A Note:

6/2/13

I once told myself: IF I am accepted into grad school, this blog would no longer be updated. As it turns out, in April, I received news of my acceptance for the Fall 2013 semester, where I will attain a Master's degree of Science in Nutrition.

Running a blog, as many of you may already know, is a demanding side job once the excitement wears off. And once I fell out of the blogging community's loop (have you SEEN how many blogs there are now? Wow!), it was like the kiss of death. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't get into a blogging routine once this happened due to the disconnect I felt from the community.

So I took a break. I struggled with the loss and with missing my blog. And then I realized I didn't have to run Book Faery to still be a book reviewer; I could read my books and post reviews online. I'm still a book review blogger, just not in the traditional sense.

I'll still be online. You can chat with me on Twitter, where I'll be posting links to my reviews and talking books. I'll also be posting links to nutrition articles. And if you'd like to connect with me where I guarantee I will post reviews, just add me as a friend on Goodreads.

So that's all, folks! It's been a fun and amazing journey, and I thank you all for listening to my thoughts about books. I hope we all can keep in touch elsewhere :)

Tori

Friday, November 11, 2011

Amanda's Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Hardcover: 342 pages
ISBN: 9780062085481
Released: November 15, 2011
Publisher: HarperCollins
Author's Website: Tahereh Mafi
Buy it: Amazon
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Series: Shatter Me #1
Book Order:
1. Shatter Me

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. 



4 out of 5 Stars



Shatter Me is difficult to rate for me because one minute I’m remembering it as this amazing thing with sexytimes and interesting characters, and the next I’m remembering it as page upon page of metaphors and similes and hormones. 

Page one--I was loving Mafi’s writing style, but by the end of the first chapter I was already sick of metaphors. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely feel like metaphors have a strong place in writing, and can transform the most asinine sentence into something worth re-reading, but there are limits. It got to the point that it felt like that’s all I was reading—metaphors and similes. Luckily, this thins out quite a bit as the story progresses.

I was a fan of the characters. I loved Juliette’s voice and her growth throughout the story. I liked seeing her open up and begin trusting people who seemed trustworthy. Adam is absolutely swoonworthy (honestly, she had me at ‘tattoos’).  This is where I smile and remember this as the amazing thing with sexytimes. Ha.

That’s actually my biggest issue with Shatter Me, AND the thing I enjoyed most (how does that work?). The main thing I remember it for is the heated moments between Juliette and Adam, and while that’s all well and good and much appreciated, this is a dystopian, and I expected a little more world-building, a little less lip-locking.  

I do think there are a lot of things that need to be explained in regards to the plot, and I hope the sequel accomplishes this. While I wasn't quite as blown away by Shatter Me as I thought I would be, I will be anticipating the sequel.

--Amanda

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the honest review. I've been on the fence with this one, and haven't been able to figure out why. And while the premise sounds interesting, I definitely think that many metaphors might make my head spin!


    Smiles!
    Lori

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