Happy Pub Day to all of these new books!
What books are you most excited for this week?
Title: City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Source: Purchased
Format: Paperback
Release Date: March 25, 2008
Rating: ★★★★★
Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what’s normal when you’re a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who’s becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn’t ready to let her go—especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary’s only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil—and also her father.
To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings—and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?
In this breathtaking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures her readers back into the dark grip of New York City’s Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.
Clary’s mother is still in the hospital in a magical coma, when the villainous Valentine strikes again. He starts killing members of each magical group in order to get another one of the Mortal Instruments. Clary and Jace are the ones who can figure out how to stop their father, Valentine, from taking over the Shadowhunters Clave.
This story had a faster pace than the first one. Each of the different kinds of magical creatures were introduced in the first one, so this story could jump right into the action. Every time the action started to calm down, something major would happen to disrupt their lives, which made me want to keep reading.
There was a lot of tension, especially with the final fight scenes. It didn’t seem like all of the characters were going to survive the end. There were also some hints as to secrets that will probably be revealed soon, to explain some of the plot points that didn’t make sense. I’m rooting for Clary and Jace’s romance, even though they’re supposedly biological siblings. I hope everything works out for them in the next book.
I love this story! I can’t wait to read the next one.
Have you read City of Ashes? What did you think of it?
This blog meme is hosted by Book Date. It is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever growing TBR pile!
This weekend I finished City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2) by Cassandra Clare.
I’m currently reading 10 Things I Hate About Pinky (Dimple and Rishi #3) by Sandhya Menon.
Next I will be reading More Than Maybe by Erin Hahn.
What are you guys reading this week? Have you read any of these books?
Here are my reviews for the week with my ratings:
I did 9 weekly blogging memes:
How was your week? What did you guys read?
The meme that dares to ask what book has been in your bed this morning? Come share what book you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed, or which book you wish you had time to read today! This meme is hosted by Midnight Book Girl.
This Sunday I’m reading City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2) by Cassandra Clare.
Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what’s normal when you’re a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who’s becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn’t ready to let her go—especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary’s only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil—and also her father.
To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings—and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?
In this breathtaking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures her readers back into the dark grip of New York City’s Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.
What book are you in bed with today?
This meme is hosted by Steph at A little but a lot. The weekly prompts for 2019 can be found here.
This week’s prompt is Overdone Tropes, but I chose an old topic: Favourite Books People Never Seem to Know. Here’s my list:
(All book cover images from Goodreads)
Did you make a Six for Sunday list?
Title: Dewdrop
Author: Katie O’Neill
Genre: Children’s, Graphic Novel
Publisher: Oni Press
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 7, 2020
Rating: ★★★★
The tale of an axolotl who cheers on his underwater friends as they each bring their talents to the pond’s sports fair!
Dewdrop is an easygoing, gentle axolotl who enjoys naps, worm pie, and cheerleading. When the yearly sports fair nears, he and his friends—Mia the weightlifting turtle, Newman the musical newt, and three minnows who love to cook—get ready to showcase their skills to the whole pond! However, as the day of the fair gets closer, Dewdrop’s friends can’t help putting pressure on themselves to be the best. It’s up to Dewdrop to remind them how to be mindful, go at their own pace, and find joy in their own achievements.
Dewdrop is an axolotl who is attending the pond’s fair with his friends. Dewdrop will be the cheerleader, while his friends do other activities, such as songwriting, weight lifting, and cooking. When Dewdrop’s friends get discouraged while they struggle with their activities, he is there to cheer them on.
This was a cute story about doing your best. When Dewdrop’s friend struggled with their activities, he pointed out that they were doing the best they could do. Even though the turtle couldn’t lift the heaviest weight, he could still lift more than he could before. When the fish felt like their food wouldn’t appeal to everyone, they realized that they wouldn’t be able to please everyone, but some would like it. The newt couldn’t find inspiration for a song, so Dewdrop told him that he finds inspiration by relaxing and taking the pressure off. Dewdrop had great solutions for all of his friends.
I wish the story talked more about the kinds of animals in the story. Dewdrop was an axolotl, which I had never heard of before. I had to google axolotl while reading. The illustrations look exactly like the fish. Sometimes children’s books have some information about the animals featured at the end of the book. That wasn’t in my copy, and I’m not sure if it was in the final book, but that would have been helpful to read.
This is a cute children’s book!
Thank you Oni Press for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Have you read Dewdrop? What did you think of it?
This is a weekly meme hosted Devouring Books. This week’s prompt is Books I Own. I own so many books, so I decided to do Books I Own But Haven’t Read. Here’s my list:
(All book covers from Goodreads)
If you’d like to do this list too, consider yourself tagged!
Did you make a Top 5 Saturday list?
Title: The Black Flamingo
Author: Dean Atta
Genre: Young Adult, LGBT, Contemporary
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Source: Purchased
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: May 26, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★
I masquerade in makeup and feathers and I am applauded.
A boy comes to terms with his identity as a mixed-race gay teen – then at university he finds his wings as a drag artist, The Black Flamingo. A bold story about the power of embracing your uniqueness. Sometimes, we need to take charge, to stand up wearing pink feathers – to show ourselves to the world in bold colour.
Michael has always had a hard time fitting in. He doesn’t act like the other boys, who play with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and like to fight. He would rather play with Barbies and sing. He also doesn’t fit in at home, where he lives with his white mother, rather than his black father. When Michael begins university, he finds his identity as the drag queen The Black Flamingo.
This story is written in verse. This was such a great format to tell the story, since it takes place throughout Michael’s life from when he was a child to when he was a young adult. The verse format gives snapshots of important moments that affected his life. It also conveys more emotions in the short lyrical lines than it would have in prose.
There were many parts of the story that were so well written that I had to pause and read them over. Two scenes stood out to me and really made me think. When Michael was a child, he wanted a Barbie for his birthday, but he was given a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle because it is considered a “boy” toy. When his sister was a child, she was allowed to play with his ninja turtles and Barbies, and wasn’t criticized for playing with a “boy” toy the way he was when he wanted to play with a “girl” toy. Another part that stood out was when the characters were talking about what things they look for in a partner. When they talked about preferring people of certain races, a character brought up how racist that was. Race shouldn’t be a factor in finding a partner, but I have heard people say that before. I hadn’t thought of the racist implications of that, and the way it was explained in this story made so much sense.
I loved this book! I highly recommend it!
Have you read The Black Flamingo? What did you think of it?
This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda’s Voice.
The Rules are:
I chose The Girl from Widow Hills by Megan Miranda.
Here is my line from page 56 in my copy:
“If you didn’t want someone to pry into your past, you had to keep out of theirs.”
Did you make a post for the Friday 56?
Jill's Book Blog 