clary was, see what she was seeing. The monsters and demons she described were perfect in my mind and made my skin crawl. It was fantastic. Emotionally, she did a good job of making the reader sympathize with Clary. There was one point where she switched point of view to Jace and I got a little jarred from that. I really didn’t care to know his point of view since I disliked him so much. Sticking with Clary was the way to go. Thankfully, it was only for a few paragraphs.
I gave this book a 4 out of 5 star review. I was very into it. The story and characters kept me reading, often longer than I intended to in a night. I already bought the second book in the series in paperback and will be starting that tonight!
I am adding a new section to my website-My 2016 Reading List. It will encompass all my Goodreads reviews for the year right here for you to read! I hope they help you find some new and great reading material for the year. The first book I read this year is Haruki Murakami’s three part novel, 1Q84. It took me about three months to read, which isn’t too bad for being 1,157 pages long. Here’s my Goodreads’ review…
Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 (FIVE STARS)
Five out of Five Stars
This was by far the longest book I’ve ever read, but even still I never lost interest in it. Haruki Murakami is magnificent at blending reality with fantasy. This is what puts him at the top of my favorite author list.
1Q84 was a brilliant mixture of mystery, murder, and romance that can’t be beat. I’ve never read anything like it. The only reason I probably wouldn’t read it again is because it took me so long to finish it.
1Q84 started as a dual perspective story of a female fitness instructor named Aomame and a teacher named Tengo. The two knew each other as children, but haven’t seen each other in over twenty years. For the longest time, we were kept in the dark what the relationship is between the two people, which was enough to keep the pages turning for me. But once I figured out how they knew each other and felt about each other, I was hooked to keep reading until they were inevitably brought together again. Eventually, a third perspective is added, a private investigator named Ushikawa. He was not a character I liked at all, but he played an important role in the two main characters getting together. One of my favorite characters was Tamaru, the old dowager’s bodyguard. He was gay, but extremely muscular and confident. He had a big heart and helped Aomame endlessly. He would have done anything for her. He and the dowager were the closest people she had to friends.
I don’t want to give away too much. All I’ll say is this is a great book you don’t want to miss. Be prepared for months of page turning and fantastic excitement.
Kamlyn Paige is hunting the supernatural on her own now, six months after graduating from the Chamber of Darkness’s training program. She still hasn’t found the demon who killed her five-year-old son, Danny, but she continues to search with no leads.
On the road, she makes an unlikely friend who helps to open her world and reveals things about herself she never knew. Kamlyn is capable of so much more than she thought in ways that will be useful in tracking the demon down.
Will she finally have her revenge and put a stop to the soul-sucking demon?
Earth Angel already has 4.5 out of 5 Amazon stars from early release reviews. Here are some blurbs to get you excited!
“Once I started reading I did not want to put it down.” – Mark D.
“Earth Angel is amazing! A heart wrenching, suspense-filled novel. It made me laugh with the main character and cry when she was put through all those horrible events. I couldn’t put it down and read it in one setting. Supernatural meets Buffy, I can’t wait to start the next one.” – Courtney
“The cover of this book caught my eye. After I read the story I found the dark colours suited the main characters life. If you like paranormal, check this book out.” -Chianne
THE LUXE
Look for it on Amazon this Saturday!
