City of Ashes by Cassandra Clara

Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? If Clary left the world of the Shadowhunters behind, it would mean more time with her best friend, Simon, who's becoming more than a friend. But the Shadowhunting world isn't ready to let her go -- especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary's only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil -- and also her father.
To complicate matters, someone in New York City is murdering Downworlder children. Is Valentine behind the killings -- and if he is, what is he trying to do? When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father?
In this breathtaking sequel to City of Bones, Cassandra Clare lures her readers back into the dark grip of New York City's Downworld, where love is never safe and power becomes the deadliest temptation.

I recently reread this series and decided to review it, since I haven't. I love this series. It is definitely what I would recommend to anyone that is just starting to read young adult, because it has such rich and developed characters, an exciting plot, and writing that is perfected. Clary is a sweet girl that is trying to do the right thing, which other then trying to wake up her mom and other then that, she isn't really sure what to. She thinks she loves Jace, but he is her brother and that is wrong. Jace is very cocky and sarcastic, but you can't help loving him. Especially when you see Clary and him interact and a total other side of him emerges out of no where. He also wants to protect the people he loves more then anything and he knows that his father is the cause of it. Simon is sweet and I can't help adoring him. His geekiness is really cute and his devotion to Clary is well awesome. Isabelle is a kick ass female character that you adore, even though she can be frightening at times. Alec is unsure or who he is and how that fits into his life. I found his relationship with Magnus to be adorable.

The plot of this book keeps you excited from the first word to the last. Every moment in this book is full of action, suspense, or magic. The originality of this book is awesome. I love how it is based on mythology and is so unique. Clare's writing captures your imagination and makes it run while. Even when I was rereading this, I couldn't wait to start the next book right away. You have to read this series, it is definitely one of my favorites.