Book #103: City of Lost Souls

Title: City of Lost Souls (Book #5 of the Mortal Instruments series)

Author: Cassandra Clare

Date started reading: July 29, 2012
Date finished reading: Aug. 10, 2012

Publish date: May 2012
ISBN: 978-1442416864
Number of pages: 544

Official summary: "Can the lost be reclaimed? What price is too high to pay for love? Who can be trusted when sin and salvation collide? Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series." (http://www.cassandraclare.com)

Official book trailer:

How I obtained the book: Got through Listia.com (It's like eBay but uses credits instead of money)

My commentary:  Dear God, it feels like it took me forever to finish this book. Life got in the way of reading. I've been so busy that I couldn't read very often. It was like the never-ending book. A lot of people say that the book series should've ended after the first three books like it originally supposed to, and I'm almost at the point where I'd say those people are correct. The first three books were awesome, but the fourth one and this one hasn't been so great.

Memorable quotes:

•  "(Clary) had always wanted a brother. And she had one now. Sebastian. It was like always wanting a puppy for a pet and being handed a hellhound instead."
• "That was the thing about New York: you always knew more about your neighbors' business than you wanted to." ~ Alec
• "Is your inner vampire different from your outer vampire?" ~ Clary
  "Definitely. He wants me to wear midriff-baring shirts and a fedora. I'm fighting it." ~ Simon
  "So your inner vampire is Magnus?" ~ Clary
• "We're all orphans. Orphans of the storm." ~ Simon to Jordan and Maia
• "My favorite jacket is an emergency item. Much like myself, it is both snuggly and fashionable." ~ Jace
• "Immortality is rapidly becoming the third person in our relationship, Alec." ~ Magnus
• "It's a good thing we know the person who's dating Magnus. Otherwise, I get the feeling we'd all just lie around all the time wondering what the hell to do next. Or try to raise the money to hire Magnus by selling lemonade." ~ Simon
  "The only way you could raise enough money to hire Magnus by selling lemonade is if you put meth in it." ~ Alec
  "It's an expression. We are all aware that your boyfriend is expensive." ~ Simon
• "It was strange how your world could shift on its axis and everything you trusted could invert itself in what seemed like no time at all." ~ Simon
• "I was expecting more of a 'Hallelujah Chorus.' I mean, it's not every day your boyfriend comes back from the dead." ~ Jace to Clary
• "Tests are hard. Obstacle courses are hard. You disappearing like that practically killed me, Jace." ~ Clary
• "The Morgenstern legacy is blood and devastation." ~ Jocelyn
• "Every time you try to keep me safe, you wreck my life!" ~ Clary to Jocelyn
• "From what I've experienced of vampires, you mostly suck. No pun intended." ~ Simon
• "Isabelle's plans are terrible. Your plans are suicidal. At best." ~ Simon to Clary
• "I would pluck out my own eyes with a fork before I would give away your secrets." ~ Simon to Clary
• "'No' is a magical word. Here's how it goes. You say, 'Simon, I have an insane, suicidal plan. Would you like to help me carry it out?' And I say, 'Why, no.'" ~ Simon to Clary
• "Love isn't moral or immoral. It just is." ~ Clary
• "You can't just call the Praetor. It's not like 1-800-WEREWOLF." ~ Jordan
• "To love as you choose, that takes strength." ~ Magnus
• "Blood isn't love. Just ask Clary." ~ Magnus
• "Sometimes you're so much like your mother you astound me a little, Isabelle." ~ Jocelyn
• "Free will is what makes us Heaven's creatures." ~ Dolores
• "Watching me play Scrabble is enough to make most women swoon. Imagine if I actually put in some effort." ~ Jace
• "No more using the magic rings for Smurf questions." ~ Clary to Simon
• "Nerd love. It's a beautiful thing, while also being an object of mockery and hilarity for those of us who are more sophisticated." ~ Magnus
• "How could you be heartbroken and happy at the same time?" ~ Clary
• "Jace is in love with the idea of dying. I'm not." ~ Isabelle
• "Doubtless the lunatic asylums of the world are filled with unfortunate women who have failed to see my charms." ~ Jace
• "If I'm going to die for you all, the least you could do is remember my name." ~ Simon to Magnus
• "I'm young. I'm pretty. And I'm willing to burn the whole world to the ground to get what I want." ~ Sebastian
• "Geek is chic. Ladies love nerds." ~ Simon
• "My heart is your heart. My hands are your hands." ~ Jace to Clary

Buy on Amazon.com: City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments)

Book #102: The Luckiest Girl in the World

Title: The Luckiest Girl in the World: A Young Skater Battles Her Self-Destructive Impulses

Author: Steven Levenkron

Date started reading: July 27, 2012
Date finished reading:  July 28, 2012

Publish date: March 1998
ISBN: 978-0140266252
Number of pages: 188

Official summary: "Just looking at Katie Roskova, you'd think she had it all: she was pretty, popular, an A-student at an exclusive private school, and on her way to becoming a champion figure skater. But there was another Katie -- the one she hid from the world -- who was having trouble dealing with the mounting pressures of her young life. And it was this Katie who, with no other means of expression available to her, reacted to her overbearing mother, her absent father, her unforgiving schedule, and her oblivious classmates by turning her self-doubt into self-hatred. And into self-mutilation." (http://www.levenkron.com)

How I obtained the book: Got through PaperBackSwap.com

My commentary:

• There was a movie made based on this book back in 2000 (originally titled "Secret Cutting, and later renamed "Painful Secrets"). It was a Lifetime movie, and I watched it back then and loved it. It was the first time I realized that other people than just me self-harmed. It wasn't until last year that I found out that the movie was based on a book. Somehow I never knew the book existed. (If you're interested, you can watch the entire movie on YouTube by clicking here. It's split up into a playlist of 12 parts.)
• As it turned out, the book wasn't a lot like the movie. The mother and teenage girl were pretty much the same personality-wise, but a lot of the other details were changed. Regardless, both the movie and the book stand on their own as fairly helpful tools for people who self-harm. 

Memorable quotes:

• "It was her job to be whatever was required." ~ Katie
• "The paint was doing its work. She repeated the movement again. This time the cut was longer and deeper. Blood came to the surface. The sight of the red drops on her skin calmed her even more. Her heart returned to its normal rhythm; she could breathe again. The blood held her gaze, the pain made her mind focus and kept it centered in her body." ~ Katie
• "Katie knew in her heart that she was never going to have a boyfriend -- or a best friend. She couldn't risk letting anyone get close enough to know her secrets." 
• "Her blood was supposed to be private. She used it when she needed it and kept the need in a separate compartment, away from the rest of her life. All of her secrets were in compartments; that was how she lived. If the walls of those compartments started to come down, everything would get all jumbled up and she would lose control. That would be terrifying. It would be chaos." ~ Katie
• "She could control what she thought and did and said, but how could she control what she forgot." ~ Katie
• "Ever since she'd discovered the power of pain and blood she treated them carefully, with great respect. They were her medicine." ~ Katie
• "The scars protected the secrets. Everything depended on keeping them safe." ~ Katie
• "People leave you. They walk away and they say they'll come back, but they never do." ~ Katie
• "I think I'm crazy. My mind just leaves. It goes away." ~ Katie
• "Nothing like a little knowledge to scare away the monsters." ~ Sandy
• "School was the place where Katie's loneliness hurt so much it was almost like a physical pain." 
• "Sometimes you had to let your patients sit with their private demons. Sometimes you had to try a little exorcism. Knowing when to do what was a judgment call that never got any easier to make." ~ Sandy
• "I'm so tired of being crazy." ~ Katie

Buy on Amazon.com: The Luckiest Girl in the World : A Young Skater Battles Her Self-Destructive Impulses

Book #101: Entice

Title: Entice (book #3 in Need series)

Author: Carrie Jones

Date started reading: July 25, 2012
Date finished reading: July 26, 2012

Publish date: December 2010
ISBN: 978-1599905532
Number of pages: 272

Official summary: "Zara and Nick are soul mates, meant to be together forever. But that's not quite how things have worked out. For starters, well, Nick is dead. Supposedly, he's been taken to a mythic place for warriors known as Valhalla, so Zara and her friends might be able to get him back. But it's taking time, and meanwhile a group of evil pixies is devastating Bedford, with more teens going missing every day. An all-out war seems imminent, and the good guys need all the warriors they can find. But how to get to Valhalla? And even if Zara and her friends discover the way, there's that other small problem: Zara's been pixie kissed. When she finds Nick, will he even want to go with her? Especially since she hasn't turned into just any pixie. . . She's Astley's queen." (http://www.carriejonesbooks.com)

Official book trailer:

How I obtained the book: Checked out of library

My commentary:

• I definitely liked this book better than the first two in the series. It felt more action-packed and had less slow-moving parts. I still think the series is odd overall though, and it's still not exactly what I had expected when I ventured out on reading the books.
• The books are separated strangely which is starting to bug me a little. The chapters aren't marked with a number or even a title. In the first book, each chapter started with the name and definition of some phobia. In the second, it was a tip or other information about pixies for the book they were supposedly writing on how to survive a pixie attack. This book's chapters start with some sort of news tidbit... a quote from a news broadcast, a post from a blog, a Twitter tweet, a Facebook status, etc... all about the kids who keep disappearing from the town. I hate not knowing a chapter number to know what chapter I'm on. 
• I'm really happy that the author has continued to have Issie make references to "Buffy The Vampire Slayer." They always crack me up.

Memorable quotes:

• "So much has happened so quickly. I lost Nick. I lost my humanity. And what did I gain? I became a pixie." ~ Zara
• "It's a fine line, I guess -- a fine line between good and bad, between savior and predator, between hero and villain." ~ Zara
• "Sometimes I worry about my mental health." ~ Zara
• "My heart can't take all this patrolling, disappearing, dying, morphing into new beings." ~ Issie
• "We are a gang of four like in Buffy or in Scooby-Doo or in Heroes or something." ~ Issie
•  "Who am I really? Am I still the same person if I'm not even technically a person anymore?" ~ Zara
• "Fighting makes me feel evil." ~ Zara
• "I'm in bunny pajamas meeting pixies. This is so not right." ~ Zara
• "There are certain signs that your town is totally messed up: 1) Snow that lasts forever. 2) Evil pixies torturing and/or maiming people. 3) You are a regular nightly segment on cable news networks. 4) FBI agents patrol the streets. 5) Half the school population has to stay home because their parents are too freaked to let them out of the house." ~ Zara
• "Sometimes I get a little tired of being Mr. Perfect." ~ Astley
• "Sometimes I almost wonder if humans are worth saving." ~ Astley
• "Nothing is all good or all bad." ~ Zara
• "There is no shame in dying bravely, Zara, no shame in dying for good." ~ Astley
  "And there is no shame in living for it either." ~ Zara
• "I try to help: people get killed. I try to be a hero: people die." ~ Zara
• "What we need is a psychic witch moment where we create a witch finder, the way Willow and Tara did in Buffy, or a transporter homing beacon type thing, like they have in Star Trek." ~ Issie
• "You know, life fractures all of us into little pieces. It harms us, but it's how we glue those fractures back together that makes us stronger." ~ Zara
• "Sometimes if you wish hard enough, things truly do happen for you." ~ Astley
• "There are so many layers inside of people, so much soul pain and angsty depth and heart hurt, and some, like Astley, hide all this so well that when it comes out in an action as simple as a nod, your entire world shifts a little bit on its axis." ~ Zara
• "Why do people and pixies and weres lie so much? Why can't we all just be honest with each other? It would be so easy to just not trust anyone ever, but you can't go through life with a pair of scissors in each hand, snip-snip-snipping away at everything people say or don't say, can you? You have to leave one hand free to catch the truth." ~ Zara
• "Nobody is perfect, though. We all want to think we are, but perfection is some crazy mythical state that we can never achieve. It is a goal beyond our grasp, always shifting and changing and taunting us, because it knows ... it knows we can never reach it." ~ Zara
• "What I've learned lately is that people deal with death in all sorts of different ways. Some of us fight against it, doing everything we can to make it not true. Some of us lose ourselves to grief. Some of us lose ourselves to anger." ~ Zara
• "Mothers do not seem to like me." ~ Astley
• "Danger can just explode without warning and take us away." ~ Zara
• "Love makes all possible." ~ Heimdall
• "With love comes responsibility and possibility, fear and hope, quests and suffering." ~ Heimdall
• "All warriors are afraid." ~ Heimdall
• "Why do the bad guys always talk to much?" ~ Zara

Buy on Amazon.com: Entice (Need)

Book #100: The Tracey Fragments

Title: The Tracey Fragments

Author: Maureen Medved

Date started reading: July 24, 2012
Date finished reading:  July 24, 2012

Publish date: November 1998
ISBN: 978-0887846243
Number of pages: 156

Book summary: "Naked under a tattered shower curtain, 15-year-old Tracey Berkowitz has been sitting on a bus for two days, telling her story and looking for her brother, Sonny, who thinks he’s a dog. She confesses her hopes and fantasies, as well as the grief and horror of a hardscrabble life. As time passes, Tracey’s stories begin to twist the truth and entwine it with lies, at once captivating and unsettling the reader." (http://www.goodreads.com)

Movie trailer:

How I obtained the book: Bought on Alibris for $3.99 (Subtotal was $0 due to coupon code. $3.99 was all shipping)

My commentary:

• I found out about this book years ago when I stumbled across the movie somewhere. I loved the DVD cover with Ellen Page broken up in fragments. I knew I was going to buy the movie before I even read the description because I feel like I'm broken up in pieces all the time.
• After watching the movie, I found out it was based on a book. I have spent years trying to find the book in stores, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I even checked the Barnes & Noble stock through its website for my entire state and other states, but nowhere had it. I kept thinking about buying it online, but most websites that did have it were charging full price plus shipping. I finally found it where it would be free using an online coupon code, with the shipping cost being all I'd have to pay.
• The book turned out to be exactly what I had hoped it would be. The movie is a great representation of the book. It's basically like trying to read the diary of a mental hospital patient, and I loved it. It was random thoughts and fragments of stories strung together. Being bipolar and having borderline personality (and having a brother who has schizophrenia), I know exactly how a fragmented mind works, and the author captures it amazingly. And since it's all from Tracey's perspective, it feels like she's talking straight to you. I see a lot of myself and my brother in Tracey. 
• Tracey often refers to herself as "It." That really spoke to me because I often feel like a thing, not a real person. Her detachment from reality is so captivating.
• It was definitely worth the wait and the time it took to finally get a copy of the book. It was also the perfect choice to be my 100th book of the year.

Memorable quotes (all by Tracey):

• "I'm so happy. Have an amazing life. Now I'm going to scratch my eyes out. Think I'm funny? I'M AN EMERGENCY -- sitting here, naked underneath the flowers of this scummy shower curtain. IT'S NOT MY FAULT. My DNA's fucked." 
• "The world sucks. No matter how you cut the world." 
• "I couldn't stay within the lines. I couldn't write properly, either. My mind is too small. ... My mind was so small it flew outside the world to other more extraordinary places. It wasn't that I couldn't concentrate. I concentrated too hard. I concentrated so hard it made all the colours in the world fall down a black hole." 
• "Life goes in, life goes out." 
• "It was hard having two identities: normal teenager and biker bitch. I was tired of having to explain it, or whatever." 
• "When I'm depressed, I like to be around other depressed people. Depressed people make me happy. ... Happy people depress me. They're shiny. Their teeth knife so bright and white it's blinding. Look around you -- there there and there -- happy people all over the place like an infection."
• "Murder. I think about murder a lot. I have this medical condition. Makes me want to kill and fuck all the time. Lucky for us, it's in remission."
• "It's hard to tell the difference between what's real and what's not when your whole life is inside your head. What's made up is usually better than what's real anyway. It's pretty much a no-brainer." 
• "Things aren't as bad as they seem. They're worse."
• "I am a very passionate person. I was born to love, no matter what. Just look at me, sitting here, naked on the bus. Love pumps through my blood. Not from my parents. In our family, passion's like diabetes -- it skips a generation." 
• "In our family, we don't believe in anything." 
• "Love is dangerous. It's something to run away from." 
• "Everything good dies fast. Everything rotten always lasts. Flowers shrivel as soon as they bloom. Weeds shoot up everywhere and eat the grass."
• "Love will whirl through his mind like little tornadoes."
• "Lying in the plastic garden, I couldn't help thinking this must be what happens to birds when they die. They hide so that nobody can find them, turning into bird dust. You never see a dead bird unless it bashes into a building or gets hit by a car. They're probably just more intelligent than humans." 
• "Tits were crucial. At our school the girls wore their tits like medals. They walked with their chests out. They walked like this. All over our school, big fat tits floating separate from the girls who wore them."
• "Beauty tortures. How come beauty burns everything away so the rest of the world -- even me -- disappears?" 
• "I want Billy Speed to put his cock inside me and say I love you in that order. Then I won't be afraid to die. Birds and bugs and bees die after they fuck." 
• "If you're famous it doesn't even matter if you're dead because you're still beautiful. Look int he magazines. It's in there."
• "I'm not what you think. I'm not junk. I'm not a dink. I'm not garbage flowers you leave to rot and stink and smell and curl up all dry and papery so they crumble as crusty as the flowers on this fucked up shower curtain. I'm not like that."
• "There's no such thing as true love. I want to kill God." 
• "People looked at me, then looked away, like I'm an accident." 
• "I go on these little vacations in my head."
• "Only boring people get bored."
•  " 'I swallowed the sun.' That's the last thing my grandmother said."
• "One day you fall for this boy. In the middle of nowhere. In the middle of snow. He touches your body with his fingers. He burns holes in your skin with his mouth. And it hurts when you look at him. And it hurts when you don't. And it feels like someone cuts you open with a jagged piece of glass. And then you realize you always felt that way. I can't stop these tears from burning my eyes. I can't stop tearing my skin apart. I can't stop tearing my eyes out. I can't grab hold of anything. Even as I grab hold of the sides of this hole everything crumbles up around me. Nothing matters."

Buy on Amazon.com: The Tracey Fragments

Book #99: City of Fallen Angels

Title: City of Fallen Angels (Book #4 of the Mortal Instruments series)

Author: Cassandra Clare

Date started reading: July 20, 2012
Date finished reading:  July 23, 2012

Publish date: April 2011
ISBN: 978-1442403543
Number of pages: 432

Official summary: "The Mortal War is over, and sixteen-year-old Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She's training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And — most importantly of all — she can finally call Jace her boyfriend. But nothing comes without a price. Someone is murdering Shadowhunters, 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. Not to mention that he's dating two beautiful, dangerous girls — neither of whom knows about the other one. When Jace begins to pull away from her without explaining why, Clary is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: she herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace." (http://www.cassandraclare.com)

Official book trailer:

How I obtained the book: Checked out of library
UPDATE on Aug. 10, 2012: I ended up getting my own copy of the book through Listia.com (It's a lot like eBay but uses a credit system instead of cash)

My commentary: I feel like this series has totally taken over my life... but I knew it would once I started reading it. 

Memorable quotes:

• "Whatever she was wearing, Isabelle drew attention like a fireworks display."
• "Vampires have no business teaching children. Vampires are terrifying." ~ Isabelle
• "You can't hide your true self forever." ~ Camille to Simon
• "Eternity is a long time to spend alone, without others of your kind. Others who understand." ~ Camille
• "Your problems are not real problems. You're dating two beautiful girls at once. Think about it. That's like rock-star problems." ~ Clary
  "Having rock-star problems may be the closest I ever get to being an actual rock star." ~ Simon
• "The Dumont is not a halfway house for reluctant vampires." ~ Raphael
• "I wish I could say things the way you do. Everything you say, the words you choose, they're so perfect. You always find the right quote, or the right thing to say to make me believe you love me." ~ Clary to Jace
• "Love is the most powerful force in the world. That love can do anything." ~ Jace
• "The blood of Heaven binds you. Blood calls to blood, under the skin. But love and blood are not the same. ... For love and desire are not always as one" ~ Seelie Queen to Clary
• "My definition of crazy has become pretty flexible in the past few months." ~ Simon
• "Simon wondered if he'd forgotten what ordinary human beings were like."
• "Clearly something is going on that I don't know about." ~ Luke
  "Sometimes I think that's the motto of my life." ~ Simon
• "Perhaps the whole business about not being able to see yourself in a mirror once you had become a vampire was wishful thinking. Maybe it was just that you no longer recognized the reflection looking back at you." ~ Simon
• "You don't look good." ~ Simon
  "This is from a guy who has all the sex appeal of a penguin." ~ Jace
• "Sometimes it really was like Shadowhunters were from an alien planet." ~ Simon
• "You're a public menance. You shouldn't be allowed out on your own." ~ Simon
  "Jealousy is such an ugly emotion, Lewis." ~ Jace
• "There are worse things than death." ~ Luke
• "We can buy you one of those books they have for little kids. 'Timmy Has Two Dads. Expect I don't think they have one called 'Timmy Has Two Dads and One of Them Was Evil. That part you're just going to have to work through on your own." ~ Simon
  "It's fascinating. You know all these words, and they're all English, but when you string them together into sentences, they just don't make any sense." ~ Jace
• "Sometimes Clary, love just isn't enough." ~ Luke
• "Your trusting idiocy knows no bouds." ~ Jace to Simon
• "Power is a magnet. It draws those who desire it." ~ Luke
• "I'm always so glad I have no idea what you're vacantly chattering about. It feels me with a sense of peace and well-being." ~ Jace to Simon
• "Love is a contradiction." ~ Jace
• "I watch my brothers give their hearts away and I think, 'Don't you know better?' Hearts are breakable. And I think even when you heal, you're never what you were before." ~ Isabelle
• "Being sixteen forever sounded good until you really thought about it." ~ Simon
• "Maybe Jace Lightwood deserves to get everything he wants. But Jace Morgenstern doesn't." ~ Jace
• "You left me. You made a pet out of me, and then you left me. If love were food, I would have starved on the bones you gave me." ~ Magnus to Camille
• "Beautiful things are so easily broken by the world." ~ Jocelyn
• "(Simon) wondered if there was anything in the world as painful as not being able to protect the people you loved." 
• "Dudes do not follow other dudes to the bathroom." ~ Jordan
• "You villains and your creepy eugenics programs are starting to bore me." ~ Simon
• "You love each other -- anyone can see that, looking at you -- that kind of love that can burn down the world or raise it up in glory." ~ Lilith to Jace
• "I don't know why I had to fall in love with someone who's more stubborn than I am." ~ Jace
• "For a bachelor who'd never had any children, Simon thought, Luke had an awful lot of kids to look after."

Buy on Amazon.com: City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments, Book 4)

Book #98: City of Glass

Title: City of Glass (Book #3 of the Mortal Instruments series)

Author: Cassandra Clare

Date started reading: July 17, 2012
Date finished reading:  July 20, 2012

Publish date: August 2010
ISBN: 978-1416972259
Number of pages: 576

Official summary: "To save her mother’s life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters — never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight. As Clary uncovers more about her family’s past, she finds an ally in mysterious Shadowhunter Sebastian. With Valentine mustering the full force of his power to destroy all Shadowhunters forever, their only chance to defeat him is to fight alongside their eternal enemies. But can Downworlders and Shadowhunters put aside their hatred to work together? While Jace realizes exactly how much he’s willing to risk for Clary, can she harness her newfound powers to help save the Glass City — whatever the cost? Love is a mortal sin and the secrets of the past prove deadly as Clary and Jace face down Valentine." (http://www.cassandraclare.com)

Official book trailer:

How I obtained the book: Bought for $4.94 at used book store. (It was a publisher's remainder, not actually used)

My commentary:  It's been totally crazy reading this series when I am because all sorts of news of the upcoming movie has been coming out. Part of me wishes I would've read the books sooner, but part of me is happy that I'm getting in on the excitement while the books are so fresh for me.

Memorable quotes:

• "Normal isn't all it's cracked up to be." ~ Luke
• "Some Laws were meant to be broken." ~ Luke
• "You can't just go around asking people what it's like to be a vampire." ~ Isabelle to Aline
• "It sucked to be old enough to want to know what was going on, but so young you were always dismissed." ~ Simon about Max
• "Isabelle only likes dating thoroughly inappropriate boys our parents will hate. Mundanes, Downworlders, petty crooks..." ~ Alec
  "Thanks. I'm glad to be classed with the criminal element." ~ Simon
• "One thing you'll learn as you get older, Simon, is that when people tell you something unpleasant about themselves, it's usually true." ~ Samuel
• "I have a fetish for damsels in distress. ... My services are also available to gentlemen in distress. It's an equal opportunity fetish." ~ Jace
• "Hurting people he loved was almost as good as hurting himself when he was in this kind of mood." ~ Jace
• "What was the point in crying when there was no one there to comfort you? And what was worse, when you couldn't even comfort yourself?" ~ Clary
• "Regret is such a pointless emotion." ~ Magnus
• "A true vampire knows he is dead. He accepts his death." ~ Raphael
• "Consider it a race to see who kills you first, Daylighter -- Valentine, the other Downworlders, or the Clave." ~ Samuel to Simon
• "In Isabelles's world, rage equaled passion equaled a good time." 
• "It must be nice not worrying that every time one of your family members walked out the door, they'd never come back." ~ Clary
• "It was strange to become a vampire, to be presented with what could only be described as an eternal life, and then to die anyway when you were sixteen." ~ Simon
• "You had to make a crazy jail friend, didn't you? You couldn't just count ceiling tiles or tame a pet mouse like normal prisoners do?" ~ Jace to Simon
• "I swear, there are utterly lightless demon dimensions out there that are less dim than the bunch of you." ~ Sebastian
• "People aren't born good or bad. Maybe they're born with tendencies either way, but it's the way you live your life that matters." ~ Simon
• "Even the cleverest puzzle has a solution." ~ Luke
• "Has there ever been an Inquisitor who didn't die a horrible death? It's like being the drummer in Spinal Tap." ~ Simon
• "You live to torture me, don't you?" ~ Jace to Clary
• "I love you, and I will love you until I die, and if there's a life after that, I'll love you then. ... I couldn't love you like I do if I wasn't at least a little bit human. Because demons want. But they don't love." ~ Jace to Clary
• "If your father weren't who he is, he'd be proud of you." ~ Luke to Jace
• "You could say anything you wanted to someone you thought you were never going to see again." ~ Clary
• "I started to hate seeing you. I hated for Jace to see you. It's like an injury you get from demon poison -- you have to leave it alone and let it heal. Every time you rip the bandages off, you just open the wound up again. Every time he sees you, it's like tearing off the bandages." ~ Isabelle
• "Knowing is better than not knowing. Every time." ~ Clary
• "If you ever meet the man who could take advantage of Isabelle, you'll have to let me know. I'd like to shake his hand. Or run away from him very fast, I'm not sure which." ~ Simon
• "No one could be that annoying without some kind of supernatural assistance." ~ Simon about Jace
• "You can only push the truth down for so long, and then it bubbles back up." ~ Simon
• "You're a vampire, not Spider-Man." ~ Clary to Simon
• "Doing the right thing because you love someone sucks sometimes." ~ Clary
• "Power doesn't have to be unlimited to be deadly." ~ Valentine
• "I must be the only vampire in the world sickened by the sight of blood."  ~ Simon
• "With (a) realization came a rush of numbness -- what was the point of hating Valentine for being a monster when he didn't even know he was one?" ~ Clary
• "Since the first time I saw you, I have belonged to you completely." ~ Jace to Clary
• "I am a man, and men do not consume pink beverage. Get thee gone, woman, and bring me something brown." ~ Jace
  "Brown?" ~ Isabelle
  "Brown is a manly color. In fact, look -- Alec is wearing it." ~ Jace

Buy on Amazon.com: City of Glass (Mortal Instruments)

Book #97: City of Ashes

Title: City of Ashes (Book #2 of the Mortal Instruments series)

Author: Cassandra Clare

Date started reading: July 14, 2012
Date finished reading: July 17, 2012

Publish date: March 2009
ISBN: 978-1416972242
Number of pages: 496

Official summary: "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?" (http://www.cassandraclare.com)

How I obtained the book: Bought for $4.49 at used book store. (It was a publisher's remainder, not actually used)

My commentary: 

• As with the first book, I was totally hooked on the story. Everything about the world that the author has created is addictive.  
• It's weird "shipping" a couple who are supposed to be brother and sister. It's weird wanting Jace and Clary to be in love and a couple, when they share parents. But yet, I want them to be together and live happily ever after.

Memorable quotes:

• "How do you manage never to get mud on you?" ~ Alec
  "I'm pure at heart. It repels the dirt." ~ Isabelle
• "There was no point telling him how badly she wanted Jace not to be her brother. You couldn't rip out your own DNA, no matter how much you wished you could. No matter how much it would make you happy." ~ Clary
• "(Jace would) pick a fight with a Mack truck if the urge took him." ~ Clary
• "I don't want to be a man. I want to be an angst-ridden teenager who can't confront his own inner demons and takes it out verbally on other people instead." ~ Jace
• "I'm not sure there's such a thing as a normal life." ~ Luke
• "Lucifer was rewarded for his rebellion when God cast him into the pits of hell. If you defy my authority, I can promise that you will envy him his fate." ~ Inquisitor to Jace
• "Somebody's girlfriend, somebody's sister, somebody's daughter. All these things I never knew I was before, and I still don't really know what I am." ~ Clary
• "Everything changes in my life, and the world stays the same." ~ Clary
• "Every time I annoy him, he retreats into his No Mundanes Allowed tree house." ~ Simon about Jace
• "Look on the bright side. If they need a human sacrifice, you can always offer me." ~ Simon
• "Love does make liars out of your kind." ~ Seelie Queen
• "You know how the bonds of family are, my lady. They cling as tightly as vines. And sometimes, like vines, they cling tightly enough to kill." ~ Jace to Seelie Queen
• "Desire is not always lessened by disgust. Nor can it be bestowed, like a favor, to those most deserving of it." ~ Seelie Queen
• "I can only assume that mortal emotions amuse you because you have none of your own." ~ Jace to Seelie Queen
• "When you love someone, you don't have a choice. Love takes your choices away." ~ Clary
• "Being human is overrated." ~ Clary
• "I get the feeling you'd rather pine over someone you can never possibly be with than try being with someone you can." ~ Simon to Clary
• "Fate is never fair." ~ Valentine
• "We poison and destroy everything we love." ~ Valentine to Jace
• "Jace reminds me of an old boyfriend. Some guys look at you like they want sex. Jace looks at you like you've already have sex, it was great, and now you're just friends -- even though you want more. Drives girls crazy." ~ Maia to Clary
• "Vampires scare me to death." ~ Maia
• "You disappear so completely into your head sometimes. I wish I could follow you." ~ Jace to Clary
• "If you can't tell the truth to the people you care about the most, eventually you stop being able to tell the truth to yourself." ~ Luke

Buy on Amazon.com: City of Ashes (Mortal Instruments)

Book #96: City of Bones

Title: City of Bones (Book #1 of the Mortal Instruments series)

Author: Cassandra Clare

Date started reading: July 11, 2012
Date finished reading:  July 14, 2012

Publish date: February 2008
ISBN: 978-1416955078
Number of pages: 512

Official summary: "When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder — much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It’s hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing — not even a smear of blood — to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy? This is Clary’s first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It’s also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace’s world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know." (http://www.cassandraclare.com)

How I obtained the book: Got through PaperBackSwap.com.

My pre-reading commentary: 

• I'm a little worried about reading this series. I've been looking forward to it for a while, but I'm unsure of how it will turn out. A ton of people on Tumblr recommended that I read it because of all the other books I like. I see two possible ways this can turn out: 1) I will be disappointed because I've heard so many good things about it that I've got my hopes up too much that it couldn't possibly live up to the hype, or 2) I will utterly love the series and it will completely take over my entire life. 
• I probably would've read this series much sooner if there wasn't a quote from Stephanie Meyer on the book covers. I really don't care to take her advice on what books to read. 

My post-reading commentary:

• Normally when I start a new book series, I go looking through reviews and spoilers and end up knowing everything that happens in the series. This time around, I decided to avoid having anything spoiled before I read it. I actually wanted to be surprised. Unfortunately, I decided to finally read the series right when all sorts of attention was being thrown on the series due to its upcoming movie that starts filming next month. Suddenly there were spoilers all over Tumblr and Facebook that I didn't intend to ever see. I didn't go looking for them, but they came at me anyway. I found out things that happen later on throughout the series, so I wasn't nearly as surprised as I should've been at some things.
• After reading about three chapters of this first book, I immediately regretted not starting the series a long time ago. I had the first three books sitting on my book shelf for a while, but kept putting it off. I should've read them a long time ago. The writing is excellent. The various storylines are complex and very interesting. I'm hopelessly addicted already. 

Memorable quotes:

• "Trust me, little girl, the police aren't going to arrest someone they can't see." ~ Jace to Clary
• "Normal people don't generally find their homes ransacked by demons." ~ Hodge
• "Magic is a dark and elemental force, not just a lot of sparkly wands and crystal balls and talking goldfish." ~ Jace
• "Just because you call an electric eel a rubber duck doesn't make it a rubber duck, does it? And God help the poor bastard who decides they want to take a bath with the duckie." ~ Jace
• "The meek may inherit the earth, but at the moment it belongs to the conceited. Like me." ~ Jace
• "If you were half as funny as you thought you were, my boy, you'd be twice as funny as you are." ~ Madame Dorothea to Jace
• "For the devil has no power except in the dark." ~ Madame Dorothea
• "The most terrible things men do, they do in the name of love." ~ Madame Dorothea
• "It's like Dungeons and Dragons, but real." ~ Simon when he learns about the Shadowhunter/Downworlder world
• "You've got to be kidding me. Demon slayers take the subway?" ~ Simon
• "Why are you always such an asshat?" ~ Clary
  "An asshat?" ~ Jace
  "What you said to Simon--" ~ Clary
  "I was trying to save him some pain. Isabelle will cut out his heart and walk all over it in high-heeled boots. That's what she does to boys like that." ~ Jace
• "It's generally better not to ask (Jace) anything unless you know you can stand to hear the answer." ~ Isabelle
• "I'd rather have someone mess around inside my head than chop it off." ~ Simon
• "Sarcasm is the last refuge of the imaginatively bankrupt." ~ Clary
• "I don't understand why mundanes always apologize for things that aren't their fault." ~ Jace
• "To love is to destroy, and that to be loved is to be the one destroyed." ~ Jace
• "Demon hunting and fashion: I never would have thought they went together." ~ Clary
• "Vampires are such prima donnas." ~ Magnus
• "I have a high pain threshold. In fact, it's less of a threshold and more of a large and tastefully decorated foyer." ~ Jace
• "Where there is love, there is often also hate. They can exist side by side." ~ Hodge
• "My one true love remains myself." ~ Jace

Buy on Amazon.com: City of Bones (Mortal Instruments)

Book #95: Captivate

Title: Captivate (Book #2 in the Need series)

Author: Carrie Jones

Date started reading: July 09, 2012
Date finished reading: July 10, 2012

Publish date: December 2010
ISBN: 978-1599905235
Number of pages: 304

Official summary: "Zara and her friends knew they hadn’t solved the pixie problem for good. Far from it. The king’s needs grow deeper every day he’s stuck in captivity, while his control over his people gets weaker. It’s made him vulnerable. And now there’s a new king in town. A turf war is imminent, since the new pixie king, Astley, is moving in quickly. Nick nearly killed him in the woods on day one, but Zara came to his rescue. Astley swears that he and Zara are destined to be together, that he’s one of the good guys. Nick isn’t buying it, though Zara isn’t as sure — despite herself, she wants to trust the new king. But it’s a lot more than her relationship with Nick that is at stake. It’s her life — and his." (http://www.carriejonesbooks.com)

Official book trailer:

How I obtained the book: Got through Lista.com (It's like eBay with a credit system instead of using money)

My commentary:

• I liked this book better than the first one in the series, but it's still not going to be in my top favorite series. It's just a little more odd than I had hoped. I don't regret reading it though. I will for sure finish out the series once I find the other two books at a decent price or decide to check them out of the library.
• I loved one part of the book completely though. Issie compares the upcoming fight between the pixies and other mythical creatures to how Sunnydale set on a hellmouth on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." I find it funny that Buffy keeps popping up in all these books I am reading that don't even have to do with vampires. I love that the show has been so relevant to various authors that they reference it. There's a gif (made from a scene in "Gilmore Girls") that I see used on Tumblr all the time that basically explains how Buffy has become and basically what Issie reminded me of when I read the scene in this book...

Memorable quotes:

• "Every time any of us are late you imagine we're dead. You are no longer allowed to imagine anyone is dead." ~ Issie to Zara
• "Pixie tip: Pixies do not look like Tinker Bell. Although they occasionally wear tutus. Seriously, who doesn't?"
• "Pixie tip: If you have to fight pixies, remember to use weapons with some sort of iron. As in the metal. Not the thing you use to dewrinkle clothes."
• "Dude, you tried to kidnap her to bait her mom into coming to you. Then you tried to turn her mom into a pixie. Come on. I mean, no offense, but you are not Daddy of the Year stuff here. Plus, you didn't even show up on the scene for what? Sixteen years? That's lame. Seriously. That is very deadbeat dad stuff right there." ~ Issie to Zara's real father
• "Devyn's always quoting Yoda from one of the original 'Star Wars' movies. Yoda talks in a total stoner voice and is supposed to be all philosophically centered with the good force stuff. I think of him as a kind of Tibetan monk crossed with the dude who hangs out at 7-Eleven even though he's thirty." ~ Zara
• "Gram, nobody likes to hear about other people's dreams. It's like watching PowerPoint presentations of somebody else's vacation in St. Croix or something." ~ Zara
• "Man, I hate dreams. How is it they can make you feel guilty when they aren't even real?" ~ Zara
• "There's nothing wrong with being emotional. There's a lot of good emotions out there." ~ Zara's grandmother
• "Bowling is evil. ... If there is a name for the fear of a painful bowel movement (defecaloesiophobia) there should be a word for the fear of bowling. Bowling is definitely phobia worthy" ~ Zara
•  "I don't believe in destiny." ~ Zara
• "Life is not all damsel-in-distress romance novels -- my life is more of an everyone-in-distress horror movie." ~ Zara

Buy on Amazon.com: Captivate

Book #94: Need

Title: Need

Author: Carrie Jones

Date started reading: July 05, 2012
Date finished reading:  July 08, 2012

Publish date: December 2009
ISBN: 978-1599904535
Number of pages: 336

Official summary: "Zara collects phobias the way other high school girls collect lipsticks. Little wonder, since life’s been pretty rough so far. Her father left, her stepfather just died, and her mother’s pretty much checked out. Now Zara’s living with her grandmother in sleepy, cold Maine so that she stays 'safe.' Zara doesn’t think she’s in danger; she thinks her mother can’t deal. Wrong. Turns out that guy she sees everywhere, the one leaving trails of gold glitter, isn’t a figment of her imagination. He’s a pixie — and not the cute, lovable kind with wings. He’s the kind who has dreadful, uncontrollable needs. And he’s trailing Zara." (http://www.carriejonesbooks.com)

Official book trailer:

How I obtained the book: Got through Lista.com (It's like eBay with a credit system instead of using money)

My commentary: I'm not quite sure what I expected from this series. I heard some people say it was good, and some said it was really weird. I, of course, knew to expect evil pixies, but werewolves, weretigers, werebears, and wereowls were not what I thought would come up. I never pictured a wereowl before. Turning into a bird would be cool I guess, but an owl? Anyways, the book was ok, but it was pretty weird. Zara is obsessed with knowing every phobia known to man and recites them to herself when she's scared or nervous. What an odd habit...

Memorable quotes:

• "I collect fears like other people collect stamps, which makes me sound like more of a freak than I actually am. But I'm into it. The fears thing. Phobias. ... It's a lot easier to understand things once you name them. It's the unknown that mostly freaks me out." ~ Zara
• "There's no easy off button for your brain. It would be really, really nice if there were." ~ Zara
• "You know things aren't going to be good when even the sky is gray and cold." ~ Zara
• "Why is it that naming the fear doesn't make it any better?" ~ Zara
• "It's not easy being a leaf in New England." ~ Zara
• "That's what stinks about lying. It's hard to do it to yourself and actually believe it." ~ Zara
• "The sun is setting and it's only five o' clock. How do people live here? It should be against the law to live anywhere that the sun sets so early. If I were a dictator I would totally make that law." ~ Zara
• "There are people who like cute, furry things and people who eat cute, furry things." ~ Issie
• "Disappointing Issie is like telling a four-year-old that ice cream cones have been banned." ~ Zara
• "Fear makes us stronger, puts us on our toes. We've got to embrace it." ~ Devyn
• "Maine is turning me into such a geek." ~ Zara
• "Catagelophobia is the fear of being ridiculed. I think this is a very normal phobia. It is a phobia I should actively cultivate." ~ Zara
• "A real friend would not bring up something that would so obviously embarrass his friend because of its innate patheticness." ~ Zara to Nick
• "Welcome to Maine, Zara. Land of a million power failures." ~ the art teacher
• "I'm not into pity parties." ~ Zara
• "Heroes are supposed to play fair." ~ Zara
• "Hope is a crazy thing. It will make you believe." ~ Zara
• "No more phobias. Real life is scary enough." ~ Zara
• "Werewolves aren't supposed to be cute. Vampires are, I think. They are in the movies. But the werewolves are pretty much ugly and they wear leather jackets and are all dirty with these monster sideburns." ~ Zara to Nick
• "I think there could be a market for these werewolf kisses." ~ Zara
• "Hate is a useless emotion." ~ Zara
• "Cliches are cliches for a reason." ~ Ian
• "Everybody always leaves." ~ Zara
• "People don't want to see the truth sometimes." ~ Betty
• "Blood isn't always the strongest link." ~ Betty
• "Friends help friends fight pixies." ~ Issie

Buy on Amazon.com: Need

Book #93: Ascend

Title: Ascend (Book #3 of the Trylle trilogy)

Author: Amanda Hocking

Date started reading: July 04, 2012
Date finished reading:  July 05, 2012

Publish date: April 2012
ISBN: 978-1250006332
Number of pages: 326

Official summary: "Wendy Everly is facing an impossible choice. The only way to save the Trylle from their deadliest enemy is by sacrificing herself. If she doesn’t surrender to the Vittra, her people will be thrust into a brutal war against an unbeatable foe. But how can Wendy leave all her friends behind… even if it’s the only way to save them? The stakes have never been higher, because her kingdom isn’t the only thing she stands to lose. After falling for both Finn and Loki, she’s about to make the ultimate choice… who to love forever. One guy has finally proven to be the love of her life — and now all their lives might be coming to an end. Everything has been leading to this moment. The future of her entire world rests in her hands — if she’s ready to fight for it." (http://amandahocking.blogspot.com)

Official series trailer:

How I obtained the book: Got through Lista.com (It's like eBay with a credit system instead of using money)

My totally spoiler-filled commentary:

• I was fully pleased by this book and how the series ended. From the second, Loki showed up in the second book, I wanted him and Wendy to fall in love and get together. Even though Wendy marries Tove (who turns out to be gay) for the sake of the kingdom, she loses her virginity to Loki in a moment of weakness (or perhaps strength because she finally decided what she wanted and went for it). I literally cried due to how beautiful their first love-making was. I also cried at the end of the book because Wendy and Tove get an annulment and Wendy marries Loki. And it turns out that Loki had impregnated Wendy during their first time. I wish there was one or more other books in the series so the story of Wendy and Loki's reign as queen and king with a baby could be told.
• Most reviews I've read of this book seem to show that most fans wanted Wendy to chose Finn over Loki and were mad that Finn didn't get the girl at the end. But Finn did end up with a girl... a refugee from another kingdom who was widowed with a baby. That's a much better person for him, someone who is in his own social class.
• Wendy's mother's death was surprisingly sad because in the end she and Wendy actually started getting to know each other, and the queen wasn't as bad as the reader was originally led to believe. Of course, she had to die in order for Wendy to become the queen. That much was obvious all along. 
• Wendy killing her father was a development I didn't expect. Their kingdoms were at war, so obviously something had to be done, and killing him was the most effective solution, but having Wendy do it so soon after her mother died was crazy. And to behead him? Gross. But ultimately cool. 
• Wendy reminded me a lot of Rose from the "Vampire Academy" series personality-wise. They're both extremely brave and strong-willed. They both stand up for what they believe in no matter what people think. Both Wendy and Rose are good role models for girls.

Memorable quotes:

• "Sometimes it seems to me that that's all my life has been, a series of things that I loved deeply that I could never have." ~ Elora
• "Mark my words, Princess. One day, you'll be madly in love with me." ~ Loki
• "If I can't have a fairy-tale wedding, at least I can plan one." ~ Willa
• "I needed Finn to choose me over honor, and the best he could offer me was one night." ~ Wendy
• "Oh, Wendy, don't look so appalled. I'm already the rebel Prince of thine enemy. I can't do much to tarnish my image." ~ Loki
• "You should get married more often. It makes you feisty." ~ Loki to Wendy
• "No one will ever accept you." ~ Finn to Loki
• "You need someone that loves you. You love fiercely, with all your being. And you need someone that loves you the same. More than duty or the monarchy or the kingdom. More than himself even. ... You deserve all the love a man has to give." ~ Loki to Wendy
•  "Evil attracts evil, apparently." ~ Loki
• "You don't obey a suicide mission!" ~ Finn to Loki
• "I was hoping you could have a happily-ever-after is all." ~ Willa to Wendy
• "I'll sleep when I'm dead." ~ Wendy
• "I'm great. The entire kingdom is falling apart. People are dying. I have to kill my father. And my husband just went crazy." ~ Wendy
• "Even the pain felt like pleasure." ~ Wendy about her first sexual experience with Loki
• "These people don't trust you or like you, and you're sacrificing everything for them. How does that make sense?" ~ Loki to Wendy
• "Why are you so intent on being a martyr, Wendy?" ~ Loki
• "I wasn't sure who had planned the funeral, but it looked like a Goth kid at a Cure concert had thrown up here." ~ Wendy
• "I'm free to be the naughty drunk friend." ~ Willa
• "I have been fighting to change things around here, to make the kingdom better for trackers and all the Trylle. And you have been fighting to keep things the same. You are content to live in this ridiculous hierarchy." ~ Wendy to Finn

Buy on Amazon.com: Ascend

Book #92: Torn

Title: Torn (Book #2 of the Trylle trilogy)

Author: Amanda Hocking

Date started reading: July 03, 2012
Date finished reading: July 04, 2012

Publish date: February 2012
ISBN: 978-1250006325
Number of pages: 336

Official summary: "When Wendy Everly first discovers the truth about herself — that she’s a changeling switched at birth — she knows her life will never be the same. Now she’s about to learn that there’s more to the story… She shares a closer connection to her Vittra rivals than she ever imagined — and they’ll stop at nothing to lure her to their side. With the threat of war looming, her only hope of saving the Trylle is to master her magical powers — and marry an equally powerful royal. But that means walking away from Finn, her handsome bodyguard who’s strictly off limits… and Loki, a Vittra prince with whom she shares a growing attraction. Torn between her heart and her people, between love and duty, Wendy must decide her fate. If she makes the wrong choice, she could lose everything, and everybody, she’s ever wanted…in both worlds." (http://amandahocking.blogspot.com)

Official series trailer:

How I obtained the book: Got through Lista.com (It's like eBay with a credit system instead of using money)

My commentary:

• Holy cow. This book was amazing. I don't think there is anything I'd change about it if I could. The writing is wonderfully done. The story is utterly breath-taking. The characters are intriguing. 
• I loved how "torn" Wendy is between Finn and Loki and her arranged marriage to Tove. She has to decide between Finn who she loves but keeps breaking her heart because they're social classes don't marry together. Loki is of proper class but he's in the enemy troll tribe. Tove is just a friend who she likes but doesn't love, and they're marriage is arranged to save the kingdom. "Torn" was definitely the correct title to use for this book.  
• There's a hilarious part where Wendy tells Duncan that he reminds her of Deputy Dewey (played by David Arquette) from the "Scream" movies. I can't believe that anyone would've thought to make that comparison, which is somehow a little sweet and insulting at the same time. I'm afraid that may be a little lost on the teenagers who are reading this series now, but to someone my age who was a teenager when the movies first came out, it was awesome.

Memorable quotes:

• "Wendy, do you care nothing for your own safety?" ~ Finn
• "I wasn't meant to be a Princess." ~ Wendy
• "Don't underestimate me, Princess. I eat girls like you for breakfast." ~ Ludlow
• "You seem like a self-saboteur." ~ Loki to Wendy
• "You're rather feisty for a Princess." ~ Loki 
• "Not all prisons have bars. You should know that better than anyone, Princess." ~ Loki
• "She's the Princess. It's not rocket science that we'd come after her." ~ Duncan
• "Elora, you need to tell me the truth. You can't keep hiding stuff from me this way, not if you want me to rule someday. I'd make a very horrible Queen if I was ignorant to everything." ~ Wendy
• "You'll drive yourself mad trying to discern and prevent the future. It's much better letting things unfold." ~ Elora
• "The future is far too fluid to ever understand or change." ~ Elora
• "All I knew was that I was sick of him breaking my heart." ~ Wendy about Finn
•  "I've been Queen for a while, Princess. I know how to pick my battles. ... You learn to tolerate the things you cannot change." ~ Elora
• "If it ever comes down to a situation between me and you, save yourself. I'm not worth dying for." ~ Wendy to Duncan
• "I've found that I get what I want more often with basic decency than unnecessary cruelty." ~ Loki
• "Being human is something we strive against." ~ Finn
• "If I'm left in the dark about things, it's because you're the one who left me there. You expect me to rule this place, yet you refuse to tell me anything about it." ~ Wendy to Elora
• "You and your friend there look like a couple of Acme Spy School droupouts." ~ Loki about Wendy and Duncan
• "People aren't always what they seem." ~ Thomas
• "Love is a fairy tale that manks tell their children so they'll have grandchildren. Love has nothing to do with marriage." ~ Elora
• "I'd rather not be Queen than marry someone I don't love." ~ Wendy
• "The more powerful we are, the more cursed we are." ~ Elora
• "Life isn't a fairy tale, Duncan." ~ Wendy
• "Nobody's really free." ~ Wendy

Buy on Amazon.com: Torn

Book #91: Switched

Title: Switched (Book #1 of the Trylle trilogy)

Author: Amanda Hocking

Date started reading: July 1, 2012
Date finished reading:  July 3, 2012

Publish date: January 2012
ISBN: 978-1250006318
Number of pages: 336

Official summary: "When Wendy Everly was six years old, her mother was convinced she was a monster and tried to kill her. Eleven years later, Wendy discovers her mother might have been right. She’s not the person she’s always believed herself to be, and her whole life begins to unravel — all because of Finn Holmes. Finn is a mysterious guy who always seems to be watching her. Every encounter leaves her deeply shaken…though it has more to do with her fierce attraction to him than she’d ever admit. But it isn’t long before he reveals the truth: Wendy is a changeling who was switched at birth — and he’s come to take her home. Now Wendy’s about to journey to a magical world she never knew existed, one that’s both beautiful and frightening. And where she must leave her old life behind to discover who she’s meant to become…" (http://amandahocking.blogspot.com)

Official series trailer:

How I obtained the book: Got through Lista.com (It's like eBay with a credit system instead of using money)

My commentary:

• Reading a book about trolls is odd, I have to admit. My views on trolls have mostly included the funny looking troll dolls I had as a kid or as creepy gross creatures in some fantasy movies/TV shows. I'm glad the author actually made a little comment about the dolls. That is a joke that just had to be made in the series.

• I was totally hooked by the end of the first page of the book. The world that the author has created is unique and complex, and everything about it is beautiful. I wish there were more than just three books in the series.
• Wendy makes a joke that her mother is putting her through the same type of princess lessons that were in the Disney movie "The Princess Diaries." It was the perfect reference, and funny too.

Memorable quotes:

• "A couple things made that day stand out more than any other: it was my sixth birthday, and my mother was wielding a knife. Not a tiny steak knife, but some kind of massive butcher knife glinting in the light like in a bad horror movie. She definitely wanted to kill me." ~ Wendy
• "My life is made up almost entirely of bad ideas." ~ Wendy
• "Dancing is for suckers." ~ Wendy
• "I could suddenly explain all Finn's odd behavior: he was completely insane." ~ Wendy
• "I kept expecting Finn to appear at my window again, but he didn't, and I wasn't sure if that was good or bad. I wanted to talk to him, but I was terrified. Terrified he might be lying, and terrified he might be telling the truth." ~ Wendy
• "In my life, I had caused nothing but pain." ~ Wendy
• "Even now, with my life in complete shambles, the way he looked at me made it hard to focus on anything but my racing heart." ~ Wendy about Finn
• "I feel like I'm in 'The Princess Diaries,' if Julie Andrews had been a thief." ~ Wendy
• "Everybody has something to be punished for." ~ Finn
• "Your secrets are safe, Wendy." ~ Finn
• "You sound like a broken record sometimes. You're always just doing your job." ~ Wendy to Finn
• "Finn had this way of making me believe anything, and it scared me sometimes." ~ Wendy
• "Do you know everything about Trylle society?" ~ Wendy
  "A foolish man thinks he knows everything. A wise man knows he doesn't." ~ Finn
  "That's such a fortune-cookie answer." ~ Wendy
• "Some things are better forgotten." ~ Garrett
• "Happiness is something you work for." ~ Finn
• "I'm not one for class, but when one of your most powerful members of your population is the gardener, you know it's a problem." ~ Tove
• "Our obsession with riches has always been our downfall." ~ Tove
• "A Princess never apologizes." ~ Elora
• "A Princess doesn't make promises either. She might not be able to keep them, and she doesn't want them held against her." ~ Elora
• "Wendy is a ridiculous name. It's entirely improper for a Princess." ~ Elora
• "It was impossible to combine from heartbreak with the fervor of a ball." ~ Wendy
• "Tove is the stuff of legends. ... And if you play your cards right, you'll be pretty damn legendary yourself." ~ Willa to Wendy
• "You're trying to please so many people and it's exhausting. You can't be everything to everyone, so I try not to be anything to anyone." ~ Tove to Wendy
  

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