Review: Shatter Me

Title:  Shatter Me
Series:  Shatter Me #1
Author:  Tahereh Mafi
Publisher:  Harper Collins
Pages:  338
Format:  eBook

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.  

My Review:  I was really excited to read this book!  I was immediately pulled in by the lovely cover and the blurb on the back.  From the summary, I had been expecting an angry girl who had been trapped for something she hadn't done.  What I found was definitely not that.

Juliette, when we first meet her, is a broken girl.  She's alone and hasn't felt loved at all throughout her entire life.  I thought the way she acted was very believable.  She wasn't open, she didn't trust anyone, and it took a long time for others to learn anything about her.  Even so, I found her to be a very likable character.  All she wanted was acceptance from the people around her.  It was also awesome to see how Juliette progressed as a  character.  She went from someone who was timid and scared to someone who could stand up for herself in a fight and was beginning to love herself.  Adam was Juliette's love interest and I felt like he was a great character, too.  He had a wonderfully woven backstory and was a layer character whom I could sympathize with a love.  I thought he and Juliette made a great pair (NOT Juliette and Warner.  You guys, Warner wanted to see her kill a baby.  This is not okay.  I don't understand the "Team Warner" stuff going on).

The plot line was incredible.  Only the beginning was a little slow but it was used for giving us information about the world so I didn't mind too much.  After that, it was action and adventure and romance everywhere and I just ate it all up.  I loved all of the things happening in this book.  Tahereh did a fantastic job of keeping the pace quick without making anything seem rushed or forced.

And, oh my gosh, the writing style.  It was like nothing I'd ever read and I'm completely serious when I say that.  It was almost lyrical, like reading on super long poem without the rhyming or odd pauses.  It all flowed so well and I found it so interesting when there were those crossed out lines.  I would be reading and come across a line that was crossed out like this.  I just thought that was too cool.

With great characters, a complex and fast paced plot, and a unique writing style, Shatter Me is a must read for everyone!  Really, go out and buy this book.  I don't think you'll regret it!

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