I spent my life folded between the pages of books. In the absence of human relationships I formed bonds with paper characters. I lived love and loss through stories threaded in history; I experienced adolescence by association. My world is one interwoven web of words, stringing limb to limb, bone to sinew, thought and images all together. I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed through fiction.

Synopsis:

A fragile teenage girl is held captive. Locked in a cell by The Reestablishment, a harsh dictatorship in charge of a crunching world. But Juliette is no ordinary teenager – one touch from her can kill.

The Reestablishment wants to use her as a weapon. But Juliette has other plans. After a lifetime without freedom, she’s finally discovered the strength to fight back – and to find a future with the one person she thought she’d lost forever…

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Romance, Distopian

Pages: 329

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My Thoughts…

I picked this book up a little sceptical but being the mood for a lot of romance and I seeing many people mention Shatter Me I though why not? Why was I sceptical? Well, girl with a lethal touch, too afraid to touch people but then discovers her strength? Sound familiar? I was thinking OH GOD X-men has been ripped off here but nevertheless if so many people can adore this series it can’t actually be bad. And it wasn’t bad at all I actually really enjoyed it, as you read on it becomes incredibly addicting. After finishing I actually looked up whether Mafi intended to base Juliette off of Rogue but she never even knew who Rogue was! Pretty crazy.

Also this book is like a gold for an English teacher, I mean it is PACKED with metaphors and imagery. I LOVED it I mean the quote that I have used says it all really.

Anyway, diving into the book the first thing you spot is the strikethroughs, sentences or words that have been crossed out intentionally to visually represent Juliette’s chaotic mind. I really love this idea, I thought it was really unique and interesting although at times I did feel it was a tad disjointed and sometimes took me out of the story.

Onto our female protagonist. Juliette. I have such conflicted feelings about her. I was trying to understand and put myself in her shoes but I just couldn’t justify how much crying and whining she did. Actually, I probably could but one I don’t want to and two half of the book should not be dedicated to Juliette’s tears. It became tiresome after a while like I get you have had it rough but HOW DO YOU HAVE THAT MANY TEARS IN YOU. I swear at one point she said she didn’t have any tears left. LIES. Despite this I am enjoying her story and I’m not against her first-person narrative which is something I also experience turmoil over.

Reasons for my 4 stars instead of 5 stars include Juliette’s neverending crying and the relationship between her and Adam. I found it odd, it felt forced at points and almost like she loves him because she feels she has to. Adam himself I don’t really mind, he’s kind of too much like I love a healthy amount of jokes and banter in my ships and he really isn’t delivering. I am so hoping they aren’t endgame because there is a certain blonde who very much intrigues me.

Warner is the most interesting character for me so far. I’m not usually into blondes but he wears dickhead so very very well. I am betting my life on it that there is more to him and I can’t wait to find out. Any time his name was mentioned I was instantly eager to keep reading.

PRAISE FOR KENJI. He is what I needed. He adds so much enjoyment I can’t wait to see more of him in the series. Any situation he’s involved in he makes it so amusing, definitely the comic relief you need in a book packed with intensity and romance.

Overall, this book was so much fun to read and it definitely gets better with every page-turn. There is a lot of hype around this series and I’m super happy to continue on to determine whether I think the hype is well-deserved. So far it’s looking promising. It has to be a 4 stars because I picked it up completely in the mood for it and it did not disappoint!

Keep reading xoxo