City of Bones.

One of my best friends told me to read this series probably a little over a year ago and she lent me City Of Ashes to read when I was done with the first. Well, I FINALLY decided to read it and I am SO glad that I did.

Vampires, Werewolves, Demons, Warlocks, Shadowhunters, and a bunch of other creatures all wrapped up in a pretty package called City of Bones.
Clary thinks that her father died before she was born, that her mother is a painter, and that her mother's best friend and the only father figure she's really ever know, Luke, is a book store owner (can he be my mom's best friend too?). But one fateful night changes everything she ever thought she knew. When she goes out with her best friend, Simon,  to the club Pandemonium she sees a girl and two boys corner another boy in a storage room, tie him up, and try to stake him, but she intervenes before it happens. While she freaks out not knowing why they are about to do that, Isabelle, Alec, and Jace (the aforementioned teens that are also Shadowhunters that cornered the other kid who turns out to actually be a demon) wonder how it is that Clary can see them. She is only a mundane (human), and mundanes don't have the Sight to see them and past glamors. But Clary does.
After this night, Clary's life is turned upside down when her mother gets kidnapped by another powerful and dark Shadowhunter, Valentine. Her life is also intertwined with Jace's in more ways then she could imagine.
She is racing to find a way to save her mom all while finding out the truth behind all the lies her mother has fed her all her life.

Now, by all means, this is not an original story. There is a pretty wicked twist towards the end that my best friend told me about when she first told me to read it...but it still took me by surprise. But other than that, nothing groundbreaking or genre defining original. I did end up totally loving Jace though. He is a really good character. And he made me laugh. A lot. He's overly confident and some of the stuff he says is just classic.
Some of the writing style was a little strange. I didn't understand why Clare chose to use some words because they just didn't seem to fit and she kind of over-used "so and so looked just as *insert some kind of emotion here* as Clary did". I swear I counted at least 5 times or more. I was always wondering why Clary never really looked the emotion she felt. She wasn't the kind of person to hide or push aside what she was feeling.

City of Bones was a fun read though and I am curious as to what happens in City of Ashes and City of Glass so I will definitely be continuing with this series.