City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (Mortal Instruments book one)

Summary: When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder - much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing - not even a smear of blood - to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know...." Summary from GoodReads

Anyone who's read more than a couple of my reviews can tell that I'm a tough critic, BUT I'm trying to be better about that. In keeping that in mind, I will tell you the plus and minus of this book (and try not to dwell on the minus).

The Plus: It truly is a young adult book. No sex, very little violence, no swearing. If you're going to label a book YA, I prefer it really be PG to PG-13 rated. In keeping in line with the YA label, the characters seem like authentic teenagers, especially the protagonist, Clary. She's unsure of her feelings, she's stubborn, she's kinda whinny, she's your typical 15 year old. It's easy to imagine being a teenager and going through what Clary does. The biggest plus? The ending, finally something original. Really made me want to read on in the series.

The Minus: Some of the characters are pretty two dimensional, I don't need a super amount of detain about every characters, but it might be nice to know something about the more prominent characters, like Isabel and Alec and their family, maybe that's coming in the other books in the series? But really, its not that big of a deal. The biggest deal was that I didn't really like Jace, and he's the main male character. He's arrogant, sarcastic, rebellious, and kind of a jerk. So, typical teenage boy, but it's not really like he's even nice to Clary (so why she likes him is a bit of a mystery, guess he must be cute). It was kinda funny at first, but got old really fast. It's hard to love a book when the one of the two main characters is annoying.

Bottom Line: It's a good book. It's age appropriate with an interesting story. The complains I had are minor and despite them I really enjoyed the book. Grade: B+.
-Written June 26, 2011