Mundie Moms

Monday, September 20, 2010

City of Fallen Angels - September Excerpt, Part 2

Artwork by bhanesidhe

Here's the second part of the September Cookie. Ah, something for those of us who adore Simon and for those of us who are moms, this really hits home:

“You think you’re a vampire,” Simon’s mother said, numbly.
“You think you drink blood.”
“I do drink blood,” Simon said. “I drink animal blood.”
“But you’re a vegetarian.” His mother looked to be on the verge of tears.
“I was. I’m not now. I can’t be. Blood is what I live on.” Simon’s
throat felt tight. “I’ve never hurt anyone. I’d never drink someone’s blood.
I’m still the same person. I’m still me.”
His mother seemed to be fighting for control. “Your new friends — are they vampires, too?”
Simon thought of Isabelle, Maia, Jace. He couldn’t explain Shadowhunters and werewolves, too. It was too much. “No. But — they know I am one.”
“Did — did they give you drugs? Make you take something? Something that would make you hallucinate?”
“No. Mom, this is real.”
“It’s not real,” she whispered. “You think it’s real. Oh, God. Simon. I’m so sorry. I should have noticed. We’ll get you help. We’ll find someone. A doctor. Whatever it costs —”
“I can’t go to a doctor.”
“Yes, you can. You need to be somewhere. A hospital, maybe —”
He held out his wrist to her. “Feel my pulse,” he said.
She looked at him, bewildered. “What?”
“My pulse,” he said. “Take it. If I have one, okay. I’ll go to the hospital with you. If not, you have to believe me.”
She wiped the tears from her eyes and slowly reached to take his wrist.

Book Review & Giveaway- MATCHED

By Ally Condie
Published by Dutton
To Be Released on November 30th, 2010
Source- From Penguin
4.5 Stars- I Really Liked This Book, Go Pick It Up

Society MATCHED them, but love set them free.

In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die. Cassia has always trusted their choices. It's barely any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one...until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path no one has ever dared to follow-between perfection and passion. (quoted from ARC)

There are few dystopian books that I have read and fell in love with. I think it's due to the fact that some dystopian books mirror reality to some extent and that horrifies me that in our day in age some societies dictate what their citizens do. When we had an author chat a few months ago, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl raved about MATCHED and now I know why.

Ally Condie does such a beautiful job with her writing, and the words in which she choose to describe her world. I was pulled right in and quickly felt apart of MATCHED's world. It took me a little bit to feel a connection to the characters, but once I did, I couldn't get enough of MATCHED. I was surprised at how emotionally invested I became with MATCHED. I felt myself getting so mad at some of the citizens as they accepted and did anything the Officials told them to do, never questioning what they were told. Maybe that's why I felt so drawn to Cassia, as she was nothing like them.

Cassia lives in a society where every action is watched and in some case, pre-determinded. There is no freedom. No free will. I find this world both horrifying and suffocating as the Officials dictate what class their citizens are in, who they marry, what they wear, what jobs they are allowed to have, where they are allowed to live and so forth. As Cassia starts to questions her life, her match, and the things she's not being told, she becomes a resistance to the officials in her quest to break free of control.

MATCHED has some wonderful characters, like Cassia's Grandfather who helps her realize nothing is impossible and two great love interests, Xander and Ky. I honestly felt myself torn for Cassia as she's MATCHED to marry Xander, the boy she's grown up. He's someone she loves, has confided in and he knows everything about her. Cassia soon finds out that someone made a mistake, when mistakes don't happen. She wasn't MATCHED to just Xander, but to Ky as well. She's forced to question everything she thought she knew about her society and now she must choose, take the path that will be safe and easy for her, or follow a forbidden path, and follow her heart. Normally I would yell at the character to follow their heart, but Xander and Ky are such great characters that I sympathized with Cassia in her decision.

MATCHED is a fascinating dystopian world with a beautiful love story. It's an enthralling read that I couldn't get enough of and I found myself thinking about it days after I read it. I'm really looking forward to finding out what happens next for Cassia, Xander and Ky.

You can find out more about MATCHED here http://www.matched-book.com/
You can pre-order MATCHED here http://tinyurl.com/2cbatjb
Don't miss Ally's interview here


Thank you to Penguin, we have a copy of MATCHED to giveaway!!

Mundane Monday #51

Happy Monday!!


"Nice, he said. "Graceful as a falling snowflake."

"Was I screaming?" she asked, genuinely curious. "You know, on the way down?"

He nodded. "Thankfully no one's home or they would have assumed I was murdering you."

"Ha. You can't even reach me." She kicked out a leg and spun lazily in midair.

Jace's eyes glinted. "Want to bet?"

Clary knew that expression. "No," she said, quickly. "What ever you're going to do-"

But he'd already done it. When Jace moved fast, his individual movements were almost invisible- she saw his hand go to his belt, and then something flashed into the air. She heard the sound of parting fabric as the cord above her head was sheared through. Released, she fell free, too surprised to scream- directly into Jace's arms. The knocked him backward and they sprawled together onto one of the padded floor mats, Clary on top of him. He grinned up at her.

"Now," he said, "that was much better. You didn't even scream at all."

"I didn't get the chance." She was a breathless, and not just from the impact of the fall. Being sprawled on top of Jace, feeling his body against hers, made her mouth grow dry and her heart beat faster. She had thought maybe her physical reaction to him-their reactions to each other- would fade with familiarity, but that hadn't happened. If anything, it had gotten worse-or better, she supposed, depending on how you thought about it.

- City of Fallen Angels excerpt from the City of Glass paperback edition

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