UNRAVEL ME (SHATTER ME #2) – TAHEREH MAFI

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.

Well shit… this wasn’t at all what I was expecting and I am still struggling to decide whether I like it or not. While there were moments in this book that I absolutely adored, most of the time I was fighting to sift through all the unimportant information and get to the good stuff. It was really the last couple of chapters and pages that really made me appreciate this book.

Hidden deep within the earth, Juliette and Adam struggle to settle into a life in Omega Point, a secret organisation intent on bringing down the Reestablishment, which threatens to destroy the planet. But to do this, Juliette must learn how to not only control her abilities, but accept them. A task that is almost impossible when you are unable to touch anyone because it would likely kill them. Adam and Juliette’s relationship flounders with every new curveball thrown their way while Kenji is forced to deal with their potentially catastrophic teenage relationship issues. The threat is rising, tensions mounting and everyone knows that something is about to change the world. For better or for worse is yet to be determined.

I really don’t know where to start with this book. Half the time, I wanted to throw it at something but then, for the other half, I really loved it. 

I was really hoping that we might see some more plot development and world building but, for at least the first half of the book, we got very little of that. I felt like Mafi used Juliette’s lack of knowledge on the outside world as almost a scapegoat so that she didn’t have to explain it and we are left with very little to go on. Juliette’s attempts to adapt to life at Omega Point and her issues with Adam (which dominated the first 200 or so pages) really seemed to take the story nowhere, it just felt unnecessary, cliché and beyond repetitive. 


I also would’ve loved it if their plans didn’t always go to shit. I mean, I think it would have been nice for these guys to have a win once in a while. It got kind of depressing reading about how this happened and then this went down and then all these events occurred, none of them good. I just wanted something to make me smile, some small victory to replenish their spirits. They lost all hope and I feel the story fell a bit flat. I began to wonder if I should bother reading a book where there is no hope of success. Not in the war, the politics or the romance.

The plot was still interesting though, don’t get me wrong. I did enjoy the story, particularly towards the end, with all its unexpected plot twists and unseen events. And those last lines where absolutely brilliant.

As for the characters... I’m sorry to say it but I’m over Juliette. She was quite painful to deal with, constantly complaining, never on task and only thinking of herself. I understand that she can’t touch anyone and that must be a pain to deal with but she just doesn’t shut up about it. Not to mention that her priorities are so far off the mark they might as well be in a different universe! I got this constant sense of; The world is ending but I just broke up with my boyfriend – the world can bloody well wait. I feel like this was the only thing going through her head for a solid 70% of the book and the rest of it was thinking about Warner.

Of course the Adam-Juliette-Warner love triangle also had to rear its dreaded head. It’s so obvious that she has a thing for Warner that she refuses to accept but she never lets go of Adam. What’s the poor guy supposed to do? Yes he didn’t have to be so clingy and moody but was he meant to just back right off and give up hope entirely despite her giving him 50 million signs that she wants him. She made a decision but she didn’t stick with it and get the hell on with her life… instead, she cried about it, a lot. The constant back and forth of Juliette’s emotions for Adam and Warner was very confusing and I struggled to keep up.

WARNER!!! How can someone not be in love with Warner? He is such a complex character, harsh and unforgiving but gentle and kind and it takes time to figure out which side of him is the mask and which is really him. I loved the fact that I could never completely pin him down as a person, it made me work and question myself. I’ve been on team Warner from the start but learning about his past really changed things. I struggled not to cry when I learnt about how badly his childhood has affected him and for how long. All I want is more of him. A quick warning for those on team Adam: watch out for chapter 62 because WHOA!!!

But the character I just couldn’t stop myself from falling in love with was Kenji. I was so pleasantly surprised when he breached all of my expectations of him. He is such a real character, one with problems and responsibilities who turns to humour to stop himself and those around him from breaking. He has to think about so many other people, he has to pull them out from the dark spaces and remind them of what they are fighting for. And he never, not for a single moment, complains about what he must do. 
But what I loved most about him is that he doesn’t let Juliette just mope around crying. He forces her to do stuff, to think about someone other than her sorry self and her relationship. I wanted to applaud the first time he told her to get her shit together and shut the hell up with the self-pity. He is a truly remarkable guy!

Despite all that I've said against this book, I am a total sucker for romance, particularly the cheesy kind, and actually enjoyed it. The plot kept me hanging on and the romance between Warner and Juliette was so sweet that I couldn’t put the thing down. That ending also left me with so many questions and I can’t wait to get on to the next book to see where their stories take them.

I want to be the friend you fall hopelessly in love with. The one you take into your arms and into your bed and into the private world you keep trapped in your head. I want to be that kind of friend. The one who will memorize the things you say as well as the shape of your lips when you say them. I want to know every curve, every freckle, every shiver of your body. 
I want to know where to touch you, I want to know how to touch you. I want to know convince you to design a smile just for me. Yes, I do want to be your friend. I want to be your best friend in the entire world.”

Rating: 3/5


Get your hands on a copy from Amazon or Book Depository, you may end up liking them.

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