REVIEW: Shatter Me (Shatter Me, #1) by Tahereh Mafi

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“All I ever wanted was to reach out and touch another human being not just with my hands but with my heart.”

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Imagine not being able to touch anyone for exactly 264 days. Imagine being all alone and locked up in a cell for a crime that you didn’t want to commit. Imagine being hated for something that you could do unintentionally.

Juliette was locked away in a cell where she hasn’t had any human contact for the past 264 days. She was locked away because of a murder that she didn’t want to commit. She always wanted to be free but convinced herself she would be better inside where she couldn’t hurt anyone else. Then enters Adam, a boy from her past that she thought she’d never see again. The arrival of her cellmate was only the beginning of what was in store for Juliette and her great but terrifying gift.

Shatter Me is one of those books that you won’t be able to easily forget. It was intriguing, action-packed and seriously addicting.

The writing style was just what this type of books needs. It was very personal with the strikethroughs emphasizing the thoughts that Juliette was trying to hide. A novel like this needs a writing style that would not only dwell on what was happening to the character’s surrounding but also what was happening to her internally. The readers need to know the inner struggles that Juliette was having for us to understand why she acted the way she did. The writing style was mesmerizing. It would linger in your mind even after you closed the pages of this book. It was awkwardly perfect.

Juliette was a character I’d love to hate but doesn’t. She was whiny and I hate whiny heroines but I made an exception for her. Although she whines a lot, I liked her because she was strong willed and not easily swayed but Warner’s (I’ll talk about this handsome devil later) temptations. I also hate heroines who throw themselves towards the lead male protagonist but again I made an exception for her. Why? Because I could understand her longing for human contact. I understood her pain of not having someone. I must admit though that I was not thrilled with the whole “I-love-you-for-a-long-time” drama but it works so I guess I was a little fine with that.

Then there was Adam Kent. Do you seriously want to ask me about him? Yes? Adam is… AWESOME! I am seriously in love with Adam. I could understand why Juliette couldn’t keep her hands to herself because if that was me I think I’d have a problem controlling myself too. It was love at first sight with Adam. Gosh that shower scene and that scene in Adam’s house made my insides squirmy with excitement (how I wish it was me!). Not only was he this good-looking, strong, responsible, loyal guy but he was a good brother too. I loved the relationship he had with his brother James.

Let’s talk about the evil psycho Warner who I liked for a time. Call me crazy but I really did like Warner. He may be this delusional person who was trying to get Juliette for himself and use him for his evil schemes but there was this part of me that kept on convincing myself that there was a reason he was like that. I should have detested him for torturing Adam but still a portion of my heart feels for him. He is gorgeous and outrageously tempting by the way.

We also have Kenji who I think was hilarious. I loved his character. He was a good addition to the serious bunch. Adam was not really the joker type and he actually threatened Kenji a couple to times for hitting on Juliette but still he tried his moves on her which was really funny because Adam wasn’t joking. He really broke his nose.

I would also like to commend Ms. Mafi for the wonderful chemistry that Juliette and Adam had. Every movement of one seemed to compensate the other. Their passion for each other was intoxicating. Seriously! I couldn’t believe what I was reading when I was reading the shower scene. That scene was EPIC! It gave me tingles all over. I love how they fit perfectly together for me although it puzzles me how they could have loved each other apart when they don’t even talk to each other before. I mean it’s unrealistic but HELL I CARE! What matters to me is the present and the present was good. It maybe explained on the sequels as to why Adam was attracted to her in the first place. But seriously, if you are looking for some clean yet steamy scenes, this book has exactly that! I tried to keep myself from fainting the whole time during the shower scene. Take that Edward and Bella’s headboard breaking love scene! Juliette and Adam didn’t even do it yet but it was way hotter than that!

Another good thing about this book was that it caught me off guard. It’s very important for a book to be unpredictable. It keeps the readers at the edge of their seats waiting for what will happen next. Apart from a good story line the twists that a book has to offer is one big must for me for it to be a good book.

There had been a lot of comparisons of this book to Marvel’s X-men and I would have to agree at some point. The X-men were detested by people because they were afraid of them. Humans were afraid of the mutants because they don’t understand what they could do. They were different and that makes the mutants a threat to them. Just like The Reestablishment were afraid of people like Juliette. Ooops. Was that a spoiler? :p

I just so love this book! I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Unravel me. Gosh the title is just as seducing as the first.

I give it a 4.5/5 stars.

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