{Review} Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

Release Date: 6 December 2011

Publisher: Walker Books

Age Group: Young Adult

Format: Paperback

Pages: 496

Rating:  5- Wonderful

The situation at the London Institute has never been more precarious. With Mortmain and his clockwork army still threatening, the Council wants to strip Charlotte of her power and hand the running of the Enclave over to the unscrupulous and power-hungry Benedict Lightwood. 
In the hope of saving Charlotte and the Institute, Will, Jem, and Tessa set out to unravel the secrets of Mortmain’s past—and discover unsettling Shadowhunter connections that hold the key not only to the enemy’s motivations, but also to the secret of Tessa’s identity. Tessa, already caught between the affections of Will and Jem, finds herself with another choice to make when she learns how the Shadowhunters helped make her a “monster.” Will she turn from them to her brother, Nate, who has been begging her to join him at Mortmain’s side? Where will her loyalties—and love—lie? Tessa alone can choose to save the Shadowhunters of London…or end them forever.

My Thoughts:

 The Infernal Devices! I think I now love this series more than I love The Mortal Instruments. Cassandra Clare has done yet another fantastic job with Clockwork Prince, just as she had done previously with Clockwork Angel.

Cassandra Clare did a fantastic job with writing the book in such a way that by the time I had read the first paragraph I was already so immersed within the world, taken back to the time period which Clockwork Prince is set in. Usually it takes me a while to get into Cassandra Clare’s books – knowing that the struggle at first is worth it in the end because they become addictive at a certain point, but I found that I was instantly able to enjoy this book. Her writing is effortless and her descriptions made the world seem extraordinarily real and vivid.

I also found that the characters developed a lot more and I was glad to see this as throughout the book I got to learn a little more about each of the characters, despite being very fond of them already due to my love of this world and its characters.

I became a very big fan of Sophie through the process of reading this book, I admire her and all that she does, despite being a housemaid I thought that she was a really great and vital character in this book. One of my favourite scene’s in this book was a scene in which Sophie did something to Jessamine, I will not say what she did but I thought it was extremely brave and funny.

With Clockwork Angel; I had become a fan of Will and then in Clockwork Prince I found myself leaning towards Team Jem. I am now officially team Jem! I was so torn at the end of this book, I cannot wait for Clockwork Princess!

This was a fantastic book written by the awesome Cassandra Clare, her romance, action as well as darkly humoured books, never fail to impress me.

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{Review} Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Release Date: 15 November 2011

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Age Group: Young Adult

Format: eBook

Pages: 352

Author: Tahereh Mafi

Rating: 5 Stars- Wonderful 

Buy the Book: Amazon

Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days. 
The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color. 
The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war-- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now. 
Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior. 

My Thoughts:

 There was a lot of hype for this book and I was absolutely glad to find that this addictive book lived up to the hype. Shatter Me is a stunning debut that will have you feeling all kinds of emotions.

Mafi does an excellent job with her fantastic writing style that seems effortless and is beautiful to read. The metaphors which she uses are stunning and made me fall in love with this book more and more as it progressed. The strikethroughs that are present on the cover are also ever present within the book.

The strikethroughs were really symbolic for me and I really appreciate this wonderful book which Mafi wrote. Despite the fact that there is a thread in the story which focuses mainly on Juliette and her powers, there is constantly an underlying theme of not conforming to what society wants you to be. This book can really teach you a valuable lesson. The strikethroughs represented what Juliette thought and these thoughts were often thoughts that the world around her thought about her. the strikethroughs showed that these were not the thought she should have been thinking and show that you should truly believe what you want and don’t be what society wants you to be. Be nothing other than yourself and love yourself because you do not have imperfections, the reason I say this is because if someone loves you, they love every part of you and these supposed “imperfections” are actually beautiful features which make you who you are. Thank you Tahereh for making this message visible through your beautifully written book. This book may be interpreted in whichever way you choose to see it, but that is what I learned from this book.

Juliette is a great main character and I loved reading from her point of view, she added to the feeling of this truly empowering book which absolutely blew my mind and had me wanting more. The world was well thought out and very exciting in the most disastrous way. It was beautiful.

This book surely has something for everyone to take away from it; whether you prefer genres such as: romance, action, fantasy, adventure or paranormal books, you will love this book and will surely learn a valuable lesson.

This book was intoxicating and beautiful filled with rich messages which can only help you in life. This book is definitely one of my favourite books for 2011. I ask you all to read it and let me know if you enjoyed it as much as I did. Thank you Tahereh Mafi for this wondrously thrilling book! 

Tahereh Mafi:

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{Review} The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

Release Date: 21 September 2010

Publisher: Razorbill

Age Group: Young Adult

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 343

Author: Brenna Yovanoff

Rating: 5 Books 

Buy the Book: Amazon

Mackie Doyle is not one of us. Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, he comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement, left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Mackie is fighting to survive in the human world. 

Mackie would give anything to live among us, to practice on his bass or spend time with his crush, Tate. But when Tate's baby sister goes missing, Mackie is drawn irrevocably into the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. He must face the dark creatures of the Slag Heaps and find his rightful place, in our world, or theirs. 

My Thoughts:

With the Replacement Brenna quickly became one of my favourite writers and I think that one of the main reasons why this happened was due to the fact that the setting plays such a huge role in the book itself.

I found the eerie town of gentry to be really fascinating and I enjoyed reading about this horrible town and what lurked below it. The setting; Gentry, is a small town with a big secret and this secret is just as gruesome and ugly as the town itself, yet the way Yovanoff wrote about this town made me fall madly in love with it and always had me wanting to try and explore it more somehow as I would want to know about every single little intricate detail about this wonderfully horrible town.

The story line or plot of this book was awesome and I loved the fact that this book was mostly about Fae, yet it was completely different to any other faerie books I have read and what makes this book all the more great is the fact that it is such a dark book.

Now when I say it is a dark book, I do not mean hide this book away because it is so touchy and terrible, it’s not at all. This book is wonderful and I loved it to bits, the reason I say it is dark is because the descriptions about this dark town made this book so lovely and delicious.

When reading this book from Mackie’s point of view I was able to relate to him instantly as he had this constant need to belong and to fit in and it is interesting to see him in both the worlds and I just really found this book to be awesome and loved how different it was!

If you like dark faerie tales and would love to read something new and refreshing then I urge you to pick up this book and read it please. It is wonderful!

{Review} Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Release Date: 22 March 2011

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Age Group: Young Adult

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 358

Author: Lauren DeStefano

Rating: 5 Books 

Buy the Book: Amazon

 By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.

When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape–before her time runs out?

My Thoughts:

 Wither was everything I expected to be and more, with such a wonderful writing style and captivating voice Lauren DeStefano has effortlessly become one of my favorite authors and I am so excited to read Fever and whatever else DeStefano brings to this world!

Okay, so you see that beautiful cover up there? Well guess what, the story inside is just as beautiful in a kind of sad and horrible way. The writing in this book just seems so effortless and poetic, each and every sentence was just beautiful no matter what subject the sentence may have been based on. This book is about terrible things, but in my mind I wanted to live in this horrible world where people die in the early stages of their lives, simply because Lauren DeStefano made it seem so intriguing and horrible, yet the writing made me want to experience this world first hand. I cannot describe to you how gripping this book is, you just need to read it to understand. If you like poetic, flawless and pretty writing then read this book.

To really prove how wonderful this book is I'm going to tell you two embarrassing things; 1) Every time I said out loud that I was going to read Wither I would say "Okay, I'm going to read 'the pretty' now!" and 2) when i was reading the last hundred or so pages I read as slowly as I possible could just so the magic and feeling of this book did not wear off.

All of these character's struck a chord with me. Rhine was such an amazing character and I love her so much! She seems almost fragile in my mind, yet she is strong willed and sticks to what she believes, she is smart and intriguing. Cecily may have annoyed me at some points in the book, but that was part of her character and I loved her sort of quirkiness. Jenna ripped my heart out due to the fact that she loses the most out of everyone and I really did feel sorry for her and then there's Linden who I actually felt sorry for.

I cannot wait for the next book as I hope to see the relationship grow between Rhine and Gabriel. Speaking of growing, I loved seeing that the characters grew over time in this book, for instance; the sister wives had become almost like real sisters over a period of time. Something else I hope to see in the next book; Fever, I hope we officially get to meet Rowan as I am a twin myself and I so badly want to see more of Rhine and Rowan together!

Lauren, I would just like to let you know that you are now one of my favorite authors and I think I can safely say that I am now one of your biggest fans! Your writing is exquisite and I cannot wait to read more from you.

{Review} City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

Release Date: 5 April 2011

Publisher: Walker Books

Age Group: Young Adult

Format: Paperback

Pages:432

Author: Cassandra Clare

Buy the Book: Amazon

 The Mortal War is over, Clary Fray is back home in New York, ecited about all the possiblities before her. She's training to beome a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love her life, Downworldsers and Shadowhutners are all at peace at last. And most important of all Clary can finally call Jace her boyfriend.But nothing comes without a price.
Someone is murdering the Shadowhunters who used to be in Valentine's Cirecle, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second bloody war. Clary's best friend, Simon, can't help her. His mother just found out that he's a vampire and now he's homeless. Everywhere he turns, someone wants him on their side along with the power of the curse that's wrecking his life. And they're willing to do anything to get what they want. At the same time he's dating two beautiful, dangerous girls, neither of whom knows about the other.
When Jace begins to pull away from Clary without explaining why, she is forced to delve iont the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: She herself haas set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace.
Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. The stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels.

My Thoughts:

Once again Cassandra Clare does an amazing job with her writing as she re-enters this brilliant and riveting world which so many people were excited for and could not wait to get more of!

I was so excited to read this once I had finished City of Glass and what made me even more excited for this book was that it came out on my birthday along with Red Glove by Holly Black and these are two of my favourite authors and it was actually a really special birthday to me because these books both released on my birthday.

With long books like these by Cassie Clare I find that they are hard to get in to with the first hundred pages or so, but with each and every book in this series I know it’s worth it to trudge through the beginning; don’t get me wrong the beginnings are great and I take nothing away from them but I think it is a mental thing in my head that I know I am getting myself into another one of these long books and I have to remember all of the facts and storylines from the previous books, but you know what; the books are all really great and once I get to about page one-hundred I am addicted and love these books to bits...so Cassie, please do keep the beginnings as you want them and don’t change a thing about your writing because I am the one who is being difficult but it always pays off in the end because Cassandra Clare is an awesome author.

After initially hearing things about this book and the new characters I was so excited and the new character was great and it was really great over all to visit these characters again with a few new twists her and there.

With the previous books I did like Simon but he could annoy the hell out of me sometimes and so could Jace and I would like to thank Cassie for writing about characters that change overtime and we can clearly see the change and how they evolve as people as the story goes on. Simon, to me in this book was not annoying and I think it was the fact that this book was mainly his and I do believe that this second cycle of books will feature Simon as a protagonist along with Jace and Clary. Jace is the character that has really evolved for me! He is more open in my mind and he is not such a jerk in this book but he does have his moments.

This book overall was really good and I cannot wait to see what happens in the next book, the ending to City of Fallen Angels has me wanting more so badly. Great Book, I definitely recommend it to all of you who have read Clockwork Angel because certain characters do appear in this book! So exciting! 

{Review} Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey

Release Date: 20 September 2011

Publisher: HarperTeen

Age Group: Young Adult

Format: eARC

Pages: 304

Author: Amy Garvey

Buy the Book: Amazon

 When her boyfriend, Danny, is killed in a car accident, Wren can’t imagine living without him. Wild with grief, she uses the untamed powers she’s inherited to bring him back. But the Danny who returns is just a shell of the boy she once loved.

Wren has spent four months keeping Danny hidden, while her life slowly unravels around her. Then Gabriel DeMarnes transfers to her school and somehow, inexplicably, he can sense her secret. Wren finds herself drawn to Gabriel, who is so much more alive than the ghost of the boy she loved. But Wren can’t turn her back on Danny or the choice she made for him—and she realizes she must find a way to make things right, even if it means breaking her own heart.

Amy Garvey’s transcendent teen debut is perfect for fans of Shiver and Beautiful Creatures. Wren’s unforgettable voice and story will stay with readers long after the last page is turned.

My Thoughts:

WOW! WOW! WOW! What a stunning book this was! Amy Garvey sure knows how to write a thrilling book that will have you hooked and emotional right from the beginning to the end! This to me was a brilliant debut.

A brilliant debut that had so much emotion and I loved every single word I read, although each page may rip your heart apart in some way or another you cannot help but love this story any way. This book is filled with emotion to the brim and with Amy’s writing it just makes this book absolutely exquisite.

With great description and a very enticing voice the words on the page seem extremely real and you will never understand how much I loved this book. It is written in present tense and this was really a first for me, I have obviously read books where the writing style is in first person point of view and the tense is presents, but those books were all Dystopias. The present tense and first person point of view had me hooked right from the beginning and was somewhat a refreshing and interesting way for me to read.

The characters are absolutely amazing and even though Danny may have annoyed me a bit with his clinginess, there was a reason for that and it made perfect sense for the story. Wren was a character that I found I could relate to instantly due to the fact that she had lost a loved one and so have I, I have lost many but the point is that she got to bring him back!

Yes this book is about zombies...or dead people that come back to life and smell like earth and are cold and so on and so forth, but this was the first time I have ever read a book that is about zombies and I loved every single minute of it.

The story is great, the writing is amazing and the characters- well I just love them so much! Amy Garvey...I look forward to seeing more from you in the future and I would like to let you know that this is now one of my favorite debuts for 2011!