Book Review of Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

Cassandra Clare told how she was in England sitting in a park plotting for Clockwork Princess and a large worm crawled onto her blanket and she said, "there's going to be a  worm in the book."  

And indeed the book has a large vicious worm attacking the shadowhunters and this is where the book starts out. Tessa shows up to help in her wedding dress and ends up getting blood all over it. Jem takes a turn for the worse and needs more medicine. With Tessa & Jem engaged, Will has to push his love for Tessa aside. More than anything he wants to see his best friend Jem happy. 

Mortmain is determined to get Tessa for his own evil plan to get revenge on the shadowhunters. When he buys up all the medicine that will keep Jem alive Tessa has to put her life on the line to save the man she loves. 

There are lots of tie-ins with the Mortal Instrument series through out Clockwork Princess. It made me want to reread the whole series starting with City of Bones. 

If you don't want the biggest spoiler of all don't read the family tree on the inside flap of the book. I did that. Ugh!

Cassandra Clare is a great writer and she intertwines a bizarre supernatural world within our world. This wrapped up the series nicely and it was a great end to The Infernal Devices. 

To see the full review with movie and book trailers go to: http://anythingbutnormal-juliewallace.blogspot.com/2013/03/book-review-of-clockwork-princess-by.html

Book Review of The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Yes, this is a reread for me since I’m gearing up for the movie that’s coming out next week. It’s an action packed book. I could not put the book down even though I already knew the ending. An alien nation has taken over earth; it’s really a peaceful take over. The great thing about this book is you are in the mind of the enemy, the alien. It is written so you start seeing “us” from a different perspective. We are a violent race. Wanderer is a special soul that has traveled many other worlds and is now placed in Melanie’s body, one of the last rebelling humans left. Melanie doesn't disappear like she’s suppose to and her memories start effecting Wanderer. She begins to fall in love with Jared because of Melanie thinking about his smile, laugh, and how he made them safe again. It isn't until Melanie’s defenses are down that she starts to learn to love and want to protect Jamie, Melanie's brother. All the emotions and memories bring Wanderer into questioning her whole species and purpose. It will make you cry as you feel the heart retching emotion for both the aliens and the humans. It is a whole different take on the end of our world as we know it. 

http://www.thehostnovel.com/

http://stepheniemeyer.com/thehost.html

I can't wait for the movie to come out next week. Anyone want to see The Host on March 28th for a private pre-screening at Harkins San Tan Village in Gilbert? Send an email to prescreensby2huns@yahoo.com for ticket details. 

We will discuss after how we think they did with adapting the book into a movie. 

***Spoiler alert***

I always wanted Stephenie to write a sequel to The Host but now I’m not so sure. I’m happy and content with the way things ended and don’t want anything bad to come to them anymore. What do you think, do you want to see more books on this exciting story?

Confessions of a 40-year-old-YA-Paranormal-groupie!

I love reading YA stories. There is something about the experience of one's first love and finding your way in the world that attracts me. Yes, I admit I'm a 40-year-old-groupie. I stand in long lines to get my favorite authors signatures. It all started with my mother. She loves to read and passed that on to me. She kept telling me to read Twilight. I kept telling her I don't read vampire books. But I broke down and read them and I became a fan of not only vampires but all kinds of supernatural books. Because I loved Stephenie's novels so much I listened when she mentioned on her website, "sorry Edward and Jacob I had to spend the evening with Jace." Jace is a Shadow Hunter in The Mortal Instrument series. It was a great series and I love the prequel series The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare even more. This Tuesday I'm going to go stand in line to get Cassandra's autograph for the Clockwork Princess, the third book in the series. I can't wait!! http://www.changinghands.com/cassandraclare

I love finding new series to get excited about and I found my next YA Paranormal obsession. It's the Vanguard Legacy: Foretold by Joanne Kershaw. After I got use to the spelling of UK words, the author is from England, I thoroughly enjoyed this first book in the series.

I received the ARC from the publishing company, here is my review:
http://anythingbutnormal-juliewallace.blogspot.com/2013/03/book-review-vanguard-legacy-foretold-by.html

Book Review of Amethysts and Arson by Lynn Gardner

When Allison married Bart, she knew theirs would be no ordinary marriage. Bart works undercover for Interpol’s anti-terrorist agency, Anastasia, and Allison is already more familiar with danger and near death than she’d like to be. Now this intrepid and charming duo encounters their most challenging mystery yet.

Bart’s uncle, an arson investigator, has been receiving anonymous and mysterious clues to crimes planned but not yet committed. Allison and Bart must call upon all of Anastasia’s resources to stop this madman from killing hundreds of innocent people and destroying a dozen significant historical sites out of some twisted and unexplainable drive for revenge. A dozen bombs have been hidden in sites across the southern United States, and in a race against time, Allison and Bart must find and disarm them before they explode. Can they do it?

I had the great opportunity to meet Lynn Gardner and take a class by her.(See post for my notes on ANWA class by Lynn Gardner.) 

After reading her book Amethysts and Arson I want to take the Lynn Gardner "deep south" tour of all the great places her characters Allison and Bart visited. They were in hurry to save beautiful historical buildings and museums from being leveled by a madman. They rushed through these tourist spots but you really feel like you were there. If you read my notes from her class you'll find that Lynn does her best research by going to the places her characters visit. On Lynn's website I found out that she indeed visited all these places in her book. "Research for this book took me solo six thousand miles, from coast to coast, through sixteen states." You can tell she was really there by the description of every place. There was plenty of mystery and intrigue through-out the whole book. Allison is spunky and smart but very accident prone. Her husband Bart is sweet and very in love with his wife. During all this life and death events we experience the struggles of a newly married couple and the decision of bringing children into an uncertain world. This is my kind of book, plenty of mystery and action but a great love story. 

Lynn has written many books and they are all going on my to read list. 

Check Lynn's website for a full list of her novels at lynngardner-author.com