Book Thoughts: Clockwork Angel

Title: Clockwork Angel
Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: Infernal Devices #1

I think I would have loved Clockwork Angel a lot more if I hadn't been very busy noticing all the similarities to the Mortal Instruments series (which I absolutely adored). That said, I still thought Clockwork Angel was pretty freaking awesome.

Tessa makes an excellent protagonist - her feelings about/relationship with her brother are awesome, especially later on in the novel - and I adored Charlotte, but I think my favorite characters are the boys. Henry is adorable and reminded me of a cross between Beetee from the Hunger Games series and Luna Lovegood...but Will and Jem were the best. I would love to be friends with Jem in real life, and Will... oh, Will. I can't decide whether I love him or want to strangle him - which means that I agree with just about everyone else in the novel. I kept comparing him to Jace from TMI, but fortunately it's been long enough since I read those that I was able to (mostly) come at this as an independent story, and I loved it.

I'd offer you some quotes, but a) I'd have to pick just a few favorites, and b) they'll be so much better if you find out for yourself.

The plot was awesome too. I kept wanting to find out what happens - I've gotten pretty good at figuring out endings long before I get there lately, but Clockwork Angel had some major twists that genuinely surprised me and were executed very well. I'm really not sure how much I can say without being too spoilery, but I do think the jacket description plays up romance too much. It's definitely there but it takes a backseat to the mystery and suspense, which was good. Once I started reading Clockwork Angel I did not want to put it down (I had to at times, but I'd have loved to read it straight through). It kept me turning the pages and I am so sad that I have to wait until next September for the second one!

Also I love the cover. The cover is awesome and 1800s-England-y (which is fitting) and Shadowhunter-y (also fitting) and I just think it's lovely. And the setting! England in 1878 is a delightful setting. And my friends can attest to the fact that I slipped into old-fashioned British English for a bit while I was reading it. Oops. Oh, and the literary references! *happy sigh*

Definitely, definitely read this one if you get the chance and like supernatural things. I simply loved it! I do think, though, that City of Bones and the rest of the Mortal Instruments series were better. So read those too!

Book Thoughts: Halo

Title: Halo
Author: Alexandra Adornetto
Series: Halo #1

I have to start off with a little bit of cover love. I absolutely adore this cover. I'm not sure what it is about it that makes it so amazing, but it is seriously one of the most gorgeous book covers I can think of. Beautiful.

And of course, it helps that the story inside is also wonderful. I love Bethany as a protagonist. She is so wonderful and relatable and she just feels so genuine, even though she's an angel. Also, if anyone is worried about this book getting "too preachy" since it's about angels...quit worrying. Yes, obviously talk about God is involved, it's about angels, but it's not trying to convince anyone to convert.

Anyway. Back to how Bethany is a fantastic protagonist, and Xavier is an excellent love interest. (He really is, and he's totally human and non-stalkerish, too. I want my own Xavier Woods.) And have I mentioned that Bethany is just a wonderful character? And Gabriel and Ivy are great too, and Molly, and Jake...Alexandra Adornetto does characters well. Very well.

And the plot was also quite awesome. There were some things that I definitely predicted, but other things that had me wondering, and it sucked me in - I needed to keep reading it until I finished. I also think it wrapped up this storyline nicely enough as a stand-alone but also set itself up well for a sequel (which, by the way, I am dying to read). There were moments where I couldn't help drawing some rather unfortunate parallels to my least favorite part of Twilight, but they were few and far between. And Bethany and Xavier are a much better couple than...well, actually, a better couple than a lot of YA couples.

In places, the writing was a little awkward, but those moments too were few and far between. I noticed them, but they didn't detract from my love of the story. And the characters. I swear, I could go on all day about how much I adore Bethany and Xavier (and Gabriel and Ivy), except that you'd all get bored and tell me to shut up.

To sum up: Do not hesitate. Go read Halo now. You won't regret it. :)

Book Thoughts: Unearthly

Title: Unearthly
Author: Cynthia Hand
Series: Unearthly #1

I don't even know where to start. School and travel made it hard for me to really get started with this one, but once I started, I barely put it down (exceptions: participation-required school events, such as a physics quiz. Stupid school). It was fantastic. Unearthly sucked me in and wouldn't let me go.

The summary seems a little off to me; at the beginning of the novel, Clara already knows she's part angel. In fact, she is receiving her Purpose - the big mission that is basically the point of her life. Her family (Clara, her mom, and her brother Jeffrey) moves to Wyoming so that she can find the boy who she believes she must save from a forest fire, but she doesn't have a clue about the particulars. Christian is everything she imagined the boy of her dreams to be, and then there's Tucker - her best friend's brother, who picks on her incessantly from the moment she arrives and who just might really like her. And while Clara is figuring out her Purpose in life, she's also learning more than she thought there was to know about her angel heritage...

Cynthia Hand has created a world that is absolutely riveting. I love, love, love her idea of angel-bloods and their Purposes, and just everything about the supernatural world she has created. And the characters are really fantastic - not just Clara and Christian and Tucker, but also Wendy and Angela and Jeffrey and Clara's mom (and, and, and...). Any one of them could easily be real; they're multifaceted and flawed, and the relationships between the characters seemed genuine too. Not to mention the story itself, which was simply captivating -- I needed to keep reading, to find out what would happen next, what else the characters would face.

I'm trying hard not to just go into a gushing rant about Unearthly but apparently that isn't working so well. At any rate, I loved this book, and I absolutely recommend it. Go forth and read!

Book Thoughts: Hush, Hush

Title: Hush, Hush
Author: Becca Fitzpatrick
Series: Hush, Hush #1

Oh my gosh. Ohhhh my gosh. So I finished reading HUSH, HUSH today. And I'm kinda speechless. It was absolutely AMAZING.

At first I thought it was going to be just another dark fantasy romance novel. They're good, not amazing, but good. And seriously, I have never been so glad to be wrong. I fell in love with the story from the very first chapter, and it just got better from there.

Patch Cipriano is the ultimate bad boy, and he's also kinda perfect in that dark, flawed way. We meet Patch because he is Nora Grey's lab partner. Nora is not at all happy with this arrangement, because Patch is creepy - and also strangely magnetic. She feels drawn to him in a way she can't explain and doesn't at all like. So when a man in a ski mask starts stalking her, she can't help but suspect Patch, especially when she starts hearing him in her mind. I can't say anything more without giving out any spoilers, which I absolutely refuse to do, but ohmygosh you should read this book.

Book Thoughts: Fallen

Title: Fallen
Author: Lauren Kate
Series: Fallen #1

Fallen is about a girl named Luce who has been seeing shadows that no one else can see since she was very young. Recently, she was with her crush Trevor at a party, and something happened that resulted in Trevor's death. Luce doesn't know any more about it than anyone else, but she was with him, so she has been implicated in the murder.

So now, Luce is at Sword & Cross, a reform school in Savannah, Georgia where she's meeting all sorts of strange people - including Daniel Grigori. Daniel is gorgeous, and Luce is convinced that she knows him from somewhere, but he seems strangely determined to hate her. And then there's Cam, who is sweet and friendly and totally into Luce. She's not sure how to juggle her feelings for Daniel and Cam's feelings for  her, but she is determined to find out why she's so sure she knows Daniel.

I don't think I can say any more than that without giving out spoilers. I wish I'd been able to read the final published copy; I read an ARC that I got back in November, and there are a lot of typos and a couple of sections where there are sentences missing. I kind of felt like that detracted from it, but it was a wonderful story and if you get the chance to read it (the actual published version) you DEFINITELY should. (Assuming you're into paranormal romance, which this definitely is.)

Book Thoughts: City of Bones

Title: City of Bones
Author: Cassandra Clare
Series: The Mortal Instruments #1

[[I wrote this when I was 15 and am importing it for archive purposes only, but I *am* keeping it, because it accurately captures how much I loved it -- in a very 15-year-old way.]]

Okay, so I finished City of Bones by Cassandra Clare today and it was soooo amazing. I LOVED it with a capital L-O-V-E-D. It was hilarious and witty but also really serious and action-packed and adventurous and fantastical (fantasy-ish...I guess the word is fantastical anyway).

So basically it's this girl named Clary Fray and she goes to the Pandemonium Club in NYC with her best friend Simon and she witnesses a murder. Except that she's the only one who can see the murderers and the body disappears into thin air. The murderers are Shadowhunters - demon killers. They're really shocked that Clary can see them, and they want to take her back to the Institute - pretty much their home base in NY. Except then Clary's mother gets kidnapped by a Ravener demon, and Clary almost gets killed. The Shadowhunters - Jace, Alec, Isabelle, and Hodge - bring Clary and Simon to their Institute, and there's a whole lot of adventures and excitement and mystery and action and it was completely amazing.

Yes, I'm ranting. Just a little. But it was an AwEsOmE book!

And a couple of my favorite quotes...

Clary: “Those girls on the other side of the car are looking at you.”

Jace: “Of course they are. I am stunningly attractive.”

Clary: “Haven’t you ever heard that modesty is an attractive trait?”

Jace: “Only from ugly people. The meek may inherit the earth, but at the moment it belongs to the conceited. Like me.”

Jace: “I wish you’d stop desperately trying to get my attention like this. It’s become embarrassing.”

Clary: “Sarcasm is the last refuge of the imaginatively bankrupt.”

Jace: “I can’t help it. I use my rapier wit to hide my inner pain.”

Clary: “Your pain will be outer soon if you don’t get out of traffic. Are you trying to get run over by a cab?”

Jace: “Don’t be ridiculous. We could never get a cab that easily in this neighborhood.”

Jace: “My one true love remains myself.”

Dorothea: “At least you don’t have to worry about rejection, Jace Wayland.”

Jace: “Not necessarily. I turn myself down occasionally, just to keep it interesting.”

There are others, but some of them contain spoilers, and the whole novel is freaking amazing and I definitely can't post the whole novel, so...GO READ THE BOOK!!!!