City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1)

NYC will never be the same after reading this great Urban Fantasy...
Even my heart will never be the same after this emotional roller coaster!!!

On first glance, this book looked simply like another cheesy fantasy love story, but I was truly proved wrong on that count. The premise of the Shadowhunters, children of angels and men, is unique out of the fiction I have read. The deep background and rich Downworld lore woven into the plot enriches the plot.
The characters were well thought out and engaging, relatable and still unique. In my opinion they had just the right ratio of virtues to flaws. The plot was suspenseful and gripping, with plenty of twists. I couldn't put it down!

I first read this series years ago before the third one had even come out and I loved them! They were so fresh and exciting and just wow. I decided to reread them because I got a request wanting me to do a review for the series. Reading them now, being older and all, I still think they are pretty dang cool. But they're not quite as good as I remember. They are dark and gritty and fun with tons of adventure.

Reading it before I would give it 5 stars... reading it now it gets 4. Also after rereading it, the movie wasn't quite as bad as I first thought. It hits a lot of the important key points... the acting was pretty awful though and Jace was very underwhelming in the looks department but still... I'm very excited for the TV show, anyone else with me?

I did see some of the actors and actresses they got and I don't know... I'm just going to have to wait and see I guess.

I'm very excited the Shadowhunter world is still around and more books are going to be released. I do like the author's writing style, I always have. It's very simple and flows nicely. I'm not even going to tell you guys to read this book because pretty much everyone already has because they are freaking awesome sauce.

For full review check out my blog www.mollyeyablog.wordpress.com

The animal products in your medicine cabinet

While television and print ads alike are loaded with messages about potential serious side effects, prescription drug disclaimers are issued to warn against possible unintended consequences resulting froma drug's active ingredient(s).

But what you may not know is that the bulk of your prescription pill ismade up of inactive ingredients, known as "excipients, and thatyour drugs couldn't be made without them. Quite simply, excipients are what encapsulates your capsule orforms your pill into a solid as opposed to a powder.

Here's the rub: One of the most common excipients used is gelatin, which is almost universally of animal origin. This presents a problem, as you might imagine, to those living within religious or dietary restrictions.

According to a new study released Monday in the BMJ Postgraduate Medical Journal, 43.2% of the study population "would prefer not to take animal product containing medication, even if no alternative were available." 500 people participated in the study.

Of the study participants with dietary restrictions, 88% said they would prefer to take oral medication containing only vegetable products. Of the patients who preferred vegetarian only treatment, 85.2% said they would not take any oral medication which contained animal products, though more than half said they would do so if no alternatives were available.

Perhaps most surprising, less than a quarter of those patients with dietary restrictions specifically asked the doctor who prescribed the drug or the pharmacist who dispensed it about its composition.

Previous studies have shown that doctors do not regularly discuss a medication inactive ingredients with their patients, and very few patients think to ask.

Of the participants who were surveyed, those who followed a Halal diet and those who designated uggs clearance themselves as pure vegetarian/vegan were far more like to ask about a drug's constituents than those who avoided only certain animal foods, such as chicken, beef, or pork.

The data from the study shows that the majority of the people who were surveyed found it completely acceptable that their medications contained gelatin, an animal by product. But if it important for you to know and to control exactly what food is entering your body, the takeaway here is simple: ask your doctor or your pharmacist. etc.

It is about time the consumers are given the choice of decision making in their pharmaceutical and medical device products.

We are beginning to seek niches like organic foods, sustainability and environmental stewardship initiatives. It is just a beginning.

February 28, 2012 at 12:14

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Faith and religious believes do not belong to the discussion about health , what if some religious group starts to believe that red color is offensive ugg boots outlet store online or unlucky, should be the red color to be avoided on pill boxes? If religious people have to go around some common practice like using animal products as a non medical part of a pill, let then take care of themselves and find ways to do it, whole society has other concerns that need research and resources.

February 28, 2012 at 12:51

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Your response is completely idiotic. much attention is paid to vegetarians Really? You don have to worrry about it though as vegetarians don access the health care as much as carnivores. Meat eaters, on average, have more health problems than vegetarians. They are fatter and have higher incidence of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer than non meat eaters. This is a fact. Clearly, you don care about what goes into medications. You probably don care what in your food either. As well, I can assure you that the pharmaceutical companies have already thought that certain colors might be offensive in some countries. However, if you enjoy a good piece of meat. I hope you know a good doctor and live close to a good hospital. Enjoy!

February 28, 2012 at 14:01

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Just in order to clarify what I think about eating meat, I mostly follow the Weston Price foundation recommendations, eat pasture raised animal products,avoid sugars, 51 years old with no health problems , with healthy family members because they eat food I cook for them from the scratch. Most vegetarians I met are unhealthy and cranky, look even you without knowing me wished me to be in hospital soon or worse. You mistake meat eaters with ugg boots outlet sale the Standard American Diet eaters.

My main point was that the fact that there are animal products in medicine is not a health concern and the piece of information belongs to religious news or probably to marketing rather then to the health news.

February 29, 2012 at ugg boots on sale 08:06

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Galina, no offense, but you are showing your ignorance. You keep saying that this should have been in religious news as opposed to more mainstream health news. Not everyone that practices a meat free diet does it for religious purposes. I and my wife have been vegetarian for nearly 10 years now, and neither of us do it for religious beliefs. In my case, I have NEVER been a huge fan of meat and I only realized in my late 20s that I actually have a bad reaction to certain meats. In my wife case, she wanted to try out what she considered a healthier lifestyle, and she has been very happy with that choice. Both of us are in our mid 30s, in good to excellent health, and we are both generally very happy people. I also have several friends that practice meat free or low meat diets for non religious purposes. It is true that any diet, taken to the extremes, can be dangerous, but as long as a person is aware uggs sale of the issues involving their diet and they act accordingly, they should be just fine. By the way, if this article had been posted in religious news, I NEVER WOULD HAVE SEEN IT, which is why it is perfect right where it is.


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Keeping up with word fashion 19

MARK COLVIN: The vuvuzela after the World Cup you may have been hoping never to hear the word again, let alone the noise it makes.

But the brightly coloured plastic horns have achieved their own form of immortality, by being included in the latest edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English. But the 2010 edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English still manages to uggs sale cram 2,112 pages into a single volume.

And with a new edition coming out about every five years, the competition can be fierce to get a word recognised.

(Sound of vuvuzelas)

It seems the dictionary's editors were among the huge global audience taking in this year's soccer World Cup.

BRUCE MOORE: It's interesting how quickly a world catches vuvuzela has found it's way into the dictionary. Twenty years ago the rule would have been well you really had to wait five or so years and be sure that a word was hearing and being heard in many contexts before you put it into the dictionary.

SIMON SANTOW: Bruce Moore is something of a wordsmith himself.

As the director of the Australian National Dictionary uggs clearance Centre at the ANU in Canberra, he has a big say on what new Australian phrases and words make the grade.

BRUCE MOORE: These words that have spread around the world so quickly, that unless you put these words into your dictionary very quickly, and this has come in now within two or three months of the Cup, unless you do that your dictionary does sound macy's ugg boots on sale a little bit passe and not quite up with it.

SIMON SANTOW: He says social media has presented a challenge to dictionary editors keen to pick enduring words and reject the faddish ones.

BRUCE MOORE: It's now almost exactly two years ago and I can ugg uk recall sitting around at a meeting saying "what do you make of these new words people are talking about tweets and twitters and so on do you think this one's a stayer"?

SIMON SANTOW: Words such as microblogging ugg boots uk are in. So is the toxic debt crippling many of the world's economies.

Then there's the more obtuse.

What about the expression quantitative easing? You and I of course both know that it's the introduction of new money into the national supply by a central bank, but do you think it really has that je ne sais quoi that's going to catch on?

BRUCE MOORE: Well yes it's sort of the dull science or whatever it is (laughs). It's interesting if you look at the kinds of clusters of words that come into a new dictionary. If we'd been talking six or seven years ago, I can recall that everyone was talking about words being associated with terrorism and wars, which produced words such as asymmetrical warfare, embedded if you remember.

The last few years of course have shown some changes of emphasis and one would suppose was the ugg boots outlet global financial crisis GFC as many dictionaries will have the word; so that many terms are associated with accounting and areas of that kind have found their way into the dictionary because people are becoming more familiar with them.

SIMON SANTOW: What about the expression staycation? I mean some people might argue that it's just plain awful.

BRUCE MOORE: (laughs) Well it may be awful except if you can't afford your overseas holiday as many people were not able to do and this is a word that I think's been around now for four or five years and once again it was a product of the global financial crisis, this notion that you couldn't afford overseas holidays, so that you would in fact have your holiday within your own country.

Interesting from the point of view of a dictionary maker, what we find interesting about words of this kind is that they are in fact blends, so it's a blend of a stay and of a vacation and so we end up with staycation.

MARK COLVIN: Bruce Moore, the director of the Australian National Dictionary Centre at the ANU speaking to


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Where to begin with City of Bones... It has a wonderful plot, setting, and in addition it has great, developed characters. It has a very strong topic and made the characters seem realistic instead of just CHARACTERS. They seemed like real people. The plot is mainly about Clary, a young 16 year-old girl trying to save her mom from the evil demons ruled over by Valentine, an ex-Shadowhunter. This whole phenomenon starts at the Pandemonium Club when Clary sees something suspicious with her friend Simon. She follows the sources of the crime and they vanish into thin air. The next day something terrible happens to Clary's mother--she is kidnapped and gone without a trace, except for the fact that she put up a very good fight in attempt to escape. Shadowhunters Jace, Isabelle, and Alec visit Clary and tell her that she is also a Shadowhunter, a people who are direct descendants of the angel Raziel's blood. They live on an invisible island protected by one of their many runes, or symbols. They have Institutes worldwide and are ruled by a very strict Covenant written by the Clave. Of course at first Clary does not believe them but soon enough she runs into her first demon. It is then that Clary accepts her gift/curse and puts it to good use. Will they accomplish what they came for? What will happen next?

This first book was GREAT! There was NEVER a boring part in the book. I would highly recommend it to teenagers who are fans of the Percy Jackson series! Luckily for you there are four more books to read and book 6 comes out next year! This book is definitely worth reading. It leaves you entranced in the world of the Nephilim.

Great beginning to a new series

I think it's safe to say I've jumped on the bandwagon.

First of all, I'm definitely a Jace girl. I mean, I like Simon and I really want to give the poor guy a hug, but he just doesn't quite do it for me. Which is amusing since I almost always go for the cute, quit nerd guy. But Jace, man.
I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about him and Clary now, though. I'm still living in a bit of denial about it.

I can't remember the last time I got this into a book. I was laughing out loud, pausing to talk to myself about scenes (yes, I actually talk out loud to myself), and shaking the book like a cray person trying to get a better answer from a Magic 8-Ball. True story: I was nearly done with it when I got off work so I read while I was walking home and was talking to the book and generally freaking out a little. I'm pretty sure everyone I passed thought I was crazy.

And it's funny. Like, really, really funny. Normally if a book gets a few chuckles or a smirk from me I call it good, but this book had me laughing out loud more times than I can count. One of the best parts about the humor is that it doesn't all ride on one character, either. Almost all the characters get at least a few good lines.

I really enjoyed the character development too.
With both Isabelle and Alec were kind of bitchy and annoying in the beginning but slowly grew on my throughout. I especially have a soft spot for Alec, because the guy is so squishy and vulnerable under all the jerk exterior.
Clary was a bit dense, whiny, and helpless in the beginning but she definitely came into her own by the end. I really appreciate that she wasn't naturally this bad-ass demon killing machine immediately after discovering the world existed. Heck, she doesn't even pick up a weapon until about 2/3 of the way in. I like that it gives her plenty of room to grow and that you could already see a bit of growth in her by the end.
And Jace...well, I'm not actually sure that Jace grew much besides opening himself up just the tiniest bit more because of Clary. But that's okay, because he's Jace.
Simon is just so huggable. When the story starts you can tell he'll do anything for Clary and that she doesn't even realize it, let alone appreciate it. But when he yelled at her and had his awesome scene with the bow I cheered for him a bit. Because he's a really sweet guy and he shouldn't just let Clary walk all over him (however unintentional it may be on her part.)

The Nutshell: Basically, I loved it. Way more than I've loved any other book in a good long while. I don't have one bad thing to say. And also, Jace.

Direct Hit

The first book in the mortal instruments series takes on a new world full of mysterious creatures.This book is great for young adults and teenagers who are up for an exciting, thrilling, funny book. The book is about a girl named Clary who gets unexpectedly pushed into the world of shadowhunters. There she meets a boy named Jace who is like none other she has met. His funny jokes and his sarcastic comments will have you reading forever. Clary takes on the supernatural world where she encounters vampires, demons, werewolves, vampires, warlocks, and of course shadowhunters. There she realizes she is more involved with this new world than she knows. Determined to find out more, she seeks help from a bunch of shadowhuntes after her mum disappears. Torn apart Clary realizes love might be the greatest choice of all. To love is to destroy and to love is to be the one destroyed.This book had me hooked, reading till morning. Its perfect and i just cant wait for the upcoming movie to come out. The books are surely far better though. An excellent read. A breath taking experience.
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