The 39 Clues/Tear Jerker

The first series: The 39 Clues

 * Amy and Natalie's brief conversation about mothers in book 9, Storm Warning. Given that Amy's mom has been dead for seven years and Natalie's mom is, this makes for a scene that tugs at the heartstrings...especially when you see how loyal Natalie is to her mother, despite (or because of) the abuse. And how caring and big-sisterly Amy behaves towards Natalie for a moment....

The second series: Cahills vs. Vespers
Warning: Potentially unmarked spoilers for The 39 Clues.


 * In the third book, when Ian thinks to himself "For that to be the price of a family's happiness? Unimaginable. In fact, he couldn't imagine a happy family at all." Made even worse by the conversation he's just had with his mother, who told him that she doesn't want anything to him or his sister, who's been kidnapped, and rubbed in his face the fact that most of the people at the Cahill Command Center barely put up with him.