City of Ashes

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare, 453 pages

This is the second book in Clare's Mortal Instruments series, and finds protagonist Clary learning more about her unique abilities, and the world of which she's now a part. And because this is a young adult paranormal book, there's also a healthy dose of angsty romantic confusion: Clary's torn between her best friend Simon and (SPOILER IF YOU HAVEN'T READ CITY OF BONES!!!!) her brother Jace. Yes, there's a supreme ick factor in the brother-love thing, though I'm choosing (for the sake of my own sanity) to focus on the fact that she and Jace fell for each other BEFORE they knew they were siblings, and the angst is mainly derived from the headaches they feel from constantly beating themselves about the skull with "that's your sibling, idiot!"

You can probably tell from that short description that this is a kinda screwy story, full of all matter of complicated family problems: Clary's mom is comatose, her dad's the big bad, and her flannel-shirt-wearing father figure Luke (gee, Cassandra Clare, watch Gilmore Girls much?) is a werewolf. This is not by any means great literature, but it's good for escaping from stress, so yeah, I'll probably keep reading this series when I need something light.