The Mortal Instruments Back from the Dead?

Hey Everyone!

So I heard some news about one of my favorite book series, The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare.

As you know, the first book was made into a film starring Jamie Campbell Bower and Lily Collins. Well, the film flopped. I watched the film and I thought it was a decent representation. I thought they could have done better, but I loved the casting. Magnus Bane is something else, but I liked the casting otherwise.

Well, good news fellow TMI fans! IT IS BEING MADE INTO A TELEVISION SERIES! 

I am so excited about this! I really hope that they at least keep Jamie. Jamie is one of my favorite actors and he deserves some nice recognition for his acting skills. I feel he is worthy of a role in the new TV Series. I don't know what company or channel this will be through, but as I hear more, I will update you!

Until Next Time

Top Ten Tuesday: 2014 Releases

Hey Everyone!

So this week, I found a new tag (shocking, I know) and thought I would give this one a whirl with a whole lotta research. Yeah! Book search! 2014 books!

This is a meme created by The Broke and The Bookish here on blogger and they are wanting to know the books we are most looking forward to in the next year.

1. City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

I am so excited for this book, words cannot describe how excited I am! I fell in love with The Mortal Instruments back in October and can't get enough of it. I love the world, I love characters, and I can't wait to see what will happen to end this series.


Release Date: May 27, 2014

2. The One by Kiera Cass

I haven't read the second book yet, but I did order it via my father's credit card for Christmas (don't jude-- he lets me order my own Christmas gifts). I loved The Selection and I am not going to lie... this cover is TO DIE FOR. It is gorgeous.


Release Date: May 6, 2014

3. The Queen's Choice by Cayla Kluver

I absolutely loved her first debut book which she wrote when was around 14 or 15. I have all of her books thus far, her latest one, Sacrifice, being officially signed. I have a connection to her as she is from my home state so I also feel obligated to buy all of her books :D I'm okay with this, though! It looks amazing!

Release Date: January 28, 2014

4. The Shadow Prince by Bree Despain

I have never read anything by this author, but the description on Goodreads sounds amazing! I am excited to get this book!



Release Date: March 11, 2014

5. The Falconer by Elizabeth May

I am not even going to lie when I say I look forward to this book. I think I am excited to read something that takes place in Scotland because I don't think I've read any that do. Plus, the storyline sounds so good! Plus, it sounds like it's vastly different from anything else.


Release Date: May 6, 2014

6. Deception's Princess by Esther Friesner

At first, when I saw the cover, I thought of Disney's Brave, but when I read the description, it was more of a Young Adult version of the Disney movie and I can't wait to read it.



Release Date: April 22, 2014

7. The Sound of Letting Go by Stasia Ward Kehoe

I am not going to lie, I am excited for this book. I have never read any books by this author, but my God, does this book sound amazing. The main character has an autistic sibling, as do I, and so I have a connection in that sense and of course, there is some UK flair in the story with the exchange student.

Release Date: February 6, 2014

8. The Museum of Intangible Things by Wendy Wunder

I think this book sounds amazing and I have always wanted a best friend who I live near to go around and travel with me in a way that these two do. Plus, who doesn't love the cover? It's so freaking cute!


Release Date: April 10, 2014

9. Fan Art by Sarah Tregay

This book sounds amazing! The whole story sounds cute and would be good for anyone who loves a little contemporary in their lives.



Release Date: June 17, 2014

10. Darksoul by Eveline Hunt

Not going to lie... THIS SOUNDS AMAZING! I am so excited to get my hands on it! Going to buy it as soon as it is released.





Release Date: March 2014 (didn't give a specific date)

I hope you all enjoyed the books on the list for this Top Ten Tuesday tag! Don't forget to leave your feedback on any books you are looking for or if you liked any of these!

Until Next Time,

NaNoWriMo 2013: Week 1

Hey Everyone!

So this is my week 1 wrap-up for NaNoWriMo 2013! I am excited to do this weekly little thing because I have been absolutely loving the NaNoWriMo feels this year (even if it is my first time participating).

I feel like this week has been going extremely well. I am ahead of schedule and am loving the story. The story I am writing is different from anything I've ever read. I am incorporating a lot of different types of things into it. I honestly have high hopes for this story!

This story is something I've never felt a connection with before. With my previous stories if that makes more sense for you. I just feel like this one has something special about it that it wants me to keep exploring the whole world. I am just going to do a little questionnaire below to update you on my status of NaNoWriMo:

How are you feeling at the moment?
Incredibly motivated. I think that this has never happened and I've never been this far ahead this quickly. I'm already pretty far into the story and have high hopes for finishing my 50,000 words early. If I stick with my 3,000-4,000 word goal per day, I could finish in about ten days (NaNoWriMo word wise). I am hoping to finish the rest of the story by the end of the month so I can print it out and work on editing it.

Did your story take any interesting turns you weren't expecting?
Yes, romance wise. I had always planned for my character named Jameson to go for my main girl, but then I started writing this one scene and I decided that one of my other characters liked her too. Apparently Marcus just wants a girlfriend. I am not sure how I'm going to resolve the growing love triangle, but I will get there eventually.

How is your plot coming?
It's going really well considering I didn't outline or anything. I am one of those people who doesn't plan for things and just does things out on a whim. I find that if I write without a plan, I am more motivated to work on those things and go through with them than if I did plan them out. For example, my July session of Camp NaNoWriMo went uncompleted as I lost interested three days into the session.

Favorite character to write about?
I think my character Marcus is probably my favorite one to write about. He's just so interesting and I envision him having such a dark past. I also imagine him as this guy:

His name is Jamie Campbell Bower, by the way. This is a photo from The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

He's just got so much depth to him and you can see in my story that he is harboring these kind of secret feelings because he takes a step back from his best friend who becomes a prominent role in the story. I know I am going to have to slow down the whole romantic things and extend the introduction chapters a little bit. 

Anything you wish you could change thus far?
No, I don't think I would change anything. Everything seems so beautiful, but I wish I could add some more descriptions to my scenery just to get more of a feel for the house these kids are living in. I guess it's also because I'm still figuring that out myself, so it will get done.

Are you planning on working these past few chapters when you finish with NaNoWriMo?

Yes, definitely. NaNoWriMo is just a tool for writers to get words on paper and I think it's incredibly helpful. I love writing and I wouldn't be participating if I didn't love it as much as I do. Everything needs editing, I don't think anyone could ever fully finish editing. Harry Potter and The Mortal Instruments probably have things their authors want to change as well.

What is your current word count?

17,225 and counting :D

Until Next Time,

Thoughts On: City of Lost Souls

Hey Everyone!

So today I bring you the review for City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare. I had been intending to write this for a few days, but have been putting this off as I was watching movies and doing NaNoWriMo (check the sidebar for my status).

I felt like CoLS was like 1,000X better than it's previous book. I loved how it solved the random return of Sebastian. I felt like Clary was torn about which direction she should be going in whether she should stay true to the institute or stay true to Jace. Obviously, you can probably guess which one Clary chose.

I felt that this was a very strong book in the series because it has a lot of humor and a lot of strong story points. My favorite parts of the series, one of them, was in this book between Clary and Jace. We also learn more about Jace as he was taken over by Sebastian.

The epilogue was by far my favorite part of the entire book. I was honestly expecting a marriage proposal by Jace Lightwood, but alas, we shall wait and see what the next book (191 days and 11 hours for the record). I think I am most excited to see where this last book goes. My main hope for the final book in The Mortal Instruments Series is that it is focused around Clary and Jace because, in the end, the book is about them and their undying love for each other. The book will probably have something with Sebastian who is on the run and he will most likely be killed (just being honest here).

I give this story five cups of tea because it kept on my toes and wanting more and more. I just couldn't put this book down, I finished it in about a day. I loved this book so much and will probably read anything with Cassandra Clare's name on it.

If you want to learn more about the Shadowhunter world and have read The Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments I suggest you go buy the infamous Shadowhunter's Codex. It was available for purchase this past Tuesday and I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the books. I will post a full review on this book when I read it and receive it. Note: don't buy the Kindle version, many of the bad reviews were from there because the fonts (the handwriting ones) were not easy to read.

Until Next Time,

Thoughts On: City of Fallen Angels

Source: Tumblr

Hey Everyone!

It's time for yet another Mortal Instruments review. This time, it is for the fourth book City of Fallen Angels. I finished this book in about three sittings (over the span of about five days).

This book was so different from the first three books in the series. I felt that this was didn't have a clear sense of direction just because all of what had been building up had been resolved (for the most part) in the third book, City of Glass. Don't get me wrong, I loved this book and the whole series, but I don't think it was the best of the series thus far.

One thing I felt that Cassandra Clare could have done was drag on Valentine and Sebastian/Jonathon's lives instead of killing them off in the third book. Though, if she kept Valentine, it would resemble J.K. Rowling's infamous series a bit. Clare had a large potential with this book and she took some risks with Jace's character though I wish she did different with him.

Clary and Jace are finally able to be together in a romantic way in this book and I wish she took up on that more than she did. I felt as if she just was like, "Yeah, cool... we're casually seeing each other." I wish there was more romance because in the previous books they were driven by the sexual tension and then it just disappears. I didn't get it.

The humor though was incredible. The photo featured in this post is one of the lines she has Jace say. It cracked me up when that happened and I had to include it in this post. It was just a too perfect line.

DISCLAIMER: I am not purposefully bashing Cassandra Clare or her Mortal Instruments series. I am simply just stating my opinions on the book. Hence the purpose of a review.

I gave it four stars because of the faults that I felt were there. Other than that, it was a very good book!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Until Next Time,

Thoughts On: City of Glass

Hey everyone!

As you probably have noticed from the reviews I've done, I have been reading The Mortal Instruments series and let me tell you.... I AM IN LOVE!

Source: Tumblr user ggrinted

This series has moved me in ways that I never thought I would be moved by a book. Wait.... how about I tell you that stuff when I do my final reflections. Well, I just finished the third book City of Glass by Cassandra Clare. It is absolutely phenomenal! Incredible! Outstanding! Any other synonym for incredible can fit here!

The book starts off right after Clary sees her mother for the first time in weeks (I totally predicted this, by the way) and she is absolutely furious at Jocelyn for the lies for the lies that were fed to her. Understandable, I mean, her mum did kind of put herself into a comatose state to escape from Valentine the evil Shadowhunter. Completely understandable, Clary, I feel you.

The book, I felt, was a vital turning point in the series because they all end up in Idris (the Shadowhunter homeland) and are there for the remainder of the book. The story lines I thought would happen did happen and it was the most satisfying feeling in the world. The ending this was me:

I was freaking out because I didn't want it to end. It was so amazing that I was very near tears when it ended. I'm kidding, but it was a spectacular third novel. I can't wait to pick up City of Fallen Angels.

I think this one is self-explanitory.

Until next time!

Thoughts On: City of Ashes

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Hey Everyone!

So today's review is for Cassandra Clare's City of Ashes. I started this book on Thursday because it was the first chance I got to sit down and read it. Though, I was at work when I began reading the book, but that is where I read much of the first book as well.

This book, I felt, started out rather slow and it took me a little bit to get into, but I loved it nonetheless. I thought it was so interesting and I love Clare's little hints of humor throughout the book. For example, in one of the later chapters Luke presents Clary with a pamphlet for Simon that is called How to Come Out to Your Parents (No, I am not telling you if Simon is gay or not). 

I loved how well this part of the series moved because I felt as if it was moved perfectly and I loved the language she uses in the novel. I have read many different things regarding Cassandra Clare's use of similes on almost "every single page." However, I didn't seem to notice because I was just sucked into the whole world and the story. I absolutely adored it.

The ending, though. If you read this book, how many of you wanted to throw the book at the wall because of the ending and the major cliffhanger? I was so mad that she introduced that part and then just ended the book like that. Luckily, I had purchased the third book on Thursday and the fourth on Friday. So I have to wait until Monday to get the book. 

It was a fantastic second book to a series I have quickly grown to fall in love with. I honestly cannot wait until I finish the rest of the books and pre-order the sixth book! As of right now, this is one of my favorite series following Harry Potter.

My Rating:

Link to this Book:

I give this book five cups of tea because honestly, I couldn't put this book down from the moment I got it. I had to read it and read it fast. I'm still a little weary on the brother/sister thing between Clary and Jace. I do not think they are brother and sister because that physical attraction just does not happen between siblings even if they didn't know. I honestly think Valentine is lying about their blood relation. I am starting to think the Inquisitor may be related to Jace. Who knows, we will find out in City of Glass, won't we?

Till Next Time,

~Amanda

Thoughts On: City of Bones

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Hello everyone!

I just finished Cassandra Clare's City of Bones yesterday. I was ecstatic to pick up the book because I absolutely adored the prequel series The Infernal Devices.

Having read that series prior to The Mortal Instruments, I felt that it helped me comprehend the City of Bones a lot more because I had a sense of back story. I know of a lot of people who haven't read the prequel series and they seem to understand it, but I have a stronger sense of what is going on.

The basis of the story is about a girl named Clary who is on a search for her mother who has disappeared. Clary ends up at The Institution with Jace Wayland, a shadowhunter. A Shadowhunter is a demon hunter who protects the area they live in from the demons.

I think this book is absolutely phenomenal. The way Cassandra Clare words things is absolutely amazing. She creates such detailed characters with the most interesting characteristics and it makes them so much more interesting than they already were. The back stories and their stories in general are also really interesting to learn.

Rating

I give this book four and a half cups of tea. I am giving it this because I was put off at the end by the intended sense of incest between Jace and Clary. I have a feeling they aren't siblings, but this still makes me feel uneasy. That is why I gave it 4.5.

Link to the Book:

***SPOILERS AFTER THIS LINE***

Thing(s) I Think Will Be Revealed Soon Enough/ Will Happen:

• I don't  think Clary and Jace are siblings. I feel as if it was something Valentine said in order to stir things up between them because he can sense a real connection.
• Clary's mum will be just fine

Those are just the two thoughts that I thought of after reading the book. I don't care if I'm wrong, but those are the gut feelings I got. Also, I haven't seen the film yet. I have a thing about reading the book before seeing the film.

Until the next book review!
~Amanda