Shatter Me: Shatter Me (#1)

I just read this book, like, half an hour ago, and I'm not kidding, I would read this over again, right now. Before you brush that off, the only time that I have ever wanted to do that before would probably have been after reading Divergent.Everything about this book screamed UNIQUE.

I will admit, at the start the writing style was a little confusing. All the crossed out words kind of confused me at the beginning, but I soon got used to it and really liked it.

Juliette, 17 years old, hasn't touched anyone for exactly 264 days. Last time she did, someone died. She is locked up, her world consisting of four walls, a window and her notebook, her only solace. The Reestablishment said that they would fix things. That they could make it all better. But the animals are dying, birds don't fly, everyone is starving and the sky is the wrong colour. Then the unexpected happens. She is given a cellmate. Then something even more unexpected happens. The Reestablishment has changed their minds about her. She needs to know who she can trust. She can become a weapon of war... or a warrior for rebellion.

This wasn't like your average dystopian novel. Most dystopians are about the protagonist trying to topple the evil people and save humanity and all that, and obviously, being a dystopian, there was some of that, but it was more about Juliette trying to protect people from herself, and her struggle to understand what/who she is.

I loved the characters. Juliette was a great protagonist, with just the right amount of fight and uncertainty in her. She thinks that she is weak, insane, a monster, but she soon shows that she is none of those things. She think she has a curse, and it was really great taking the journey with her as she realises she is perfectly sane, a good person, definitely not a monster, and she has a gift, not a curse.

Adam is the perfect guy. I admit that I don't like all those girl obsessing over their counterparts and basically thinking about nothing else, and I will also admit that sometimes Juliette was a little obsessive at some parts, but I didn't have to struggle through those parts. They were very well written. Adam is so brave and kind and handsome and all that, and he is the only one who doesn't see Juliette as a weapon or a monster, and the lengths he goes to for Juliette and his brother, James, show just how much he really cares about them.

Warner the evil guy, was very evil, that much is definitely certain. I was a bit confused about him, because he really WAS hateful, and he was written so well that i definitely disliked him very intensely, but at the same time you could see that, in his own, creepy, possessive way, he genuinely loved Juliette, even if it was an "I love you and will stalk you and try to keep you forever mwahahahaha" kind of way.

The moment I finished with this book, I quite literally wanted to flip back to the beginning and read it all over again! If I didn't have a stack of about 20 other books to read, I would have immediately! I will confess to going back through and re-reading the shower scenes (oh la la) and ALL the other swoon worthy scenes!

I loved this book, and the characters are amazing!

Juliette--the heroine who can kill people with her touch. I loved taking this journey with her as she is realizing that it's not a curse, but a gift. It's written like a diary, so there are thoughts marked out that really dig even deeper into her psyche. We see what she fears and her innermost desires. Some reviewers hated the way Mafi writes, but I absolutely adored it. The repetition and the metaphors captured me...if only there were more writers like her!

And then there are the boys....Adam (boy of my dreams) and Warner (bad boy of my dreams).

I'm not going to write much for fear of giving something away, but I have to say that Adam is just so....I can't even put it into words! I love him! He's sexy, chiseled, compassionate, obsessive, defensive, bold (oh so bold) and I love all of him!And I love the way Mafi describes his reactions to Juliette. I felt like I was right there with him! He definitely made me blush and increased my heartbeat ten fold!

Now Warner...the resident bad boy of this piece. He's a walking oxymoron--obsessive yet loving, angry yet kind....I just don't know what to think about him. He wants Juliette for her power, but does it stop there? Does he love her or is it just crazy power-obsessed psychosis??

I can't wait until Unravel Me comes out....eeek! February 2013 can't get here soon enough. Until then, I'll just have to keep re-reading and dreaming!

Stunningly beautiful metaphors used to describe Juliette's inner turmoil and surrounding landscape was not enough to save Shatter Me from a powerless heroine, a nonexistent plot and weak world-building.

I tried I tried I tried to relate to Juliette. Having grown up abused and unloved, then thrown into solitude for almost an entire year, I started reading Shatter Me knowing that Juliette was going to be an unstable character. I knew she was going to be meek and withdrawn and I had accepted that; I was prepared for that. What I wasn't prepared for was her unrelenting lack of character development. For the vast majority of the book, she spends her time crying/trembling/gasping/blushing, all while adamantly refusing to understand how anyone, but especially Adam, could care for her. This type of behaviour I could have forgiven, had she shown any growth. But it wasn't until the last few chapters that she went from being a weak, ridiculously melodramatic and frustratingly insecure protagonist into one with the glimmer of something resembling strength.

I also had a hard time justifying her words with her actions. To his face, Juliette was constantly calling Warner a "murderer" or a "monster" and when she was discussing Warner with Adam, he was called "psychotic" and "obsessed." She also often referenced how Warner was looking to own her, to make her his toy. But on the inside, she was admiring his physical appearance, often during inappropriate or life-threatening moments. There were several mentions of how beautiful his green eyes were, or how smooth and sensual his voice was. There's even a scene where she lets Warner kiss her, and is surprised that she feels a connection between them and that she likes how he tastes. I just couldn't understand how I was supposed to respect, let alone relate, to the type of heroine who would let herself be so easily manipulated by someone who had forced her to endanger the life of a young child, who had held her captive - controlling when/what she ate and what she was allowed to wear - and who threatened the life of the person she claimed to love.

My issues with Juliette aside, I was also disappointed with the world-building...or I should I say, lack of world-building. Being labelled a dystopian, I was eager to learn about the world Juliette inhabited and how it had reached that point. I was excited to see how Juliette and Adam rose up against the Reestablishment, to use Juliette's strange power against those, like Warner, who would see it used as a weapon. But Shatter Me is much more a paranormal romance with a dystopian setting than a pure dystopian, so my knowledge of the world was limited by how it affected her growing relationship with Adam. Sure, we were provided with the odd detail here and there, but I'm having a very hard time coming up with the entire picture. And the little details which were leaked were drowned amidst the overabundant use of metaphors and flowery prose, with the dystopia only making its presence known in order to make the romance interesting.

"I open my eyes and he's standing right in front of me. My heart is a field of lilies blooming under a pane of glass, pitter-pattering to life like a rush of raindrops."

It was during these more flowery prose moments that I most questioned the dystopian elements. It's mentioned several times how barren the landscape is, with every living thing having perished without adequate heat/nourishment from the sun. Juliette and Adam both comment with awe on how birds used to be able to fly. How would Juliette know what a field of lilies in full bloom looks like? I found there were a lot of instances where the metaphors either didn't make sense in the context of Shatter Me's particular dystopian setting, or just didn't make sense at all.

"Hate looks like everybody else until it smiles. Until it spins around and lies with lips and teeth carved into semblance of something too passive to punch."

It sounds very pretty and deep and poetic - but what the hell does it mean?

As for the plot itself, it was virtually nonexistent. Most of Shatter Me is spent watching Juliette question herself and her ability to love and be loved. There's also a lot of steamy shower scenes, where nothing but heavy breathing and lip hovering near ears seems to happen. Moments of danger and heightened suspense - fleeing from the compound with gunshots going off in the near distance, for example - were all made less immediate with inappropriate inclusions of tender moments; I'm on edge, urging the characters to keep moving and they're stopping to stare deeply into each other's eyes. I kept being pulled from moments which would have made the plot seem more action-packed and eventful by seemingly stupid moments of passion between Adam and Juliette.

Beautifully poetic with it's flowery prose, Shatter Me was a delight to read - in that I enjoyed the writing. But the content which made up the writing had a few too many flaws for me to completely immerse myself in the story. If you go into Shatter Me thinking it is a paranormal romance, you might get more enjoyment out of it then I did, expecting a dystopian.

This book blew me away.

Shatter Me has undertones of dystopian fiction, but it is really its own entity. How do I explain this? Imagine that your favorite paranormal, superhero, and dystopian books were put into a blender to make one single book. That right there? That would be this book.

Now I think it's important I start off with the writing style in Shatter Me because that seems to be the one thing that might keep people from falling in love with this gorgeous book. I'll admit, Tahereh Mafi's writing style is unlike anything I've read before. It's eerily prosaic, wonderfully descriptive, and oddly disconcerting, all at the same time. Replete with strikethroughs and repeated phrases, it feels sometimes like you might be going crazy yourself. I think it's important to remember that the reader is inside Juliette's head during the story. This is a girl who hasn't seen another person, hasn't touched another person, for what seems to her to be an endless amount of time. Being in Juliette's head can be off putting, or it can be beautiful. It all depends on how much you allow yourself to be immersed in the girl, and the world, that is built here.

Juliette's character is what really brings Shatter Me to life. Constantly fighting a battle between the madness that she thinks still might consume her, and the giving person Adam knows her to be. Juliette is equal parts strong willed and vulnerable. The knowledge that her power can harm others cripples her, and she constantly wavers between feeling like a monster and a normal girl. Juliette truly has a power that can be used for good or evil, and both opportunities are presented to her. It might sound cliche at first glance, but I assure you that the girl on the pages is anything but that. Juliette's wariness at trusting others, her need to help even if she isn't sure if she should, her constant questioning of herself even when she's fairly sure that she is right, is all the product of her past. Tahereh Mafi builds up a girl who is believable and unique wrapped into one package. Juliette isn't perfect, and I loved her for that.

Shatter Me is definitely dsytopian, and the world that is built around Juliette's story is amazing. Cities crumble to the ground in the wake of The Reestablishment. People cower in doorways as what is left of society is patrolled, and essentially owned, by the soldiers who are loyal to the movement. The explanation as to how this came about hit very close to home for me. To say that this world is possible, well that's an understatement. I won't spoil anything, but I will say that there is a distinct possibility we really could get to that point. It made me ponder that, and that made me fall even further under the spell of this book.

If you can't tell from my musings above, I fell madly in love with this story. Devouring 120 pages in half an hour let me know that I was in for the long haul. I admit that I know that it won't be for everyone. As I mentioned, the writing style is different and might put some people off. However I can honestly say that if you give it a chance, if you allow yourself to fall wholeheartedly into Juliette's world, you might just find a story that will immerse you like it did me. Shatter Me is a refreshingly unique read that I enjoyed thoroughly. If there is indeed a sequel coming, I can't wait!

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Tahereh Mafi is a gifted writer! I was hooked on this book from the very beginning. The world she created is not the pretty and perfect world. It literally sucks! Everything is falling apart and Juliette gets thrown into it. She has been in isolation for 264 days, don't know what is going on, on the outside world. People are starving, rivals are fighting for control. History is being erased so a new world can be built.
I really liked the characters in this book. I love how Tahereh brought Juliette to life using her words. Her writing made me feel for Juliette. I felt for her when she was taken away from her parents, and they didn't even try to help her. I cared for her when she spent 264 days in isolation with no one to talk to. I worried for her when she screams from her nightmares and wishes that she never has to sleep. I liked how she gave so much to others and never asked for anything in return. All she wanted was to be accepted and not seen as a monster. She is a fighter and never gave up when Warner tempted her with luxury. She's gifted and I hope we get to see more of it in the next book.
Adam, the love interest, just seems too good to be true! Why can't all guys be like him? =P At first I was kind of hesitant about him, until I later found out that they new each other since third grade, although they never talked to each other. Their relationship in the book is SO intense! There are quite a few parts in this book that were hot!! =) Adam is so loyal and determined that he was willing to sacrifice himself to help Juliette get out of the horrible institution. In walks Warner, the villain. He's an interesting character. I want to know more about him. You just can't help but like him even when he's mean. Yeah he's the bad ass in the story who wants nothing but control and power, but I just feel like there's a lot more to him. When Juliette joked about "Your poor mother" he was so alarmed and had this unguarded look on his face, it just makes you wonder about his relationship with his mother, was is a good one or bad one? Did he love her? What happened to her? I hope we get the chance to see his side of the story.
Overall, this book is a five star! I love where Tahereh is going with the story, everything opens up in the end makes you wondering what will happen next. I was so engrossed in this book that the next thing I know, I was reading the last page of the book. I couldn't believe I finished it within a few hours. That's how good it was. This book is a definitely must read! I look forward to reading the next book in this series. Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2) expected publication date is February 5th 2013.

You can usually count on mermaid books to be fun and fluffy and that's exactly what Fins Are Forever was. There were some semi-serious parts since Lily is growing and learning how to fit into the adult world, but overall this was a pretty light read. Not that that's a bad thing, in case you were wondering.

It was nice to see Lily growing up, but she really can be a bubble brain (see what I did there?) at times. She was incredibly rude to Dosinia for a good bit of the story. I'll give you that Doe can be quite nasty, but Lily was being mean before Doe even did anything wrong. Lily also tends to have a flare for the dramatics, but I found it to be endearing rather than annoying. I'm still a big Quince fan, but I didn't like him quite as much as in Forgive My Fins. I still liked him, of course, but he seemed much more like a background character here and I would liked to have seen him come around a bit more.

Overall, I enjoyed it, but it felt as if too much stuff was shoved into this one tiny book. With everything in there, some things just ended up being kind of swept under the rug by the end. Case in point: for the entire book Lily is stressing about college and SATs, but by the end of the book we had no idea as to the outcome. And everything that happened with Dosinia felt rushed but also like it came out of nowhere. These both contributed to the feeling that the end was a bit rushed and left me wanting more.

Final Thoughts: Fins Are Forever is a nice fluffy read complete with soft-hearted biker dude and super cool mermaids. If you're in for something light with just a little more fantasy than contemporary, this could definitely be the one you're looking for.

Long story short: this totally blew my mind. Even before I read it, the synopsis already had me wrapped around in its little finger. With all sorts of twists and turns, it made reading it an emotional roller-coaster ride with you at the edge of your seat. Juliette Farrars, a girl with a seriously creepy power that the government wants to harness and use for their own gain. Enter Adam Kent, a guy who just may be Juliette's downfall. I love the entire idea of Juliette having to not only fight off outside forces but also her own horrific self. Can't wait for the next book!

I can't read fast enough, I can't read fast enough, I can't read fast enough! My eyes are blurs raking across every word, every word, every word, burning into my brain... I keep going...

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON http://shelversanon.blogspot.com

SHATTER ME is a first-person narrative from Juliette, a seventeen-year-old girl from an Orwellian future, who is locked in solitary confinement to protect others from her lethal touch. Now really, if that fact alone doesn't grab you, I doubt anything in this review will convince you otherwise, but I'll try.

According to Juliette, her lethal touch (she causes excruciating pain and eventual death in whomever she touches) has been with her since she was an infant, causing a lifetime of alienation and isolation. She is treated either as a freak or a nonentity, both at home and at school, culminating in her solitary confinement after she accidentally touches and kills a stranger.

264 days later, she is given a roommate, a smokin' hot boy named Adam. Eventually, we learn that Adam is a face from her past, and it's no accident that he was placed in Juliette's cell. As the story unfolds, Mafi, through Juliette, tosses us other tantalizing details, such as descriptions of the Big Brother-esque ruling class called The Reestablishment, whose local leader, Warner, is responsible for arresting and confining Juliette.

Warner is also the one who releases Juliette (into his own custody, of course) and tries to persuade her to use her power for the good of The Reestablishment. In his own way, Warner is smokin' as well (isn't that always the way?), but he dreams of power and control, even as he seems to crave Juliette's company for her own sake and yearn for a way to show his new captive how thrilling power over others can be.

So now Juliette has to choose - Adam or Warner? Established power or rebellion? Her choice would be easier if she knew whom she could trust, including herself.

Juliette is a nutcase, and I love her for it, and I love Mafi for letting Juliette find her voice. The prose is distinctive with its stream-of-consciousness, rambling careful wording, babbling fears, and obsession with numbers. The book is her journal, her thoughts as things happen, and as quickly as the thoughts come tumbling out she goes back and carefully edits herself, allowing us a look at things her character would truly never say but would still think. These edits, as well as Juliette's fixation on numbers and counting, are her attempt to control herself and her world, or at least what little she can, as she never can control the power of her touch except through isolation. When a voice is true and consistent, I find myself thinking with that voice long after I've walked away from the book, and Juliette was in my head from start to finish.

Warner is probably the second-most fascinating character. He's the villain, the Hyde to Juliette's well-meaning Jekyll, but Mafi allows him moments of humanity that lend him a depth that Adam lacks. Optimist that I am, I would be thrilled if he found his own (at least partial) redemption by the end of the trilogy, but I will nevertheless be happy to follow him down his crooked path wherever it may lead.

Overall, Mafi receives solid marks for this story. The premise is interesting and the story is addicting, even if the ending falters into somewhat familiar territory. For those who enjoy the angsty, pathos-ridden, somewhat unrealistic romance found in Twilight, this book is for you. I am not one of them, but I will wait for the sequel with measured interest for the sake of Juliette, the fascinating little freak superhero.

***Points Added For: Unique voice, addicting storyline, flawed baddie, twitchy protagonist, wisecracking sidekick, a touching twist!

***Points Subtracted For: Unrealistic romance timeline, too-true lover, stereotypical malevolent parents, love triangle, poor cover art (That's supposed to be Juliette? Are you joking?).

***Good For Fans Of: Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, Firelight by Sophie Jordan, Divergent by Veronica Roth, lovers of angsty teen romance.

***Notes For Parents: The following book contains moderate amounts of violence, poor teen choices, and at least one makeout scene.