Where to begin with Harry? “Every child in our world will know his name.” I don’t think Professor McGonagall knew how true her words would be. I still have the same amount of excitement and love for this series now rereading them over and over till my copies fall apart as I did when I received this book as a gift, just with lots more memories and love. (If I could, I might put HP on every one of my lists.) This is, of course, the first book in the series.

I’ve always liked Greek mythology and was shocked to find out that I’d been missing out on this series long enough for them to make a movie of it. This is also the first book in the series, and I also recommend the other series by Rick Riordan because he doesn’t end Percy’s adventures here. There are also characters overlapping in all the series, which is why I recommend starting with this one although you won’t be lost at all if you start with another.

I first picked up the second book in this series and, after reading the back, looked for the first one and immediately checked it out. I obviously love fantasy, and this is a wonderfully vivid world to visit. It just keeps getting better the farther into the series you go. At some points, Sophie is just very confusing, and very confused. But, throughout the series, friendship is a very important element to the books. The sixth book just came out this November so you could binge read all of them!

This is a wonderful beginning to the series. Jack is a likeable character and has normal teen problems. Then, suddenly, he has mysteries to unravel and stories to learn. Who doesn’t love a good mystery especially when they add magic into the mix? There is also a light smattering of history mixed in but not too much. Wizard history is so much more interesting anyways. (Just not too much, because it’s still history.)

It’s hard to find a good book about the apocalypse, the four horsemen, and their horses. But here it is. You would think that the horsemen would be the bad guys being of the apocalypse and everything, but they’re the good guys with awesome horses who kick major butt. There is a sequel too!

Having your parents die in a massive tornado would be traumatizing, but seeing a girl in your dreams ever since might be cause for alarm. But what do you do when that girl appears in front of you and ruins your date? That’s right, fall madly in love with her. Because that’s what we’d all do, right? No? Well. This is awkward now. You should go read the series and see why Vane falls for a wind elemental. Did I forget to mention that part? See, now you’re reconsidering. Ha, I’ve got you now.

Sadly, there are only two books in this series unless you count the novella then it’s two and a half. Why is that sad? Because two (and a half) books just aren’t enough, that’s why! Luckily the universe is still shared with another of McBride’s creations, "Firebug and Pyromantic," so I can still get in my fix.

How could I have forgotten to add this to this list? What can I say, I have a lot of books motoring around in my head, some of them are bound to slip through the cracks. This just happened to be one of them. Clary finds out she's a shadowhunter, demons are real, the hot guy she's crushing on might be her brother, and oh yeah, her dad is totally evil. Super evil. Also, her best friend gets turned into a rat. Just another Tuesday in New York, right?