DOUBLE Book Review Shatter Me and Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

     
                                                                                  


What Shatter Me says for itself:

I have a curse.
I have a gift.

I'm a monster.
I'm more than human.

My touch is lethal.
My touch is power.

I am their weapon.
I will fight back.

No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal, but The Reestablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon. But Juliette has plans of her own. After a lifetime without freedom, she's finally discovering a strength to fight back for the very first time—and to find a future with the one boy she thought she'd lost forever.

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a riveting dystopian world, a thrilling superhero story, and an unforgettable heroine.

What Unravel Me says for itself:

tick
tick
tick
tick
tick
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.

What I have to say about both of them:

These books are awesome and you tear right through them. I read the first book when it was online for the promotion of book 2. I read it in one afternoon. Then book 2 was done in 5 hours. Such a fast read, but not a small book. (Either of them)

The style is unusual and not what I’m used to reading, but these books didn’t slow me down on that at all. The only thing I didn’t like is that in book 2 I read it in the actual book form, not an e-book, and they had the edges of the pages roughed up. (probably to give you a feel for a dystopian world with books being banned) but I found it annoying.

Shatter Me starts out with Juliette in a mental institution and she’s been writing in a journal about her issues. As we read her thoughts, I love how some of them are crossed out like she’s trying to be honest, then changes her mind to show she’s not completely lost her senses. The thing about Juliette is that she has a superpower that makes it so people can’t touch her skin. She will drain them of all lifeforce and it hurts them as she touches them. She loves the way it feels, but is so sickened and horrified that what her touch does is kill another person.

Adam is sent to observe her, and we come to discover that he can touch her through some weird  trick of fate. They knew each other in school before she accidentally killed a child through touch and is sent from doctor to doctor and hospital to hospital to eventually end up all alone in an institution. Through the comments in her notes and a few conversations with some other people, we see the world has been changed because of the way the humans treated it. Grass is not green. Birds can’t fly. Martial Law rules.

Warner wants to use her as a powerful weapon to reorder and start the world anew with him in control, but she refuses to be used as a weapon. Adam helps her escape and they find themselves at the end of the book with a group of people I can only relate to the X-men.  Ari thinks she’ll finally have something of a normal life.

Unravel Me picks up a couple weeks after book 1 ended. Ari is having a hard time adjusting to this new prison. She still feels trapped and wonders if her power will be used for this side of the war and how being used by one group would be any different than being used by a different group.

The interactions between the characters and how they try to make the best of the really crappy situations they find themselves in is wonderful. I’d have to say Kenji is my favorite character in this book. (He was a supporting one in book 1, but here we get to see all the awesome stuff he can do.)

Adam, we discover has some kind of mutation as well, thus the reason he can touch Julliette without injury, but there of course has to be a twist. And I loved how there would still be some tension and hardness for the characters, though I was still really sad for Juliette that she couldn’t find any happily ever after.

Warner comes into play in this book, and it’s even better than book 1. We get to see that Warner isn’t just a bad guy. (he is a bad guy), but he does have a reason for what he’s doing and getting into his mind through the interactions with Juliette was awesome. Plus there is kissing and a whole lot of confusion, and guilt, and action, and fighting and on and on.

I CANT WAIT for book 3. 

Buy Shatter Me on Amazon HERE

Buy Shatter Me on Barnes and Nobel HERE

BUY Unravel Me on Amazon HERE

Buy Unravel Me on Barnes and Nobel HERE

Book Review: FEUDLINGS by Wendy Knight

Hey, I might actually be able to post this. Been having difficulty with blogger lately, but it seems like it may be fixed.

So I've not been reading as much since I've done tons of writing and editing over the last month. Finished book # 3 the middle of April. So fun to be able to create something from just an idea.

And its also amazing to read someone else's ideas. In the form of a book. And speaking of reading other books, let me tell you about one that kept me up way into the night it was so good.

FEUDLINGS by Wendy Knight.



First off, can I just say I love this cover! And those boots! If I could stand to wear heels, I'd totally have a pair like that.
Here's what the book has to say for itself:

Nothing makes a new school suck worse than discovering the guy you’re in love with is your prophesied nemesis.

Ari is the most powerful flame-throwing sorceress ever, and her people’s last hope in an ancient war. But she’s also a seventeen-year-old girl, and in her free, not-hunting-nemesis times, she jumps from school to school, trying to figure out regular people her own age and pretending she’ll get the chance to graduate.

Shane lives a double life. He goes to school and masters the art of popularity, hiding the fact that he has a fate with a slim chance of his survival. He’s destined to end a 300 year-old war by killing or being killed. He knows he’s hunted by a powerful enemy who’s not afraid to die. Only problem? He has no idea who that enemy is. 

When Ari shows up at Shane’s school, angry and sullen and determined to keep him at arm’s reach, neither of them realize they are supposed to be killing each other, not fall-ing in love. Until Ari does realize it, and she almost dies – by Shane’s hand.

Here's what I have to say about it:

This was such a fun book. Very much a Romeo and Juliet without the tragedy. Two kids from feuding family's fall in love and try to stop the whole war. Romance without being inappropriate. Battle scenes without being horrible and bloody and gory. A teenage assassin who has to fight her family's ancient battles, and does her best to be merciful, giving them the chance to run yet protects her family and her mother especially. Ari has a brother who is supposed to be her protector, (fighting assistant, right hand man, guardian, and so forth) but since he has a conscience and didn't want to continue fighting in the war, he is now an outcast and can't ever return home, but that doesn't stop him from still being her guard and doing what he can. The magic in the story was believable (as far as magic goes) there were rules to it, they had to do it right, no one could do all the things and there were limitations.
The humanity and relationship development was right on. Ari wasn't used to having friends and had always shut herself off from people, but as her classmates begin to break down her walls and she lets her guard down she starts to realize she can be human and actually enjoy life, even to the point of falling for a guy. Shane at first seemed like the egotistical popular guy that had to have a girlfriend all the time, but we soon get to see how Shane is so much different than the image he projects as a way to keep himself hidden in the open. The supporting characters were awesome and I even loved to hate the room mate.
Wendy did a wonderful job on this story and it has a sequel coming before long.

Here is Wendy's BLOG

It's a great price as well.
Here's the link to buy it on AMAZON

Here's the link for Barnes and Noble

And if you have a preference for Smashwords, it's right HERE