snow Snow SNOW! (a little bit)

Since it finally decided to snow last week I thought we should go and play in it fast, because let's face it, I'm pretty sure it's not going to snow anymore this year if it keeps on keeping on. So here is documentation of Conner's first (last year didn't really count. do you think he even remembers? no!) outing in the snow!:)

Getting ready to go out. (please pardon the mess. I have a 1 year old)

Unfortunately it was almost gone when we got there...

While we're on the topic of christmasy stuff, here is my wreath I made a few weeks ago.  cute huh?

Thanks for stopping by! See ya later!

The Infernal Devices

First off I just have to say this book series is my new favorite guilty pleasure. It is basically the awesome, exciting storytelling of Harry Potter with the romance of Twilight, and every other book I love all slammed into one. I love it. That being said...the second book comes out TODAY!!! and I'm so excited. Here's my review of the first book so you can see if you want to jump on the excitement wagon with me!
(Here are some other books I've reviewed in case your interested:))


Clockwork Angel
476 pages


Summary
16 year old orphan Tessa Gray is from 1878 New York City. Her brother Nate has been working in London, England for the past little while when their Aunt Harriet, the care giver to these two, passes away leaving Tessa alone. Nate sends for her to come to live with him in London so she does. She is intercepted upon docking in England by two old, ugly ladies claiming to be friends of her brother. Well they are anything but friends and trap Tessa in their house where she learns of her mysterious gift: she can transform, at will, into another person. The sisters train Tessa to use her gift in preparation for the mysterious Magister.
Just when Tessa feels that all is lost she is rescued by Will, a shadowhunter. (basically the police of all bad things that shouldn't exist outside of books but do) She takes refuge in the institute where the other shadowhunters live and uses her new found ability to help them uncover who the Magister is in promise that they will help her find her brother.

My review
Ok, so we all know that I loved this book. Here's why:
Writing
The writing was amazing! Probably one of the most well written books I have read in...a long time. I never once doubted the world that Cassandra Clare created or anything in it. It flowed nicely and I saw the whole thing unfold before my mind like a movie. The plot was, to me, original and so interesting. There was a definite plot to this book while leaving little strings for the next books. It seems like lately a lot book series are just a reeeeally long book where each book leads to the next in an overall story, which makes for not so interesting books until the last one. (does that makes sense? hum,) Well this is not the case for this book! There were twists and turns and what I thought for sure was going to happen sure didn't. It is darker (think the last half of the Harry Potter series) with an obvious Good vs Evil premise.
Characterization 
This is the first book I have read by Cassandra Clare, and from what I can tell of her writing is that she is amazing at writing wonderful believable characters. There was not one pancake in this book, that including characters who were introduced and talked about for five seconds.  Everyone was a living, breathing person (so to speak) and I fell in love with every single character in this book. I loved seeing how the proper Tessa dealt with the informal and sometimes crazy shadowhunters. I think Will was my favorite character. He is such a punk but so funny! Definately the comic relief. But underneith all that sarcasm and wit I got glimpses of who he really is which will be interesting to find out in the coming books.
Romance
What would one of my reviews be without talking about the love story? I think because the characters were so real made the romance that much better. I was just rooting for them to be together! Ok, so the main love interests are Will and Tessa. I love it because they both don't want to like each other, but over time they just...do. If you like the push and pull of a Pride and Prejudicesque  love story then you'll for sure like this. It is set up to have a love triangle with another shadowhunter, Jem, that I'm sure will come about later. (which, remember I'm a weirdie and like my triangles so I'm kinda excited for that)
Overall
This book was fantastic. I have actually read it twice, once a few months ago, and just last week in preparation for the second book Clockwork Prince coming out TODAY! (come on UPS guy, bring it to me soon!) and found it wonderful each time. (it's rare for me to find a book that I enjoy the second time around as much as the first) It is a prequel to Cassandra's other series "The Mortal Instruments" (from what I can tell a modern day version of the same type of thing) which I havnen't read, but I understood everything just fine without reading it first. If you love fantasy and romance and just a plain good story this is a must for you to read. My only complaint is that it makes Conner's nap time a little less productive as far as house work is concerned :)


Clockwork Prince

(im)patiently waiting for the UPS guy to deliver!
UPDATE: 12/9/2011. I have read and it was SO good! here is what I thought!
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