Mundie Moms

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Book Review: Shadows in the Silence by Courtney Allison Moulton


By: Courtney Allison Moulton
Published by: Harper Teen
Released on: January 29th, 2013
Series: Angelfire #3
Source: arc from publisher to review
4.5 Stars: I Really Enjoyed It!
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Your strength in heart and hand will fall. . . .
Ellie knows that the darkest moments are still to come, and she has everything to fight for:

She must fight for Will.
The demonic have resorted to their cruelest weapons to put Will in mortal danger, and Ellie makes an unlikely alliance to save him and to stop Lilith and Sammael, who seek to drown the world in blood and tear a hole into Heaven.

She must fight for humanity.
As the armies of Hell rise and gather for the looming End of Days, Ellie and her band of allies travel to the world’s darkest and most ancient regions in her quest to come into her full glory as the archangel Gabriel.

And Ellie must save herself.
Her humanity withers beneath the weight of her cold archangel power, but Ellie must hold tight to who she is and who she loves as she prepares for the ultimate battle for Heaven and Earth.

In this final installment in the Angelfire trilogy, Courtney Allison Moulton brings her dark world of epic battles and blistering romance to a blazing bright conclusion


Here's the thing I don't like about series, they END! Let me insert *series I love*, because that's be honest, there are some series that just need to end, but this isn't one of those series. I started reading this book before it was out, and I didn't finish it until recently, because in my mind if I didn't finish reading it, then the series wouldn't be over. *sigh* What a fabulous ending it was too. Courtney wrapped this series up perfectly. Sure there's still a few unanswered questions I have, but I like that. I don't want a series to be all nicely packaged up, because then it doesn't leave me wondering and carrying on the story in my head. Okay now I'm sounding crazy, but I know some of you get what I'm saying. This series ended the way it should have, with changes, heartbreak, love, A LOT of action, a war, and hope! 

One of the things I liked about this book is the way Courtney wrote it. Between the moments of me sighing, crying, laughing, fist bumping the air over those kick butt action scenes and wanting to yell NO!, and I enjoyed all the little things that occur that lead up to the bigger moments. There's a few twists, and a shocking discovering I didn't even see coming. I really enjoyed this book! Given that this is the final book in the series, and with it's impending war, the theme is darker, it's a bit sad, but at the same time, there are plenty of laugh out moments that had me wiping a tear or two from my eye. I loved the humor and the oh yeah, hot moments, that were in this book. Let's just say things happen between two characters that fans have been anxiously waiting to have happen. FINALLY! 

I liked that this book/series grew with it's characters. They've all grown and changed a lot since book 1, and I loved how they've all changed. I never would have imagined how things would have worked out between Ellie and Caden, and Ellie and Will from Angelfire to now, and I love what has transpired between each of them. It's not just the main characters, but those fabulous side characters who have all stepped up and changed in different ways. Two of my favorites are Kate and Marcus! They're the two friends you'd hope main characters like Ellie and Will would have. Given that this is both a character and plot driven book, at least in my mind, I loved how the two merged together. There's a lot that happens in this book, and I enjoyed seeing what every character's role was in preparing for War, and during the War. Though it stinks, some characters do die.....

Main character wise, I love how Ellie's grown into a fierce character who can thrown down and kick the crap out  of any demon, while at the same time she has this other side to her that's reserved for those moments when she's with Will, and those other moments when she's sitting with her good friend Caden, and they're dishing it to each other. She stands firm in what she has to do, and despite making some hard choices, I admire her for doing what she felt was right. Will. He's definitely changed a lot, and I love the Ellie has made him see  the hope that love brings with it. He's a completely different person when they're together. I LOVE how supportive he is of Ellie, even if he doesn't want her to make the choices she does, he stands by her and gives her the support she needs. Caden, well that's just say he's shocked me the most! Sure there's a part of me that loved his bad boy ways, but the Caden he is now is AWESOME! He's become that trust worthy, confident friend that Ellie needs. I love that these two act like they've been friends forever. Plus, he just says it how it is to Ellie, and he too gives her all of his support.

This series wrapped up in the most fitting way possible! I don't think it could have had a more perfect ending. Really. I'm throwing out huge props to Courtney for going through a fabulous battle. There's been one too many books I've read that have copped out a bit on the ending of a huge fight scene, but this war was well written! There's causalities of war, and a heart breaking scene, but there's also a scene that will leave you sighing, and hopefully, and just... it's good! This is definitely one of my favorite angel series. I will say there is a well written sex scene in this book. It's not a graphic one by any means, but one that was written in a very tactful way. 

Shadowhunter Tarot Cards

I don't know about you guys, but the more Shadowhunter Tarot Cards that get revealed, the more I want them all. This week Cassie shared quite a few new ones from artist Cassandra Jean. You can see all the Shadowhunter Tarot Cards here.

Will as the Nine of Steles from the Shadowhunter Tarot. (Yes, we’re going to do every single card for a complete deck. If you haven’t seen your favorite character yet: you will. There’s room for everyone, and repeats of some of the most important.)
There’s a little Clockwork Princes clue in here too if you look.


Slightly less often seen Herondales: the Inquisitor, her son Stephen and his first wife Amatis (Luke’s sister.)



Lightwoods, Lightwoods, all around! Robert, Maryse, Alec and Isabelle take the Court cards for the steles/wands suit in Cassandra Jean’s Shadowhunter Tarot



Sophie posted this week's The Dark Artifices cards here. I can't wait for these cards to be available to us fans.

Cassie Recent News: 1st Editions of Clockwork Princess


Yesterday on Twitter, Cassie was asked a few questions about the 1st editions of Clockwork Princess. She answered them saying:

* YES, the family tree will should be in all 1st editions. This goes for the hardcover ones sold in the US, as well as all paperback 1st editions sold in UK/Ireland/Australia/New Zealand. 

* Congratulations to Cassie, as Clockwork Angel won the 2013 Louisiana Teen Readers' Choice Awards! 

Traditionally each of the 1st editions of Cassie's books has had something unique in each of them, but this time I love that each first edition will have the same thing. The only draw back previously has been each store like Costco, Target, Barnes & Noble, and Walmart have all had different "special" content, making it hard to choose which place to purchase your 1st edition from. This time should be much easier knowing it won't matter which store you buy it from.

TMI Movie News

* On March 6th, Martin Moszkowicz tweeted that "and everybody at Sony and Constantin is working hard on the first trailer for TMI.


Clockwork Princess Read Along Day #18: Chapter 17


Only 10 more days till Clockwork Princess is out!


Welcome to Day 18 of the Clockwork Prince Read Along. You can follow the entire read-a-long and find each of the day's posts here. Remember there's no right or wrong way to participate. Your comments can be as long or a short as you'd like them to be. You can answer 1 or each of the questions asked, it's totally up to you, BUT, in order to be entered into the CP giveaway (which you also had to sign up to win), you do need to be actively participating in the read-a-long. 

Today's discussion is about: Chapter 17
  • Tessa had some pretty interesting dreams. Do you think these are things she actually saw, or do you think she really was dreaming these things up? I think she was dreaming, but I think some of what she saw really happened, like with Jessamine. 
  • Oh Magnus! He's always been one of my favorite characters of Cassie's, but I loved him the most in this chapter, because he tries to fix Will in a way that Will doesn't know what he's doing. Well that and I had a good laugh over Magnus's admitting Will did him a favor he doesn't even remember.... could that be a certain kiss. lol Magnus tells Woosley, "It is always better to live the truth than to live a lie." How do you think learning the truth is going to effect/change Will over all?
  • It broke my heart over Will's realization that the curse he believed he was under effected everything he has done for the past 5 years. Do you think it's too late for him to fix what he's done, meaning make amends with those who have loved him even though he's pushed them away? Is it too late for him to win Tessa's heart? 
Please DO NOT POST SPOILERS. There's some fans who are joining the read-a-long who are reading Clockwork Prince for the first time. 

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