Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments Series

So this series has been my guilty pleasure. I know I shouldn't like it this so much, so full of teenage angst and drama that it reminds me of being in high school all over again (and goodness knows I have no need to relive that period in my life). I know it sounded ridiculous when I was trying to describe to my mother last night. But anyways, I really liked it. I guess it's the battle of good and evil and all the grey areas in between. I find it interesting how the villian Valentine sought to purge the Nephilim from its taint of the demon, even though as the Angel Raziel says in the end of The City of Glass "Even the half-demons have souls, unlike demons, and in that sense are human." It's all in interpretation. And yes, there was whiny teenage romance, but there was also brilliant use of language and teenagers who despite their age seemed to have learned lessons that would normally take them a lifetime to know and understand in a very short period of time. Plus her characters are so interesting. For example, Magnus Bane, a 800+ yr old warlock half-demon who is looks like a 6 ft tall Goth boy, who has a witty turn of phrase and is surprisingly gentle despite his sometimes prickly attitude. Or Clary and Jace, who have been in romantic angst the entire trilogy as they believed each other to be siblings and therefore their love is forbidden but yet you just can't help but want them to be able to be together (especially Jace as he seems not to have very much good or love in his life). Not to mention how she describes kisses in the book, and man I wish I was getting kissed like that every day. Plus it just has great funny quotes like:

"That's why when major badasses greet each other in movies, they don't say anything, they just nod. The nod means, 'I' am a badass, and I recognize that you, too, are a badass,' but they don't say anything because they're Wolverine and Magneto and it would mess up their vibe to explain" (Simon)

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, and then throw it in the face of the person who gave you the lemons until they give you the oranges you originally asked for" (Jace)

"There is no pretending," Jace said with absolute clarity. "I love you, and I will love you until I die, and if there is life after that, I'll love you then."

"Don't order any of the faerie food," said Jace, looking at her over the top of his menu. "It tends to make humans a little crazy. One minute you're munching a faerie plum, the next minute you're running naked down Madison Avenue with antlers on your head. Not," he added hastily, "that this has ever happened to me."