City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

"She jabbed a finger at his shoulder. "When did you get that?"
Jace looked down and saw that the spider demon's poison had eaten a hole in his shirt, leaving a good deal of his left shoulder bare. "The shirt? At Macy's. Winter sale."
"The scar. This scar, here on your shoulder."
"Oh, that." Jace wondered at the intensity of her gaze. "I'm not sure. Something that happened when I was very young, my father said. An accident of some kind. Why?"
Breath hissed through the Inquisitor's teeth. "It can't be." she murmured. You can't be-"

I'm going to make this very quick because I have a whole book to devour tonight. Fueled by Almond Joys and Coca Cola, I am immediately beginning the third Mortal Instruments book City of Glass and I'm not going to bed until I finish it. But I needed to go ahead and put down my thoughts about City of Ashes in an effort to make my head stop spinning. I've been on the tilt-a-whirl way too long and now I'm trying to stand up and walk down the ramp but the world is spinning, spinning, spinning.

There's never a moment's rest in Clare's world. It never lets up, no one gets any sleep and I can't really say that things get any better- they just get dealt with. I know I mentioned that the first book reminded me pleasantly of Harry Potter but now I realize it's not the pleasant part I was thinking about. How much heartbreak can you put one person through?

The Clave is suppose to protect it's own, but what will they do now that it's known that one of their youngest, most powerful shadowhunters is the son of the monster who will not stop until their world is remade in his vision? Valentine has stolen the second Mortal Instrument, the Angels Sword and now the Clave and the people he has called family believe that Jace is helping him.

Poor Jace, poor Clary.....poor Simon. It's almost too much.

Like the first book, I give this one 5 stars- a perfect 5 star book keeps you, holds on to you long after you close the cover, refusing to let you out of the story- which is exactly where you want to stay.

I'm a dork. I know it.