Tahereh Mafi Reveals New Covers For Shatter Me Trilogy!

 New Cover Of Shatter Me

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 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.

read my review of Shatter Me here

 New covers of Shatter Me's sequel, Unravel Me and novella, Destroy Me

Shatter Me - Tahereh Mafi

  Title: Shatter Me
Author: Tahereh Mafi

Publisher: HarperCollins

Genre: YA, Dystopia, Sci-Fi
Pages: 352
Rating: 5 Stars

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 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.

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I saw many mixed reviews on this book and after about a month of debating on whether or not to read it I decided I would finally give it a try. This book was unlike anything I have ever read. It was absolutely amazing. 

I am going to start off with the writing style. I can confidently say I have never in my life read a book that that is written like Shatter Me. It is so interesting and really makes it stand out above other YA novels. The way that some of the main character Juliette's thoughts were crossed out was so different and creative. Words would be crossed out when a) Juliette was really thinking a certain thing but I guess she just didn't want to admit it to herself so she then immediately says something contradicting the words she just crossed out? and b) what Juliette wants to say but never actually does. Confusing I know but it is very hard to explain. Just read it for yourself and you will know what I mean.

As for the characters, I could go on forever about how much I love these characters. Juliette is such a great main character. She is so vulnerable at times but yet so strong. Sometimes her actions may seem a bit...extreme...but, what you really must realize as a reader is that she is 17 years old and has never touched a human in almost a year and even before that she shied away from any physical contact because she knew what she could do. That is why a simple touch is like a fire exploding on Juliette's skin just because she craves the touch of a human but forces herself to act like she hates contact just so she doesn't hurt anyone else. That is one of the things I loved about Juliette. She really truly despised hurting people. She would almost rather die herself than ever watch the life leave someone's eyes because of her touch. She is the exact opposite of what most people want from her and no amount of convincing ever changes her mind. I have read so many books lately where the heroine just goes around killing bad guys without so much as a second glance. It was refreshing to finally read a book that the main character wasn't bent on violence.

Don't even get me started on Adam. I just wrote this whole paragraph on Adam but realized I indirectly would have spoiled a huge part of the book. So I am just gonna say this, Adam is your dream character. He has his mind set on one goal and he will go through anything for that one thing. Adam's devotion is unwavering and he has a great gift of being able to see the goodness in even the most damaged and tortured people.

Now onto Warner, I hate him with a passion but I think he makes a great villain in the book. I almost feel bad for him because he seems so lonely that he has to obsess over a girl that truly hates him for what he is doing to her. I don't know what made him so sadistic but it must have been very bad for him to turn out so terribly. But anyways, all of these characters are incredible and only contributed to making this story so amazing.

The plot of this story is at times both heartbreaking and action-packed. This story is full of so many twists and turns I could barely keep up. Throughout all of it I would know when something bad was going to happen but I just couldn't admit it to myself. All my heart wanted was for everything to just stop and everyone to be okay but being such a book-lover, I know I would have hated it if it didn't keep going and the characters didn't have to face the obstacles in their paths. 

There is one quote that stood out before I read this book that really made me finally get up and get this book.

  "In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting as The Hunger              Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men"

I read this and it immediately made me want to dive into Shatter Me. I am a huge fan of The Hunger Games but the thing that surprised me most was the comparison with X-Men. I love the X-Men movies and I had never seen a recent YA book that could even begin to be in the same category of X-Men so I thought I would give it a try. I spent this entire book searching for some sort of thing like X-Men and it didn't become clear to me until the huge plot-twist at the very end. I won't spoil anything but if you are a fan of X-Men, you will seriously love this book.

 

Insurgent - Veronica Roth

Title: Insurgent
Author: Veronica Roth

Publisher: HarperCollins

Genre: YA, Dystopia, Sci-Fi
Pages: 525
Rating: 5 Stars



  
One choice can transform you--or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves--and herself--while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable--and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.
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So I have read Divergent many times and I was absolutely in love. I didn't think it could get much better than that. But then, I finished Insurgent. After almost a year of anticipation, it was finally here. And yes it was worth the wait.

Insurgent is absolutely amazing. I could not put it down for one minute. And when I had to it was all I could think about. There was not a dull moment in this book. It kept me guessing what would happen next. The plot was just fantastic.

I had very mixed emotions about Tris throughout the entire book. But, at the end, I finally realized how everything she did was necessary, no matter how much I hated it at the time. I have to admit, I despised Tris at times because of some of the decisions she made. But, I really like how she held her own throughout the story. I was afraid that after Divergent, Tris would just cower behind Tobias and always do what he says and never leave his side. Even though at times I wished she would just stay with him, overall she really could survive on her own and she didn't need him there to protect her at all times. Tris is a really complex character and that is probably one of the things that makes this story so utterly amazing. It is very hard for an author to have me hating a character at one moment and loving her at the next but Veronica Roth definitely succeeded at doing that in this book.

I cannot describe my love for Four/Tobias. It only strengthened throughout Insurgent. Tobias shows his maturity in this book. He really loves Tris, which is obvious, but when he starts acting like a whole different person than the girl he fell in love with, he won't put up with it. Sometimes he can be a little hard-headed and set in what he believes but everyone has flaws and that only makes him more real to me. He doesn't always believe Tris on many of her beliefs. Because of this, there are many lies between them that severely damage their relationship. Neither of them are very honest with each other and that is one of the things that both bothered me and made me love the book even more.  At the time it had made me very angry. But, in the end, I am glad for their fighting because in a normal situation, maintaining a relationship within the conditions Tris and Tobias are in would be nearly impossible. Their fighting made the whole thing more realistic and believable.

As for all the deaths in this book, I cried many times. Right when I start to really like someone would turn up dead within a matter of pages. But, the deaths really show that during this war, nobody, not even my favorite characters were safe. I understand how this was necessary though. I hate those books when only really minor characters die. Some important people need to die in order for it to seem real.

There is one word that pretty much sums up this entire book and that is betrayal. Nobody is ever truthful with anyone. You never know really who to trust in this book. One moment you hate a character and the next you love them, and vice versa. Some of the characters I assumed were the most loyal, turned out to be the complete opposite. I was shocked by the betrayals in this story.

So anyways, this book is definitely on the top of my favorites list. I cannot even begin to describe my love for this book. I would recommend it obviously to those who have read Divergent and if you have not, read Divergent by Veronica Roth. You will not be disappointed!

Inside Out - Maria V. Snyder

Title: Inside Out
Author: Maria V. Snyder

Publisher: Harlequin Teen 

Genre: YA, Dystopia, Sci-Fi
Pages: 315
Rating: 4.5 Stars

 Keep Your Head Down.
Don't Get Noticed.
Or Else.

I'm Trella. I'm a scrub. A nobody. One of thousands who work the lower levels, keeping Inside clean for the Uppers. I've got one friend, do my job and try to avoid the Pop Cops. So what if I occasionally use the pipes to sneak around the Upper levels? The only neck at risk is my own…until I accidentally start a rebellion and become the go-to girl to lead a revolution.

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 This book really surprised me. I did not expect it to be as good as it turned out to be. I really enjoyed the story line and the mystery behind what the outside really is and where the Gateway is supposed to lead.

The characters in this book all really contributed a lot to make this a great story. The main character, Trella, is your classic teenage rebel. One of those girls who just doesn't enjoy following the rules. Her job as a scrub makes it easy for her to abandon her duties because nobody else really wants to venture into the pipes. But, as all people do, she gets curious of what is above her and begins to sneak into the Upper levels. Being a Lower, this is forbidden. The little spark of curiosity creates a whole blaze as she and Riley, another Upper she meets, try to uncover the secret of the mysterious Gateway.

I will not spoil anything but this book sure surprised me. I was not expecting a lot of the things that ended up happening. I was completely shocked at some of the things that were brought to light near the end. But, I honestly love when a book does that. It makes you assume something but never really states that your assumption is correct or not, and then at the end it just shocks you as you realize all you thought was wrong. That was one of the things I loved about this book.

I apologize for such a short review but it is hard to review without spoiling anything! Anyways though, this was a really great read and I definitely recommend it to any YA

 or dystopia fans!

Divergent - Veronica Roth

Title: Divergent

Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: HarperCollins
Genre: YA, Dystopia, Sci-Fi
Pages: 487
Rating: 5 Stars

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves… or it might destroy her.

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It took me awhile to finally start reading this book. At first the whole concept of it just bore me. It wasn't until after I read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins that I decided to give this dystopian tale a try. After finishing it in almost one sitting I can't believe I didn't start it sooner! This book was far from boring. It was absolutely amazing! It has definitely earned a spot on my favorites.

This book had me pulled in from the start. The main character, Tris, is so easy to relate to. Most people in her situation would probably feel the same way, confused about whether or not to leave their family, or choose where they really belong. The pressure put on each 16-year-old is way too much for some to handle. That immediately was one of the things that made me even more interested in this book.

As the story goes on, the plot really develops a lot. I loved how just within the small amount of time you really begin to see how corrupt each faction is, Dauntless especially. They view bravery as killing and fighting to see who comes out on top. This was a result of violence hungry leaders looking for a way to express power over the weak. Dauntless though was not the only faction like this. Every other faction had their own set of flaws and that is what made this book so interesting.

The characters in this book blew me away. Each of these characters has to deal with the consequences of many of their decisions. Some couldn't even handle the weight of what they had done. Overall though each and every character, even the ones that were working against the main character, fascinated me with the  depth of their personalities. 

Lastly, I loved the setting of this book. It is in the future focused just in the city of Chicago, with fences trapping them inside. It wasn't brought up a lot in this book but when you really think about it, there is an entire world outside that nobody even knows about. It was crazy how naive everyone was. It surprised me so much that nobody even questioned it, everyone was just fine with not knowing. That really showed how when people are trapped in one area for so long, they eventually forget there really is anything on the other side.

Overall, this book was absolutely incredible. For a debut novel, Veronica Roth really delivered. I loved every last thing about this book. I would recommend it to any fans of The Hunger Games, dystopia or sci-fi books, and YA fiction. Give this wonderful book a try! You will not be disappointed.