Book of the Month
The Book of the Month for June is Matched by Ally Condie. We are excited to introduce you to this dystopia novel about a ‘perfect’ world where individuals are ‘matched’ with their husband/wife by the government. Ally describes the society much better in the video below! We hope you will read this book with us this month, and listed to our discussion on the podcast at the end of the month.
Book Info:
In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.
Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one… until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow — between perfection and passion.
About Ally Condie
Ally Condie received a degree in English Teaching from Brigham Young University and spent a number of years teaching high school English in Utah and in upstate New York. She lives with her husband and three sons outside of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Yay! I’m so glad! I’m reading City of Bones right now! I can’t wait!
Beverly
yey 2. comment!
well i absolutely looove this series! well the first 2 books, where i live the 3 hasn´t come out yet. that stinks pretty much! i have to wait until june <_<
i´ve ttly fallen in loooove with JACE! i have to admit he´s a tiny bit arrogant and i´m not that into blonds, but jace is just HOT 😀
i really like how cassandra combindes good urban fantasy with a very intense love sory!
oh and magnus + alec ROCK ;D
anndd they CAN´T be siblings! if they r i´ll assassinate cassandra clare! but please don´t spoil me 🙂
lots of love (sorry for my spelling mistakes)
verena
I found City of Bones in 2007 a few months after it came out, I was wandering along in the YA section looking for something that could possibly be as good as twilight when I saw the cover standing out amoungst all the others-why? well there’s a sexy guy on the cover of course- so naturally I just had to check it out. I sneeked a peek at a page in the middle of the book (this is how I pick out all my books by the way, If you want to really know if you’re going to like a book read a page out of the middle, you’ll be confused because you dont know whats going on-but if you’re interested enough to want to know whats going on then its a keeper) So anywayz I bought the book and I LOVED it!
The characters are all fresh and funny and witty and exciting-and they’re all so different from one another. They all really jump out of the page at you. You can imagine them all so vividly due to CC’s wonderful descriptions and amazing writing. Jace is sarcastic and tough. And Clary is an artist and she always wants to be something she isnt-pretty like her mother, tall and comanding like Isabelle-always something else but everyone loves her for what she is, and she’s talented enough in her own right.
Simon-aw Simon I never felt sad for Simon like I did Jacob B., I somehow always knew Simon would come out on top, in a place where I’d be happy with him, and he is, aw great Simon.
I love Isabelle and Alec and all the lightwoods. Magnus Bane is hilarious-I dont think I could even think of the series the same way without him even if he isnt really a main character.
And Luke( I love luke) and Maia and all the other characters that make the series wonderful-they’re all wonderful even the bit parts. I think Valentine is even more frightening than Voldemort because he was capable of love and yet still did all the things he did.
City of Ashes was my favorite I think. I dont know why but everything in it seems all the more intense now that Ive read the last one-and its funny to look back at all the hints the other books give about City of Glass. And City of Glass is probably my favorite final book of any series because it gave the characters a happy ending that wasnt so easy to predict in the heat of the action and didnt seem cheezy, I dont think anything with the awesomely witty characters of Cassandra Clare could be cheezy, just the thought of Jace and the word cheezy in the same sentance makes me shutter. I loved how everything played out and how everything was revealed, I want to reread these books again and again to relive the experience. they were amazing!
The series is a great blend of vivid, intense, sacastic and witty characters in a colorful urban fantasy world that takes you on a great ride. The Mortal Instruments series ROCKS!
😀 melissaturkey
My library doesn’t have them and I can’t afford them new, so if anyone in Atlanta wants to do a book swap, let me know…I have tons of other books I can share 🙂
Jessica,
Ask your library about inter-library loan. I believe all libraries have it. I do it all the time at mine and its great. What they do is search other libraries from all 50 states. If the library has it available they send it to your library. You dont get as long to read it but if your like me you dont need much time if you really get into it. The only problem is that sometimes it can take up to 2 to 4 weeks. I have read so many books this way because its like every book I wanted to read my library didnt have.
i read City of Bones when it came out which was 2007 i believe. and ummm i fell in love with Jace and Simon cause it also reminded me of edward and jacobs personality towards eachother. i finished reading all three and omg i love them!!! well the people and i really think they should make them into a film(movie). id watch that!
=)
OMG I’m so glad you guys chose these books. I waited this whole year for City of Glass to come out and I absolutely love it. Its very different then twilight but it has some of the ingredients twilight had. I can’t wait till you guys begin discussing it, since I don’t have any Meyer Bella stories to read, Cassandra’s Clary stories have replaced my book worm needs, for now. Love you guys!!!
OME! I loved The Mortal Instruments Series. I didn’t hear about it until Stephenie talked about it on her website so of course I went out and bought them and read them in about a week. LOVE LOVE LOVE! I some how picture them older than they are suppose to be. For example I see Chad Michael Murry as Jace. Also through the whole series I loved Jace and my heart went out to him. Mortal Instruments has the love triangle that Twilight has but I really hated the way Simon acted. Can’t wait to hear the podcast about Mortal Instruments.
Can someone please give a summary about it?
Those books are wicked. My favourite bokk series are;
-The Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine
-The House of Night by P.C. and Kristen Cast
-Night World by L.J.Smith
-Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
-(finally and the best) Twilight
i loved the mortal instruments series! it was so great, but i noticed that the author doensn’t really have a strong connection with the fans as stephenie does… maybe she spoilt us too much!! haha.. but you can see clearly what i mean buy checking out the FAQ. but the books are great!! i LOVED jace, he made me cry almost every time he spoke :'( haha..
WOW. I was a little skeptical about this series (but I was about Twilight too, look what I know) but decided to give it a try. While it doesn’t live up to Twilight in my mind, I really loved it. After finishing the first one and then ordering the second and third, I couldn’t wait to finish! *SPOILER ALERT* I’ll be honest…when Jace and Clary found out they were siblings, I literally almost threw my book across the room–I was so mad! (But I didn’t want to hurt my TV) I paced and muttered for awhile and finally looked on Wikipedia, which assured me that in the third book they find out they aren’t. They had great chemistry and the emotions were really heartfelt. I’m not so much into the fantasy world (demons, faeries, emo kids with pink hair and anime names), but I really was sucked in by these books and the characters she created. It was laugh-out-loud funny at points, and stressed me out frequently.
One of the things that interested me was Simon’s character. Some may disagree with me, but I felt like it was one of the less “shaded-in” characters. While he could certainly be sarcastic or funny, and you definitely got the message that he cared for Clary (more as a friend, even when he said otherwise). But otherwise I didn’t really feel I had a good grasp on him, his feelings, how he’d react in a situation, etc.. What do you guys think?
Yay!! I just finished City of Bones… Loved it!!
I’m going to start City of Ashes Today!!
I’ve read all the books, including City of Glass, and these books are awesome!! My daughter is 12, but she still likes it when I read to her, and I’m reading City of Ashes to her right now. (We’ve reached the part where Magnus Bane, my favorite character, is introduced.) The set is in the bookcase of honor, alongside my Harry Potter set, and, of course, my twilight sets..and I’m so happy that ya’ll have included them.
(PS…on your recommendation, I read the Hunger Games…now I can’t wait for the sequel. Thanks a LOT.)
i LOOOOOVE THIS SERIES!
i already read city of bones and didn’t think of getting city of ashes, but then kallie and kassie mentioning it, i decided to re-read city of bones, begged my mum to get me city of ashes and now reading city of glass!
this series has so many twists in it, and it is cleverly written, cassandra clare is a genius (besides stephenie of course!)
cant wait for the podcast!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fair Warning=== SPOILERS+++
Plus, If you don’t want to be holed up in your house for 72 hours reading these books non stop because you can’t put them down, you shouldn’t start them at all. You’ll end up with eye strain and need LASIK surgery. Plus, your kids will starve, your husband will feel like you’ve found another lover, or your boyfriend will be SURE you must be cheating on him ( and your girlfriends will corroborate his suspicions that you’ve been spending all your time with “Jace”) since you won’t answer your cell phone for the solid cover to cover– book to book– reads.
I am so THRILLED you are discussing this series on your podcast. I was listening to your show from itunes last night while driving home from work and when you and your guest were talking about which book or series to do neck I kept screaming in my car “Mortal Instruments!!.” I’d bought the whole series, on good faith that if you and Stephenie Meyer both thought it was great, I couldn’t lose. I LOVED every minute of it . Everday, side by side, the Twilight series and the Mortal Instruments vye for with each other for my attention. The characters are better developed in the MI than most of the book series out there and it’s one of the FEW book series of which I have an affinity for nearly all of the characters. Jace ranks up there with Edward and Darcy and Rhett and Rochester and Romeo and of course, Heathcliff, as one of my favorite male characters of all time. When I found out that Jace and Clary were sibs, I nearly felt vomiting and the “OMG I can’t believe I still want them to BE together” feeling kept me on my toes and broke my heart page after page until I got to City of Glass. The most heartbreaking scenes were “the faery kiss” and the “last night” request. The sweetest paragraphs in the book were in “the midnight flower.” Imagine the smell of night blooming Jasmine when you read that section!
Like Bella, I can’t wait for the podcast.
Sincerely,
Marie from San Diego
LOL
did I just type neck? Must have Edward on my mind tonight.
i think we all do, marie may hahaha
i have now finished city of glass!
OMG did NOT see the ending coming!!!`whooo
Beware of the SPOILERS!
So, I read this series not because I really thought I’d be interested, but because I needed to get out of a non-reading rut. Since I knew TST would be discussing the books, I picked up a copy and started reading. Now, I have mixed feelings about this series, but I liked it overall (hence, my purchasing of the rest of the series). Ok, here are my thoughts:
WHAT I LIKED: The story was original and I liked the plot (for the most part). I loved Jace and really enjoyed the exploration of Clary and Jace’s relationship. The brother-sister plot twist has been done before, but no one has ever mentioned having feelings for their sibling after. Granted, I figured that they weren’t really brother-sister, or the books probably wouldn’t have reached publication (incest is probably not the most lucrative market), but I still appreciated Cassandra Clare’s exploration of the problems that come with having feelings for someone you shouldn’t. I think she’s right, the feelings wouldn’t just disappear.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: In my opinion, Clary was a weak character. I liked her, but she always seemed to be on the sidelines letting someone else fight for her. Even in her romantic relationships, she was always the passive player. I kept waiting for her to blossom and take things into her own hands, and it never happened. Definitely disappointing. On the technical writing side, I thought Cassandra Clare was kinda wordy. There were times where I thought the descriptions were way overkill, and other times when the discriptions didn’t adequately give me a picture in my mind. She used way, way to many similies and metaphors (if I read “like,” “as if,” or “as though” one more time…). Also, I have to say the ending was a little disappointing. I LOVED how everything wrapped up nicely, but come on! That measely little moment we got between Clary and Jace was nothing! Every other time they kissed, Clare walked us through the emotions and left us with a very sexually charged feeling. To have those great moments early in the books and not get that in the end was majorly disappointing.
To sum up, I liked the books, but they definitely weren’t the best things I’ve ever read. They read like good fan fiction, but with an original story. I enjoyed them as entertainment, but not as literature.
TO KALLIE AND KASSIE: THANK YOU, THANK YOU FOR SUGGESTING THESE BOOKS! I love that your podcast and site don’t just have to be solely about Twilight, but can be a community of people who love Twilight that can share together.
I, like some of the other posters above was in a reading rutt. The problem that some of my friends that love Twilight and I had was that after how wonderful the Twilight series was, we were afraid to try another series–that it would be sooo disappointing after Twilight.
But I saw that this series was your book of the months and also that Stephenie Meyer also recommended them. So I figured I’d give them a try.
I absolutely LOVE them. They were like a cross of Twilight and Harry Potter. I ran through the first book in 4 days, the second in 3, and the third in 4 but only because I tried to force myself to savor it and slow down a little.
SPOILER ALERT
I really liked the love triangle aspect included in the story–reminiscent of Edward/Bella/Jacob. But OH NO! When ordering the second book from the library I found out by accident (from the description of the book) that Jace and Clary were brother and sister. I did NOT want to know that, but it didn’t really ruin the book for me. I did, however, make her birthday in the greenhouse less romantic and more funny. 😉
I was wondering how I’d like the second book–especially in how they would handle the brother and sister relationship. Would they be like Luke and Leia? That when they found out, it was like they always knew and just accepted it and went on with their lives. If it had gone like that, I don’t know that I would have been as interested. I REALLY wanted Jace and Clary to end up together–to NOT be related. I liked their struggles with the revelation. Their internal battles. And the scenes with the two of them try to deal with it and not wanting to at the same time were great…the Fairy Court Kiss, Jace’s shower scene. Loved those. Like Stephenie’s love scenes, these scenes are so well written that just kissing feels like so much more.
The third book was anguishing at times. Jace kissing that little Aline trollup and Clary walking in on them and seeing Aline’s blouse unbuttoned to the point that her bra was showing. Then Jace completely crushing her verbally. Ouch! 🙁 Some of the plot points weren’t hard to anticipate–like Jace being from Angel blood and Sabastian being the real brother and having demon blood. But the journey was quite enjoyable–especially that scene between Jace and Clary in the ditch. mmmm…If you haven’t read the extended excerpt that Cassandra Clare has posted on her site, you have to read it. Steamier. 😀 Jace pouring his heart out to Clary on the “last night” was so sweet and so anguishing in his despair. I loved Izzy’s telling off of Clary the next morning as well–explaining to her how deeply this had effected Jace. I was so upset with Jace’s fall.
I liked that the story wrapped up with a happy ending for almost everyone. But I agree with Jane above in that it seems a little anticlimactic in the way that Clare did it. Jace and Clary finally get to be together. And the kiss that they have isn’t one tenth as exciting as any of their previous ones. I think that the difference was in the fact that she usually described everything physical and emotional so thouroughly in previous scenes that you FEEL it. But in this one as the reader you are held at arm’s length and just told what happened. It wasn’t nearly as satisfying. And at the culmination of everything that had happened and these two characters finally getting what their hearts desired finally it just should have been…more.
Then you go through something like the end of Return of the King with its 20 endings. Satisfying that you get to see the resolution of the other characters, but also a tedious as well. Which just lead to the very end feeling a little flat. I think perhaps Jace and Clary having a reunion in the infirmary where they could talk but not really touch, then getting all the little resolutions, THEN getting the passionate kissing scene that we all were expecting with the fireworks going off in the background would have been more satisfying.
As for other aspects of the book…I found the relationship between Jace and Clary rather unbalanced. I think that there are probably a number of people that would complain of him always having to rush in and save her through the stories. But that didn’t bother me since it is Clary who thwarts Valentine and saves Jace from death in the end. No. What bothers me more is the inequality in how they communicate. On several occasions Jace confesses his feelings to Clary. Not only does Clary not open herself to him the same way, but often shuts him down as well. Cassandra Clare states that this stems from (1) that we see the story from Clary’s perspective and know what she is going through, so we don’t need her to verbalize as much as we do Jace and (2) Jace is a talker, making many speeches and witty remarks throughout the books while Clary tends to be a do-er. I just felt badly for Jace that he never really got to hear her tell him how deeply he effected her world.
I have to disagree with some comments above that Simon’s character was flat. Actually, I could relate to him in a way that I couldn’t to Jacob. While Simon wanted to be with Clary, he ALWAYS also wanted what was best for her and not just for himself. He was against Jace because he could sense Jace’s past “use ’em and lose ’em” tendencies and didn’t want Clary to be the next notch in his bedpost. But when Simon saw that Jace’s feelings were real and deep for Clary, Simon backed off. He didn’t try to rip her into two like Jacob did to Bella. He also had a great sense of humor. He’s witty and can hold his own even again Jace’s sharp wit. And despite being being a bit of a “dork,” I love that he embraces who he is. His comments on D&D, video games and pop culture add great levity at times–especially when they serve to confuse and throw the often-smug Lightwood kids off a bit.
I loved the character of Jace–the rather mysterious bad boy, always ready with a smark alec remark. But who overcomes his rotten upbringing to transform into someone pure and heroic. He’s still no Edward, but then again, who is? 😉
Okay, its me again.
Well since the ending of the thrid book bothered me and apparently many other readers felt the same way, I figured I’d try my hand at “fixing” it. Not really by re-writing it, but more by rearranging what Cassandra Clare had already written. So most of this is actually her words, not mine. To indicate this and to give her the credit after sections that were taken from her writings I placed page numbers in parenthesis. I also indicated where in the story these sections would come since most of the ending was great and I didn’t feel the need to re-work.
So you can treat this like a //singing// supporter speculation…
Epilogue
Across the Sky in Stars
Clary felt as though she was underwater struggling toward the surface where something as fair and warming like sunlight danced. But it was just out of reach.
Jace
Her breath automatically quickened at even the thought of his name. She could almost smell the scent of him—of soap and sunlight but tainted with a sharp antiseptic odor. She opened her eyes, blinking in the bright light that glared down from the large overhead lamp.
I must be in the infirmary, Clary thought. Only then did she notice the numerous areas of her body that were sore despite the miraculous healing runes that she was sure the Clave had used upon her while she was unconscious. She heard a low sigh and gingerly turned her head toward the sound. It was him. And in that instant her aches and pains were forgotten.
His golden hair, wild and waved as it rested upon the pillow still had some matted blood in places, residue of the battles that Jace had fought against Jonathan and Valentine. His chest and arms were bare, displaying a latticework of old scars upon his skin. Funny. There was a time when she found tattoos repulsive. Not anymore, at least not where Jace was concerned. At times she couldn’t help tracing their lines with her eyes. Although he lay still with his eyes closed, she could tell by the uneven rise and fall of his chest that he was not asleep. She didn’t know if she should disturb him. If she did, what would she say? After everything that had happened, how could she even start?
“Jace,” her lips murmured as if of their own accord before she could check the impulse. His face turned toward her. His eyes opened slowly, a deep troubled golden brown.
“Jace,” he croaked ruefully. Her heart sank under the weight of the pain held in that single word—she wished she knew how much was physical and how much was emotional. He turned his head again to stare at the ceiling. “That’s the thing. I don’t have a name anymore, do I? I’m not Jonathan Christopher—that was someone else. But it’s the name that I’m used to.” (527)
She ached to hold him, to stroke his hair, to comfort him. But even if she were physically able to do so, she wasn’t sure if that’s what he would want. She knew that he wasn’t comfortable with the mundane world’s forms of expressing sympathy. Instead, she decided to just listen to whatever he was willing to share with her.
“Who came up with Jace as a nickname? Did you come up with it yourself?”
Jace shook his head. “No. Valentine always called me Jonathan. And that’s what they called me when I first got to the Institute. I was never supposed to think my name was Jonathan Christopher, you know—that was an accident. I got the name out of my father’s journal, but it wasn’t me he was talking about. It wasn’t my progress that he was recording. It was Seb—It was Jonathan’s. So the first time I ever told Maryse that my Middle name was Christopher, she told herself that she’d just remembered wrong, and Christopher had been Michael’s son’s middle name. It had been ten years, after all. But that was when she started calling me Jace: It was like she wanted to give me a new name, something that belonged to her, to my life in New York. And I liked it. I’d never liked Jonathan.”
“Which is why she was so upset when she found out that you were Valentine’s son,” said Clary. “Because she thought she ought to have known. She kind of did know. But we never do want to believe things like that about people we love. And, Jace, she was right about you. She was right about who you really are. And you do have a name. Your name is Jace. Valentine didn’t give that name to you. Maryse did. The only thing that makes a name important, and yours, is that its given to you by someone who loves you.”
“Jace what?” he said. “Jace Herondale?”
“Oh, please,” she said. “You’re Jace Lightwood. You know that.”
He turned to face her again, his eyes meeting hers. His lashes shadowed them thickly, darkening the gold. She thought he looked a little less remote, though perhaps she was imagining it.
“Maybe you’re a different person than you thought you were,” she went on, hoping against hope that he understood what she meant. “But no one becomes a totally different person overnight. Just finding out that Stephen was your biological father isn’t going to automatically make you love him. And you don’t have to. Valentine wasn’t your real father, but not because you don’t have his blood in your veins. He wasn’t your real father because he didn’t act like a father. He didn’t take care of you. It’s always been the Lightwoods who have taken care of you. They’re your family. Just like Mom and Luke are mine,” she finished sleepily. She reached toward his shoulder, but managed to draw her hand back before drifting back to sleep. (528-9)
Go to page 503-527 paragraph 2
He was so thoughtful, so distant. She wondered if she were intruding upon what was probably the first private moment of reflection that he was afforded since Valentine’s funeral.
“You probably came up here to be alone.”
“You’re right,” he said.
Clary felt the breath go out of her. “All right, then. I’ll go.” She stood up, forgetting to hold her dress up, and nearly stepped on the hem.
“Clary!” Setting the box down, Jace scrambled to his feet. “Clary, wait. That wasn’t what I meant. I didn’t mean I wanted to be alone. I meant that you were right about what you said in the hospital—about Valentine and the Lightwoods—“
She turned and looked at him. He was standing half in and half out of the shadows, the bright, colored lights of the party below casting strange patterns across his skin. She thought of the first time she’d seen him. She thought he looked like a lion. Beautiful and deadly. He looked different to her now. That hard, defensive casing he wore like armor was gone, and he wore his injuries instead, visibly and proudly. He hadn’t even used his stele to take away the bruises on his face, along the line of his jaw, at his throat where the skin showed above the collar of his shirt. But he looked beautiful to her still, more than before because now he seemed human—human and real.
“You know,” she said, “Aline said that maybe you wouldn’t be interested anymore. Now that it isn’t forbidden. Now that you could be with me if you wanted to.” She shivered a little in the flimsy dress, gripping her elbows with her hands. “Is that true? Are you not…interested?”
“Interested? As if you were a—a book, or a piece of news? No. I’m not interested. I’m—“ He broke off, groping for the word the way someone might grope for a light switch in the dark. “Do you remember what I said to you before? About feeling like the fact that you were my sister was sort of a cosmic joke on me? On both of us?”
“I remember.”
“I never believed it,” he said. “I mean, I believed it in a way—I let it drive me to despair, but I never felt it. Never felt you were my sister. Because I didn’t feel about you the way you’re supposed to feel about your sister. But that didn’t mean I didn’t feel like you were a part of me. I’ve always felt that.” Seeing her puzzled expression, he broke off with an impatient noise. “I’m not saying this right. Clary, I hated every seconde that I thought you were my sister. I hated every moment that I thought what I felt for you meant there was something wrong with me. But—“
“But what?” Clary’s heart was beating so hard it was making her feel more than a little dizzy.
“I could see the delight Valentine took in the way I felt about you. The way you felt about me. He used it as a weapon against us. And that made me hate him. More than anything else he’d ever done to me, that made me hate him, and it made me turn against him, and maybe that’s what I needed to do. Because there were times I didn’t know if I wanted to follow him or not. It was a hard choice—harder than I like to remember.” Hi voice sounded tight.
“I asked you if I had a choice once,” Clary reminded him. “And you said, ‘We always have choices.’ You chose against Valentine. In the end that was the choice you made, and it doesn’t matter how hard it was to make it. It matters that you did.”
“I know,” Jace said. “I’m just saying that I think I chose the way I did in part because of you. Since I’ve met you, everything I’ve done has been in part because of you. I can’t untie myself from you, Clary—not my heart of my blood or my mind or any other part of me. And I don’t want to.”
“You don’t?” she whispered.
He took a step toward her. His gaze was fastened on her face, as if he couldn’t look away. “I always thought love made you stupid. Made you weak. A bad Shadowhunter. To love is to destroy. I believed that.”
She bit her lip, but she couldn’t look away from him, either.
“I used to think being a good warrior meant not caring,” he said. “About anything, myself especially. I took every risk I could. I flung myself in the path of demons. I think I gave Alec a complex about what kind of fighter he was, just because he wanted to live.” Jace smiled unevenly. “And then I met you. You were a mundane. Weak. Not a fighter. Never trained. And then I saw how much you loved your mother, loved Simon, and how yo’d walk into hell to save them. You did walk into that vampire hotel. Shadowhunters with a decade of experience wouldn’t have tried that. Love didn’t make you weak, it made you stronger than anyone I’d ever met. And I realized I was the one who was weak”
“No.” She was shocked. “You’re not.”
“Maybe not anymore.” He took another step and now he was close enough to touch her. “Valentine couldn’t believe I’d killed Jonathan,” he said. “Couldn’t believe it because I was the weak one, and Jonathan was the one with more training. By all rights he probably should have killed me. He nearly did. But I thought of you—I saw you there, clearly, as if you standing in front of me, watching me, and I knew I wanted to live, wanted it more than I’d ever wanted anything if only so that I could see your face one more time.”
She wished she could more, wished she could reach out and touch him, but she couldn’t. Her arms felt frozen at her sides. His face was close to hers, so close that she could see her own reflection in the pupils of his eyes.
“And now I’m looking at you,” he said, “and you’re asking me if I still want you, as if I could stop loving you. As if I would want to give up the thing that makes me stronger than anything else ever has. I never dared give much of myself to anyone before—bits of myself to the Lightwoods, to Isabelle and Alec, but it took years to do it—but Clary, since the first time I saw you, I have belonged to you completely. I still do. If you want me.” (529-532)
For a split second longer she stood motionless as he stared down at her. Their gazes were locked like gears. She could no more have looked away than she could have breathed with water in her lungs. Then somehow she had caught at the front of his shirt and pulled him toward her.
At first the pressure of his lips was gentle, seeking; but when she responded—sliding her arms around him, tangling her hands in his hair—she felt the cautious tension in his body change to something else. He lifted her off of her feet, setting her onto a ledge built into the stone wall surrounding the Accord Hall steps. Now that he was able to reach her without stooping, he was kissing her with a bruising pressure, his lips crushing hers. She was pressed firmly into the stone of the ledge, but she didn’t care.
He broke off the kiss, drawing back and she released him with a soft noise of reluctant protest. Without the heat of his body against hers, the cold night air as well as the cold stone struck through the silk dress making her gasp.
“There,” he said, his voice husky and unsteady in her ear. “That wasn’t so bad, was it, even though it wasn’t forbidden?”
“I’ve had worse,” she said with a shaky laugh. She raised her arms up. “Come back,” she whispered. “Kiss me again.” He made a stifled noise deep in his throat and slid closer to her, into her arms. He kissed her eyelids, her cheeks, her throat, before returning to her lips: their kissing was frenzied now, almost clumsy in its fever—so unlike Jace who never seemed to loose control. She could feel the heat of him burning through his shirt to her bare skin above the dress as well as his warm hips pressing against her thighs through the insubstantial gossamer silk. Her hands ran under the shirt, tracing the numerous scars and marks that represented so much of who he was.
His hands slipped around her, under the strap of the dress, tracing her spine, his touch scorching her bare skin. She wanted more of his touch, his hands on her, his skin on her skin—she wanted to be touching him everywhere and she ached everywhere that she didn’t touch him, ached with a nearly physical pain. (extended scene by C. Clare and 533)
A loud amused throat clearing noise cut through the air with sobering clarity.
“Go away, whoever you are,” Jace growled at the intruder, his lips barely lifting from the pale smooth skin of her collar bone. But Clary’s head turned to see a dark figure with blue hair that sparkled in the moonlight. Magnus.
“Either you two need to get a room or I’ll have to conjure up a video camera. I bet that I could make a mint selling this little scene online,” Magnus teased with a sly grin.
Jace let out an exasperated sign, backed out of Clary’s embrace and lowered her down from the ledge—his gliding over her body as she slipped to the ground. She suspected that her face was as red as her hair. But Jace was not embarrassed. His eyes of molten amber shone and sparkled in the lunar glow of night. Jace’s hair was pale gold , gently curling around his angel’s face. His skin seemed to glow with that ethereal golden quality that was unique to only Jace. She had never seen him like this. So happy. So free. So exultant.
Jace reluctantly turned his eyes from Clary, his good humor fading rapidly, “What do you want, Magnus?”
“Isabelle,” Magnus stated.
Jade was instantly more alert. “What’s wrong with Isabelle?” he asked with alarm.
Magnus rolled his eyes. “Oh, don’t get me started on that topic. But that’s not what I meant. Isabelle requests your company down at party central,” he announced ceremoniously. His tone turned dry, “And she’s been driving me batty for the past half an hour. Now it’s your turn to entertain her,” he said, poking a finger into Jace’s chest. “You’re not the only one that who would like to sneak off of for a little alone time with his honey,” he teased with a twinkle in his eye and a wink at Clary.
Go to page 533 last paragraph skip the first 3 words through 540 paragraph ending on 541.
Jace tightened his arms around Clary, breaking her out of her reverie. His hands trailed down her shoulders to her arms and he felt her stiffen under the caress. She took his hand gently tugging him, leading him away from the others to be alone. His heart sped up. The scene from the Accord steps replayed through his mind and his body. It had been amazing–everything that he had dreamed of for so long. And yet it wasn’t everything that he wanted somehow.
He wasn’t quite sure what the difference was. He’d wanted girls before. And he had always got what he wanted–that girl at Taki’s, Aline and many other girls that he had dated in the past. But they were just an outlet, an escape like fighting often was for him. This was different. This was Clary. Clary. She wasn’t an outlet or an escpe. She was like Idris to him—a beloved home land, a refuge. She was like a piece of his own soul—like the old story of Eve having been made from Adam’s body. Perhaps that was truer for the two of them considering that they both had been altered by the angel’s blood. He never had any difficulty believing that Clary had angel blood in her veins. It was harder to believe about himself, however. When he thought about his life it still seemed to him that he tended to ruin anything he touched. Part of him was worried that somehow he’d find a way to ruin this as well. And lose her forever.
Clary had stopped down the row of houses—far enough from their friends and family to have some privacy but still within eyesight if anyone worried about their disappearance. He could feel the tension in her. His heart felt as though it had frozen in his chest. There was something wrong. He looked down at her but her face was turned away. How was he supposed to know what she was thinking if she wouldn’t tell him or even let him try to read it in her face? Jace was frustrated. Physical things came naturally to him. Words came easily to him. But emotional stuff? He was at a bit of a loss. Neither of his upbringings gave him much experience in that area–whether Valentine’s lessons that emotions made you weak or Maryse’s stoic style of parenting.
Jace couldn’t stand her silence anymore. He brushed Clary’s cheek with the backs of his fingers. Clary leaned into the touch. He ran his fingers under chin and gently lifted her face toward his. Her eyes met his, large green eyes that appeared to be roiling in as much conflicting emotion as he felt in his own chest.
Was this something about Simon? he wondered to himself, a stab of jealousy rising within him That surprised him. He knew that Clary’s relationship with Simon never really went anywhere. But perhaps there was something to that “forbidden theory” that Clary had brought up. Now that she and Jace were free to love each other…But of all the things in the world for which to ask the angel, she asked for his life. And then there was her very willing participation on the steps. But that was before Clary saw Isabelle and Maya vying for Simon’s attention…
“Jace,” Clary’s voice speaking his name brought his attention back around. “I just wanted to make sure that you know that what you said earlier about belonging,” she began with an uncertain tone, “well, it is the same for me. I have belonged to you since that first night I saw you in Pandemonium.”
Jace hadn’t thought that he had needed to hear the words, but her confession drained much of tension that he held in his body. He raised his hand and gently stroked her cheek. “My beloved is mine, and I am his,” he breathed huskily.
He heard her swallow hard. “But…” she started, her troubled eyes lingering over his shoulder. He followed her gaze toward the Accord Hall steps and heard her whisper so softly that he wasn’t sure if it was to him or to herself, “I know that fires that burn the brightest don’t often last long,” she half-whispered, her voice thick.
It was as if the last piece of the puzzle had finally fallen into place an he could finally see the whole picture and what was really bothering him and what he was doing wrong. The fact was that Jace didn’t want Clary. Well, of course he wanted her. That much was obvious to anyone with functioning eyes. What he meant was that he wanted Clary–heart, mind, soul as well as body. That was why he still felt twinges of resentment toward Simon. Simon knew her inside and out–not that Jace resented their relationship. But more than anything that’s what he wanted to do with Clary, to build something real and deep with her. Not something superficial built on heat and emotion alone. He guessed that this was what was causing her anxiety as well.
He took her face in his hands and looked at her. His eyes were a sea of gold, warm and fluid. “Clary, my love, I want to learn everything there is to know about you. And I am prepared to spend the rest my life doing so. I have no intention of rushing a moment of it.” With that, he bent down and pressed his lips softly to hers. His arms went around her, one hand cupping her neck and the other at the small of her back. He lifted her almost out of her sandals. Then he was kissing her more deeply—or she was kissing him, he wasn’t sure, and it didn’t matter. The feel of her mouth on his was electric, but without the frantic urgency of weeks of misery and heartache of earlier in the evening. This was a steadier, smoldering passion rather than an inferno. Her hands gripped his arms, pulling him hard against her. He felt her heart pounding through his shirt. No one else’s heart was like Clary’s and it was beating frantically with her love for him. The thought made him dizzy with joy.
He let her go at last and she gasped—she’d forgotten to breathe. He cupped her face between his hands, tracing the curve of her cheekbones with his fingers. He lowered his head so that his lips were brushing her ear. “Clary,” he whispered, and felt the small shiver travel down her spine. The crowd was cheering as the first of the rockets went up. “Look.”
She looked as the fireworks exploded in a shower of sparks—sparks that painted the clouds overhead as they fell, one by one, in streaking lines of golden fire, like angels falling from the sky. (533, 541)
I read this a couple of week after i read breaking dawn
and i loooooooove them they
are amazing if not confusing in some parts
(demon names lol)
im still waiting for city of glass to come out =(
but cant wait i have so many theories i wanna see if any of them are right
Naomi, are you somewhere where they haven’t released City of Glass? because I read it like 2 weeks ago…. (and I’m gonna say, after all the build up, I was REALLY hoping for a better ending than what we got…. although it DOES leave it open for another….)
OMG!! I cant read all the comments on here because I dont know what will happen!! I’m close to finishing City of Glass and I LOVE IT so far!!! Wow book number 3 has the most action and I cant wait to see whats going to happen at the end!!!!
hurry up and do podcast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a Fanstatic book!! I just finished reading the last book. I am so glad they way the book turn out. I love the the twist in the first book. I love the turmoil in the 2nd book and I love the way it ended in the 3rd book.
Hey I am currently reading Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith. It is also about vampires and it about a love triangle like Twilight.
Hey all, when are we going to hear a podcast on these? I loved them more than Twilight I think. Just starting the Magic Study too, another good trilogy.
Love you guys, keep up the good work!
don’t understand why they haven’t done this book of the month yet and they’re doing the host!! i’m upset.. i read these books under the instruction that we would discuss it in may or june!
K Jade. You’re commenting. Not writing your own novel. Just saying.
K, the books were OK, but idk if they were amazing as everyone was saying. maybe it’s because I read them all in like 5 days, but I just really didnt think they were that spectacular.
ARGHHHH i cant listen to the podcast yet :(!!! Because COG hasnt come out in england yet…. we have to wait untill july 6th -do you know how hard that is?? i started reading them in 2007 and fell in love with them straight away, and am now seriously craving some Jace, Simon and Clary!!!!
Bit worried about the ending, have read mixed reviews, but it will probs be alright!
Oh well… only 9 days to go 😀
You guys have awesome taste! I would never have picked up the Mortal Instruments books, but I took a chance and I’m soooo glad I did. I started reading about a week ago and now I’m on Book 3.
Has anybody read “The Forest of Hands and Teeth”? I’ve read a little bit, but I’ve been a tad busy with Clary and Jace. It’s supposed to be a scary zombie novel. So far, it seems really creepy, but also very lyrical and well-written. I think it would be a really interesting book of the month.
LOL… I just realized that I almost typed “The Forest of Hands and Feet.” That’s a LITTLE less scary than the real title. With the “Hands and Feet” I mostly think of a forest full of acrobats or something.
Have u read the house of night series by PC and Kristin Cast? There’s 5 books so far n the 6th comes out in late October. I love them so much. N I’d love to hear your thoughts on them. U 2 are amazin n so funny! Please please please do either a podcast on them or just mail me n tell me!
Love y’all xxx
Gemma
I haven’t read any of the books of the month, but they all look good. Here is some books that i recomend, because they are awesome.
1. Daughters of the Moon by Lynne Ewing
2. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
3. Evermore by ?
4. Lucky by Rachel Vail
Love the podcast! Bye!
Hi! I’m really excited about all these cool new fantasy books. I’m starting Wake ASAP.
Heyy
I have not readed City of Bones, but after reading what some of you had to say im am so going ot Barnes& Nobals to get it. But i have readed all Of Stephine Meyers Books and THIER the absolute BEST books EVER!!!! And i love how this site is for ALL Fantasy books!!!!!!!!!
OOOO yea WAAKE&FADE are off the CHAIN!!!!! srry 4 got to put that in my last comment.
Hey i am reading this good book called evernight but i am really on the sencond one Stargazer but they are really good they are bye claudia Gray
I have to say that I loved reading Wake, it wasn’t on the top of my must reads but I enjoyed it. I will read Fade when it gets released here in NZ. I like the character development between Janie and Cabel and at times you get really frustrated with them for being so pig headed. I did think the whole idea of being in other peoples dreams a bit weird but I did enjoy seeing other people through their dreams be so different from their outside personna.
Kayla – I to loved Evernight and Stargazer, would recommend them to any twilight reader.
The one book I am spouting to everyone at the moment is Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, it is an amazing, beautiful book and the love story is overwhelming. Think Jacob and a story about the wolf pack but different. If that makes sense.
I absolutely can’t wait to read these. They are on the top of my HAVE TO READ list and they sound great. Can’t wait. :))
Team Volturi: Because who can beat an Italian vampire mafia with sweet black capes???
Thank you for your recommendations.
City of Bones series- I thought the story was great but I just didn’t find any of the characters to be like able for me. I thought the ending could of been better.
Shiver- This book is good and it’s written beautifully but IT’S BORING. I’m sorry I found myself bored alot of the time and when it did pick up it just slowed right back down. I do love the main Sam and Grace but other than that you don’t care about any of the other characters. Even Sam and Graces love story can be so hot then go cold in seconds. Having different perspectives was annoying and confusing. It’s sad when you can’t tell who’s telling the story especially when their different sexes. I also found the werewolf story boring.
Hunger Games- Great book and I JUST LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT IT ! I do have some qualms about it but it isn’t big. I can’t wait for the next book !
Evermore- Cute story but that’s it ! Again don’t care about any of the characters except for the sister who’s died. She has so much personality and I just think she’s the cutest thing.
The Host- I LOVED THIS BOOK ! The beginning was way slow and confusing but when YOU GOT PAST THAT IT WAS EXCELLENT !
Wake and Fade- Great concept and it had potential for me but IT was way too choppy for me and the profanity was to much for me and I just couldn’t look past that. And it was just really hard to follow the story.
I haven’t read any of the other books AND I probably won’t read the PC Cast ones because I’ve just heard horrible things so maybe I should just try for myself but I’ll try the rest of them THANKS ! And please don’t yell at me these are just my opinions !
ome i love these books and cant wait till next year to get them
if u love twilight which i no u do yuo should read vampire acadamy it reay good and i would highly recemend it
Wake and Fade were both amazing! I actually talked to Lisa McMann on Twitter about her books and she is really cool and really easy to talk to. Absolutely cannot wait for Gone to come out. City of Bones, City of Glass, and City of Ashes were amazing. Another series that had me totally hooked from the start of the story. As for someone earlier mentioning the PC Cast books, I absolutely loved the House of Night series. The 5 (at the moment, 6 in October) books form an incredible story. I was a bit skeptical at the start but I was told that they were worth a shot so I thought I’d read the first one and see where it went. I was hooked from book one. Like with Twilight, I just couldn’t put it down. I had to keep reading the books. They’re worth a shot if you’re majorly into the vampire books. It’s a cool concept and I truly enjoyed them.
Just finished city of bones and am almost done with city of ash. Just thought i’d throw this out there. But i think if tom felton beefed up he could be a good jace! haha i can’t believe i am saying this! I just saw an interview with him on tv where they showed a clip from half blood prince, and he has the smug face down haha and the blonde hair! idk i still haven’t convinced myself this is a good idea!
I just finished City of Bones and have already ordered the last two books. I’m very excited that there will be a fourth one. I cannot wait.
I just finished wake and fade. They were so great. I read through them sooo fast and enjyed them so much and i got really into them.
OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!! I bought and read the book in all of four hours and LOVED IT!!! Thank-you so so much for recommending it! It’s an amazing book and I can’t wait to buy Fade, (which will be VERY soon I assure you, hehe,) and then waiting a very very long time until Gone comes out. I just love the character and it’s so much more twisted than I had previously assumed! I think the romance in the book is also very cute and I loved reading those parts.
Guess I’ll have to read the WHOLE podcast now on the interview and everything! 😛
Thank-you Kassie and Kallie!!!!!!!!
Jeanette