“I am a man" he told her, "and men do not consume pink beverages. Get thee gone woman, and bring me something brown.”

The struggle has been real when it comes to this series, I've made no qualms about sharing my feelings in regards to the first two books. I was left feeling pretty underwhelmed and frustrated to the point of screaming at the characters. But something happened, maybe Clare took a writing class, maybe she went to the crossroads and sold her soul to the devil. Whatever she did, it worked.

This feels so grown up, so wildly different I can't put into my words the joy I felt reading this. I did spent most of it waiting for something to go wrong, but it didn't. This was a solid read, but to me this book is what the first two should have been. If I could throw all logic out the window, this would be a 5 out of 5, but this is the third book and by now I should have been all kinds of invested.

This book and it's characters feels so different, I finally stopped hating Jace...well mostly. I still have problems with his attitude, yes I understand he's putting on a front but behind closed doors he shows little in the way of remorse for his actions and his stubbornness, so it's hard to emphasise with him. Simon finally gets the respect he deserves and gets chapters from his POV, which I'm hoping will lead to Isabelle and Alec getting a chance to steal the spotlight in the final three books.

Of course it's not all sunshine and rainbow pooping unicorns. Clary is still a huge problem, she's rash, acts before thinking and is forever making dumb decisions after another. I understand her goal is to save her mum and help stop Valentine but she never looks at the bigger picture, there are so many consequences to her actions. She's a teenager acting like a kid and it's not for me, fingers crossed she'll stop charging off leaving others to pick up the pieces and fix her mess.

All in all, I'm glad I've stuck with it. City of Glass finally brought it, and it's given me hope for finishing this series. I am however going to take a break from The Mortal instruments and read her prequel series The Infernal Devices next as I need a break from these characters.

June 29-July 19

Shadowhunters and demons square off for the final showdown in the spellbinding, seductive conclusion to the #1 New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments series.

Darkness has descended on the Shadowhunter world. Chaos and destruction overwhelm the Nephilim as Clary, Jace, Simon, and their friends band together to fight the greatest evil they have ever faced: Clary’s own brother. Sebastian Morgenstern is on the move, systematically turning Shadowhunter against Shadowhunter. Bearing the Infernal Cup, he transforms Shadowhunters into creatures of nightmare, tearing apart families and lovers as the ranks of his Endarkened army swell. Nothing in this world can defeat Sebastian—but if they journey to the realm of demons, they just might have a chance…

Lives will be lost, love sacrificed, and the whole world will change. Who will survive the explosive sixth and final installment of the Mortal Instruments series?

Review: All the feels the end of this series we get more from some new characters Emma and Julian and the whole blackthorn family who are going to be in Lady midnight. Sebastion attacks the institute he changes Julian father into a dark Shadowhunter. They all get into the portal . Jace is learning how to deal with the hevenly fire in his body. Every has to go to Idris and Simon has to stay behind . Jordan is watching over simon as his bodyguard but then simon gets taken . A bunch of werewolves get killed sebastian kills Jordan . Maia was planning on breaking up with Jordan which I kinda guessed was going to happen . Maureen takes simon but Raphael helps him escape and gets him to idris . Where he drinks some spoiled blood and drunkly tells izzy he loves her . Maia becomes head of the werewolves. Brother Zachariah becomes human again .
Simon , alec ,clary ,Izzy and Jace all go to the demon relm

Where you know is definitely time to have sexy times clary and Jace

They finally get to sebastian and they trick him long enough for clary to stab him. For them to leave the demon relm they call on magnus father who wants magnus immortality which means he will die but simon volunteers instead but the demon wants his memories . Simon agrees and clary cries when she goes back. Jace says he officially wants to be a herondale. Magnus helps simon remember a little . Tessa and Clary meet
Loved the ending I cried .

Quotes :

Simon , you're blushing, observed Jace. And you're a vampire and almost never blush, so this better be really juicy . And weird

Herondales." Zachariah's voice was a breath, half laughter, half pain. "I had almost forgotten. No other family does so much for love, or feels so much guilt for it. Don't carry the weight of the world on you, Jace. It's too heavy for even a Herondale to bear.”

WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?" There was a sound of shattering glass, and they both sat up to see Alec glaring at them. He had dropped the empty bottle of wine he had been carrying, and there were bits of sparkly glass all over the cave floor. "WHY CAN'T YOU GO SOMEWHERE ELSE TO DO THESE HORRIBLE THINGS? MY EYES."

"It's a demon realm, Alec," Isabelle said. "There's nowhere for us to go."

"And you said I should look after her-" Simon began, then realized that would not be a productive line of conversation, and shut up.”

Herondales." Zachariah's voice was a breath, half laughter, half pain. "I had almost forgotten. No other family does so much for love, or feels so much guilt for it. Don't carry the weight of the world on you, Jace. It's too heavy for even a Herondale to bear.”

Jem: Come in.
Jace: Where's Brother Zachariah?
Jem: I'm right here. Jace Herondale. And once more a Herondale is the object of my deliverance. I should have anticipated.”

Okayyyyy,” Isabelle said in a low voice, “When did Brother Zachariah get hot?”

I did not make a pie,” Alec repeated, gesturing expressively with one hand, “for three reasons. One, because I do not have any pie ingredients. Two, because I don’t actually
know how to make a pie.”
He paused, clearly waiting.
Removing his sword and leaning it against the cave wall, Jace said warily, “And three?”
“Because I am not your bitch,” Alec said, clearly pleased with himself.”

Loved it 

Another nail biting great book in the shadowhunters world ..... full review to come 

by Clare R. Johnson, Ph.D

I've been aware of lucid dreaming for years and even done it spontaneously a few times, but could never stay asleep for long once I realised I was dreaming. I immediately tried some of the first techniques explained in this book and got instant results on the first night for checking I was in a dream! Then several nights followed when I didn't have a lucid experience to test.

As the book points out, it takes practice. I started practicing with the techniques for 'programming' your mind to become lucid while falling back to sleep in the early morning hours, but not the full bladder one as that wakes me up quickly. I've had luck so far at the time of writing with trying to induce lucid dreams while falling back into a morning doze, but this is one of the things that takes practice. I fall into deep sleep too easily.

I took this one slowly, reading a few exercises and stopping to assimilate and experiment. I expect I'll be giving it a second reading as well. One of the unique things about the book is a 'quiz' to give you self-analysis about what sort of sleeper and dreamer you are in order to guide you towards the exercises that will be most effective for you. This gave me a lot of insight and some great suggestions to work with.

I have had multiple lucid experiences while reading the book and have been able to try the techniques for taking control of the experience and for trying to stay asleep for a while at least to enjoy it. I suspect this will get easier over time, but I'm definitely having some results.

The one thing I would take issue with is in a meditation, the author suggests staring into a candle flame. NEVER DO THIS!!! It can cause retinal damage! In any candle ritual or meditation, you look just above the flame, not into it. The rest of the advice on that one, to look around the periphery of the flame and see different perspectives, is fine. Just don't stare directly into it.

In the later chapters, the author gives advice for working any meditation or Yoga practice you might be using into the exercises, but she acknowledges that it isn't required if that's not your thing. The last chapter was about healing through lucid dreams, both psychological and physical. Despite being a natural sceptic, I know the mind can have tremendous effects on the body and I think it would be interesting to experiment with this. There were some apocryphal stories about people identifying and even eliminating tumours through lucid experiences, which I keep an open mind about.

In any case, the exercises to develop control of lucidity in your dreams are good and make perfect sense. My own early successes are enough to convince me that it's worth the practice and the author knows her stuff.