Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Title: Shatter Me 

Author: Tahereh Mafi 

Pages: 338 pages

Published: November 15th, 2011

Genre: YA Dystopian 

Source: Paperback from Barnes & Noble 

Rating: Solid

I have a curse

I have a gift

I am a monster

I'm more than human

My touch is lethal 

My touch is power 

I am their weapon

I will fight back 

Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days. 

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 and stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now. 

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

Buy it now!

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OH MA DAMN! 

It has taken me 2 years to finally be interested enough to pick up this series. This summer I was honestly in the mood for just a fast-paced dystopian series, other than the Hunger Games, which I still haven't finished. I needed a gutty romance that would pull me apart and then piece me back together. My good friend Isabelle, who I met at Bookcon, mentioned that she wanted to read this book and figured it was time to read it to. I couldn't be happier with the results of reading this. Shatter Me makes my list of top dystopian books ever! 

Juliette has been in an asylum for 264 days with no one to talk to and only eating the food she's been given. One day a guy is thrown in the cell with her and she thinks he's there with her to torture her. Adam Kent, the mysterious young man that is thrown in the cell with her, is put in her cell to extract information from her. Unlike Warner's uses for Adam, he is here on his own terms and for his own reasons- to reconnect with the girl he's known since they were young. Together they both escape Warner's grasp to use her as a weapon. But the story doesn't just end there...

I was drawn to this book mainly because it was about a girl with a lethal touch. I loved the idea of an innocent girl with such a poisonous power. It's almost contradictory! THE STORY WAS AMAZING, AWESOME, ORIGINAL! I especially thought it was written to be a fast-paced novel and was easy to read.

I'd heard rumors of the poetic writing of Tahereh Mafi before from other bloggers and reviewers. Her writing is fluent and easily flows off the tip of my tongue, like reading poetry.

"Killing time isn't as difficult as it sounds.

I can shoot a hundred numbers through the chest and watch them bleed decimal points in the palm of my hand. I can rip the numbers off a clock and watch the hour hand tick tick tick its final tock just before I fall asleep. I can suffocated seconds just by holding my breath. I've been murdering minutes for hours and no one seems to mind."

- Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me 

The imagery and the pictures she paints are so beautiful. I'm so tempted to read the next few books right away just to get another taste of her writing style and poetic language. The story seems to fall away from the idea of Juliette's touch. I went into this series thinking that the book would revolve around the destruction of herself and her ability, keeping herself up from becoming evil with her powers, or even struggling with using her powers for good. I could 70% call this book a romance contemporary because it was all about the romance! Why call yourself a dystopian book if you're going to stray away from all the dystopian-y elements? 

Juliette, the main character, was always the person I was rooting for, from beginning to end. Adam and Juliette make the perfect OTP as they've known each other since they were little and finally reunited a few years later. Adam Kent, what a dashing young man! He's my current book boyfriend right now. And I do feel like I keep saying that but it's inevitable that a new book boyfriend would come as I invest in a new series. 

Warner, I hated....... AT FIRST. You'll see what I mean. In the beginning of Shatter Me he was a total (excuse my Hebrew) asshole. He wanted to selfishly use Juliette for her powers and then gets all touchy and feel-y with her at times. When I was reading, I often forget that he's like the same age as Juliette. Warner thought he was so powerful and he isn't even the leader of the Reestablishment. It's like, "who do you think you are trying to control Juliette??? HUH??? GTFO!" 

THEN... After reading Destroy Me, the novella told from Warner's point of view, I began to fall in love with him. Warner is fragile and his only intent on using Juliette as a weapon, was to put on a facade for his father so that she could get closer to her. He loves her and I think his true intent and passion can only be seen from this novella. I believe it's imperative to read this novella after reading Shatter Me if you really want your view on Warner to change. Warner is a tortured soul but he's beautiful in every way. I love him so much!! 

Read Destroy Me for a look into Warner's POV

THIS IS A MUST-READ to garnish the series! 

A love triangle... DUN DUN DUN. I hate love triangles. I do. I really do. But I didn't particularly hate this one. Two guys, Adam and Warner, roughly the same age but with different intentions all together. Adam and Juliette went to the same school together when they were little and Adam, being so fascinated with her kindness and beauty, he fell in love with her. Warner was intrigued by her ever since she arrived at the asylum and to get close to her, The love triangle didn't particularly annoy me only because I think I had grown to love the two men who were involved. 

Found on deviant art: LINK

I'm excited to see how this series goes for Adam, Kent, Warner, and Kenji. I'm diving right into Unravel Me because I need to know who Juliette ends up with and what happens to Warner!! SOOO DAMNN EXCITEDDD FORR THE NEXT BOOKS IN THE SERIES! 

Have you read the Shatter Me series? SOMEONE FANGIRL WITH ME! PLS PLS