City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments Book 6)

Cassandra Clare Website

Book Details: Written by New York Times Best Selling Author Cassandra Clare. Published May 27th, 2014. 725 Pages. You can purchase a hard copy or digital copy at Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Synopsis of City of Heavenly Fire: In the sixth and final book in the series Sebastian is at it again. Attacking several institutes around the globe and using the Infernal Cup to turn as many shadowhunters as possible into his loyal army of endarkened. Clary along with the majority of the shadowhunters around the world retreat to Idris to come up with a plan of attack against Sebastian.  Simon is left behind with Jordan and Maia protecting him, now that he no longer has the Mark of Cain. Magnus and Alec are currently on the outs and both struggling with the situation. Chaos surrounds them all. 

An attack on Simon's life leads to his capture by the local vampire clan. Which then leads to Jordan and Maia reaching out for help from his brothers. Most of the institutes have been evacuate with the exception of a few and Sebastian and his followers attempt an attack on the Britain institute to no avail, his first failed attack. Officially pissing Sebastian off he turns his anger towards the Praetor Lupus killing everything in his wake. 

Maia returns to her pack with a message from Sebastian for all downworlders, he will not spare those considering to aid the shadowhunters against him. Simon escapes captivity with the help of his maker Raphael and together they travel to Idris to stand as representatives for the vampires.  Magnus arrives as well to be the warlock representative. During a dinner of the downworlder representatives something goes horribly wrong, Sebastian has them drugged and taken as prisoners. Sebastian informs the Clave, the shadowhunter government, that in exchange for Jace and Clary he will return his downworlder prisoners. 

Jace, Clary, Alec, Isabelle and Simon take maters into their own hands in order to save their friends and family taken. They must travel to Edom a realm of hell inhabited by demons to save their loved ones. Things get hot and heavy in more ways than one for not only Clary and Jace but Simon and Isabelle. The story gives you ups and downs and twists and turns for this finale, leaving you laughing crying and for a few pages there shocked. 

My Thoughts: I can't even put into words how much I loved this book!! The author does an amazing job tying everything up to make it the perfect ending!! I love her writing I cannot get enough, you can feel the connection between all the characters just radiating off the pages as you read. The author just goes so deep into bringing all the books from this series together and the Infernal Instruments Series, that I cannot wait to see what happens in the next series The Dark Artifices book one Lady Midnight coming Fall 2015.  So much happens in this book it's hard to even go into the details but let me just say there was a moment when I almost lost it, you'll know what I mean when you read it. Thankfully things work themselves out by the end and I loved every second of it!!

City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments Book 5)

Cassandra Clare Website

Book Details: Written by New York Times Best Selling Author Cassandra Clare. Published May 8th, 2012. 535 Pages. You can purchase a hard copy or digital copy at

Synopsis of City of Lost Souls: With Jace and Sebastian's body going missing at the very end of the last book, City of Fallen Angels, Clary is devastated. The Clave, the shadowhunter government entity, are more concerned about what Sebastian is capable of than Jace's safety. Clary takes maters into her own hands with the help of Alec, Isabelle and Simon and go to the faerie queen for help. She promises to help them with one favor in return, Clary must steal faerie enchanted rings and return them to her. 

Clary is so desperate she sneaks into the New York Institutes library while the clave is in an official meeting to remove the rings from their glass case. While there, the two people she least expected to see show up, Sebastian and Jace. They leave just as quickly as they came but it was enough for Clary to see them acting like best friends. Clary is furious and tells Isabelle and Alec what she saw, shocking them both. 

Soon after Jace and Sebastian show up at Clary's house to take her with them nearly killing Luke in the process. This leads to Jocelyn taking Clary into hiding at Magnus's place. Clary doesn't know what to do and sneaks out of Magnus's to meet Simon in the middle of the night. She confides in him that she is going to leave with Jace when he shows up next and gives Simon one of the faerie rings. The rings allow them to communicate through their thoughts no mater where they are. Simon is not happy but no one can stop Clary once her mind is set. Shortly after she returns home Jace shows up to take her with them. 

Clary quickly realizes that the bond that Lilith created between Jace and Sebastian is stronger than ever and Sebastian is in charge. Anything he wants Jace wants also. This is the most time Clary has ever spent with her brother and it brings up some confusing emotions. Clary stays in communication with Simon when she can while trying to convince Sebastian he can trust her everything seems to be going fairly well until Clary realizes his true intentions. 

While Clary is gone Simon, Isabelle, Alec and Magnus brainstorm ways to break the bond that connects Sebastian and Jace's life force. First by summoning a demon, which doesn't turn out too well, to deciding to summon the angel Razeil. After some time Simon is finally able to reach Clary again to form a plan of attack  to stop Sebastian before it is too late. 

My Thoughts:  Simon our hero! He saved the day in this one with his Mark of Cain and bravery.  Honestly an amazing book but out of all of them my least favorite. Mainly because it was so hard to read about Jace being in that zombie like state and when there wasn't much Clary could do. It was so frustrating I just wanted them to break the connection as soon as possible and get Jace back. Sebastian is just a slimy guy it's hard to believe he is Clary's brother. I did love that Simon, my fav, and Isabelle get closer than ever!  Not only was it a bumpy road for Jace and Clary but also Alec and Magnus it was irritating watching everyone's relationships kinda fall apart in front of your eyes. On top of that you have Luke struggling for his life part of the time making me stressed and  a little nervous.  Even with all the negative going on I still could not put this book down. It was a love hate relationship for this one. 

City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments Book 4)

Cassandra Clare Website

Book Details: Written by New York Times Best Selling Author Cassandra Clare. Published April 5th, 2011. 424 Pages. You can purchase a hard copy or digital copy at Amazon/ Barnes & Noble

Synopsis of City of Fallen Angels: Clary and Jace have finally discovered at the end of City of Glass that they are not brother and sister, and in fact Jace is a Herondale. Clary's real brother is the shadowhunter impersonating Sebastian who tries to kill Jace and pretty much anyone who gets in his way. Now with Valentine and Sebastian out of the way things can go back to normal, or so you think. 

Clary has started training to become a shadowhunter focusing most on the physical aspect while waiting for an instructor to help with her specialty of runes. Jace and Clary start off great but hit a rocky point where Jace, for some reason, continues to have nightmares about killing Clary. This causes him to put some distance in their relationship and also starts following Simon around. If he can't be around Clary then he wants to be around the closest person to her, Simon. 

With Simon's new Mark of Cain he becomes untouchable causing some undesirable enemies. The vampires despise him, he can never be one of the shadowhunters and his family isn't speaking to him, he is alone in that sense. Simon is struggling being a vampire and drinking blood regularly to stay fed. He is not, however, struggling in his love life dating Isabelle and Maia at the same time. Jace isn't sleeping or eating much of anything either. Jace along with Simon's new roommate Jordan are working together to protect him from the mysterious men that keep trying to kill him. 

With Luke and Jocelyn's engagement party and wedding coming up Clary is trying to focus her attention on her happiness for them and not on her worries concerning Jace. Finally they confront the issue at hand instead of ignoring there problems and decide to ask the Silent Brothers for help with Jace's nightmares. The Silent Brothers inform them that since Jace died and came back to life there was never a new ritual done to protect his soul against demon influences. Jace stays with them in the Silent City so that may preform the ritual while Clary goes to get ready for her mothers engagement party. From there things begin to get a little out of control involving Jace, Clary, Simon, a Greater Demon and someone we thought was gone forever. 

My Thoughts: Love all the twists and turns that this author throws at you!! This story just gets better and better!! With Valentine now gone there had to be a new villain to match his crazy!! Not to give to much away but I was not expecting Lilith the first time I read the book.  Poor Jace is having issues after dying for a moment in the last book, understandably.  This causes him to pull away from Clary and become closer to Simon, never would have thought that would happen with the way they treat each other. Simon is having to defend himself from continuous attacks on his life, luckily the Mark of Cain keeps him from any real harm. Simon also starts dating a couple people which makes things very interesting. Some great new characters added including Jordan who slowly is becoming one of my favorites, and Camille from the Infernal Devices Series makes an appearance. Finally Luke and Jocelyn are planning their wedding!! They are just the sweetest thing and it makes me so happy for Luke. The ending was insane and I would have gone crazy if the next book was not out to find out what happened next.  Love these books, Can't put them down!!!

City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments Book Three)

Cassandra Clare Website

Book Details: Written by New York Times Best Selling Author Cassandra Clare. Published March 29th, 2009. 541 Pages. You can purchase a hard copy or digital copy at  Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Synopsis of City of Glass: After discovering that there is a way to wake up Clary's mom, Jocelyn, at the end of City of Ashes everyone travels to Idris, the homeland of the shadowhunters. An attack while going through the portal leads to Simon tagging along and Clary and Luke traveling separately through a portal Clary creates. Since downworlders are not allowed in Idris without a formal invitation, both Simon and Luke are in a dangerous position. Alec leads Simon to the Gard, a government building, to meet up with the new Inquisitor in order to use the portal to get back home to New York. Alec says goodbye to Simon trusting that the new Inquisitor to get Simon home safely, but it turns out that is not really what the Inquisitor had in mind.

Upon arriving Luke takes Clary to his sister Amatis's house to stay until they can figure out if it is safe for Clary to be there after creating a portal to Idris without permission. Clary can't sit around and wait so she decides to sneak out the window and go looking for Jace, Isabelle and Alec. When Clary finds where they are staying no one seems happy to see her especially Jace. Clary officially distraught runs out of the house only to have Sebastian, a cousin of the family the Lightwoods are staying with, run out behind her and offer to walk her home.  Clary confides in Sebastian her reason for being in Idris; to find a cure for her mother by finding the warlock Ragnor Fell. Clary is surprised to find Sebastian at her door the next day telling her he knows where to find the warlock and that he can take her there. They show up at Ragnor's house to find a surprising individual pretending to be the warlock who gives Clary the information needed to find the cure. Sebastian kisses Clary before they make it back home and she gets a very wrong feeling from him at that point making things a bit awkward. 

Jace agrees to go with Clary to find the cure at the Wayland Manor where Jace lived the first ten years of his life.  Not only do they find what they are looking for but they discover a heavenly prisoner in a hidden stairwell whom Valentine trapped there long ago.  This prisoner shows both Jace and Clary different clips of the evil and crazy experiments Valentine conducted over time. Both are shocked and not sure what to do with the information given to them and have a quiet walk back to the city. In the time that they are gone the wards protecting the city from any demon activity are deactivated allowing for an invasion of demons. 

This is all a part of Valentines plan to take over control of the Clave or kill them all in the process using the power he holds over the demons with the Mortal Cup and Sword.  After fighting off the first wave of demons Valentine delivers a message that unless the shadowhunters bow to him he will send even more demons effectively killing everything in their wake. The downworlders have offered there help against Valentine, but in return they want four seats within the Clave, one for each paranormal group, something that has never been done before. This leaves the shadowhunters in a very precarious position with some hard decisions to make.  With and ending that will rock their world.

My Thoughts: Loved the ending! So much happens in this book, one obstacle after the next ending with an epic battle!  First view into Idris, introduction of new characters like Luke's sister and goodbyes to other important characters. I could not put this one down!! The book gives you so much to be excited for while also crushing your heart. I just love the dynamic of all the characters together and how much their lives are intertwined. 

I love having Simon as a daylight walking vampire he is one of my favorite characters and continues to be throughout the series. Some very important discoveries are made about the Morgenstern family tree and a deeper look into how crazy Valentine had become. Overall amazing!!! Let me just say I'm happy for Jace and Clary it's about time something went their way. 

City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments Book Two)

Cassandra Clare Website

Book Details: Written by New York Times Best Selling Author Cassandra Clare. Published March 25th, 2008. 453 Pages. You can purchase a hard copy or digital copy at Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Synopsis of City of Ashes: City of Bones ends with the disappointing information that Clary and Jace are brother and sister and their father is Valentine, an evil mastermind and murderer. Clary has her mother back but she is still in a magical sleep state that no one knows how to get her out of.  Clary has moved in with Luke, who she recently discovered is a werewolf, and she has started dating her best friend Simon. Now that The Clave, the ruling government of the shadowhunters, knows who Jace's father really is The Inquisitor, leader of The Clave, comes to the institute in New York to interrogate Jace. Inquisitor Herondale believes that Jace was put there as a spy for Valentine and treats him like a criminal the moment she meets him. She sends him to the underground city of bones prison for the night until she can properly interrogate him.

Clary discovers from Isabelle that Jace has been sent to the prison and immediately meets Isabelle and Alec to help break Jace out. Before they can reach the city of bones, Valentine shows up with the demon of fear to steal the next mortal instrument, the sword.  Jace refuses to leave with his father, he wants no part of the crazy Valentine has created. Clary, Alec and Isabelle show up in the underground city to discover blood and death everywhere they look. They find Jace locked up and huddled in his cell Clary breaks him out and together they all leave to with the intention of sending back The Clave. On their way back out they run into a group of shadowhunters responding to a distress call.  The Inquisitor again believes Jace has a part to play in the break in and puts him under house arrest under the custody of Magnus Bane.

While with Magnus, the Queen of the faeries requests the presence of Jace, Clary and Isabelle. Simon tags along, because anywhere Clary goes he goes, and the gang runs into a little trouble with the queen leaving them all confused and upset. Later that night Simon has a run in with some downworlders that he will never come back from.  Jace finally realizes where Valentine is hiding after some demons attack Luke. Jace borrows a vampire motorcycle in order to fly to his fathers location, again refusing to join up with Valentine even after he offers to spare all of Jace's friends. 

The inquisitor plans to bargain with Valentine, Jace's life for the mortal instruments, which ends in an all out battle of good and evil.  All our favorite characters very narrowly escape with their lives. In the end Clary is confronted at the hospital by an old friend of her mothers, telling her to find the warlock Ragnor Fell in order to make the antidote needed to wake her mother up. 

My Thoughts: Never a dull moment!! This series is impossible to set down, even reading this the second time around I can't get enough!  It is hard to watch Jace and Clary struggle over their feelings for each other even after finding out they are brother and sister. I cannot believe what happens to Simon on multiple occasions in this book but all of it happens for a reason and makes the book that much better! 

Luke is definitely one of my favorite characters, always there for Clary and her friends when they need him. I loved that he finally confesses to Clary how much he loves her mother. Also I love when the Inqisitor sees the birth mark on Jace's shoulder, I had already read the prequel series The Infernal Devices and knew immediately what the birthmark meant, great foreshadowing!!  The book ends in an all out battle making it impossible to stop reading!! Overall I love this series!!

City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments Book One)

Cassandra Clare Website

Book Details: Written by New York Times Best Selling Author Cassandra Clare. Published March 27th, 2007. 485 Pages. You can purchase a hard copy or digital copy at Barnes & Noble / Amazon

Synopsis of City of Bones: Clary, our protagonist, is a 15 year old girl living in Brooklyn with her overprotective mom. Her father was out of the picture before she was born but she has always had Luke, her moms best friend, around as a father figure. Clary believes her life is completely normal until she has a run in with some shadow hunters, Jace, Alec and Isabelle, at a club where they are killing a demon. From that moment on her world is turned upside down. While Clary is at a poetry slam with her best friend Simon she sees Jace, the shadow hunter from the club, and follows him outside to have a heated conversation about leaving her alone. She then gets a panicked call from her mom telling her not to come home and that she loves then her the line goes dead, Clary tries to call back but cannot get a hold of her mom. She takes off in a dead sprint back to her house, when she arrives the house is destroyed, her mom is gone and she is greeted by a lower level demon where she barely escapes with her life.

Jace finds her and takes her back to the institute, a shadow hunter safe house and the groups home, where Hodge, another shadow hunter, treats her for the demon poison coursing through her body.  Clary wakes up three days later very sore and with a tremendous head ache to Isabelle sitting over her. Clary is determined to find out why a demon took her mother with the help of her newly acquired shadow hunter friends. On their path for information they discover a magical block in Clary's head making her forget anything paranormal by the warlock Magnus Bane. Hodge also reveals to Clary some surprising information about her mother she never knew and informs her that a man named Valentine believes her mother knows the location to the Mortal Cup. The Mortal Cup is sacred to the shadow hunters because it has the ability to create new shadow hunters by drinking from it.

Simon tags along to a party full of paranormals at Magnus Bane's house where Clary tries to get information about the block in her head. While at the party Simon gets turned into a rat from drinking the wrong beverage, which leads to a show down at a vampire layer at the end of the night. With everyone safe from harms way again Clary makes a shocking observation and believes she can find to Mortal Cup to exchange for her mother's life. From this point on the story goes from one alarming discovery to the next leaving you wondering what will happen in the second book City of Ashes.

My Thoughts: I cannot get enough of this book it grabs you from the moment you open to the first page. I love this series! I am currently reading it a second time as a refresher for the upcoming City of Heavenly Fire. The characters are amazing and you can't help but fall in love with each one individually. The ending has quit the surprise that really upset me the first time but now that I know what happens I can handle it the second time around.

The world that the author creates is very easy to get wrapped up in. I love the idea that there are vampires and warlocks and werewolves and faeries all around us just glamoured from the human eye. This book has every type of paranormal creature you can think of, because there is truth in every myth. The plot itself is captivating with plenty of surprise turns along the way!! I just fell in love with this book all over again!!