City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare is the adrenaline-pumping second installment in the Mortal Instruments trilogy. I was skeptical that Clare could make the second book as great as City of Bones, but I was pleasantly surprised. Still torn between their feelings toward one another and the distance they must keep from one another, Jace and Clary must team up again to face the evil Valentine, the man they now know to be their father. But is he really their father, or is he merely manipulating them like pawns in his newest game of  taking the blood of each type of downworlder to gain control of the demonic world? City of Ashes is filled with suspense, …» more

Tithe, by Holly Black,  is the story of Kaye, who has always been able to see faeries and other creatures invisible to the average human eye. And when she meets Roiben, a knight in the Unseelie Court, and saves his life, the Unseelie queen wishes to offer her up as a tithe to keep control of the kingdom. Kaye, of course, winds up falling in love with the unpredictable Roiben but doubts a relationship could be possible between a human and a faerie. However, when Roiben falls in love with her and plans to save her from the Unseelie queen, Kaye’s secret threatens to tear them apart.  

Tithe is dark, edgy, and filled with memorable characters that will leave you thinking about them long after you have finished the novel.  While this book is not a literary masterpiece, it is well worth the read. I especially like Kaye’s character, who on the surface is a deeply troubled teen who has a difficult home life. However, underneath, Kaye is loyal and brave, willing to risk her very life for those she loves.  This book is a relatively short read (I read it in about three hours), and the plot moves so rapidly, it feels like you’ve been reading for no time at all.

John Green’s Looking for Alaska is a literary young adult novel about Miles Halter, a tall, lanky teenager who harbors an obsession with people’s last words. Unfortunately, the unique skill of memorizing the last words of famous people has not helped him fit in. Hoping to find “the great perhaps,” Miles enrolls in a boarding school in Alabama, where he meets angsty teen pranksters, Colonel and Alaska. As Miles becomes a part of their world, he believes he finally has a place in it. However, when Alaska’s past sends her on a downward spiral, Miles finds himself unable to move on. Green’s novel is masterfully written with flawless dialogue and realistically flawed characters.  However, the novel, in places, is downright gratuitous, which I feel …» more

I may be completely out of my mind, but I just entered Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award contest, the grand prize being a $25,000 book deal.  The panel is accepting up to 10,000 entries and will narrow it to 500 by mid-March, based on the pitch submission. I would be honored just to make it past the first round–and if nothing happens, at least I went for it, right?  I almost didn’t enter due to that irritating little voice in the back of my mind that said, “What’s the point? You’ll just be wasting your time.”  But then I got to thinking about it, and I decided I might as well give it a shot.  I have everything required to enter–a completed novel, a brief biography, a pitch, and a synopsis. What I don’t have is an agent, an editor, a publisher, or a book deal–all of which can be achieved through this contest. When you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing to lose. I’ll keep you posted on my rise to publication or my current status of walking stereotype. After all, “those who can’t do teach.” Ha ha.

I had never even heard of Cassandra Clare until I stumbled across her book, City of Bones, in Books-A-Million yesterday. When I read the back cover and discovered the book is about demons and all other sorts of fantastical creatures, I knew I had to read City of Bones. Happily, I wasn’t disappointed. As most people know, I am fascinated (almost as much as I am terrified) of demons and the real possibility of their existence, thus the reason I write about them. However, it is rare, I have found, to find many novels that deal with them. City of Bones is an edge-of-your-seat page turner about a girl named Clary Fray, who discovers that she can see demons–and the Shadowhunters commissioned to kill them. However, when her mother goes missing and when Clary, herself, is attacked by a demon, she is taken in by the Shadowhunters, who …» more

Libba Bray’s Gemma Doyle Trilogy, in my opinion, is a bittersweet masterpiece. Not only is the prose flawless and the plot suspenseful, but the characters are so memorable and flawed that they are like best friends. Gemma Doyle is a hero that all teens (or any female, for that matter) can relate to, regardless of age or circumstance. While uniquely gifted and strong, Gemma still feels apart from the world, a rebel angel in the midst of Victorian propriety, left to wonder where she belongs or if she belongs anywhere. In The Sweet Far Thing, the final installment in Libba Bray’s series, Gemma must fight to restore order to the realms, and if she succeeds, the cost, though she knows not what it is, will be dear. Her motives challenged …» more