Shatter Me

What mood I'm in today: Writing
What I'm listening to right now: What Makes You Beautiful, One Direction (Yes, I'm a geek)

So I've been waiting to read Shatter Me for a while now, after hearing fantastic things about it. And I'm hear to tell you, they're all true.

First I'll get this out of the way: I'm not a big fan of lots of swearing (a few too many for me in this book) and it's a little violent in places, but the reason Tahereh Mafi gets away with this is the story is great!

From the get go, you have a mystery to figure out. Who is this girl in prison that can't touch people? And why can't she touch people? Well, it's because she can kill them. With her skin.

Juliette gets a roommate, someone she knows, who doesn't remember her. She is taken out of prison and sent to a place slightly worse: a big gray building owned by the Reestablishment and conducted by a nineteen-year-old psycho named Warner. (So many questions already, right? Who is the Reestablishment? Is this futuristic? Not telling.)

And Warner is seriously scary.

He wants Juliette in every way imaginable, but he wants her to torture people at his side. Not only this, but he resents having to force her to do it. He wants her to want to do it. He knows exactly what to say to get her mad and do what he wants her to do. He's cruel from the inside out, and he still has this weird thing about his mom that we have yet to discover.

Adam, gorgeous and protective lovely Adam, was the soldier assigned to her cell. He loves her, has since third grade, but she doesn't know this. He's super protective of her, tells her about the cameras in her room, and finally figures out he can touch her.

Adam can touch her, and it doesn't hurt him. How perfect is that?

Without giving away much more, I'll tell you what I love about this book. It was a challenge to read because of the writing style, (words crossed out, extremely poetic) but I loved it for this reason. It opened my brain up, and I could picture everything almost perfectly. I like the love story - it's a bit over-the-top for me, but a great story nonetheless. The end was fantastic and gives you a feeling of hope, even though it's not the end of the story. The book also keeps you interested. Great dialogue, not giving away too much at the beginning, and constant movement.

Can't wait for Unravel Me, out February 2013.

Until next time, Happy Reading!

Supernaturally Complicated

What I’m listening to right now: I’m Glad You Came, The Wanted
What mood I’m in today: Writing

Okay, so when I first started reading this book – months ago – I couldn’t get into it for some reason. Maybe it was just the place I was in at the time. Mentally. But I picked it up again a few days ago, and oh my bleep! It was awesomeness that I couldn’t put down. By the way, I was in the store the other day and when confronted with a problem actually said, “Oh bleep!” out loud. I’m pretty sure I got some weird looks for that. Not to mention when I said that the pants with the bling on them were “Uber-sparkly.” (yes, overly sparkly so much so that it was a little disturbing)

Supernaturally starts out with Evie at school, trying to play a game of soccer, which she’s terrible at. She describes her new “normal” life briefly, before being Raquel unexplainably checks her out of school and she is snatched by a sylph and dragged up into the clouds. Unable to fight him any other way, she steals some of his soul and starts to half-fall, half-float to the ground.

So the whole point of the story is how she starts working with IPCA again because she wants just a hint of her other life back, how she lies to Lend, a new boy from IPCA named Jack that’s mischievous with a wicked grin to match, and what she finds out about her past. WARNING – SPOILER ALERT! She actually has a father, a drunk faerie who Reth introduces her too, and a mother who she knows nothing about, except that she was probably human and probably dead.

I absolutely loved this book, and I think it was because I could relate so completely to Evie right now. She struggles with feeling a part of nothing, the fact that she belongs to no race whatsoever; not quite human, not quite faerie, and nowhere in between. Figuring out exactly what you’re supposed to be or who you are is a grueling, sometimes earth-shattering experience. I so know how that feels. And sometimes you round another corner and “Oh bleep!” It starts all over again. Four stars, definitely, better than Paranormalcy even, and a fun but empathetic reading experience.

I love Kiertsen White, and I love how she uses “bleep” to get away with no vulgarity in her books. Love it! And it’s also a happy little reminder of Lish. Oh Lish, we miss you. Anyway, I’m also super excited because the third book in the series, Endlessly, comes out July 24. May I direct you to her blog? http://kierstenwrites.blogspot.com/. Yep, so excited.

Until next time, Happy Reading!