REVIEW: City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

If you have never read The Mortal Instruments Series, or The Infernal Devices series, then I suggest you do so right now. Stop whatever you are doing and go and buy the books and binge read them immediately because they are amazing. (Well I think so at least)

Note: There will most likely be spoilers in this post, you have been warned!

I feel like I have been waiting for this book for just about forever and it finally came out and I was not disappointed in the slightest.

The character development was perfect and everything was perfectly wrapped and packaged at the end.

After reading Allegiant by Veronica Roth I was so scared to finish this book because I did not think I could survive the death of Clary, Jace, Isabelle, Alec, Simon, or Magnus and thank the good Lord in heaven that Cassandra Clare granted me mercy.

I loved the way that Emma Carstairs was introduced in this book. I was a little iffy about liking the new characters after reading the prologue, but as they were slowly introduced in the story I can honestly say I am so ready to read TDA!

My favorite part of this book is going to have to be when Brother Zachariah (aka JEM!!!) and Tessa talk to Clary and Jace. I love when Zachariah is remembering his past life, and the love he has for Will and Tessa. Whenever I had to read about him I felt myself reliving the end of Clockwork Princess.

I haven’t always been a huge fan of Malec because sometimes I feel like Alec is too whiney but in this book he developed so much and I really grew to love him and I am so happy that Magnus and Alec got a happy ending.

I can’t even discuss the amount of joy I have that Clace is still together and alive and well, and Jace brought up them living together in Herondale manor, because he is going to take the Herondale name. And their steamy scene in the demon realm…. (SO MANY FEELS!!)

Sizzy is so adorable and I couldn’t contain my happiness when Simon remembered Izzy after his memories were taken from him! And Simon is going to be a shadowhunter now? What?! He better be in TDA because I need to see how that is going to work out!

I loved that when Clary finally stabbed Sebastian that all the evil got burned away and for a few moments “Jonathan” was there to help them. It was genuinely heart breaking and almost made me feel bad for him….almost.

My least favorite parts in the book were honestly whenever I had to read from Maia’s POV. I just felt like she was a boring character and I never really connected with her when she was introduced. Although I do love Bat and wish he would’ve been in the story more.

This book was perfect. I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better, happier ending than what was given, and let’s be real, after Clockwork Princess, I do believe Cassy owed it to all of us.

Book Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

American Author, Rainbow Rowell, released her second young adult novel “Fangirl” on September 10 2013.
Rowell also wrote the New York Times Bestselling novel “Eleanor and Park”.

I could not have related any better with a main character from a book than I did with Cather Avery. As a college freshman myself, every time Cath worried about something, I would cringe at the remembrance of when I worried about the exact same thing just a few months ago.

I absolutely love the character development of not only Cath but also her twin sister Wren, who likes to play it off like she is the cooler one who is over Simon Snow and the entire fandom, when in all reality she is just as much a geek as Cath.

Levi was like a breath of fresh air. Often in books I find that the main character’s love interest seems to be portrayed as some dark mysterious, secretive boy, but Levi basically lays it all on the table the second he meets Cath, it’s just a matter of her realizing it.

Reagan’s character was so real as well. Sometimes the hard, “I don’t give a Sh**” girl turns out to be some soft marshmallowy person at the end of the book, but Reagan’s stayed stone cold throughout the whole story, while still remaining one of Cath’s best friends.

My favorite part had to be towards the end when Wren and Cath are fangirling over the new Simon Snow book and Cath’s roommate just finds them odd, because that’s exactly how my roommate looks at me when I fangirl over Harry Potter.

If you loved Eleanor and Park I hundred percent recommend this book

Book Review: Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Allegiant is the third and final book in American author, Veronica Roth’s trilogy, “Divergent”, and was released October 22 2013.

I should probably start off by saying that this book tore me apart in ways that not many books can. When I think back to how I was feeling at the end, I still get choked up and upset about it.
I’m not sure I have been this devastated over a book ending since “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, but let me start off on a lighter note.

I loved seeing Tobias’ point of view in this book.
We finally get to see how he thinks, and how he isn’t just some macho, tough guy who isn’t afraid to face his fears. Roth showed us, as readers, that on the inside Tobias is just a little boy looking for some way to cope with the fear he still holds inside for his father.
Although I must admit, his whining about not being divergent was a bit much. I mean, he still has the same kind of “power” that any divergent person has, so doesn’t that make him even more special?

The interaction between Tobias and Tris is absolutely adorable. I will always ship FOURTRIS they will forever be my OTP regardless of how this book ended!

Although the moment that Tris punches Caleb is one of my favorites in this book, I also loved that she forgave him in the end because she remembered the good in him, despite the fact that he basically brought her to her execution.

There is so much character development with Tris that it’s hard to believe that these books are not set that far apart from each other. Honestly I think that she may be one of the best heroine characters that I have read about in a long while. She sacrifices herself for the greater good, and for her brother who, in my mind at least, deserved to be sent into that vault instead of Tris. She may have been selfish but it she was the most selfless, selfish person I have ever read about, if that even makes sense or seems possible.

(And can I just say they NEED to put the zip line scene in the movie because it is so vital for the series now that we’ve seen how the third book ends. And if Uriah isn’t in the movies I will be so angry!)

The ending of this book may have devastated millions of fans, but it is such a raw, and real ending to a series, and that is all any fan could really ask for.
We all wanted that happy ending. We wanted Tobias and Tris to be together and have a happily ever after ending because honestly that’s what they deserved, but real life isn’t like that, and Veronica Roth did not hold back on showing us how life doesn’t always play out in our favor.

I went through so much denial, that even in the Epilogue I was telling myself that Tris was going to pop up and be alive, even when I knew Tobias had her ashes! (Some people would call this a state of delusion)

While, I did love this book and I do love this series, I felt a little more than just sadness when I was finished. There was a hint of disappointment scratching at my mind as well, and I when I say a hint, I literally mean just a small speck.

The pace of Roth’s books seemed to get slower and slower as her series progressed, and there were times when I was reading and thinking to myself “did that scene really need to be in there?”

Regardless, there will always be things people do and do not like in book series, no one will ever agree on what the perfect ending is, but I do believe that Veronica Roth surprised millions of her fans in such a way that I don’t think we get to see much in books now-a-days, and that is what keeps me excited to read.

“…and it’s laughter, not light, that casts out the darkness building within me, that reminds me I am still alive” – TRIS PRIOR

Book Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

American Author, Rainbow Rowell, released her first young adult novel “Eleanor & Park” in February 2013. The book won the 2014 Michael L. Printz Award for young adult literature and reached the New York Times bestsellers top 10 list in 2013.

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, Eleanor & Park is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

Have you ever loved a book so much you wanted everyone to read it but at the same time you wanted to hold it against your chest and protect it from everybody because it was so special to you that you wanted it to be all yours? This is one of those books for me.

“Eleanor & Park” is a story of first love between two misfits who attend highschool in 1986.

Eleanor Douglas is big girl with bright red hair (the kids on her bus and at school refer to her as “Big Red”), who comes from a not-so-stable background. After being sent to live with family friends for a year she returns to her home in Omaha with her mother, alcoholic step-dad, Richie, and her younger siblings with whom she is forced to share a bedroom.

Park is half-Korean and just passable as a popular kid. He gets through school by keeping his, music and comic book loving head down and blending in. When Eleanor sits down next to him on the first day of school he dreads every second of it. That is, however, until he catches her reading his comic books over his shoulder as they ride to school and back home.

The gradual shift from allowing Eleanor to read over his shoulder, to lending her his comic books, and their eventual bonding over music leads to an intense sequence of hand holding.

Yes, as strange as it sounds, the hand holding in this book was some of the most descriptive well-written hand holding I’ve ever read in a young adult novel.

“Holding hands with Eleanor was like holding a butterfly. Or a heartbeat.”

But like every young romance, there are obstacles that just seem to get in the way, like Park’s ex-girlfriend, Eleanor’s skeezy stepdad, and of course the biggest obstacle of them all seems to be fate.

This is the type of book that makes you press the pages to your face and squeal because it’s so cute, or because it makes you feel so gut wrenchingly embarrassed for the character.

My heart hurt by the end of it, and I have to admit I was a soggy mess by the time I got to the last page, but that is the kind of book that I love to read. This book made me feel things. It got a rise out of me in a positive and negative way, and those are the kinds of books worth remembering.
Eleanor and Park are just two teenagers trying to figure out what love is and how to hold onto it, and I am so happy that I got to go on this journey with them.