Review of The Mortal Instruments: City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

Review of Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments: City of Heavenly Fire

Released May 27, 2014

This is the synopsis listed on Amazon.com:

Shadowhunters and demons square off for the final showdown in the spellbinding, seductive conclusion to the #1 New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments series.

Darkness has descended on the Shadowhunter world. Chaos and destruction overwhelm the Nephilim as Clary, Jace, Simon, and their friends band together to fight the greatest evil they have ever faced: Clary’s own brother. Sebastian Morgenstern is on the move, systematically turning Shadowhunter against Shadowhunter. Bearing the Infernal Cup, he transforms Shadowhunters into creatures of nightmare, tearing apart families and lovers as the ranks of his Endarkened army swell. Nothing in this world can defeat Sebastian—but if they journey to the realm of demons, they just might have a chance…

Lives will be lost, love sacrificed, and the whole world will change. Who will survive the explosive sixth and final installment of the Mortal Instruments series?

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This will be a very hard review for me to write... not because the book wasn't mind-blowingly good, but because after so many years of my life, I have to say goodbye to characters that I have grown very fond of. Like many people, I have spent the past 6 years (& 6 books) of growing with Clary. I have learned about the shadow world & fallen in love with Jace Lightwood... Wayland... Morgenstern... Lightwood... Herondale! I have wished for a happy ending for Magnus & Alec. I have hoped for Isabelle to finally end up with Simon... And now that their story is over, I am wishing for more. I know it is over... but I selfishly want more.

I am happy to say that even though there was more loss in this book than in any of the previous 5, that I grew to love the characters that I hated earlier on through the incredible writing of a true master author. After 4 days of prolonging the inevitable , I finished Cassandra Clare's 725 page finally to the Mortal Instruments series... and I loved every minute of it.

The Dark Artifices: Lady Midnight will be released in Fall of 2015 - Where we will continue the story of Emma Carstairs & Julian Blackthorn that started in CoHF.

Review of Tabula Rasa by Kristen Lippert-Martin

Advance Review for Kristen Lippert-Martin's Tabula Rasa

Release Date: September 23rd, 2014

This is the synopsis that is listed for the book on Good Reads:

The Bourne Identity meets Divergent in this heart-pounding debut.

Sixteen-year-old Sarah has a rare chance at a new life. Or so the doctors tell her. She’s been undergoing a cutting-edge procedure that will render her a tabula rasa—a blank slate. Memory by memory her troubled past is being taken away.

But when her final surgery is interrupted and a team of elite soldiers invades the isolated hospital under cover of a massive blizzard, her fresh start could be her end.

Navigating familiar halls that have become a dangerous maze with the help of a teen computer hacker who's trying to bring the hospital down for his own reasons, Sarah starts to piece together who she is and why someone would want her erased. And she won’t be silenced again.

A high-stakes thriller featuring a non-stop race for survival and a smart heroine who will risk everything, Tabula Rasa is, in short, unforgettable.
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I was happy to soak up the minutes by delving into the intricacies of the mind with this fast paced thrill ride. Whether the main character is getting flashbacks of memories, trying to save herself from hired mercenaries, or falling in love, you can't help but want to know... what really happened to get her sent to a facility to have her memories erased? Is she really the criminal the staff at this hospital are making her out to be? I went through a plethora of emotions waiting to see what, why, and how... but it's the who that keeps you guessing up until the end.