As some of you may or may not know, I was diagnosed with Mono during this past week. So between my sporadic nap sessions, fever and need for hospital blood samples to be taken, I have had a serious lack of time to update. Just letting you all know, I will be back after a short intermission.

Also, I just finished reading (and will not be reviewing) The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber. It's an interesting read if you're really into Shakespeare and love the DaVinci Code. It's a bit slow for the first 100 pages, but it definitely picks up and before the end of it all you're seriously questioning everyone's motives. Moreover, this book is NOT YA, it is an "adult" fiction novel and by adult I do not mean "adult xxx," but more like mature reading that I probably wouldn't want my 10 year old doing... that is if I had a ten year old...which I don't...ANYHOW, I'm obviously becoming delirious. I will be off on my merry way. I will update soon with another review. Until then...

Yours,

E.B

Have you ever had one of those headaches that just refuses to go away? That's been my life for the past week. When I was a teenager, I was supposed to get my wisdom teeth pulled out, but never did and unfortunately I am paying for it. I now understand why babies cry when they are teething. Boy, oh boy does it hurt when new teeth are peaking!! Anyhow, forgive my lack of updates. I have been nursing some truly killer headaches that have practically left me blind with pain.

Anyhow, I am happy to hear that some of you have picked up City of Bones since my last review. It's nice to know I've inspired some into getting the book.

OH! Before I forget, during my absence, I had some time to reflect on how I do these entries. Honestly, every time I update this blog, it takes me a good two hours. I literally go page by page to see what I loved/hated. Those two hours don't even take into account the play lists or looking for artwork, so in order to make my life just a little bit easier I've decided to just put my absolute favorite/ most hated things on the lists. I'll also start including a bit of an overview section that will be *spoiler free* for those of you that just want to know a bit about the book without being spoiled. I'll start all this with the next book I review. Right-o. Those were all my announcements. Onward...

City of Bones, Part III: The Descent Beckons ( Chapters 21-23, + Epilogue)

Things I loved:

- I love Luke's tale. It was very Snape-ish, if you get where I'm going. I adore how he searched for Jocelyn until he found her. ::sigh:: Luke is amazing.

- Love that Luke is the head of a pack.

-The whole Clary-Luke convo about him being a wolf on page 414 kind of reminds me of a Jacob-Bella convo in a weird sort of way.

- The wolves bad ass entrance into Renwick's. Pew-pew Forsaken, take that! Pow-pow!

"Graymark," he said [Blackwell]. "What a nice surprise."
Luke stood up. "If you're surprised, you're an idiot," he said. "I didn't exactly arrive quitely."

- Luke killing Blackwell. He's a douche. He deserved it.

-Jace-Clary reunion:

"Jace!" she said again, and ran toward him. He caught her as she flung herself at him. His arms wrapped tightly around her.
"Clary." His voice was almost unrecognizable. "Clary, what are you doing here?"
Her voice was muffled against his shirt. "I came for you."
"You shouldn't have." His grip on her loosened suddenly; he stepped back, holding her a little away from him. "My God," he said, touching her face. "You idiot, what a thing to do." His voice was angry, but the gaze that swept her face, the fingers that gently brushed her hair back, were tender. She had never seen him look like this; there was a sort of fragility about him, as if he might be not just touched but hurt, even. "Why don't you ever think?" he whispered.
"I was thinking," she said. "I was thinking about you."
He closed his eyes for a moment. "If anything had happened to you..." His hands traced the line of her arms gently, down to her wrists, as if to reassure himself that she was there.

Swoon a lot? I think so.

- I love the description of Jace's "nauseous horror" when he found out the truth about Clary, his old life and who his mother is.

- The fact that Clary threw herself in front of Luke to save him is so unbelievably commendable. Like I said before, Clary is brave and amazing.


- Love this convo between Jace and Clary:

"You have a family," she said. "Family, those are just the people who love you. Like the Lightwoods love you. Alec, Isabelle -" Her voice cracked. "Luke is my family, and you're going to make me watch him die just like you thought you watched your father die when you were ten years old? Is this what you want, Jace? Is this the kind of man you want to be? Like -"
She broke off, suddenly terrified that she had gone too far.
"Like my father," he said.

The fact that this was followed by Jace standing up to his father and telling him that his name was not Jonathan Morgenstern, but Jace Wayland. WOW. Amazing. For your enjoyment, here it is:

Valentine's voice was like a whip. "Jonathan Morgenstern-"
Quick as lightning, Jace seized the hilt of the sword, tore it free from the floorboards, and raised it. He held it lightly, level and flat, the point hovering a few inches below his father's chin. "That's not my name," he said. "My name is Jace Wayland."
Valentine's eyes were still fixed on Jace; he barely seemed to notice the sword at his throat. "Wayland?" he roared. "You have no Wayland blood! Michael Wayland was a stranger to you-"
"So," said Jace calmly, "are you." He jerked the sword to the left. "Now move."

- Love the kind of adoration Luke has for Jocelyn. The way he stays with her at the hospital... so cute.

- I like that Isabelle, Alec and Clary all made up.

- I like that Jace agrees to go see Jocelyn at the end of the book.

Things out of place:

- Valentine. I hate Valentine. I loathe him for telling Luke to kill himself, for the bloodshed in the Hall of the Angel, for what he did to Jocelyn, etc.

- I so wish that Clary had been right and that Valentine was lying about being Jace's father because I HATE HATE HATE that Clary and Jace are brother and sister. I still think this is going to solve itself out in City of Glass and it will all end well, but for right now. DEATH.

- Anyone else feel that the Silent Brothers never do anything? First, they can't help Clary. Now, they can't help Jocelyn. Seriously, what can they do?

Like I said in the first part of this review, I really liked this book. I think it was really good and extremely entertaining. I loved all the characters. I enjoyed having New York has the backdrop for a fantasy novel. All in all: good, fun book. I was going to review City of Ashes next, which is Book II in the trilogy, but I decided I'm going to hold off until a bit before City of Glass comes out.

Anyhow, that's all. So concludes my review for City of Bones by Cassandra Clare.

Rating for City of Bones: A

Also, here are some really cool websites for this author:

Cassandra Clare's personal blog

Cassandra Clare's Myspace

Mortal Instruments Group on Google

On the google group, Clare actually posts snip its of the next book (City of Glass) every month. It's pretty awesome.

I'm not entirely sure which book I'm going to be reviewing next. It will either be The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky or The Society of S by Susan Hubbard. Perks is a heartbreakingly, amazing book about a kid named Charlie and his experience as a freshman in high school, while Society of S is a rather sophisticated (albeit unknown) vampire book. I haven't decided which I will do first. I guess stick around and find out! See you again soon!