Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Genre: Young Adult Dystopian
Source: ARC from Publisher
Series: Yes, First In Series, Following Titles TBD
Buy It: The Book Depository
Challenge: No

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color. 

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war-- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now. 

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior. 

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting asThe Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices,Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel.

     Shatter Me shattered me.  Corny, I know but, I'm totally serious.  I would say that I'm speechless but, I'd be lying because if I was vlogging , I'd just be screaming "YOU NEED TO READ THIS!"  I will try to contain myself during this review no matter how much I loved it.  Clearly, you already know which direction this review is going but, if you'd like, proceed reading :).    
     Tahereh Mafi is a fantastic writer.  Honestly, there isn't one single word to describe Shatter Me.  Her words just exploded off the page and totally shocked me.  I actually started this book about two months ago.  I kept setting it down even though I was loving it.  I did this for many reasons.  I had other books with reviews that had to be posted soon, or books that I had to finish for school, or sometimes I just needed to process how amazing the book really was.  Anyway, Shatter Me is written from Juliette's point of view, with nothing held back.  The reader knows everything about Juliette and how she was feeling, including that she didn't want to admit some of her feelings.  This was shown through strikethroughs.  At first, there were very many of these stricken thoughts and I had my doubts.  I thought that they'd be very annoying but, surprisingly I really enjoyed them.  They showed exactly how Juliette was feeling at each moment and as the book progressed, the amount of stricken thoughts decreased.  This gives the reader even more insight into Juliette's character and showed how she slowly became more comfortable in her own skin.
     I fell in love with every character (excluding Warner, of course).  I don't even know how to describe it.  (I'm totally "fangirling" over this book right now.)  Juliette was such a complex character and I loved every minute of it.  She was a puzzle meant to be deciphered by the reader.  Everything about her was never set in stone.  She always doubted herself.  She was broken and I just loved how realistic her character was.  Adam was spectacular.  I just absolutely loved him.  He was so perfect but, imperfect at the same time.  Let me explain.  He was perfect in the sense that he was an amazing love interest and super sweet and attractive.  He was imperfect in a good way.  He wasn't a goody two shoes; he made mistakes like a real person would.  I really love when characters are flawed because it makes them jump off the page. Simply put, Adam Captured my heart and didn't let go.  James was totally adorable and I had a love-hate relationship with Kenji.  The romance between Juliette and Adam is indescribable.  It was flawless and flawed, fairytale and realistic, dangerous and cautious, right and wrong.  I absolutely loved it.
     Tahereh Mafi writes with an interesting and unexpected style (you have to read the book to know what I mean.)   There was never a dull moment in Shatter Me. The book was formatted perfectly with excitement then calm and excitement throughout the entire book. I was never bored. I had very mixed feelings about actually finishing the book; I was sad that it was over but, happy that I could finally write my review and share such an astounding book with all of you!  Honestly, the only bad thing about Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, is that I cannot imagine how she will top it when the next book releases but, who knows?  I didn't think a book this great was even possible.
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