City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments #4)

City of Fallen Angels is number 4 in the Mortal Instruments series. Let me tell you, when I was starting this book, I thought wow, everyone is getting along! The war is over, everyone is alive and well and Clary and Jace finally get to be together without thinking they are brother and sister... Boy was I wrong.

So it is true that in this book the war is over and Clary is back at home training to become a real shadowhunter like her hunk of a boyfriend Jace.  Everything is fine and dandy, and Clary's mom and Luke are planning their wedding! Too good to be true right? Absolutely. All of the sudden, shadowhunters are turning up dead everywhere. Nobody can figure out who is murdering all these innocent people, and why they are only targeting shadowhunters. Poor Simon has also told his mother that he is a vampire when she finds vials of blood in his room, and he gets kicked out of his house. Clary can't ask him for help because he's clearly dealing with some of his own issues. The story feels like something you've read before, because it follows the same basic plot line as the previous books. I was kind of hoping that Ms. Clare would leave Jace and Clary to be, but of course they have their own trials and tribulations in this book again. Alec and Mangus develop together as a couple, and new demons are introduced and take on a big role in the book. The ending did catch me off guard as much as it could..

Overall, this book was not terrible. I think that as someone who hates to leave a series unfinished, it was not unbearable to read. I just wanted something a little different, maybe the characters to develop more and Clary to become less whiny. But hey, you can't have everything.

Here's the book on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

                                          © Margaret K. McElderry Books, Cassandra Clare

Quick Review:
Title: City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments Book #4)
Author: Cassandra Clare
Pages: 424 (paperback)
Recommended: Young adult girls, 14-17 (or 22!)

Educational Books? People Read Those?

Happy 2014!

This post is about an educational book. It's not a fun, young adult/teen book that I usually like to read, however, this book was sent to me by my friends at Librarything, and so I read and reviewed it. The book is Exploring Critical Issues in Gifted Education: A Case Studies Approach by Christine Weber.

So here's the review:

I liked the case studies approach that this book had to offer, however, some of them were dry and hard to get through.  The book itself is very dense and offers a lot of information that might be helpful to someone who is willing to look past the dry-ness of the writing. The topic of Gifted Education is a topic that is neglected in today's society and I was really hoping that this book would help highlight some of the issues facing teachers when it comes to gifted education. This book might be have an application in a grad school program focusing on Gifted Education, but I don't think it's a book that can be read quickly without having others to discuss the case studies with.

Overall, I'm not a big fan of reading educational books for fun. This was like forcing myself to read a textbook even though I didn't have a class it applied to. If I did have a class it applied to, it may be easier to read and take from.

                                                             (copyright Christine Weber 2013)

Here's the book on Amazon.

Overall, I give it a 4 out of 5 stars because it is interesting and educational, just not my cup of tea.