When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder—much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It’s hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing—not even a smear of blood—to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary’s first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It’s also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace’s world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . .

CASSIE CLARE STRIKES AGAIN.

JACE JACE JACE JACE JACE JACE *FLAILS ARMS WILDLY* 

Now I can't decide whether I like Jace or Will more. *huffs*

I IS OBSESSED AGAIN.

I LIKE CLARY MORE THAN TESSA, THOUGH.

MUST GO READ CITY OF ASHES NOW.

READREADREADREADREADREAD.

THE COVER IS AWKWARD. PAY IT NO MIND.

SO PSYCHED FOR THE MOVIE.

AHAHAHAHA *yay*
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Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life - dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge - he follows.

After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues - and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer Q gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew.

GREEN GENIUS. (A phrase borrowed from my good friend, who introduced me to John Green. And Cassandra Clare. But more on Cassie later.)

BUT ANYWAY. GREEN GENIUS IS KILLING ME.

I honestly could not find anything wrong with this book. Quentin and Margo were done to perfection, and... urrgghhh.... Margo is AMAZING. Quentin gets pretty amazing, too, but that's over the course of the book.

The supporting characters are funny, supportive (OH DUH SUPPORTING CHARACTERS), and really just a buoyant factor for the whole novel. Without them, Quentin probably would have gotten all depressed and then Paper Towns would just have been completely black. AND OBVIOUSLY, THAT'S NOT COOL. BECAUSE... GREEN GENIUS. (You can tell I'm going to keep saying that. *winks*)

The plot points were brilliant, and the quotes... epic as usual. I MEAN, WHAT ELSE CAN YOU EXPECT FROM JOHN GREEN?

Officially a John Green fan now, guys...

READREADREADREADREADREADREADREADREADREADREAD.
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Orphaned at birth, Eliza Sommers is raised in the British colony of Valparaíso, Chile, by the well-intentioned Victorian spinster Miss Rose and her more rigid brother Jeremy. Just as she meets and falls in love with the wildly inappropriate Joaquín Andieta, a lowly clerk who works for Jeremy, gold is discovered in the hills of Northern California. By 1849, Chileans of every stripe have fallen prey to feverish dreams of wealth. Joaquín takes off for San Francisco to seek his fortune, and Eliza, pregnant with his child, decides to follow him.

So begins Isabel Allende's enchanting novel Daughter of Fortune. As we follow her spirited heroine on a perilous journey north in the hold of a ship to the rough-and-tumble world of San Francisco and Northern California, we enter a world whose newly arrived inhabitants are driven mad by gold fever. A society of single men and prostitutes—among whom Eliza moves with the help of her good friend and savior, the Chinese doctor Tao Chi'en—California opens the door to a new life of freedom and independence for the young Chilean. Her search for the elusive Joaquín gradually turns into another kind of journey that transforms her over time, and what began as a search for love ends up as the conquest of personal freedom. By the time she finally hears news of him, Eliza must decide who her true love really is.

Daughter of Fortune is a sweeping portrait of an era, a story rich in character, history, violence, and compassion. In Eliza, Allende has created one of her most appealing heroines, an adventurous, independent-minded, and highly unconventional young woman who has the courage to reinvent herself and to create her hard-won destiny in a new country.


This is more adult fiction, but it was so good.

Eliza was definitely a complex and layered and awesome heroine. Her single-minded passion, her internal struggle, her journeys, everything is just completely believable and there.

ALSO, THE SETTING. Not everyone can pull off historical fiction as achingly realistic as that. In fact, like I've said before, I usually don't even like historical fiction. But the world can surprise a girl. The richness of description make you feel not as if you are walking the streets of Valparaíso or San Francisco, but as if you already have had these streets in your bones all your life.

Tao Chi'en had an intriguing backstory and he was a good guy. He also had complexities, and that really got me about this book - how easily believable and honest every character was. How there were no flat characters. Each one had a definite and honest story.

The writing style was a bit heady, somewhat difficult to take in all at once, which meant I read slower than usual. However, the end result was totally worth it - the story, while seemingly shapeless while you're reading, takes on a whole new form once you're finished.

So if you feel you're ready to make the transition to adult fiction, then by all means, give it a shot.
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June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the unthinkable happens: the Elector Primo dies, and his son Anden takes his place. With the Republic edging closer to chaos, the two join a group of Patriot rebels eager to help Day rescue his brother and offer passage to the Colonies. They have only one request—June and Day must assassinate the new Elector.

It’s their chance to change the nation, to give voice to a people silenced for too long.

But as June realizes this Elector is nothing like his father, she’s haunted by the choice ahead. What if Anden is a new beginning? What if revolution must be more than loss and vengeance, anger and blood—what if the Patriots are wrong?


Erm. Well.

So to sum this book up: epic action, a big fat love square, a strange worldview, aaannnd... well, I don't know. It wasn't, like, terrific, but it was pretty good.

There's a really interesting dynamic between June and Day throughout the whole book. I mean, I don't know about you guys, but I've always liked June better for some reason. She's kick-butt, and yes, I know they're supposed to be exactly the same in intelligence, but Day is just dense at times. Only June, for once, needs help. But Day is still dense.

Especially about Tess.

TESS, I HATE YOU. I'm sorry. In Legend she seems like the sweetest little puppy girl ever. And then. She. Starts. Bad-mouthing. June. After everything the poor girl has done for her. On top of all that, she's into Day and is trying to stop June and Day from being together.

UNGRATEFUL. LITTLE. GIRL.

However, I wasn't sure about the direction that Marie Lu was taking her in, so it's going to be interesting to see what happens with Tess in Champion (book 3, set to come out November 5, 2013).

Oh, BTW, here's the Champion summary (no cover yet though):
He is a Legend.
She is a Prodigy.
Who will be Champion?

June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic—and each other—and now their country is on the brink of a new existence. June is back in the good graces of the Republic, working within the government’s elite circles as Princeps Elect while Day has been assigned a high level military position. But neither could have predicted the circumstances that will reunite them once again. Just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic’s border cities. This new strain of plague is deadlier than ever, and June is the only one who knows the key to her country’s defense. But saving the lives of thousands will mean asking the one she loves to give up everything he has.


URRGGH. It sounds really good, but I just don't know about the direction this series is going in, ya know?

Anyhow, Prodigy was okaay, so you can try picking it up if you've read Legend. (Then again, I may just be willing to read this series for June alone. :D)

PS: Apparently they're making a movie of Legend. Sounds good, since all the action will work really well, but Day is part Mongolian :( So I fear for the casting here.

UPDATE 5/18/2013:
Soooo who has seen the new Champion cover?
It's actually pretty cool-looking. So I guess I might read it.
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Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning-author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.


I finally read this.

I bought it, actually.

Totally, totally, totally worth it.

So read.

I'll sum it up using this beautiful image that I found on Tumblr.
http://25.media.tumblr.com/621a907bb45b4e2362477d0e60148699/tumblr_mkwb15IRrg1qz4d4bo1_500.jpg

Now read it.
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