Review: City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare *SPOILERS*

 

I FINALLY READ IT!!!!!! I have had this on my TBR since I finished Clockwork Princess earlier this year. I freaking loved every second while reading this. I loved the back and forth between the different groups. I cried over Sebastian and his endgame. I ended up being sad over a character that I didn't really like at the beginning. 

If you have not read the title, this review will contain spoilers. So if you have not read The Mortal Instruments or this book yet, I highly suggest not reading ahead. 

This book introduces so new characters which is always weird to do in the conclusion of a series, but since this is part of a large world, you definitely need to read this series before picking up The Dark Artifices series. We meet Emma and Julian as the Los Angeles institute is being attacked by Sebastion and his group of Endarkened Shadowhunters who have been turned by the Infernal Cup. Emma and Julian and the other Blackthorn children escape to Idris. 

The other institutes around the world go silent and every shadowhunter relocates to Idris. While in Alicante, they are constantly on alert by the demon towers. They are having to attend meetings with Downworlder representatives who eventually get kidnapped by Sebastian with the help of the Seelie Queen. 

Jace is trying to figure out how to control the heavenly fire in his veins. Clary is trying to show people that the Morgenstern name is all that bad just because of Valentine and her brother. Alec is missing and pouting over his ended relationship with Magnus. Isabelle is trying to role play with Simon. They haven't determined the status of their relationship to the chagrin of the others. Jordan and Maia have the perfect relationship until it is revealed that Maia wants to end the relationship.

There is a lot of death and we get the return of a character that "died" in Clockwork Princess. The whole time I was reading his new name, I was thinking of his actual name. 

Before picking this book up, I put the Shadowhunter's Codex in my Amazon cart. I always told myself I wasn't going to buy it, but this book mentions the Codex so freaking much. I need to know what everything means. I also feel that it will give me a recap of the first few books in the Mortal Instruments as I started this series two years ago. 

BOOKTUBE, READING AND POKEMON// SUNDAY POST #3

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly from the Caffeinated Reviewer.

Happy Sunday everyone. It's the start of a new week. I am one of those people who believes weeks start on Sunday. How my Sunday goes basically dictates how my week is going to go. So today, I am trying to be super productive. Last week was all about my Book Youtube Channel. I am busy planning out videos and filming to have scheduled for next month when my daughters start their new school year.  

As for reading, I finished 3 books. 1 was the conclusion to The Mortal Instruments and the other 2 were middle grade graphic novels. City of Heavenly Fire had been on my TBR since February and I abslutely loved it. I cried and was overall shooketh. 

My kids and I also finished watching the first season of Pokemon again, and all my childhood after school days came rushing back. We started season 2 which I have NEVER watched. 

Monday: Nothing

Tuesday: Weekly Vlog// Kelly Lyn and The Books

Wednesday: Nothing

Thursday: Nothing

Friday: June Reading Wrap Up

Saturday: Review: Willa of the Wood by Robert Beatty

1. City of Heavenly Fire book review
2. Amulet: Prince of the Elves book review
3. The Last Resort book review
4. Book unhaul video
5. Halloween in July tag video?
6. Readathin TBR video?

I went book shopping at Dollar Tree this week. I basically buy all my books from there and I find a lot of hidden gems. Dollar Tree buys there books from book stores and mass market stores that have books that are a couple of years old. 

HAVE A GOOD FUN, SAFE, RELAXING AND PRODUCTIVE WEEK EVERYONE!

Review: Willa of the Wood by Robert Beatty

 I have been meaning to pick this series up for a while and I finally got the opportunity to do so when I got the companion novel for a blog tour spot. This book is published by Disney and it is a perfect story. 

This is about a little wood fairy named Willa. She is the last of her kind in her clan who can blend in with nature to hide. Her parents and twin sister have been killed by humans and she is being raised by her grandmother who disobeys the padaran of the clan. The Padaran is like a God to the clan and he is their leader. He is chosen all of the young ones to become jaetters or thieves to bring back goods, and valuables and food to keep the clan alive. Well, one night Willa decides to rob a day-folk which is a human who has chop down trees and made his home in the forest. She gets caught and she gets shot. She then asks the wolves to help and while the wolves are helping her, the wolves make a temporary true with the legendary white bear. More happens to Willa and things are discovered and there is betrayal and plot twists.

I absolutely loved this book. I read it out loud to my kids. I loved the different animals and how the trees and flowers and water was given personality. It was really relatable with the animals because we live in a heavily wooded area and we are always seeing deer, foxes, opposums, squirrels, birds, jack rabbits and other creatures in out yard. My kids were a little upset when it was on the parts with the loggers cutting down the trees and Willa could hear the trees screaming. That upset my kids because we have two acres of land and we are getting ready to clear some more space to start building our forever home. 

JUNE READING WRAP UP

 If you have not yet subscribed to my channel yet, please do so. I don't share every video on my blog. I would love to have your support. Thanks for watching.

WEEKLY VLOG// KELLY LYN AND THE BOOKS

 

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY// SUNDAY POST #2

 

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly from the Caffeinated Reviewer.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!

This post is going up way later than I wanted it but I wanted to document how my family celebrated the holiday. We ended up swimming all day and getting sunburn for me and my daughters getting tans because they took after my husband on that. I had to get my dad's Irish genes and skipped out on my mother's Native American roots. We also grilled some Pepper Onion Burgers and they are the best. Then we ended the night by having a firework show with our next door neighbors who also have young kids. We were taking turns lighting  the fireworks and it was just a fun time.

Monday: Review: Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani

Tuesday: Anticipated Releases for Rest of the Year

Wednesday: Review: Sentinel by Matthew Dunn

Thursday: The Classics Club Challenge

Friday: NONE

Saturday: NONE

Review: Willa of the Wood

Review: City of Heavenly Fire

Tag Thursday: Half Year Book Tag

Top Ten Tuesday

NO BOOKS BOUGHT THIS WEEK!!

MY BOOKTUBE VIDEOS THAT I UPLOADED THIS WEEK

The Classics Club Challenge

 We are halfway through 2021 and I have not started my goal of reading a classic a month. I didn't exactly make a list to hold my self accountable. I am so glad that I found this reading group called The Classics Club. While reading the rules and checking out some of the other bloggers taking part in this challenge, I thought I would go ahead an make my list. To be honest, it was really hard to go past 20 and I had to use my Goodreads TBR shelf. I have 3 books reserved at my library so far and I am excited to start this challenge. Knowing that I have 5 years to complete this lengthy goal is great because I am a person who starts hard and fast and then experiences burn out and resentment. I did decide to put two titles on this list that I was required to read in my senior year of high school and I didn't like them, but I am hoping that will change.

RULES

1. – choose 50+ classics
2. – list them at your blog
3. – choose a reading completion goal date up to five years in the future and note that date on your classics list of 50+ titles
4. – e-mail the moderators of the Classics Club blog (theclassicsclubblog@gmail.com) with your list link and information and it will be posted on the Members Page!
5. – write about each title on your list as you finish reading it, and link it to your main list
6. – when you’ve written about every single title, let them and everyone else know!

GOAL: JULY 2021 TO JULY 2026

My List of 50 Classics that I am hoping to read in the next 5 years.

1. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

2. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

3. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

4. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

5. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

6. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

7. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

8. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

9. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell ( I know this is problematic but it is my grandmother's favorite and she has always wanted me to read this and talk about it with her before she passes.)

10. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

11. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

12. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

13. Catch-22 by Joesph Heller

14. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

15. The Giver by Lois Lowry

16. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

17. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

18. Animal Farm by George Orwell

19. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

20. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

21. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

22. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

23. Life of Pi by Yann Martel

24. Persuasion by Jane Austen

25. Macbeth by William Shakespeare

26. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

27. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein

28. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkein

29. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

30. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

31. The Odyssey by Homer (Will be a Re-read since High School)

32. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

33. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

34. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

35. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

36. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

37. The Call of the Wild by Jack London

38. 1984 by George Orwell ( Will be a Re-read since High School)

39. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

40. The Princess Bride by William Goldman

41. War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

42. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

43. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

44. Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

45. Rebecca by Daphne de Maurier

46. Around the World in 80 Days by Marian Leighton

47. Watership Down by Richard Adams

48. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

49. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agathe Christie

50. In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck