Book Review: Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi (Shatter Me #2)

If you haven't read Shatter Me, don't read this review as it contains spoilers for it. Check out my review of Shatter Me here. 


Goodreads Synopsis:

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it's almost
time for war.

Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.

She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.

Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.

In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam's life.

This series is slowly climbing it's way up to my all-time favorites. I cannot talk about this without spoiling it so... GO READ IT. It's better than Shatter Me, a million times. One thing that I say is a must is that you read the novella Destroy Me before reading this book! It will change everything and I couldn't put it down! I've read it in like an hour or two.. (thank you Yvonne if you're reading this <3)

Can we also just admire the covers of these series? I can't stop staring!! They get better as the series goes.

SPOILERS 
(highlight to view)


Once again, this book starts with Juliette being a whiny bitch! She doesn't even try to cope with the kick-ass people who are exactly like her and who are clearly trying to help her. Nothing frustrates me more than a main character who has a potential to be strong and doesn't cease the opportunity to do so, she was acting like a baby all the time .

In chapter 21, Kenji scolds Juliette for being a kid and I literally put down the book and applauded him. 

I'm team Warner now. Obviously. Does anybody watch the Vampire Diaries? It's kind of similar; Elena makes Damon a better person and so does Juliette with Warner. Whenever Juliette's with Adam, she leans on him and he weakens her.. he always wants to help her and step in for her and same goes with Juliette. Whenever she's with Adam, she literally drains him out of his powers. One of the main reasons that I'm team Warnette is that Warner actually sees Juliette in a new light, he doesn't see her as a threat but as something great. He doesn't want to hone her powers so she would become his little weapon, but for her own good. He sees the great in her and he wants to genuinely help her because he loves her. Which makes my heart warm up with fuzzies. 

Speaking of Vampire Diaries and The Originals, does anyone else imagine Warner as a more muscular version of Joesph Morgan? (Klaus from TVD). Warner keeps calling Juliette "love" and that reminds me of Klaus.. P.S. I have a ginormous crush on Joseph Morgan so yay, more points to Warner. Haha

My favorite scene in the book is when Warner and Juliette meet for the first time after she shot him and after the dog incident (which actually made me smile like an idiot). Warner reciting the contents of Juliette's notebook .. their tension and their natural chemistry is AMAZING!! More points to Warner there too.

HA! When I found out that "Aaron" - Warner- and Adam were brothers my Delena/Stelena theory made me laugh. It was a good resemblance on my part and it actually is an interesting revelation. My jaw dropped. That definitely means that Anderson has powers as well.. AND CAN MAYBE EVEN TOUCH JULIETTE. (I mean James does too, that kid is adorable.) Who knows? It'll take me a while to get to Ignite Me and Fracture Me unfortunately.

The fact that Warner has a 'harnessing' gift was kind of expected for me. It would take this trilogy into a new direction, I'm quite sure he'll join Juliette and the others to go against his dad? But what will Adam do though? He'll FLIP. 

I also can't wait till Warner finds out that Adam is his BROTHER. So much I need to know and I will not accept being spoiled for.. 

Have you read Unravel Me? Tell me down below what you thought! :) 

Have a great day everybody! 

Book Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (Shatter Me #1)

 Synopsis: 

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.

Man oh man did I miss dystopias! I for one, fell in love with Tahereh Mafi's writing. She has this poetic flow of words and it's beautiful! I love the aspect of sentences or words being strikethrough, I haven't read anything like that before and it's the first thing that I took notice of in this book. 

As always, I'm late to the party. I'm really late to reading this book and it didn't live up to the hype surrounding it; I flew threw this and I feel like it could have been shorter or some action could've been squeezed in there to fill out this book more. Also, I feel like at first, I loved the writing, but as I was almost more than half-way through, I got sick of Juliette and I wanted to strangle her. She was too weak and vulnerable and dramatic.. she got on my nerves!! 

There weren't any characters to stand out in this one, I don't trust Kenji and I sure as hell DON'T trust Adam. Warner is a jerk and James is by far the only tolerable character. Witty humor is my thing, I love me a levity! In Shatter Me, there wasn't one character to lighten things up with some humor (such as Ron in Harry Potter, ah I love Ron). 

My feelings are jumbled up about this book, but the writing throws it all away. Tahereh Mafi is absolutely eloquent and although this lacked world-building and some plot lines, I liked the metaphors and the deep thinking and repetition. I would say that it is either a hit or miss for some people and for me it was a total hit! 

One thing that made me regret reading this too late is the fact that I didn't like Warner, not at all. It pisses me off that everyone is "Team Warner" for two reasons. One, I was searching for reasons to hate Adam and like Warner and I found none. Two, I don't want to revisit the Twilight drama all over again.. I'm not fond of love triangles and they make me hate the female protagonist. 

Overall, I really did like this book. If you are awed by beautiful writing that hits you right in the gut then this book is for you, if not, then you'll be incredibly displeased. I would also recommend going into this with really low expectations and you'll be met with higher ones, I can guarantee you that. 

Now for the spoilers.. 
(Highlight to view)

ADAM AND JULIETTE. This love story I didn't like.. I don't know whether it is because of the hype or because I just don't trust Adam. He gave me a lot of reasons not to trust him, he conveniently comes in as a cellmate and pretends not to know her, then he hands her on a silver platter to The Reestablishment?! No way.. if he loved her, he wouldn't do this to her. He wouldn't hand her to Warner!! I don't understand this.. It seems like Warner is right, she is his only way out of this place. I trust Warner, he is a jerk, but he is an honest jerk.. 

Now for the touching theories, how can both Warner and Adam touch Juliette? Is this something she can control or do they both have abilities too? It doesn't make sense to me, I want a solid reasoning to the fact that they both can touch her! And if they have abilities and can touch her, why doesn't everyone else with abilities touch her? Like Kenji, Winston and Castle? 

I'm starting the second book straight away, I need ANSWERS! So frustrated.. Also, this would make a great movie! Right?!! .. 

Share your thoughts down below, I'd love to read them! 

Have a great day everyone.

Book Review: Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick

Goodreads:

Sometimes danger is hard to see... until it’s too late. 

Britt Pfeiffer has trained to backpack the Teton Range, but she isn't prepared when her ex-boyfriend, who still haunts her every thought, wants to join her. Before Britt can explore her feelings for Calvin, an unexpected blizzard forces her to seek shelter in a remote cabin, accepting the hospitality of its two very handsome occupants—but these men are fugitives, and they take her hostage. 

In exchange for her life, Britt agrees to guide the men off the mountain. As they set off, Britt knows she must stay alive long enough for Calvin to find her. The task is made even more complicated when Britt finds chilling evidence of a series of murders that have taken place there... and in uncovering this, she may become the killer’s next target. 

But nothing is as it seems in the mountains, and everyone is keeping secrets, including Mason, one of her kidnappers. His kindness is confusing Britt. Is he an enemy? Or an ally? 

BLACK ICE is New York Times bestselling author Becca Fitzpatrick’s riveting romantic thriller set against the treacherous backdrop of the mountains of Wyoming. Falling in love should never be this dangerous…

I haven’t read Becca Fitzpatrick’s Hush Hush series, so it was my first time experimenting with her writing style. Although this book is completely different from Hush Hush, I actually really liked it.

Black Ice is a thriller/mystery novel about a girl Britt and her bestfriend Korbie going on a camping trip in the mountains. Korbie’s dad insisted that Korbie’s brother (who also happens to be Britt’s ex- boyfriend), Calvin tags along as a chaperone. As the two girls where driving alone up the mountain, the car stops and a snowstorm hits; so the girls walk for miles till they reach a shelter to stay the night in until the snowstorm comes to an end. When they finally reach one, they were introduced to two hot guys in their early twenties; Shaun and Mason. Britt and Korbie both call shotgun on Shaun and start flirting with him, the next thing they know they both were being taken hostages and they were being used to find an escape off the mountain. Britt was the useful one, who has been training and was familiar with the mountains and had survivor skills, while Korbie was being pathetic and whiny and utterly annoying. As things progress, Britt begins having feelings for Mason, but she was unsure of it since he’s the guy who held her captive and she was doubting her emotions all the time claiming that she maybe is suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. 

One thing that I really did admire in Black Ice was the incredible progression of the situations, it was very fast-paced and it kept me on edge the whole time; I finished the book in one sitting! Although, I didn’t feel like the writing style was my favorite and I disliked all of the characters, I was actually a huge fan of Becca Fitzpatrick’s development of Britt’s character in the end and her ability in writing a thrilling and an exciting novel.

I honestly did feel like the book was being boring towards the middle, I had the urge to stop reading several times, but I didn’t  let that get to me. I can say that I skipped - well actually not skipped, but skimmed over- some parts that I found really irrelevant.  As I said before, I disliked the characters, I felt like Korbie was a waste of characters (and oxygen), I felt like the girls were so immature at times that you wanted to smack them.

This book gave me serious trust issues, I did like that I couldn’t trust ANYONE at first and towards the end, it really confused me but I pieced the puzzle and I figured out the murderer before it was mentioned. The murder aspect and the setting were the reasons I liked this book and gave it a not so low rating.

SPOILERS. 

Highlight to view:

I don’t know why the hell Britt is still friends with Korbie, she is extremely mean to her and always trying to be better than her. When Britt found out that list, it should have been an indication that this friendship is a fail anyways, she should have confronted Korbie right away; but then again, Britt doesn’t always make the smartest decisions.

 I hated Calvin so much, since the very beginning, Korbie and Calvin are more like each other, they were both willing to cheat, the fact that Korbie was like “yeah but Bear isn’t here” made me so angry at her! Cheating runs in the family I believe.

Britt also annoyed me. She is the fictional character of 13 year old me, she humiliated herself and was dumb enough to create a love story with Calvin and convinced herself that he loved her as much as she loved him when in fact, he was an a-hole who didn’t deserve her. The fact that she was 17 and she still didn’t realize that she needed a reality check is annoying! She was incredibly immature and it reminded me of how I was years ago. Calvin was a carbon copy of my ex-boyfriend, except for the fact that my ex wasn’t a murderer and wasn’t a cheater; but he actually was a douche and treated me terribly. Yet again, I was 13!!! I knew nothing, I was a kid, I can’t fathom the idea of Britt being so infatuated with a complete air-head who used her multiple times and CHEATED ON HER, he didn’t want to declare her as his girlfriend which surprisingly enough, she didn’t disagree to! Oh Britt.

I really liked the mystery factor, I was so confused and couldn’t trust anyone , I thought that Shaun was creepy at first and his hospitability was an act, but I was mad at Britt and Korbie for not getting the clear picture and fighting over a guy WHO THEY JUST MET and could be a murderer (which he was).  I hated that the girl drama blinded them to a point where they couldn’t realize where the real danger is, it was right there.

To add to the list of characters I didn’t like, KORBIE’S DAD. Who kills a dog for barking? He was vicious and again it imprinted on Calvin. I couldn’t blame the guy.. he had a psycho parent and I didn’t expect that he would turn out perfectly fine, he had to be somehow unstable.

Overall, I really liked this book. I gave it 3.5 stars

If you have read Black Ice tell me in the comments down below what your thoughts were!

Have a great day everyone :)x

-Jay  

Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

I was nominated for this award by Gloria @ Gloria The Violinist  Thank you soo much Gloria! :), go check out her blog everybody.. she's AWESOME.

My answers to Gloria's questions:

1. What is the first book you ever read out of your own free will ?

That's a hard one, but probably a Roald Dahl book. I don't actually remember my first ever book that I've read.. 

2. If you could replace your best friend with any book character, would you do it ? If yes, with who ?

I would definitely choose Gale from The Hunger Games. He is so supportive and caring over Katniss and even though he loves her, he wants the best for her. I'm team Gale if you haven't noticed.. 

3. How many books do you own ?

Most of my owned books are ebooks. I find them more convenient, I have around 150 books.. not too many but as I've mentioned, I own more ebooks than actual books :)

4. Which book character is the most like you ? 

In determination and the love of family, Katniss Everdeen
In the fangirl aspect, being non social, Cather from Fangirl
In the falling so hard in love aspect, Lena from Delirium

Am I cheating for choosing 3..? um I don't think so.. 

5. Which book character do you hate the most ?

Abby from A beautiful disaster. OH MY GOD, she annoyed me SO MUCH! 

6. What is your favorite color ?

This Blue and black

7. If you would write a book, what would be the main character's name ? 

Probably Elena, even though I hate Elena from TVD, I love her name.

8. If you could live in any country, which one would you live in ?

France, hands down. In Paris.

9. What is it about reading that you like so much ?

I love that readers get to transport into different worlds, every book you've ever read is a world that gets you sucked in. You can indulge in the life of the characters and you can feel them, it's kind of an escape from your real life into theirs. 

10. If you could switch lives with a book character, who would it be ? 

TRIS from Divergent, oh I wouldn't do that because Allegiant haha
I just want to be Four's love interest.. sue me. He's hot.



I nominate: 

Izzy @ The Reading Izzy
Evie @ Prescription Fiction
Jules @ The Book of Jules


My Questions for the Nominees: 


1. What was the best dystiopian book you've ever read?
2. How many books are on your TBR shelf?
3. What is the book that you really want to read but can't get your hands on?
4. What book is your most anticipated book of the year?
5. Who is your most read author?
6. Do you have any signed books? What are they?
7. Who is your favorite contemporary author?
8. What is your favorite book to movie adaptation? 
9. Who is the most relatable character you've ever read about in a book?
10. Which book that you own has the prettiest book cover?

Book Review: Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

 Goodreads:

At twenty-two years old, aspiring musician Sydney Blake has a great life: She’s in college, working a steady job, in love with her wonderful boyfriend, Hunter, and rooming with her good friend, Tori. But everything changes when she discovers Hunter cheating on her with Tori—and she is left trying to decide what to do next.

Sydney becomes captivated by her mysterious neighbor, Ridge Lawson. She can’t take her eyes off him or stop listening to the daily guitar playing he does out on his balcony. She can feel the harmony and vibrations in his music. And there’s something about Sydney that Ridge can’t ignore, either: He seems to have finally found his muse. When their inevitable encounter happens, they soon find themselves needing each other in more ways than one…


From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, a passionate tale of friendship, betrayal, and romance—and the enchanting music that inspires one young woman to put her life back together.

Includes a free original soundtrack by musician Griffin Peterson.

Hello bookworms, sorry I haven’t been posting, I currently barely have any access to the internet because I’m not home. I hope you understand :) .

Maybe someday by Colleen Hoover is a truly compelling story, I couldn’t put it down. It tells a story that fate is inevitable and you cannot deny the inevitable. Sydney and Ridge met through the love of music, he used to play the guitar on his balcony and opposite to him, she would sit and listen. Sydney had a boyfriend (Hunter) and so did Ridge (Maggie), but with Hunter being a jerk of a boyfriend, she ended up breaking up with him and leaving her slut of a roommate Tori because they were both cheating on her for two years. She found herself homeless and in the mercy of Ridge, her cute neighbor with amazing guitar playing skills. She didn’t realize then that they were both falling in love..

This is a perfect story of forbidden love, trying to avoid something such as fate is definitely impossible. I’ve never read anything by Colleen Hoover before, but I felt her words in my heart; her beautiful combination of words makes you understand the characters and feel for them. The descriptions are accurate, it makes you have a clear image of them in your head even more than any author does. The two characters’ point of views were corresponding , the similar POVs (since it’s the same author) was perfect, but I guess she intentionally made them more compatible by creating similar POVs. Ridge completed Sydney’s words most of the time and they both had similar mindsets which made them even more perfect for each other.

I recommend this book to EVERYONE! It’s truly an amazing love story. So cute and will make your heart swell besides, it definitely made me cry.

Have you read Maybe Someday? Comment below your thoughts and continue reading this post for a discussion of the book aka SPOILERS.

-J

SPOILERS START HERE. Continue ONLY if you've read the book. Highlight the paragraph below to read spoilers.

Okay everything about this book was perfect, the way they both feel about music, the fact that they appreciated music and felt it, even though Ridge was DEAF. They both realized the severe attraction they felt for each other and tried to deny it and fight every urge they had not to surrender to themselves and to their feelings. They had to remind themselves of the routine.. Ridge kept reminding himself of Maggie, that he loved her because his heart cannot belong to two. They tried to find flaws to repel them from each other, but failed.

 The feelings development in this book is super cute; you could tell that the love story will be a great one from the very beginning. Ridge and Sydney cannot help but fall in love with one another, their chemistry is great and the intimacy they feel is natural. They were meant for each other.
They felt the pain of desire, wanting someone but even the thought of being with them is wrong. They both tried their very bests not to turn into another Tori and Hunter, they didn’twant to do that to Maggie too because she was sweet and no one deserves that.

 The way both of them described their kiss as relief was beyond me, this is another technique Colleen used to emphasis on them being soul mates. Their trail of thoughts followed one another and they think alike throughout the book.

The difficulty of keeping yourself focused and not straying away with your thoughts and feelings towards someone is shown in both Ridge and Sydney, they are good people and they feel guilty by even thinking about each other inappropriately, thinking and NOT even acting on the thoughts.
When I knew that Maggie was sick, everything in me collapsed, in Sydney too. We now know what Ridge is going through and how much of a terrible person he would be if he left her for Sydney. The realization hit me instantly-even before it hit Maggie-, Ridge was hanging on due to her disease, he loved her disease and loved being her hero and he didn’t love HER. Life wasn’t fair to both of them. Love isn’t fair.

I loved Maggie’s character, she was a strong independent woman and she loved Ridge too much that she wanted him to be happy. Her reaction to their betrayal just proves how big her heart is. If I was in her place and saw Sydney after kissing my boyfriend, I would’ve punched her right in the face, but Maggie collected her anger and went. She was the bigger, more mature person. Maggie actually gave up Ridge because she knew deep inside that he loved Sydney as much as he loved her.
As much as I knew what Ridge and Sydney were doing was wrong but I couldn’t help but support it, their love is real and genuine and once you find something as amazing as that, you simply can’t let it go.

Ridge is a great guy, he made me believe that good guys really do exist, he kept his faithfulness towards Maggie even though he was torn and tortured, his heart broke into two and so did he. He also gave Sydney up for Maggie, he did the right thing even though everything inside him told him not to let her go.

I can shamelessly say I cried when he was letting Sydney go, he SPOKE for the very first time in 15 years so he could properly say goodbye.. this is incredible and if that’s not true love, I don’t know what is. Syd loved his voice, she loved him and she compensated his father’s love with her own.. She loved his voice and I loved the way she described his voice, even though his dad hated it and hated him for speaking. It was enough for him, she made him happy and so did he. She learned how to sign so she would communicate with him and he worked on his talking so he would be better at it.
In the end, I was taught that sometimes the moment of epiphany comes late. As late as five years.. it’s okay to realize you don’t love someone even after being with them for 5 complete years. It’s okay to wait for love and you should accept that things change, even if you don’t plan for them to. Love always finds its way of reuniting those who should be reunited even with something as simple as music.