Breathtaking. I simply adore this book and everything about it. The stand out aspect of this book is Tahereh writing as every scene is perfect and the writing kept me very engaged. Juliette's character really grew into a great heroine and I can't wait to read the next book.
I would highly recommend it.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
The book follows Juliette, a 17 year old girl with the ability to kill with just a touch. Locked up as a young girl, she spent time in solitary confinement until one day she meets Adam. After a couple of days she is taken before Warner and asked to become a weapon.
When I saw this book I was immediately interested by the cover, the art is absolutely stunning. I knew I had to read this book just for the cover alone.
The book itself left a lot to be desired. The writing style was disjointed and confusing, way too many metaphors and similes to keep track of what was going on with the actual story because you were too busy trying to figure out what you had just read. Don’t get me wrong, some of the imagery was beautiful, I love metaphors, but this was more than one too many.
The characters were meh, Warner just didn’t have enough to him for me to hate him the way I know I was supposed to. Adam could have been a good love interest, cheesy lines and stupid plans aside, I could see the potential in him for sure.
Juliette, the first thing I thought of when I understood her power was Rogue from X-Men if I’m completely honest, so much so I started picturing Anna Paquin as her, white hair and all.
She just complained too much for me, she seemed too “woe is me” at the beginning, she started to get a bit better towards the end, I’m going to go ahead and read the second one and hope for the best.

My Rating

X-Men Vibes, A Spectacular Plot, Incredibly Immersive & Addictive Page Turner.

My Thoughts

When I started reading Shatter Me I unwittingly thought it was a standalone! I didn’t want to start a new series but it seems I’ve got myself into a whole sticky uncontrollable mess, because this book is a gem!

Now at the start of the book the author explains that the crazy writing to begin with is Juliette’s mind going a bit haywire and NOT grammatical mistakes. I thought this was really interesting and quite clever. It gave me an insight into how Juliette was coping inside herself and opened up her emotional state which I really appreciated. I really got a feel for Juliette’s character this way and had a grasp on her story.

One of the things that drew me to the book was the phrase ‘a touch from her can kill’. Plots like this always intrigue me and instantly pull me into the story. I needed to find out why, why is one touch all it takes, how is it possible, WHAT IS THIS SORCERY?! The book doesn’t give you the answer right away and I just loved the mystery! I was so incredibly immersed in the story that I read 75% in just a few short hours. The time flew by and I was really sad to head off to bed! This is a real page turner.

I have to say I wasn’t too keen on the romance in this one. I am a full on lover of romance and really wanted to like it and fall in love myself, but this one was very instantaneous and a bit confusing to be honest. I felt betrayed by the guys initial actions and didn’t really know if I could trust him and why Juliette did? My feelings are very upended about him and I’m still unsure now. I know people like a bit of mystery but not for me, I’m a ‘I know you’re the good guy lover boy’ kinda gal.

There’s one thing I’m sure of and that is that Warner is a complete A-hole. I didn’t like him, didn’t like his weird agenda or his creepy affections for Juliette. Now it may be that there’s a twist with him, I don’t know, but either way he’s already been a creep so I don’t really care if he turns it around or not, I have no love for him. He’s a perfect baddy though.

A lovable character of mine was Kenji. He’s your typical lad on the surface, all banter and boisterous, but I think there’s something deeper there and I’d like it to be explored in the sequels.

I really enjoyed how the plot played out and ended up with a lot of my questions partially answered by the finale, which in my opinion was a spectacular cliffhanger and has me wanting more. I got definite X-Men vibes from this book and I absolutely loved it!

*I’d like to thank Netgalley and Egmont Publishing for sending the book my way in return for an honest review*
I’m aware that the Shatter Me series is a few years old now, but there have never been UK editions. The global publication date for the final book Restore Me will be 6th March 2018 and Egmont will publish UK editions of Restore Me and the rest of the Shatter Me series simultaneously here in the UK. I really look forward to these editions and adding them to my already over stuffed shelves.

Sarah xo

I loved this book! When I first picked it up I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know how much I'd like it and I was just left craving for more.

I love the writing! I've never really encountered anything like it before and I just loved it. I liked how there would be some crossed out phrases or sentences and switched with others, it kind of made it easier to connect to Juliette.

I usually don't like it when books are written in present tense because the characters usually sound very distanced and hard to connect to but for this one, it just works great especially paired with the crossed out lines. It's awesome.

I loved the story. In the beginning, the mysterious setting (at least I thought it was mysterious) just got me into the right move for this novel and then I read it in one go. I loved it. Even though the idea may not be one of the most original ones, I liked how it was executed and presented.

I loved Juliette. She's been through a lot but somehow she has managed to keep her sanity and she doesn't fall for Warner's sweet talk.

I may like Juliette, she is very rebellious but I really didn't like Adam, especially not in the beginning. His actions at first just set me off, he behaved like every other selfish person in the world, like a total bastard (leaving her to sleep on the floor and things like that), I just didn't like it.

However, I did like the action parts, I love it when the characters have to escape from somewhere and then look for a sanctuary. I really enjoyed the further events in Shatter Me, especially when Juliette got to use her curse powers to kick some ass.

I'm very satisfied with the book overall. I loved the ending and I was so excited to learn that the author is going to publish another book in the series!

"Sometimes I think the loneliness inside of me is going to explode through my skin".

I really wanted to like this book; I gave it my best shot. But it was just too weird, repetitive and disjointed for me. And I totally get that that's kind of the point, that Juliette is erratic, slightly obsessive and that these are the inner scribbling of her mind (which is all brilliantly clever) but I just found it all too messy. I love the idea, I think it's a stroke of genius to capture the mind and inner thoughts so honestly, but it wasn't for me.

Juliette is a prisoner, locked in a cell with no way to the outside. Then she meets Adam, her new cellmate, and her imprisonment changes shape a little bit. This is a dystopian world, like so many others of this nature, but it's presented rather differently. Imagine this novel as less of a novel and more of a diary, complete with crossed out words and sentences which sometimes don't quite flow or finish nicely. I actually really like this idea, and I think it represents Juliette and her story, particularly her mindset, exceptionally well. As the story progresses, and the romance inevitably develops, Juliette becomes more composed, which is reflected again in the writing style, and the plot becomes a bit easier to get sucked in to with less repetition, crossed out words and angst than before - another clever touch.

It's hard to connect with Juliette because she largely speaks in metaphors ("This shaky pen is my oesophagus") Does she mean trachea? I just don't know. I spent so long trying to work out the meaning of these I lost track of the entire story all together at times. Many of her sentences are repetitive ("He's too close too close too close") and whilst this definitely establishes how awful Juliette feels, the lack of punctuation (and the fact it happens quite often) make it super disjointed. Equally, because Juliette is so conflicted, she will often contradict herself, hence the crossing out of various things.

Probably because I can quite relate to the erratic nature of Juliette's thoughts, there's a degree of clashing thoughts creating a mess all up in my brain! Who knows.

What I do know though is that Mafi definitely hit me with the feels; I thought she captured loneliness exceptionally well and I wish more of the book had focused on Juliette's imprisonment before Adam arrived to really let that human element shine, rather than be swallowed up by all the romance and kissing.

ARC provided free from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book in one sitting!

It is a fairly easy read, with a fairly different writing style than i'm used to but i have to admit i enjoyed it.
I am interested to see where the story will go with the juliette/adam/warner love triangle that is sure to appear.
I have pre-ordered the next few books in the series and am interested to see what twists and turns the author has in plan.

This book takes us on a twisting journey of the main character Juliette, whose life up until now has been less than perfect. She is in an asylum for 264 day for touching someone by accident! They leave her to rot because they don't know what to do with her, while the outside world is changing rapidly. With The Reestablishment in charge. Then one day her life changes when the Reestablishment want to use her to help them in their cause,

I found this book repetitive and while I understand we are in Juliette's thoughts, it gets laborious after a while, Also the romance is a little to sickly, I understand she's never been touched before but come on when your life's in danger. Especially with quotes like this :- “His eyes are two buckets of rainwater: deep, fresh, clear. Hurt.”

“My face is in his hands and my lips are at his lips and he's kissing me and I'm oxygen and he's dying to breathe.”

“He's staring at me like he's never seen me before. I want to wash my soul in the bottomless blue of his eyes.”

While this story kept me guessing all the way through, of what was going to happen next and who to trust. There just wasn't enough plot and world building. Why are The Reestablishment taking over? What's happened to the world we know? I'm not sure if this is dystopian or a future in our time line.

My, my, my where to begin. This is one of those really difficult books to review because it wasn’t that bad, but is also wasn’t that great.

Shatter Me follows 17-year-old Juliette who cannot touch or be touched by anyone. The last time she did, she killed someone so has been locked up by the Reestablishment for a murder that she had no control over. 264 lonely days later and the Reestablishment has had a change of heart. Why lock her up when she could be their greatest weapon.

To sum Shatter Me up in as little words as possible I would say that it’s basically X-Men 1 meets X-Men: First Class. X1 because Juliette, like Rogue, has he ability to harm people with her touch/skin and First Class because, like Erik/Magneto, Juliette had no idea that she wasn’t alone. Now, I like X-Men, so you’d think I’d be all over this. There are just a lot of tiny things that bug me.

Firstly, next-to-nothing happens. I don’t think anything of any real substance happened within the first 20%. It also felt really repetitive. It just kept saying the same thing over-and-over instead of moving on or going forward, you’d keep going back to the same thing. I get it, you’ve introduced Juliette, she’s basically in solitary confinement, can’t touch anyone, thinks she knows the guy that has been put in her cell with her, I get it. That is literally all that happens within the first 20%.

Secondly, I’m starting to think I’m just not one for dystopian characters or something because I found Juliette to be a really poor lead. I’m really trying to not say basic, but there just wasn’t anything stand-out about her other than her ability. She also seemed to go from being quite strong to quite weak in a matter of pages. It made it hard to find either believable.

In addition, Adam. I don’t think I’ve ever not taken to a character so much in a while. Fake is the only word that comes to mind. He doesn’t feel authentic and I almost found myself waiting for him to double-cross Juliette. He’s a very personality-less character and if there’s one thing that may top my bookish pet peeve list it is characters over-using “I love you”. Is this a dystopian trait? Because I seem to find it here more than anywhere else. It is made slightly more bearable with the knowledge that Juliette and Adam have known each other for a few years, but it still doesn’t erase the fact that you have two 17-year-olds who, up until the events of the book, had not even spoke one word to each other saying “I love you” every few pages. They’ve barely spoke to each other and other than the obvious they know nothing else about each other. They also have zero chemistry which is a must if you’re going to have characters be so ‘in love’ this quickly.

However, of course the most interesting and entertaining character would have to be the sociopathic villain, because why would any of the heroes get the best dialogue or personality. Honestly, Warner is, not surprisingly, one of the few things this book has going for it. He’s honest, powerful, slightly crude. Sort of reminds me of the Darkling in The Grisha Trilogy. Very demanding presence and, as I said, had the best lines of dialogue. I didn’t particularly care about Juliette or Adam but I was really drawn to Warner and really wanted to see and learn more about him.

Furthermore, the writing was very metaphorical which I didn’t mind so much in the beginning, but does get quite annoying. Something that also gets annoying is the constant repetition of words. I read the kindle edition and at first thought this must have been a typo, but then it kept happening, and happening again, and again: “and then and then and then…” it got incredibly irritating. If it was used once or may be twice, it probably wouldn’t have been a problem, but I just fail to see why Tahereh Mafi kept doing it. This is the first book I’ve read of hers, so maybe its a thing she does. But, there was just too much of everything. The repetition, the metaphors, the strike-through. Was any of it necessary?

The overall descriptions was…something. As far as character description goes, this is…I don’t even know. I think it was about 95% before I even discovered what colour Juliette’s hair was. I get the fact that she hasn’t looked in a mirror for a while but come on, you can’t forget the colour of your hair especially if it’s long which I’m assuming Juliette’s is. Now, where Juliette’s physical appearance was only briefly mentioned Mafi seemed to always take a lot of time describing the men. Seriously?. There’s over-the-top and then there’s this. I get it, Adam’s eyes are blue, Warner’s eyes are green. Emerald green, sky blue. That was all you needed. 2 buckets of rainwater, deep, fresh, clear was not necessary. Rein it in. Way in.

There was quite a lack of world-building and to say I expected more is putting it lightly. You were given bits at the beginning, but that was it. And those bits didn’t really carry that much weight. I would have liked more. Something else I would have liked more on; the Reestablishment. Of the top of my head I can’t really tell you anything about them, because I don’t remember anything. I think Warner is in it. I’m thinking his dad is like a higher up or whatever and I’m assuming they are the ‘bad guys’. That is all I got. They’re clearly bad enough to prompt some from of revolution/rebellion, but I don’t really know why. Either nothing was majorly said on them, or it was said just not clear enough for me to pick up on.

Overall, Shatter Me is rather bland and fails to leave a long-lasting impression. The ‘meh’ grade main characters didn’t help. Yes, Kenji was a nice bit of comic relief, but he came in a bit too late to save the flailing and awkward romance. The writing is ultimately what held this book back and dragged it down. I can stand ‘meh’ characters is the writing is great. However, despite everything, I still find myself to be quite curious. I want to learn more about Warner and I’d actually like to know more about the Reestablishment.

The premise is interesting, but poorly executed. Yet, I remain slightly intrigued.

This book popped up and i was astounded. This book has been everywhere? Surely. Having a presence on the bookblogger corner of the internet and it is almost impossible not to know about this book. But i’ve never read it. Why? I’m English. It’s only just coming out over here and i’m honestly so excited.

Other than knowing all this. I still went in blind. The majority of what i knew was simply: the cover. Which is arguably incredibly beautiful and i am obsessed with it.

Overall this book was a delight to read. An unexpected wonder. I’ve become sceptical of YA dystopian books but maybe i’ve been away from them for so long that i’ve forgotten my qualms about them? Either that or this was particularly good. I’m leaning towards the latter. I cant believe it has taken me so long to read it. The characters were interesting and each seemed to have there own voice and i’m looking forward to seeing how they develop.

The first half lacked action, where the second half was full of it. I’m aware this is the first book in a trilogy. So it’s laying a foundation and its been done wonderfully well. This said the second half was full of it. I enjoyed the stark contrast. It reflected the events of the book which was an interesting touch.

Granted, i gave this book four stars. A mild shock for a book i enjoyed so much. This is a reflection of: its me. Not the book. Maybe i’m too old? I’m 23 and i read it in a morning. When i read a nook this quickly it means i thoroughly enjoyed it. But, it didn’t give me cause to slow my pace to absorb more. This book was missing something for me personally. But i do have faith that the sequels will slow me down. This series is leading to something wonderful/

I’m excited for the sequels. I’m crying out for them. This is a series i’m excited to continue with and see how it develops.

5 Words: Power, responsibility, identity, love, hope.

Note: My copy is a digital review copy and the formatting is not the same as final copy. Good: no scoring. Bad: no scoring.

I thought this was going to be two star until I was 90% through and it picked up so much. That ending deserves a star all of its own.

The writing style is Different and this definitely isn't an easy book to read. I had to be in the right mood, I had to read it like I'd read free verse poetry rather than prose, and this is where the no scoring in my copy is a bad thing, as I think I would have read it differently if text had been like this. But the writing is hauntingly beautiful. So yeah, it's a challenge to read and I had to be in a different mind set to be able to read it.

I did spend a lot of this book confused about what was happening. But by the end I realised that it was quite a clever device by the author, and it got me much more invested in Juliette and what was happening with her.

I can understand why people didn't like the romance or thought it was too fast and a bit much like insta-love, but I thought it suited the characters and the story perfectly. Their world is Not Normal, they are Not Normal, and for Juliette especially I felt it was quite fitting. It is so understandable for her to crave any close attention and touch.

Overall I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, and I will definitely read more. I'd actually love to read it in a similar format without the scored out text because it suits my current poetry-reading mood.

Juliette can kill someone simply by touching them. Due to this deadly power she is locked away in solitude confinement. Shatter Me is the first in a series and is both a dystopia and a romance book. The romance could have been better as it was the much hated 'insta-love' however, I still enjoyed Shatter Me overall and I am keen to read the next book in the series.

As is often the case I liked a lot of the elements of this book. I thought that the way that Juliet's 'voice' changed throughout the book to reflect the changes in her sanity was clever and I enjoyed the way that nothing was ever absolutely clear as to who you should trust or not. There are some very lovely pieces of writing in there as well, especially if you are into writing that has a lot of imagery and metaphor in it. 

I think my main issue with this book was that, as a result of the fact that our protagonist starts the book having been secluded from the world, there isn't a huge amount of world building. That's what made it difficult for me to connect with this story, I didn't know enough about the political issues at hand to really decide who was in the right/wrong/morally grey area. That's not always a problem and can be used to the advantage of a story, but in this case, it didn't grip me and instead left me with a lot of questions. 

I also would have liked Juliette's powers to have been more clear from the start, while she does possess this killer touch and the times she is forced to use it are quite horrifying, I don't think it was as well done as The Sineater's Daughter to which I couldn't help but compare it. 

This book is also quite predictable. I'm remembering a twitter thread I read where someone said we shouldn't use that as a negative point. If you like a predictable storyline then this feels to me like something you will enjoy. Personally, I like a little more of a twist, which this book didn't quite provide.

I'm making this review seem awfully negative, that's not entirely the case. I do think this is a strong story and it deserves its place on the YA dystopia shelves, for me it didn't do enough to excite me and get me to love it. 

My rating: 3/5 stars

By the way, I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

DNF at 50%.

Unfortunately I really couldn't get into the writing style and the romance. I wanted a dystopian novel with a hint of 'Rogue' from X-men type storyline about a woman who kills when she touches. Instead I got a very muddled story with strange metaphors that just confused me and hindered any kind of storyline from developing. It felt like the writer was trying way too hard to be pretty and clever with her words, but it just didn't work.

And the romance was just, cringe. It felt very overworked and not very believable. Not for me, unfortunately.

I really enjoyed this! I've heard mixed things previously about this book, so I wasn't sure how i'd feel, but i'm so glad I took the chance.
The writing style is a little odd, which took a while to get used to, but I also loved that it was so different.
The world building could do with more detail, but I expect that will come more in the next books.
I did find the main character a little irritating towards the beginning, but her character started to show growth, so I'm expecting a lot from her character in the following books!

I have always been drawn to the cover of Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, but although the idea of a girl who's touch was deadly was really intriguing, I'd kind of reached a point where I just didn't want to read any more dystopian. Thankfully, it turns out I should have bought it much sooner. It's so bloody good!

Juliette has been locked up in an asylum for almost a year for the safety of others. She hasn't been touched, because her touch can kill. On top of this, she lives in a world that is slowly dying, due to climate change and humans' abuse of the world, among other things. The Reestablishment is in control. They promised they would make things better, but instead they make things worse, limiting what people can have, while they want for nothing. Warner, a leader of a section of the Reestablishment sees an advantage in Juliette's touch, and wants her on his side as the Reestablishment wipe out those who stand against them. But Juliette will not be forced to hurt, to kill. She will not become a monster.

There isn't a huge amount I can say about this book without spoiling the story. Not a huge amount happens, this is very much a first book in a series, setting things up for future books, but that doesn't stop it from being absolutely gripping. The writing is beautiful, and that's partly down to the way Juliette thinks. There's very little that's good in her life, so she find the beauty in the smallest of things. Her life is just so heartbreaking. But Mafi definitely has an extraordinary way with words, and her descriptions are just gorgeous.

The romance in the book is also beautiful. It's intense, but also slow burning, because of the situation Juliette is in. But there is so much passion, so much, and it's not all down to desire. It's a passion that comes from love, not from lust. There's a bit of lust there, too, sure, but it's a love that burns so brightly. It's magnetic and hypnotic, and so much wow. And it's different, because I've rarely read anything that is so intense unless it's an adult book that culminates in a sex scene. But this is mostly feeling, and but it's so strong it sparks in the air. It's just so, so wonderful.

The ending of this book is brilliant. It's just so exciting! It almost had me bouncing in my seat with excitement over where things will lead. There are discoveries, and there is a world Juliette never dreamed of. Although, in the great scheme of things, not much happens in this book, I have a really strong feeling that this trilogy is going to be one of the most exciting dystopians I've read. It's addictive and beautiful, and so, so gorgeous! I can't wait for the sequel, Unravel Me.

I've wanted to read Shatter Me for a long time and when I saw it available on Netgalley ahead of the release of the fourth book in the series, "Restore Me" in March 2018, I knew I had to request it.

I'm glad I did finally read it, but I also wish I had read it back in 2011 when it was published, before the YA market was saturated with dystopian fiction. The three star rating I've given in this instance is wholly based on my personal enjoyment of reading this book at this point in time, perhaps unfairly. I know that if I had read this in 2011 I would have raved about it as much as I raved about Hunger Games. The truth is, I've become a little tired of the YA dystopian genre because of the same tropes that appear time and time again in every story.

Shatter Me opens with Juliette in a secure prison, thrown in there by the Restablishment for accidentally killing a person with her touch. Juliette cannot touch another human without fatal consequences and it isn't long before the Restablishment decide they might be able to use her as a weapon against the enemies of their cause.

I loved Tahereh Mafi's writing style. I found it almost effortless to zip through the story and I felt invested in the characters within the first couple of chapters. I liked the backstory between Juliette and Adam, but I enjoyed the weirdness of Warner a lot more. I thought his obsession with power and with Juliette was very well written. He seemed almost to be on the brink of insanity which lent an exciting unknown entity to the plot.

I found some aspects of the story difficult to read. I never enjoy reading about children in danger, or being hurt and those parts of this book almost caused me to stop reading. I found it really disturbing and it just didn't seem to be a necessary part of the story.

I did enjoy the X-men feel to the end of the book, and because of this I think I will end up finishing the series. The next book in the series was set up nicely and I need to know what happens to Juliette, Adam and Warner.

Shatter Me doesn't add anything new to its genre, but it is a very strong YA dystopian read.

So this was good! But then messy! But then GOOD! And then not so good! And then GOOD! And then meh! BUT GOOD.

Basically my thought process whilst reading this...was CRAZY. I mean that's normal, but reading this book? i was being attacked with 6789 thoughts and sorry, stop it. I need to think straight.

I will quickly get something out of the way. I didn't think Juliette was "annoying". She was really mentally unstable, she hadn't spoken to someone in ages, and you guys expect her to be some amazing superhero? Um No. I expect something realistic from a person who every time they touch someone, they basically kill/torture someone. That's freaking traumatising. And showing that Juliette is shaken and traumatised is freaking spot on. Of course, she's going to be whiny. Of course, you are going to want to pull your hair out when reading her decisions. Of course, she's not going to be perfect. No one is.

I actually really enjoyed Juliette's narrative. People say Mafi went over the top with metaphors and writing but I think it portrayed Juliette's story well. Because it didn't say "Juliette was freaking out." It showed the readers "JULIETTE IS FREAKING OUT HELP" and that's what good writing is. Plus, i could easily engage and sympathise and DEVOUR the words, which is like, always a good thing.

But omggg this was scarily close to insta love. I mean it was kinda the case of childhood friends to lovers but ugh. At first, I thought Adam was okay and sure, it was shippable. But as the story went on, goshhh, he started to get on my nerves. The "I love you scenes" WERE FREAKING CRINGEY AS HELL GET ME OUT OF HERE. plus, they are about to die but they quickly have time to steal a kiss? LIKE BRUH SAVE yourselves, keep your mushy moments UNTIL LATER. And because the romance scenes were piled on so heavily, i didn't even treasure them? they just became boring.

And then...Warner came along. Oh pure, sweet, evil, horrible, menacing Warner. I love how somewhat sassy and rude he is. And I hated the way he treated people (like Juliette.) but I just loved how calm he was about situations. But he was WAY too obsessive over Juliette. like, mate, stop. Give Juliette a minute. BUT I THINK WARNER WILL CHANGE. I mean he better because I absolutely have fallen i love with his smol squishy few bits.HE DISAPPEARED AFTER A WHILE SO I NEED MORE OF HIM OBVIOUSLY.

And Kenji? Ew.I don't know why everyone likes him. I mean, he was super irrelevant and annoying and just quite frankly, a person who doesn't know when they've gone to far. Like he is flirting with juliette AND IT's MAKING HER UNCOMFORTABLE SO JUST SOP OKAY?!!? I feel like this was with every boy. They're literally pining for Juliette. like can you just be friends???

I mean it's quite a rollercoaster. I do think it was fast-paced and disjointed at places. I do think things were rushed and somewhat too easy and I never really felt scared. But i do want the next book! I want an answer to why Juliette can touch some people and about the other people who were like her. AN enjoyable read and fantastic buddy read with may, Jackie and Ju which kinda failed but who cares.

Intricate and unusual writing, a great hook and a steamy romance at the centre. Excellent YA.

There are a lot of people loving this book. So, I was really excited to dive into an exciting easy read: A page turner, dystopian, paranormal story, with a bit of steamy romance.  But, this book has too many flaws. 
To recap the synopsis quickly: Juliette has been locked up in prison by The Reestablishment for murder. Her touch is fatal. Outside, the World is being destroyed. Diseases are threatening the population, food is all manipulated, even the weather is not normal. The Reestablishment is set to fix things. They have their eye on Juliette as a part of their plan. 
Now, let's come to what's not working with this book:
1. This is not a dystopian book, it's hard core Romance as the most of the time we read about how Adam and Juliette were extremely attracted to one another, kissing even when they were running for their lives!
2. There really is no story so far. It was really annoying for me, because I could be OK with a book leaning towards Romance a lot with a story behind it. With no story, it just becomes really boring. 
3. Everyone is sooo beautiful, so perfect, so blue or green eyes. Come on!
4. Yes, I'm coming to the strikethroughs. What was the need for that??? At first, it looked original, interesting idea. But, when you keep reading, you really don't see any point in it, so it just becomes an idea for the sake of it.
5. The writing style does feel weird, as it it's not flowing through.
The opening was interesting, very sharp and it drew me in immediately. But, soon after, I was like "what am I reading?" It's disappointing because I really like Tahereh Mafi's Middle Grade novels. Furthermore was way more complex than this, with good story telling and substantial characters to follow. I just don't understand why her YA novel is so lacking these primary elements you look for in a book. 
The 5th book in the series is coming this March if you're interested. I will probably see if it gets better with second book.

I LOVED THIS BOOK.

Tahereh Mafi's writing is beautiful, capturing my attention from the very beginning. I rooted for Juliette from the start. I felt an overwhelming amount of sorrow for our main character because of the way that she has been treated. I loved the metaphors, I think they were a perfect fitting for the story.
I also loved the romance in the story, it did not gross me out (which some romances can) and my heart fluttered every time.

Cannot wait to dive into all the other books!