Mortal Instruments Series --- Cassandra Clare

Ratings:

Book 1: City of Bones (4 Stars)

Book 2: City of Ashes (4.5 Stars)

Book 3: City of Glass (5 Stars)

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Paranormal Romance

Official Summary:

Click HERE to visit the Mortal Instruments website. (You can even read excerpts from the books!)

Review:

These books were already popular by the time I started reading them. They didn't sound very interesting to me so I was a little hesitant to read them....But I absolutely loved them!

The first book, City of Bones, was a little difficult to get in to. I mean it starts off at a club! That just doesn't do it for me. But then the story really takes off.

The books get better as you read them. You get attached to the characters and involved in the story. I did not want to finish the last book because I was sad for the series to end! Luckily Cassandra Clare decided to write a fourth book for the Mortal Instruments series. AND she is starting a new series! Party! :) (Don't worry my fellow Book Sniffers! I will keep you updated on when these books are going to be released!)

A few side notes concerning the Mortal Instruments books. The main character, Clary, could be annoying at times. Not like Bella Swan annoying but still she got on my nerves.

There is some mild language in these books and slightly mature content. 14+ Audience

The Mortal Instruments are not the best books you'll ever read or the best writing, but they are fun to read! Entertaining! That's why I gave the series such high ratings.

Graceling --- Kristin Cashore

Rating: 4.5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 471

Official Summary:
Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug. When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Po’s friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace—or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.

Review:
Fun book to read!

A "Grace" is an extreme skill, ranging from combat skills, swimming, cooking, speaking persuasively, working with animals.... the list is endless. Katsa is very powerful with her Grace and is feared throughout the land as she does an unjust king's bidding. But Katsa does not enjoy hurting and threatening those people who bother the king. As the story evolves, Katsa and her friends try to maintain peace in the seven kingdoms while solving a mysterious problem that has been plaguing the land.

This book is great and the Graces make it even more interesting. Katsa is awesome! She is a well rounded character who is strong and smart, but also faced with some emotional difficulties. Hooray for a good, main character! Romance in this book :) But the author Kristin Cashore focuses on the plot so it doesn't get too sappy.

I really enjoyed Graceling. Cashore writes well and keeps you entertained. I highly recommend this book.

By the way.... the companion book, Fire, is even better :)

Gemma Doyle Series --- Libba Bray (A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, The Sweet Far Thing)

Ratings:
A Great and Terrible Beauty (Book 1) 4 Stars
Rebel Angels (Book 2) 4.5 Stars
The Sweet Far Thing (Book 3) 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Paranormal

Official Summary:
Gemma Doyle isn't like other girls. Girls with impeccable manners, who speak when spoken to, who remember their station, who dance with grace, and who will lie back and think of England when it's required of them.

No, sixteen-year-old Gemma is an island unto herself, sent to the Spence Academy in London after tragedy strikes her family in India. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma finds her reception a chilly one. She's not completely alone, though... she's been followed by a mysterious young man, sent to warn her to close her mind against the visions.

For it's at Spence that Gemma's power to attract the supernatural unfolds: there she becomes entangled with the school's most powerful girls and discovers her mother's connection to a shadowy, timeless group called the Order. It's there that her destiny waits... if only Gemma can believe in it.

A Great and Terrible Beauty is a curl-up-under-the-covers kind of book... a vast canvas of rustling skirts and dancing shadows and things that go bump in the night. It's a vividly drawn portrait of the Victorian age, a time of strict morality and barely repressed sensuality, when girls were groomed for lives as rich men's wives... and the story of a girl who saw another way.

Review:

This trilogy is about Gemma Doyle, her three friends, and their adventures together. The books follow the girls in their real lives as well as their excursions in to the magical realms to which Gemma holds the power.

These books get are wonderful... and get better as they go!
At first I was a little apprehensive about Gemma's supernatural powers and I thought it would get weird, but all in all, it was fine. The books can be dark at times, but not overly so. Basically the author Libba Bray pushed the boundaries with this trilogy and the results were fabulous!

The characters are so well written. You absolutely love each girl and their different personalities. There is also romance in these books :) and just the right amount.

These books are great! Adventure, mystery, romance, tension, suspense..... the list goes on.
Read these books! Let me know how you like them!
I would recommend the audience be 14+

The Dead-Tossed Waves --- Carrie Ryan

Rating: 4.5 Stars
Genre: Horror, Young Adult, Futuristic
Pages: 407

Official Summary:
Gabry lives a quiet life. As safe a life as is possible in a town trapped between a forest and the ocean, in a world teeming with the dead, who constantly hunger for those still living. She’s content on her side of the Barrier, happy to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. But there are threats the Barrier cannot hold back. Threats like the secrets Gabry’s mother thought she left behind when she escaped from the Sisterhood and the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Like the cult of religious zealots who worship the dead. Like the stranger from the forest who seems to know Gabry. And suddenly, everything is changing. One reckless moment, and half of Gabry’s generation is dead, the other half imprisoned. Now Gabry only knows one thing: she must face the forest of her mother’s past in order to save herself and the one she loves.

Review:
I liked this book better than The Forest of Hands and Teeth. The plot was more enjoyable and.... just better. Plus we learn more about the disease that caused humans to become Uncosecrated/Mudo/Infected. I am fascinated by it! (I have said previously that I enjoy messed up stories, I wasn't kidding!)

The main character, Gabry, is slightly less annoying than her mother, Mary, but not by much.
Like the first book, there is love triangle in this book, but it is a good one. :)

I don't wan to say too much more.... it's better to find out for yourself! Read it!

AND there is supposed to be a third book released in 2011. My bank account = Borders Bookstore income. Haha!