Shatter Me: Shatter Me (#1)

Tahereh Mafi's debut novel is spectacular. It is by far the most unique writing style in a dystopian book that I've read so far.
I loved the writing style and quirkiness of this book. Juliette's stream of consciousness narration is so much like how I experience life, how I write and think and sometimes talk. I could really relate to her, her little bit of craziness got inside my head, and I loved it.
I would highly recommend Shatter Me to fans of dystopian fiction, The Hunger Games, Divergent, or those looking for a unique romance.

Everyone has been singing praises for Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi for months now, but I shied away because I find that dystopians generally fall flat for me. This was not the case at all with Shatter Me, as it was one heck of a read that I didn't want to put down!

Tahereh Mafi throws readers straight into her world. She doesn't bother with the tedious world building that I feel like so many dystopians do, which I absolutely loved. The set up with The Reestablishment was just brilliant. Shatter Me is a super fast paced read and has a story that is just intoxicating. My one complaint would be that the sentence structure in the first chunk of the book was very distracting. There was a lot of short, choppy sentences that I felt took away from the plot.

Sparks just fly off the page with the chemistry between Juliette and Adam. I loved the two of them, and cannot wait to see more of them in Unravel Me. Juliette was a fabulous main character - I loved the strength she had. Adam was such a sensitive, sweet, all around awesome kind of guy. Warner was such an interesting villain - I wanted to hate him, but I couldn't completely. He was such an expertly written character.

Tahereh Mafi builds the story until the very last moment. Shatter Me ends on a high note of intrigue and a bit of mystery. The last chapters unravel a lot of questions that I cannot wait to hear the answers to.

Shatter Me is one awesome debut! There was a wicked awesome plot, a great main character, and one hot love interest. Put that all together and you have a book that you will be sad to miss.

"Shatter Me" will draw you in with it's poetic prose, hold you in it's grasp with it's heart racing romance and keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page. A must read!

17 year old Juliette hasn't been touched in 264 days. The last time she touched another human being, it had deadly consequences. Since then, she's been locked away; her world consisting only of the four concrete walls that separate her from the outside world. The world where The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things but the animals have all disappeared, the seasons are mixed up and the sky is the wrong color. She dreams of fresh air, birds that fly, of feeling the touch of another human being, of having a choice.

What Juliette doesn't know is her world is about to change. The Reestablishment has changed their minds about her and she'll have to decide who to believe, who to trust. She'll have a choice. She'll have to decide whether to be a weapon of war or a warrior for a cause. What will she choose and will her heart betray her in the process?

I was trying to explain to someone just how good this book was and they asked me, "Is it like "Divergent" good or "Hunger Games" good?" I think they asked me this because they knew "Divergent" was my favorite book of 2011 with "The Hunger Games" coming in on my top ten favorites. I said, "This is a combination of both books with the best of the "X-Men" thrown in." It is made of pure AWESOMESAUCE!

Beautiful cover too!

SPOILERS: DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK

Juliette is stronger than she realizes. To be locked away for three years and not go insane is a feat in and of itself. She is "good" like Adam keeps telling her because she's given many opportunities to take revenge (and rightly so) but she doesn't. She's selfless, and her concern for others is a great quality to have, especially if she wants to be a warrior instead of a weapon but I think this will get her into trouble in the sequels where Warner is concerned. I think he will find a way to manipulate her feelings and this will not only affect her relationship with Adam but the war between the Reestablishment and Omega Point too.

I absolutely adored Adam! He's beautiful, selfless, brave and the lengths he's gone too for both Juliette and James are heartbreaking in their tenderness. He's the only person whose ever seen Juliette for who she really is, not as a monster but as "good". How can you not love him?! He's willing to do anything to keep her safe and the chemistry the two have is palpable to say the least! *fans face* I know there's more to his story and I can't wait to find out what the real connection is to the bird tattoo and Juliette's dreams.

I want so badly to dislike Warner but I can't. Even though he too is gorgeous, there's just something about him that screams, "wounded little boy inside with Daddy issues" that makes me not hate him. (I kinda want to hug him and feed him milk and cookies or something) I certainly don't like him right now and I don't want him to end up with Juliette but I think there's hope for him still. Maybe. Hopefully. Even Darth Vader had redeeming qualities, right? Granted, it was when he was dying, but he did! :)

The only "negative" thing I can say about this book is that it's part of a trilogy and I have to WAIT for the next installment. I don't like to be patient when I'm fully invested in a great storyline. ;)