Mortal Instruments: City of Souls by Cassandra Clare

How I love these books!  I finished this book with mixed feelings.  On one hand I wanted to see it all end with a neat and tidy bow, happily ever after, but then oh how I wanted there to be loose ends so I would know she is writing more.  And I beleive that there will be more!  The story is picked up right after the previous book and takes on a ride to ride Jace and figure out how he and Sebastian aka Jonathon escaped. Sebastian and Kyle's characters are developed more as well as Alec and Magnus.  Jace was not himself in theis book and I missed his quick wit, although Simon tried to pick it up.  A lot goes on this time around and as characters are added it gets tough to follow who is who and who is doing what but I LOVE following each of them on thier journey.  I can not recommend this series more than I already have.  Once you read the first one you will be hooked for the long hall!

The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines

Another YA about the termoil of chooseing between two boys.  These boys however turn out to be best friends and cousins.  I enjoyed this light read.  The character development was good and I did very much become attached to the main character of Ash and the bad boy of Beau.  The only part that I am hesitant to recommend is the redudant mention of how she was a "good girl" but really was "bad" on the inside. I think that the author could have delved deeper into her feelings and used stronger adjectives to explain why she felt the way she did.  A lot of social complication could have been played out with her being a preachers daughter and high expectations.  It kind of reminded me of Footloose, in a very basic way, of course dancing wasn't a part of it.  Overall it has some twists and turns that kept me reading and was a quick and fun read for sitting in the sun on my porch.

On The Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves

I found this book highlighted in many magazines and on my amazon account and it looked interesting.  I was immediatley into the stranded on a desert island idea, as I am a Survivor fan.  I really liked watch them trying to survive alone and with limited knowledge.  Obviously, being from Chicago, they did not spend their weekends watching Survivor Man or anyother NatGeo show.  I thought I might fare better.  The real draw to this book was the fact the the characters were very different, in that the 30 year old teacher was hired to tutor the 16 year old boy for the summer.  The love interest between the two was very gradual and although it makes you wonder, deep down I thought....I would have totally gone there as well.  They were on the island for three years so it all ended up being age appropriate.  The one item that kind of picked at the back of my brain was the boy had been in remission for Luekemia.  It wasn't dwelled on or discussed much in the book after the initial introduction.  i worried through the book, and the trailer even said that they worried the cancer would return while they were on the island, but it wasn't really a story thread that continued through the book..I have to recommend this book as a really good summer read.