Mundie Moms

Sunday, August 31, 2014

After The Bridge (Jem & Tessa) Part IV


Jem & Tessa fans swooned over one of their favorite Shadowhunter couples while reading Part 1, Part II, and Part III of After The Bridge by Cassandra Clare. NOW Cassie finally gives Jem and Tessa fans what they've been waiting for. Please note Cassie's personal rating on the scene below (which we've hidden here. You'll have to click the link to keep reading). 
A story for those who might have wondered what Tessa and Jem did after they met on Blackfriars Bridge in the epilogue of Clockwork Princess.
Those who do not like Tessa&Jem together or Jessa sexytimes probably should skip this. (You will not miss anything that will affect your understanding of later books.) Those who like that sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.
After the Bridge alternates POV between Jem and Tessa. It will be posted in installments. This is Part Four. It is not the whole story. There are more parts. As this is one short story and not chaptered, each post will contain the whole story from the beginning up to the point where that part ends so that new readers or readers who don’t remember what happened won’t have to hunt down the previous post(s.)
[Also just a personal note: since starting to post this, I’ve been bombarded with requests to write Clace, Malec, Sizzy, Wessa, Jemma, Jordelia, ships that don’t even have names, etc short stories. I usually turn down requests to write short stories for published anthologies because I don’t have time — I really don’t have time to write a ton of short-story-length outtakes. I’m writing this as it grew out of a discussion with Holly Black and Kelly Link about romance shapes and sat on my head and demanded to be written. When that happens again, I will happily post what I write because I like to share free content. But I do need to focus on TLH and TDA right now, and nothing else is calling to be written. In other words, and I hope I am saying this the nicest possible way, I can’t take requests. We will all just have to see if inspiration strikes and hope it isn’t Mortmain/Benedict “The Worm” Lightwood.]
Meanwhile, definitely an R rating below. I admit I don’t really understand the rating system. SEXY TIMES. These characters are consenting and 135 years old, but I would probably keep the story away from kiddies.

After the Bridge (Jem/Tessa) Part III


Jem & Tessa fans swooned over one of their favorite Shadowhunter couples while reading Part 1 & Part II of After The Bridge by Cassandra Clare. I have a feeling you may become weak in the knees with reading Part III. At least I know Sophie is....


A story for those who might have wondered what Tessa and Jem did after they met on Blackfriars Bridge in the epilogue of Clockwork Princess.
Those who do not like Tessa&Jem together or Jessa sexytimes probably should skip this. (You will not miss anything that will affect your understanding of later books.) Those who like that sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.
After the Bridge alternates POV between Jem and Tessa. It will be posted in installments. This is Part Two. It is not the whole story. There are more parts. As this is one short story and not chaptered, each post will contain the whole story from the beginning up to the point where that part ends so that new readers or readers who don’t remember what happened won’t have to hunt down the previous post(s.)
AFTER THE BRIDGE 3/4
Now is the time of our comfort and plenty
These are the days we’ve been working for
Nothing can touch us and nothing can harm us
And nothing goes wrong anymore
......... 
She was wearing a dress of orchid silk faille, the sort of dress she might have worn to dinner when they had been engaged. It was trimmed in white velvet cords, the skirt belling out over — was she wearing crinolines? 
His mouth opened. He couldn’t help himself. He had found her beautiful through all the changing ages of the century: beautiful in the carefully cut clothes of the war years, when fabric was rationed. Beautiful in the elegant dresses of the fifties and sixties. Beautiful in short skirts and boots as the century drew to a close. 
But this was what girls looked like when he had first noticed them, first found them fascinating and not annoying, first noticed the graceful line of a neck or the pale inside of a feminine wrist. This was the Tessa who had first cut him through and through with love and lust commingled: a carnal angel with a corset shaping her body to an hourglass, lifting her breasts, shaping the flare of her hips.
He forced his eyes away from her body. She had bound up her hair, small curls escaping over her ears, and his jade pendant glimmered around her throat. 
“Do you like it?” she said. “I had to do my own hair, without Sophie, and lace my own laces …” Her expression was shy and more than a little nervous — it had always been a contradiction at the heart of her, that she was one of the bravest and yet the shyest people he knew. “I bought it from Sotheby’s — a real antique, now, it was far too much money but I remembered when I was a girl you had said orchids were your favorite flower and I had set myself to find a dress the color of an orchid but I never found one before you were — gone. But this one is. Aniline dye, I expect, nothing natural, but I thought — I thought it would remind you.” She raised her chin. “Of us. Of what I wanted to be for you, when I thought we would be together.”
“Tess,” he said, hoarsely. He was on his feet, without knowing how he had gotten there. He took a step toward her, and then another. “Forty-nine thousand, two hundred and seventy-five.”
She knew immediately what he meant. He knew she would. She knew him as no one else living did. “Are you counting days?”
“Forty-nine thousand, two hundred and seventy-five days since I last kissed you,” he said. “And I thought of you every single one of them. You do not have to remind me of the Tessa I loved. You were my first love and you will be my last one. I have never forgotten you. I have never not thought of you.” He was close enough now to see the pulse pounding in her throat. To reach out and lift up a curl of her hair. “Never.”
Her eyes were half-shut. She reached out and took his hand, where it caressed her hair.

* The reason for the note, is we know we have young YA fans, who love Cassie's work, and though this scene is sensual, beautiful and long time in the making (over 130 years), it may not be a suitable scene for younger readers.  We'd give it a PG-13 rating.

Saturday, August 30, 2014

After the Bridge (Jem/Tessa) Part 2


Cassandra Clare has continued to keep fans of Jem and Tessa on the edge of their seats with Part II of her After The Bridge story, which is about Jem & Tessa. You can read Part 1 here.

A story for those who might have wondered what Tessa and Jem did after they met on Blackfriars Bridge in the epilogue of Clockwork Princess.
Those who do not like Tessa&Jem together or Jessa sexytimes probably should skip this. (You will not miss anything that will affect your understanding of later books.) Those who like that sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.
After the Bridge alternates POV between Jem and Tessa. It will be posted in installments.
This is Part Two. It is not the whole story. There are more parts. As this is one short story and not chaptered, each post will contain the whole story from the beginning up to the point where that part ends so that new readers or readers who don’t remember what happened won’t have to hunt down the previous post(s.)
......  She had furnished it herself over the years, from the sofa cushions to the long Japanese screen painted with a design of poppies and bamboo. The curtains framing the portrait window at the far end of the room were half-drawn, just enough light spilling into the room to touch the bits of gold in Jem’s dark hair and she nearly dropped the teacups.
They had hardly touched on the taxi ride back to Queen’s Gate, only holding hands tightly in the back of the cab. He had run his fingers over the backs of her fingers over and over as he began to tell her the story of all that had happened since she had last visited Idris, when the Mortal War, which she had fought in, had ended. When Magnus had pointed out Jace Herondale to her, and she had looked at a boy who had Will’s beautiful face and eyes like her son James.
But his hair had been his father’s, that tangle of rich gold curls, and remembering what she had known of Stephen Herondale, she had turned away without speaking. 
Herondales, someone had told her once. They were everything that Shadowhunters had to offer, all in one family: both the best, and the worst.
She set the teacups down on the coffee table — an old steamer trunk, covered in travel stamps from her many voyages — with an audible thump. Jem turned to face her and she saw what he held in his hands. 
One of the bookcases held a display of weapons: things she had picked up around the world. A thin misericorde, a curved kris, a trench knife, a shortsword, and dozens of others. But the one Jem had picked up and was staring at wasa slim silver knife, its handle darkened by many years of burial in the dirt. She had never had it cleaned, for the stain on the blade was Will’s blood. Jem’s blade, Will’s blood, buried together at the roots of an oak tree, a sort of sympathetic magic Will had performed when he thought he had lost Jem forever. Tessa had retrieved it after Will’s death and offered it to Jem; he had refused to take it. 
That had been in 1937.
“Keep it,” he said now, his voice ragged. “There may yet come a day.”
“That’s what you told me.” She moved toward him, her shoes tapping on the hardwood floor. “When I tried to give it to you.”
He swallowed, running his fingers up and down the blade. “He had only just died,” he said. She didn’t need to ask who he was. There was really only one He when it was the two of them speaking. “I was afraid. I saw what happened to the other Silent Brothers. I saw how they hardened over time, lost the people they had been. How as the people who loved them and who they loved died, they became less human. I was afraid that I would lose my ability to care. To know what this knife meant to Will and what Will meant to me.”

Friday, August 29, 2014

After the Bridge (Jem/Tessa) Part 1

Dorks by accioskittles 

Cassie posted this an hour ago, and for those of us who adore Jem + Tessa, well, hold on to your hats:
A story for those who might have wondered what Tessa and Jem did after they met on Blackfriars Bridge in the epilogue of Clockwork Princess. Those who do not like Tessa and Jem together or Jessa sexytimes probably should skip this one. Those who like that sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.

After the Bridge alternates POV between Jem and Tessa. It will be posted in installments. This is Part One.
I will post the beginning here and have a link to the rest on Cassie's tumblr page:

AFTER THE BRIDGE
Now is the time of our comfort and plenty
These are the days we’ve been working for
Nothing can touch us and nothing can harm us
And nothing goes wrong anymore
Keane - "Love Is The End"

As it turned out, Tessa had a flat she owned in London. It was the second floor of a pale white townhouse in Kensington, and as she let them both inside — her hand only shaking very slightly as she turned the keys — she explained to Jem that Magnus had taught her how warlocks could finagle their way into owning homes over many centuries by willing the properties to themselves.

“After a while I just started picking silly names for myself,” she said, shutting the door behind them. “I think I own this place under the pseudonym Bedelia Codfish.”

Jem laughed, though his mind was only partly on her words. He was gazing around the flat — the walls were painted in bright colors: a lilac living room, scattered with white couches, an avocado-green kitchen. When had Tessa bought the flat, he wondered, and why? She had traveled so much, why make a home base in London?

The question dried up in his throat when he turned and realized that through a partly open door, he could glimpse the blue walls of what was likely a bedroom.

He swallowed at that, his mouth gone suddenly dry. Tessa’s bed. That she slept in.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you all right?”

There's more after the cut, MMs! Happy Labor Day weekend!

Brazil's Warm Welcome for Cassie, Video and Q&A

WOWIE. What a wonderful welcome for Cassie at her Sao Paulo book fair:


Here's what Cassie said about the experience:
I just finished my signing tour in Brazil on Monday. Here is my video of the signing stage in Sao Paulo…a little intimidating as you can see!
Q. Cassie, I just wanna say thank you for everything here in Brazil. We’re over moon and… I just don’t know, you made us very very happy and pround of being your fans. You’re the kindest person ever. Thank you again, love. Virna — isabelle-lightwood
Cassie: Thank you! I had such a great time in Brazil meeting readers. You guys were so sweet. I hope to come back. 

Q. Hi Cassie! My name is Alessandra, I’m brazilian fan and I knew you on last monday in Rio de Janeiro. I wrote a letter for you, remember? Do you read? Please, tell me your answer!! — sweet-angels-and-demons
Cassie: Hi Alessandra! I got so many letters and packages that we had them shipped from Brazil to my house. There was no suitcase big enough to hold them! I can’t wait to read them all when I get home. Letters are the best. Speaking of which right now my inbox is full of messages from people I met at the fair or people I didn’t get a chance to meet. I’m technically on vacation with family right now, but I hope to get through all the messages, just don’t feel bad if it takes a while, it’s not you — it’s me! xoxox Cassie

Cassandra Jean's Tarot Cards Will Be Published Soon


Cassie posted this yesterday and it answers a question we've all been thinking about -- will Cassandra Jean's tarot card artwork be published any time soon?

Gabriel Lightwood by Cassandra Jean

Q. Hi Cassandra! First, I love your books … But my question is related tarot cards of shadowhunters. I wonder: if you want to sell them? If yes, when? Thank you! — giuliaherondaleangel

Cassie: We’re putting them out through Topataco, they do merchandise for Homestuck and Welcome to Night Vale. Things this complicated take a while to print, but we’ve approved finishes, etc. and we’re hoping to have the cards up for sale before Christmas. In the meantime, have a Cassandra Jean Gabriel Lightwood flower card, because he looks foxy!

Fan Art Friday

Tessa by miinza

What a selection of fan art on this long weekend Friday. I can't even begin to decide on a favorite:


Clary Fray by meabhd


Callum Hunt by kaidarkknight

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Guardian by Courtney Cole, Cover Reveal

We are absolutely thrilled to bring you the Cover Reveal for Courtney Cole's GUARDIAN! GUARDIAN is a YA Paranormal Romance, and a book close to Courtney’s heart. It is being released on August 28th, TODAY!

Guardian 

GUARDIAN Synopsis: 
Sometimes, things that go bump in the night are real. My name is Whitney Lane. I’m sixteen years old and at first, I thought I was crazy. I kept seeing shadows move along walls, and hearing whispers around corners, but whenever I looked, there was never anything there. Until one day, there was. Our world isn’t what we think. There are things around us, good things, bad things, scary things. Things that we tell ourselves aren’t real, but they are. They’re very real, and they’re terrifying. I’ve been swept up now, in a battle of good and evil, confused about love and what is supposed to be love, but isn’t. I don’t know what to think anymore. I can’t trust my emotions and I don’t know what is true. There’s only one thing I know for sure. Nothing is what it seems. 

ABOUT COURTNEY COLE


Headshot

 Courtney Cole is a novelist who would eat mythology for breakfast if she could. She has a degree in Business, but has since discovered that corporate America is not nearly as fun to live in as fictional worlds. She loves chocolate and roller coasters and hates waiting and rude people. Courtney lives in quiet suburbia, close to Lake Michigan, with her real-life Prince Charming, her ornery kids (there is a small chance that they get their orneriness from their mother) and a small domestic zoo. 

Visit Courtney here: Website |Facebook | Twitter | Newsletter SignUp| Pinterest

Let's Talk About Jace and The Carstairs Family

Jace and Clary by comfortablylaura

This could be my favorite post of Cassie's (link to her tumblr) because it includes two of my favorite characters, Jace and Jem (okay, the Carstairs family, but you guys know how Anything Jem is immediately important to me):

Hi Cassie I love your books and am a huge fan but I was just wondering… Jace reveals (not that he’s had sex) that he’s been intimate before with a girl(s). I was just wondering if you had anyone in mind whom he’d been intimate with and why that didn’t even bother Clary? Would be so grateful if you answered my question Thank yourottinpeace
Cassie: I have various thoughts about Jace’s love life before Clary (we know he dated the faerie waitress, Kaelie, before Clary, because they actually snuggle and cuddle in front of Clary — I think people forget that!) but nothing so concrete I want to put to paper/Internet yet. I assume Clary doesn’t care because why would she? It’s got nothing to do with her. He dated before her, in TDA Emma’s had boyfriends and sex before the book starts, in TID neither Will or Jem has had any sex before Tessa — people vary. I’m sure he’d tell her about it if she asked, but I suspect readers want to know the gory details more than she does. :)

Hi Cassie, I read CoHF and The Infernal Devices too and I thought that Jem Carstairs was the last Carstairs alive, so how does Emma have the same last name? I read this and got a little confused, because Jem becomes an silent brother, resulting in the ending of that last name. Please help me. (if my English is a little poor I’m so sorry, because I’m Brazilian) Kisses! — aninkheart
Cassie: And I’m leaving for Brazil tomorrow! Meanwhile, this is how the Carstairs name continues.

He was stocky, perhaps in his late thirties, with a scar that ran along his jaw. Tousled, fairish hair, and blue eyes, and skin tanned by the sun. It looked even darker against his starched white shirtfront. There was something familiar about him, something that teased at the edges of Tessa’s memories.

He came to a stop in front of them. His eyes flicked to Will. They were a paler blue than Will’s, almost the color of cornflowers. The skin around them was tanned and lined with faint crow’s-feet. He said, “You are William Herondale?” Will nodded without speaking.
,br/> “I am Elias Carstairs,” the man said. “Jem Carstairs was my nephew.”
Clockwork Princess

The Carstairs line continues through Elias Carstairs. There are also other Carstairs. Jem never says he is the last of his line or the last Carstairs out there. Shadowhunter families can sometimes be huge — Cristina, Diego and Jaime are all Rosaleses, but Cristina is in fact related to neither of them except perhaps incredibly distantly.
I don't know about you, Mundie Moms, but the line of questions about Jace's love life before he met Clary always cracks me up. I think we care because he's such a charismatic character and we've literally been through hell (and back) with him. As for what he was like before he met Clary, I think he'd still be the snarky, over-confident dude we first meet in CoB. And that makes it all the more interesting as his relationship with Clary develops because, for the first time, his feelings for a girl are overwhelming him.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

September 2014's Most Anticipated YA Releases Per Epic Reads


Epic Reads has treated readers to another fabulous Coming Soon list! Check out the 20 more anticipated YA releases for next month.








Which September reads are you looking forward to reading? 
You can find more about each of the books featured above via Epic Reads's post HERE, as well as other books hitting shelves next month, that are pictured below.










Happy Reading!

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