Cassandra Clare's Complete Collection (For NOW... Muahahaha!)

So, as many of you know, the last book in the Mortal Instruments, City of Heavenly Fire, was released on May 27th. And while it was the end of TMI, we'll be seeing more of the Shadowhunter series soon, with the release of Lady Midnight, the first of the Dark Artifices in 2015. Cassandra Clare has also said that there will be a series called the Last Hours, which is set in 1903 and deals with the generation after the Infernal Devices. The series takes it's name from Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, and the direct quote (which is straight from Cassie's website) is this:

You have been in every line I have ever read, since I first came here, the rough common boy whose poor heart you wounded even then. You have been in every prospect I have ever seen since — on the river, on the sails of the ships, on the marshes, in the clouds, in the light, in the darkness, in the wind, in the woods, in the sea, in the streets. You have been the embodiment of every graceful fancy that my mind has ever become acquainted with. The stones of which the strongest London buildings are made, are not more real, or more impossible to be displaced by your hands, than your presence and influence have been to me, there and everywhere, and will be. Estella, to the last hours of my life, you cannot choose but remain part of my character, part of the little good in me, part of the evil. — Great Expectations, Charles Dickens

The Last Hours series is to have three books, as with the Infernal Devices, called Chain of Thorns, Chain of Gold, and Chain of Iron, which is also a reference to Great Expectations.
("Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.” — Great Expectations)

Cassie's website also says that the books will interconnect with The Dark Artifices trilogy as two separate trilogies that are also the stories of Blackthorns, Herondales, and Carstairs, much like TMI and The Infernal Devices interconnected despite taking place in different time periods and locations. The exact order of publication isn't decided yet. Lady Midnight will be the next Shadowhunter book coming out, though. And least ye forget, The Bane Chronicles, which is coming out November 11th in a complete collection. You can, however, buy the separate e-Books, but I'm waiting until they're released on paperback. There is The Shadowhunter's Codex as well. 

I, for one, am excited about the new books, though I am sad that The Mortal Instruments is over. Though, Cassie says that we might see some of the characters in the Dark Artifices, but they aren't main characters. Alas, either way, it's sure to be heart-stoppingly excellent.. 

Cassandra Clare's "The Mortal Instruments", "The Infernal Devices", and "The Shadowhunter's Codex" (though you can't see it very clearly) completed and proudly displayed on my bookshelf 

When A Book Is Made Into A Movie: Pet Peeves

So, we all love seeing our favorite books on the big screen, right? I know that as a child, some of the first movies that I remember watching are the Lord of the Rings trilogy (though it scared me at the time!) and the Harry Potter movies (the Fourth 1 also scared me!). It was after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (the book) was released that I started reading the series, and I was about 11 years old. I remember that it took me a while to read them the first time around, but I loved them. I cried during the 6th book when Dumbledore died, and I cried during the 7th book. Luckily, I still had a while to go before the last of the movies were released, so my "Potter days" were long from over, as I'd only just been introduced to the fabulous world of Harry Potter.
Now, this is not a Harry Potter post. I love the movies and the books, and I was so sad when it ended, but Hogwarts will always be there to welcome me home. (That's a direct quote from J.K Rowling). This post is about movie pet peeves. Now, we all have them, especially when said movie is based on a book. If you're like me, you read the book before the movie comes out. So, you know what they leave out and what they add in and what they don't.

My biggest pet peeves are:

• When they make a really good book into a movie, and the movie is really cheesy and silly and all around bad. (For example, Beautiful Creatures. Yes, the cast, in my mind, was perfect. But it was the complete opposite of the book! I loved the book, but the movie kind of made it look bad.)
• Focusing too much on the romance. Okay, I'm a female. I do like romance. Do I want romance in every flipping scene? No. Do I want them to say "Oh, I love you," after they've known each other for only a few days? Absolutely not. Because that's not realistic. I hate the insta-love thing. I can handle it in a book, especially if it's well written, but I hate it on the big screen. It's just cheesy. 
• When things aren't properly explained. Alright, I've not seen too much of this, as book-made-movies are usually okay at trying to explain it, especially when not everyone's read the books, but I'd like to know the hows and the whys. Like, they could've explained the Horcruxes and Dumbledore and Ariana alot more in the movies, but they didn't. They could've shown a bit more of Neville's parents. They could've told us about Voldemort's mother. People who'd read the books knew that, but the non-readers didn't. They were probably confused. 

Now, I could go on and on. But it's getting late, and my eyes are starting to hurt from looking at my computer screen. So, I should be off to bed. Just a friendly reminder, The Fault in Our Stars will be in theatres June 6! So lets wear orange and bring along some Kleenex. :( 

City of Heavenly Fire!! (& Info about The Dark Artifices)

So this post really doesn't need an explanation. For all you Shadowhunters out there, you've all been waiting as long as I have for today (May 27th).
At last, after months and months of suffering, re-reads, and snippets that broke our fangirl hearts, City of Heavenly Fire has finally been released!
I was so excited when I woke up this morning and realized that today, TODAY, I could finally get my hands on the book that I had been waiting since last year (when City of Lost Souls came out and I read it in like three days) for.
I just about cried when my Mom gave it to me. And proceeded to stare at it with wonder for the rest of the car ride, barely able to hold back from starting it. Several hours later, as I write this, the book sits next to me on my bed. I'm already 399 pages in, and let me tell you- it's been one heck of a ride so far. Epic. I will not spoil anything as of yet, though, and my full review will come later, but I just wanted to post today and celebrate the release of the book. Some of you lucky people got the book delivered a day early, but every moment of waiting so far has been entirely worth it for me.

Alas, the last epic book in the series that began with City of Bones, has finally been released. It is with a great sadness that I read my book, knowing that it will be a while before we hear of the badass Shadowhunters again. For fear not, dear Shadowhunters, there will be more! Cassandra Clare plans to write several "Shadowhunter" chronicles, and the next series, which will take place in Los Angeles five years after the events of City of Heavenly Fire, has been named.

The Dark Artifices. 

It will be released in 2015, starting with "Lady Midnight". Here is a summary of "Lady Midnight".

Los Angeles, 2012. 
It's been five years since the events of the Mortal Instruments when Nephilim stood poised on the brink of oblivion and Shadowhunter Emma Carstairs lost her parents. After the blood and violence she witnessed as a child, Emma has dedicated her life to the eradication of demons and being the best, fastest and deadliest Shadowhunter since Jace Lightwood. Raised in the Los Angeles Institute, Emma is paired as a parabati with her best friend, Julian. As Emma hunts those who caused the death of her parents, the trail they're following leads back to those they've always been taught to trust. At the same time, Emma is falling in love with Julian-- her closest friend, and because he is her parabati, the one person in the world she's forbidden by Shadowhunter Law to love. Set against the glittering backdrop of present day Los Angeles, Emma must learn to trust her head and her heart as she investigates a demonic plot that stretches from the warlock-run nightclubs of the Sunset Strip to the enchanted sea that pounds the beaches of Santa Monica. 

Okay. So, that sounds pretty epic. 'Course we've got about a year to wait, probably longer seeing as how Clare likes to torture us. But, in the meantime, we can be tortured by the amazingness that is City of Heavenly Fire, and (hopefully) the City of Ashes movie, starring Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace and Lily Collins as Clary.

My Copy of City of Heavenly Fire.

Review of City of Heavenly Fire will come soon. Probably in a week or two, once I re-read it and fully grasp everything that happened in this 733 page book of epicness. Yes, I realize the word "epic" was used several times in this post. Sorry. I can't help it. I always use "epic" when describing a Cassandra Clare novel.. Anyway, in the meantime, feel free to sound off in the comments your thoughts about this book, and what you think of the Dark Artifices. :)

Dream Vacation Locations

To me, "paradise" is a lot more than a huge library full of my favorite books. "Paradise" is a place where the sun is always shining and its always warm and filled with fantasic food (and I can eat as much as I want without getting full!). For me, paradise is Florida. I've not been since February of 2009, but I miss it pretty much every day and follow a ton of Disney-related blogs. It fills me with a sense of nostalgia when I remember all the good times we had at Disney World, and I long to visit again one day. 

Now, there are plenty of other places that can be called "paradise". And this is a list of places I would simply love to visit one day! 

1. Venice, Italy 
2. Verona, Italy 
3. Greece 
4. London, England
5. New York City 
6. Jamaica 
7. Caribbean 
8. Bahamas 
9. Fiji 
10. Hawaii 

What's YOUR idea of a dream vacation? I prefer tropical. I feel like, as a writer, living somewhere tropical would be a great place for inspiration. What about you? 

What I've Read So Far In 2014 (Not Including Re-reads)

So, it's April. Almost the end of April. And if you're a diehard Shadowhunter like me, you know what that means: 34 days until the final, heartstopping book in Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series, City of Heavenly Fire, comes out. And if you're like me, you're probably having a fangirl-attack. And you're probably panicking because none of those snippets sound good, and we have no idea what's going to happen to our favorite characters, and we're both excited and scared to read the next book.

But there are plenty of other books to read until City of Heavenly Fire hits shelves, and I've kept myself quite busy reading, trying not to think about possible deaths. Not exactly easy, as plenty of other books can trigger the feels, but I try.

So, below is a list of what I've read so far in 2014, and it does not include re-reads (I've done a lot of re-reading recently, as well).

• Unhinged (Splintered, 2) by A.G. Howard 
• Vitro by Jessica Khoury 
• Fallen series and Teardrop by Lauren Kate 
• Angelfall (Penryn and the End of Days, 1) by Susan Ee 
• Invisibility by Andrea Cremer and David Leviathan 
• Avalon (Avalon, 1) by Mindee Arnett 
• The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden, 2) by Julie Kagawa
• Angel Fever (Angel, 3) by L.A Weatherly 
• Rift and Rise (Nightshade prequels) by Andrea Cremer 
• The Iron Traitor (The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten, 2) by Julie Kagawa 
• Loki's Wolves (The Blackwell Pages, 1) by Kelley Armstrong and Melissa Marr 
• Thirteen and Spell Bound (Women of the Otherworld 12, 13) by Kelley Armstrong

All of these books are excellent reads that I definitely recommend. Some of them surprised me. I especially recommend the Kelley Armstrong books (my all-time favorite author), Unhinged by A.G. Howard (for those of you who like fairytale retellings and mystical lands), Teardrop (for those of you who are looking for something unique. Don't be fooled if you didn't like Fallen. I didn't enjoy Fallen, though I didn't dislike it. Kate's writing has DEFINITELY improved since then, and it was a lot better than any of the Fallen books). I also recommend Loki's Wolves for those Percy Jackson fans out there. It really didn't feel like I was reading a Kelley Armstrong book, and I've never read anything by Melissa Marr, but it wasn't what I was used to from Kelley, but it was very good, and I definitely would recommend it to those who Percy Jackson and the Heroes of Olympus fans who are both anxiously awaiting and dreading October for the release of The Blood of Olympus. 

I'll be adding to this list every month. Though I can't promise there will be an update in May, as I will probably have plunged myself into Tartarus, after COHF. :( :( 

Review for 'Origin' and 'Vitro' by Jessica Khoury

Review for 'Origin' by Jessica Khoury


Book summary:

THE JUNGLE HIDES A GIRL WHO CANNOT DIE.

Pia has always known her destiny. She is meant to start a new race, a line of descendants who will bring an end to death. She has been bred for no other purpose, genetically engineeered to be immortal and raised by a team of scientists in a secret compound hidden deep in the Amazon rainforest. Now those scientists have begun to challenge her, with the goal of training her to cary on their dangerous work.

For as long as she can remember, Pia's greatest desire has been to fulfill their expectations. But on the night she turns seventeen, she finds a whole in the seemingly impenetrable fence that surrounds her sterile home. Free in the jungle for the first time in her life, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Unable to resist, she continues sneaking out to see him. As they fall in love, they begin to piece together the truth about Pia's origin, a truth with deadly consequences that will change their lives forever.

Origin is a beautifully told, electric new way to look at an age-old desire: to live forever. But is eternal life
worth living if you can't spend it with the one you love?


My rating: 4.5 stars

Review:

ORIGIN quickly became one of my favorite books, and it remains to be so. I love stories that take place in a jungle of sorts, and ORIGIN is beautifully crafted, and very vivid. Though it's been a while since I first read the book, I sped through it, and have read it three times since then. It will definitely be in my bag this summer, along with The Lost Island of Tamarind and The Secrets of Tamarind by Nadia Aguiar. There are certain books I take camping with me, and this will be one of them.
I loved it, and I will remain to love. And that cover is just striking. This is a book my Mom picked up for me
because she thought the cover was beautiful. And it is, and so is the book. I love love love this book!




Review for 'Vitro' by Jessica Khoury

Book Summary:

ON SKIN ISLAND, EVEN THE LAWS OF CREATION CAN BE BROKEN.


On a remote island in the Pacific, scientists privately funded by the mysterious corporation Corpus have taken test tube embryos and given them life. These beings-- the Vitros-- have knowledge and abilities most humans can only dream of. But they also have one enormous flaw.
Seventeen-year-old Sophie Crue is determined to get to Skin Island to find her mother, a scientist who left Sophie behind years ago. With the help of Jim Julien, a young charter pilot, she arrives-- and discovers a terrifying secret she never imgined: She has a Vitro twin, Lux, who is the culmination of Corpus's dangerous research.
Now Sophie is torn between reuniting with the mother who betrayed her and protecting the genetically enhanced twin she never knew existed. But untangling the twisted strands of these relationships will have to wait, for Sophie and Jim are about to find out what happens when science stretches too far beyond its reach.

From the briliant young author of ORIGIN comes a daring new novel that explores the question: When
does science cross the line?

My rating: 3.5 stars


Review:

Not as good as 'ORIGIN', but still good. I liked Pia a lot more than Sophie, and I didn't exactly like Jim. He just wasn't Eio, and I just didn't like him for some reason. The other characters were okay. The plot was okay, but it seemed to be lacking in the beautiful, vivid-ness that was Origin. It wasn't awful, just not great either. I liked it, but if I had to decide which of the two books were my favorite, it would definitely be Origin, hence the reason I gave Origin a longer--and better-- review. Still, it was good enough that I didn't dislike it. I just didn't love it. It was in-between for me. I'm still looking forward to whatever Jessica Khoury has in store for us next!!

What I Read Last Week

Hi guys. So, I'm thinking I'm going to start this thing where I tell you what I've been reading this week, if anything at all. My reviews for those books will come soon. If I'm re-reading a book, it's usually done in a few days. The same goes for books I really enjoy. I used to have this "problem" (I don't exactly think it's a problem, though) where I would read a book really fast, sometimes in under 24-hours, and then I wouldn't really grasp what was happening. So, I've been sort of forcing myself not to speed-read lately. Now it takes me about four to five days to read a book, depending on what it is.

So, here's what I read last week:

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K Rowling (re-read, so I finished it in under two days)

Angel Fever by L.A Weatherly (I finished this one in two days, but that's because I really love these books)

And I think that's it. Now, you'll notice that I have a little thing that says "What I'm Reading", and if you've visited the blog in the last couple days, you'll remember it said that I was reading The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. I have not finished the Scorpio Races, but I've put that on hold for now. I will be reading it. I just have some other things to read. As for Miss Peregrine's, I honestly disliked that book. I have said that I "hate" it, on Goodreads, but that might have been a little strong. I could not finish it. It irritated me to no end, and I regret buying it on my E-reader, when that money could have gone to something I would actually enjoy (For example, Cruel Beauty, by Rosamund Hodge. I really want to read this book.) But no, I went and wasted money on this book that was supposed to be good. It was supposed to be scary, even. Magical! But, I will continue ranting in my review post.

So, what did you, as readers of this blog (thank you for that, by the way), read this week?