City of Bones - Review


 
Author: Cassandra Clare
Rate:  3

Summary: Clary Fray, a 15 years old girl, and her best friend Simon Lewis are in the line to enter the Pandemonium Club when she sees a blue-haired boy and decides to follow him trough the club. What Clary doesn't know is that her life is about to change.
She notices three odd looking teenagers, they're all extremely beautiful and they're all dressed in black. Clary becomes even more interested when she sees them killing the blue-haired boy.
One night she meets one of the three teenagers. He's a handsome blonde boy with golden eyes and he presents himself as being Jace Wayland, a Shadowhunter, a demon hunter. Oh, by the way, he's a total badass, he's a bit of a douche and he thinks he's the hottest male that ever lived.
When Clary's mother is kidnapped by Valentine, a shadowhunter turned bad, Jace has to bring Clary into the shadowhunters world and begin a journey to save her mother and all of the world from falling into Valentine's hands.
Review: 
This book starts in a very unnusual way and I have to admit that it took me a while to really feel the Shadowhunter world and to really feel the story developing.
I think that this feeling might come from the fact that Clare is very methodical and she only gives you a little piece of information at the time.
The characters in this story are very complex and very easy to eather fall in love or hate! I have to admit that I really don't have a favourite character but I'm a big fan of Jace and Clary.
Through the bookyou have a chance to appreciate the adventures at a very detailed level since the entire series only covers a few months.
Other thing that I would like to talk about it's the fact that Clare was brave enough to include homosexuality in this book and it shows teenagers how they should'nt judge others by their sexual choices and how hard it is to live keeping a secret from your loved ones.
I really admire how Clare was able to create this entire universe with only her mind.


Reflection About The Characters: * SPOILER ALERT *

  • Most people completely hate Jace because of his attitude but even though he's exterior appearance as shallow self-centered person, I can see glimpses of his true nature as being a sensible and loving person, his love for Clary is a major proof of that.
  • Izzy is one of my favorite characters ever because she's a femme fatale, a strong, sexy, beautiful young woman that can defend herself without any assistance from a man. Even though those character traces you can see that she's also very sensible and loving.
  • Magnus and Alec are two peas in a pot. They're perfect for each other and, in my opinion, this homossexual couple is very important tho show young (and old) people that gay people are just like us and that we have to accept them.  Alec is a small calm boy in contrast with the excentric Magnus  Bane, the Warlock of Brooklyn and they make the most lovely couple ever.
  • Clary is the most relatable character in the book. She's the outsider, the one who has to prove herself and as she discovers who she really is she takes us in a journey that makes us look inside ourselves and reflect. I really like how she really doesn't take Jace's crap even tough she's in love with him, even if she knows he's her brother. I really just think she's a little dumb because how couldn't she remember to take a DNA test!


The Stigma Of Being A Reader a.k.a. Bookworm

Today I'm going to talk, maybe "write" is more suitable, a little about the major stigma of being a avid reader.
Our society likes to think that "bookworms" are the kind of people that stay at home all the time just reading in complete isolation, with no friends, with complete dislike of nature!
We have to battle that stigma! I'm proud to say that I'm a "bookworm" but that I'm also a scout and that I study sciences and I also want to be a neuroscientist in the future! I know that I'm not the only one!
How many of you study sciences or already practice them and are "bookworms"? How many of you are nature lovers and are "bookworms"?
You may be amazed by the quantity of people that will respond affirmatively to these questions!
My favorite way to read is to seat on my balcony and hear people pass by. When it's hot outside I like to go out to my yard and read (or study) while I'm laying on the grass!
I love trekking!
I'm putting up some pictures of things that I've seen while travelling on foot!
Paris, France

Scouts Camp, Valada- Portugal

Athens, Greece

Island Of Kos, Greece

Island Of Kos, Greece

Island Of Kos, Greece
A Rose, Somewhere In The Middle Of Portugal

Island Of Kos, Greece
As you can see, I might be a "bookworm" but I also like to travel and to walk around everywhere!
So "bookworms" unite! Let's show the other ones how we roll!
Love, Ana

Breaking News From Cassandra Clare

Hi guys! I know I usually don't do these kind of posts but I have some exciting news!
Cassandra Clare's and Cassandra Jean's deck of tarot  cards from the TMI series is going to be on sale very shortly on http://www.topatoco.com/ !!!!

Cassandra say's that the velvet bag is included! You can check further details in her tumblr page http://cassandraclare.tumblr.com/ !
 
Love, Ana
 

Opposite Book Tag

 
Hey guy's! I know I've been gone for some time now but I'm in the eleventh grade and things are getting realyy difficult so I have to spend an incredible amount of time studying.
I was tagged by Random Smiles to do the Opposite Book Tag! I've shortenned it a little bit because it was a very long tag and my time isn't much (here in Portugal it's already close to midnight and I spent the day studying).
I hope you like it and I'm going to try to post more often!
 
First book in your collection/Last book you bought
 
                               
 
 A cheap book/An expensive book
 
 
 
   A book with a male protagonista/One with a female protagonist   
 
 
 
 
 A national book/An international book
 
                             
 
A thin book/A thick book    
 
                               
 
 Fiction book/Non-fiction book
 
                                
 
Very (way too) romantic book/Action book
 

 
 
                                                            
                                             

Chocolate Book Tag



Dark Chocolate
A book that covers a dark topic (abuse, domestic violence, rape, loneliness, bullying, death, etc.)


White Chocolate
A favourite light hearted/humurous read.


Milk Chocolate
A book that has a lot of hype that you're dying to read.


Chocolate With Caramel
Name a book that made you feel all gooey in the middle while you were reading it.

Wafer-Free Kit-Kat
Name a book that surprised you lately.

Snickers
A book that you are going nuts about.


Hot Chocolate with Cream and Marshmallows
What book would you turn for a comfort read?

Box Of Chocolates
What series have you read that you feel that has a wide variety and a little something for everyone.


I want to thank Random Smiles for tagging me! I tag all of you :)
I'm not posting so frequently because I have my hands full with school work and tests, I'll try to post at least once a weak.
Love, Ana


Book Cake Tag

Hi! I was tagged by Random Smiles (thank you so very much) to do the Book Cake Tag! It's my first tag so I'm doing the best I can!

Flour
A book that was little bit slow to start off but that really picked up as it went along.
 
 
 
 
Margarine
A book that had a really rich and great plot.
 
 
 
Eggs
A book that you tought that was going to be bad but actually turned out quite enjoyable.
 
 
Sugar
A sugary/sweet book.
 
 
Icing
A book that covered every single element that you enjoy about a book (funny moments, action moments, sad moments, etc).
 
 
Sprinkles
A book series that you kind of turned to for a little pick me up when you're feeling down.
 
 
 The Cherry On Top
Your favorite book this year so far.
 
 
This is my response to Random Smiles! Thank you for tagging me!
It's my first tag, as I already said, so I tag all of you and please link your responses in the comments so I can see them.
Love, Ana

 

Book Advice of the Month - September

Hi guys! Today is the last day of September and I don't know about you but for me it means that it's time for the September Book Advice of the Month!
Before I get into the book advice part I just want to clarify one thing. A friend from school asked me why do I do the book advice at the end of the month instead in the beginning.
In my head it makes more sense to make a book advice when it's time for people to get paid so they can have money to buy it, if they want it.
So with this solved I'm going to announce the book advice of this month!
I wanted to do something different this month so I picked a book from my most wanted list and that book is Across the Universe by Beth Revis.
 
«Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone - one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship - tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.»
from Goodreads
 
So what do you think? Space, murder, frozen people and a spaceship! The moment I read this I thought "I got to read this right away". Unfortunately I still have a big pile of school books to study and that kind of got in the way.
I don't have much to say about this book but I hope you all like it!
Love, Ana
 
 

Books I Would Like To Get On My Birthday

Hi guys! Today I'm doing kind of a personal post and I just want to share with you the books that I would like to get on my birthday!
My birthday is just on the 21st October but I'm a birthday obsessed girl because is my day and I'm doing this post early because I have not one but three tests on my birthday week.
I'm going to leave a link to where I saw the books online for you in case you're interested on buying some of them!
  1. The first book I really want is the third book on the Outlander series, that's called Voyager. I started reading this series a few years ago but in my country the third book just came out and each of the books costs around 22 euros. I could have read the other books in English but I like to read a series on the same language and very luckily my parents might be giving it to me, the Portuguese edition of course. Link: Voyager (The Book Depository)
  2. So in this section I want a series! I want the Infernal Devices Series by Cassandra Clare. I already read the books but I love them so much that I just want them in my shelf. You might not get this but I really love smelling my books, it's a book nerd problem what can I do?! Link:The Infernal Devices Series Box Set (The Book Depository)
  3. I also want to get the Shadowhunter's Codex (and I really want it in hardcover because I'm just weird and I never had a hardcover) by Cassandra Clare and Joshua Lewis. I'm a very good money spender as you can see it's a shame that I don't have any money to spend (irony).  Link:The Shadowhunter's Codex (The Book Depository)
  4. Will Grayson, Will Grayson seems to be a good next step on my John Green novels and I can't wait to get it. The cover is so perfect and cute! Link: Will Grayson, Will Grayson (The Book Depository)
  5. And how could I be bored if someone got me a Sarah Dessen gift set which includes Just Listen, This Lullaby and The Truth About Forever. If by now you didn't see that I have a book problem by the end you'll probably know for shure. Link:Sarah Dessen Gift Set (The Book Depository)
  6. I'm really interested in reading A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens so I can understand better Tess's language in The Infernal Devices series (C. Clare). Link: A Tale Of Two Cities (The Book Depository)
  7. I never read a Thomas Hardy book but I wanted since forever to read Tess Of The D'Ubervilles and I hope I can get to it soon enough. Link: Tess Of The D'Ubervilles (The Book Depository)
  8. This one is one that I want since I was six years old. In Portugal the fourth book on The Princess Diaries Series, Project Princess by Meg Cabot, was never translated and now it's the only book that's missing in my Princess Diaries collection. I know it's kind of a children's book but it helped me grow a lot and I read it from six until know with the new adult book of Princess Mia coming out in 2015. Link: Project Princess (The Book Depository)
  9. And last but not the least I really really would love to get the Anna and The French Kiss series by Stephanie Perkins. I'm just cray cray about those books! Link:Anna and the French Kiss ; Lola and the Boy Next Door ; Isla and the Happily Ever After
I think that it's enough books to wish for now, but of course I want all the books I can get. I hope you liked to know my wishes and if you have some advice on books to read please comment below.
Love, Ana
 


Book Quote Of The Day






Sex & Books

Hi guys! Today my writing theme is a little different than usual and it might be a little controversial.
I'm going to talk about sex in books! Yes, it is kind of a taboo theme but needs to be discussed, it needs to be explained and it needs to be clarified.
Isn't sex present on our everyday life? Isn't sex part of human nature? Isn't sex kind of the reason why we exist?
I think we all know the answers to these simple questions! Everyday children, teenagers and adults are bombarded by sex, whether is in condoms adds, paper announcements, pornography adds, biology class, relationships... So why do we think it's strange for books to talk about sex?!
So imagine this: there's this book that talks how a girl got into an abusive relation where she was persuaded to have sex whit this handsome dangerous boy and how she got out of that relationship and how she learned the real meaning of love.
Do you think that that educates young people or that it hurts them and is a bad thing for them?
In my opinion to expose young people to sex is a good thing because it's a part of everyone's life, we all are sexual beings, it's part of human nature.
If young people know about sex and know how to protect themselves and if it's a good idea or not to make it then things like DST's and teen pregnancy may decrease! Education is the base of every action! Educated people have all the facts they need to make their own choice.
Parents advice: your children aren't going to tell you "I read a book about sex" or "I had sex today mommy" and maybe they're to embarrassed to ask "what is sex".
When young people or even adults read a book that has sex in it they are being indirectly educated about it! People don't even notice but it contributes to education in general!
Who doesn't enjoy to read some good sexy stuff? I know I enjoy it, I kind of read Fifty Shades of Grey when I was 13 years old, and I read all three books, and look at me: I'm not a pervert, I'm a normal girl who enjoys her sexy stuff and her Jane Austen classics and every other book that's readable.
Sexy stuff is awesome and sexy book stuff is even more awesome! So let people read they're Fifty Shades of Grey, Outlander and Game of Thrones copies without labeling them as perverts, everyone has the right to their sexy relaxing reads.
Just a reminder: just because a book has sex in it, it doesn't mean that it doesn't have a love story behind it! In the majority of the bookish world sex comes after love, before of love, because of love and sometimes is the trigger of weird situations that lead the characters to love (and even sometimes to show that the characters are complete asshats).
I hope you liked to "hear" my thoughts about this sensible topic and that I helped you a little bit in case you were wondering about it.
Love, Ana


I Turned My Plane Planner Into A Bookish Inspired Planner

 
Hi guys! Today I just came here to share my new accomplishment: I Turned My Plane Planner Into A Bookish Inspired Planner (and this is exactly what I wrote in the title, fangirl much?).
So I bought his Oxford plain planner (A5 size) and I decided that I didn't like the way it looked and so I spiced it up just a little bit.

 

 I just printed small quotes and manga drawings of my favorite books and glued them to the planner and in the end I put adhesive plastic to protect the whole thing and that's it, simple as always.

 
List of books that I used: Anna and The French Kiss, Isla and The Happily Ever After (Stephanie Perkins), The Lux Series (Jennifer L. Armentrout); The Fault In Our Stars (John Green); Sweet Evil Trilogy (Wendy Higgins); The Selection (Kiera Cass); The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices (Cassandra Clare)( drawings by Cassandra Jean).
Love, Ana