City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

This is it folks, the final book in the Mortal Instruments series is finally upon us. This monster of a book holds within its pages the conclusion to a long-loved series. Are you ready for it? I sure wasn't, I can tell you that.

I am going to try to do this with as few spoilers as possible, so as not to spoil anyone who may not have read it yet. I will not be diving into any major plot points or discussing any major events (CHAPTER 24 THOUGH). However, I will be discussing my feelings about this book as a whole, the characters, and how I thought this did as a conclusion to this series.

I would like to start this off by saying that after reading City of Fallen Angels when it first came out, which would have been back in 2011, I wasn't entirely sure that I would continue on with the story. I was satisfied with the end of City of Glass, and Fallen Angels just seemed to be opening a whole new can of worms, and at the time, I didn't think it was necessary. However, after seeing what so many people were saying about City of Lost Souls, I had to see what all of the fuss was about. I am so glad that I did continue with the series because this last book was absolutely amazing.

Cassandra Clare proved once again that she has an amazing talent for writing conclusions to her series. This book was a masterpiece, and I loved everything that happened within its pages. I adored the over all plot, I adored the characters and how much we got to see them grow, and I enjoyed the twists and turns that this book fed to me. I laughed until the point of tears (pg. 532 is a particular favorite), cried from general happiness (Brother Zachariah, enough said), and found myself in tears of sadness (Chapter 24, just... no.). I am so happy with this book, both on its own and as the final instalment of The Mortal Instruments.

Plus, the cover and the poster on the back are absolutely stunning.

STAR RATING: 5/5

The Dead Girls Detective Agency by Suzy Cox

"Pop quiz: What would you do if you had to solve your own murder to get anywhere in death?

Maybe if I hadn't slept through my alarm, slammed into Kristin (my high school's reigning mean girl) or stepped in a puddle, destroying my mom's new suede DVF boots (which I borrowed without asking), I wouldn't have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I wouldn't have been pushed in front of that arriving train. But I did, and I was.
When I came to, I was informed by a group of girls that I'm dead. And that because I died under mysterious circumstances, I can't pass straight over to the Other Side. But at least I'm not alone. Meet the Dead Girls Detective Agency: Nancy, Lorna, and Tess--not to mention Edison, the really cute if slightly hostile dead boy. Apparently, the only way out of this limbo is to figure out who killed me, or I'll have to spend eternity playing Nancy Drew. Considering I was fairly invisible in life, who could hate me enough to want me dead? And what if my murderer is someone I never would have suspected?" ~Goodreads

Honestly, this was a book that I saw on book outlet, and I thought that the premise sounded interesting, so I added it to my cart. It only cost me $2.99, so I figured that if I liked it, then I had scored it for cheap, and if I didn't, then at least I didn't pay full price for it. This is one of many books that I made this gamble on, and unfortunately, this one turned out to be just sort of... blah.

The whole idea is that when Charlotte Feldman was pushed under the F-train when she was on her way home from school, she was surprised to find herself waking up in the lobby of a beautiful hotel with three girls and one boy looming over her. 

Going into this book, I was expecting some really witty dialogue and a lot of over-the-top detective work done by some supremely kick-ass girls. However, this was not what I got. I admit that this book was filled with a lot of amazing pop-culture references, which I loved seeing, however, the tally on witty dialogue was next to zero, the girls were all annoying, and the romance subplot felt half-assed. I know that the author of this book is actually an editor for a fashion magazine, and that came across a lot in her writing. 

I think my main problem with this book though, was Charlotte. Over all, she seemed like a decent person, but being inside of her head for 355 pages was almost tortuous. She thinks in ways that the type of girls I normally don't like to hang out with tend to act, and I think that was why I didn't enjoy it as much. Her voice came off as whiny and ridiculously dependant on those around her.

So my overall thought on this book is that it was okay. It definitely isn't the worst book I've ever read, and I would recommend it to the right kind of person, but I definitely won't be picking up the rest of the trilogy any time soon.

STAR RATING: ★★ 1/2