Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: February 5th 2013
Age group: Young adult
Pages: 461
Author info: Website | Facebook | Twitter

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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.

Okay, It's official: this is the best series I've read in a long, long time. I can not put into words how emotional I felt once I'd turned the very last page. 

Tahereh Mafi has a pure gift for language. Her words flow effortlessly off the page is an almost lyrical way, and I the entire time while reading, I was immersed in Juliette's world, her thoughts, her emotions. Shatter Me was perfection, and I knew I was going to love this from page one.

I usually have real trouble picking a "team" with love triangles. I seem to like both sides for different reasons, it just depends on which one I feel for more. Although, I tend to go for the more in depth complicated character, and in Shatter Me, Adam was that for me. He was the boy Juliette loved from the beginning. The only one who ever thought she wasn't a monster, then seemingly betrayed her, but then he defied everything for her. 
But... I honestly don't see how anyone could not love Warner (or should I call him Aaron?) after this book. In Shatter Me, he was the cruel man who tortured Juliette with her own lethality and shot grown men in the foreheads without blinking. But reading this, we crack through his hard cold exterior to find he is a much more complicated a character underneath. He wears his heart on his sleeve, and let's Juliette see him for who he truly is, a traumatized son and a loving boy, desperate for affection, who is on so many levels, perfect for her.
So to put it simply, I've switched from Team Adam to Team Warner, and I'm never going back.
Ever.

Everything in Unravel Me is intense and incredibly emotional. The romance is even more heart wrenching, action more fast paced - it's on a whole other level to the first book in the series.

If you haven't read Shatter Me yet, I suggest you do so right. now. And if you've read it and contemplating this one... I say, don't think. Just buy. I promise you, it won't disappoint.

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Divergent by Veronica Roth

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Release date: May 3rd 2011
Age group: Young adult
Pages: 496
Author info: Website | Facebook | Twitter

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. 
For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself. 

 During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

I think I must of been living under a rock for the last two years as I never heard the hype about Divergent (how is that possible?). But when I did (like, two weeks ago - can you believe it) I bought it from The Book Depository, and I absolutely loved reading it!

Beatrice (ok, let's refer to her as Tris) is an amazingly strong character, and I rank her up there with my favourite heroins like Rose Hathaway and Katniss Everdeen. I love how she transforms from a scared lonely girl into a badass fearsome woman in front of you in the book. I also like it that she isn't supposed to be very pretty. It does get a bit boring sometimes when the main character supposedly looks like a goddess. 

I also like Four (*cough cough*... Tobias...). He's also a strong character, but he has his faults, which I think is important for any good character. I love that he has a fear of heights, and the whole Abnegation thing (not saying any more - just in case there a few of you out there who still haven't read it - which I kind of doubt, but still).

I feel sorry for Christina when she's going to find out about Will... I shipped those two.
*sad face*

I found the romance very interesting. It started about half way through the book, which I liked. So many books are insta-love, which can make it boring by the end of the series, but it was refreshing in Divergent, I loved it. 

I really regret not reading this earlier. But then again, it means I don't have to wait painfully for the sequel, I've already ordered it! 

Oh, and did you hear (you probably have - I'm so in the dark)? It's becoming a movie yay! Shailene Woodley will be Tris, Theo James - Four, Zoe Kravitz - Christina, and Kate Winslet as Jeanine. Who's excited? I certainly am!

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oldie review - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

(oldie reviews are books that I review a few years after it's come out)

Title: The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1)

Author: Suzanne Collins

Published: September 14th 2008 by Scholastic Press

My rating: 

Summary: 

Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don't live to see the morning? 

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. 

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

My thoughts:

When i first saw the hunger games series in my local bookshop i thought 'why does everyone love these books?' 
The cover looked too boyish for me and the blurb didn't appeal. I thought they were some kind of cross between artemis fowl and harry potter. So basically not an appealing match.
I didn't buy the books but promised myself i might read them sometime in the distant future.
It wasn't until about three months before the movie was set to be released when my friend Allyson messaged me saying that she had read the first book and wanted me to borrow the second for her from the library that i started to consider reading them sooner rather than later.
I believed her when she said they were great because we have the same taste in books and the next day i bought the whole trilogy from a bookstore and starting reading them.

I am so angry at myself for not reading them sooner as i enjoyed them so much.
The story starts rather slowly and confusing but by about the third chapter i was hooked.
The story races along with funny, charming, and likable ( and also some not so likable ) characters and terrific, heart racing suspense and action.

Betrayal, loyalty, sadness, anger, love, and passion mix together to make an inspiring and wholesome novel.

The Movie trailer:

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The Hunger Games trilogy:

review - Pivot Point by Kasie West

Title: Pivot Point (Pivot Point #1)

Author: Kasie West

Published: February 12th 2013 by HarperTeen

My rating: 

Summary:

All her life, Addie Coleman's lived in a paranormal compound where everyone is born with different mind abilities. She is able to see two different futures she could experience and is able to choose which path she wishes to go on.
When her parent's split up, she has to decide whether she'll live with her mother in the compound, or with her dad, who's moving out of the compound and into the "norm" world.

So Addie uses her own abilities to see her two choices of what will happen if she chooses to go with either of them, over the space of six weeks. Both will have love, loss and betrayal, and in the end she must choose ultimately which future she'd rather live through.

My thoughts:

Pivot Point puts an interesting twist on love triangles. Each alternating chapter is a chapter in the future where she'd live in the "Norm" world, and then the next is if she were living in the "Para" world, each with a different guy.


The main character Addie can be confusing at times. She can be stubborn and relentless yet in the other future she seems to give up really easily, almost as though she's two different people in the two futures.
At first this bothered me, but I think it's more to do with the other people around her and what they influence her to do, rather than a fault in the consistency.


It kind of starts out like a contemporary chick lit book except with paranormal aspects, although the deeper you get into it, the more complicated and clever it gets. It also becomes quite dark in places but I loved it.

All characters are well developed and lovable (well, not all are lovable, but the villains are still great). Overall I give Pivot Point 4.5 stars as it's a great page turner. This is definitely one to read if you haven't already.

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review - Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Title: Wither (The Chemical Garden trilogy #1)

Author: Lauren DeStefano

Published: March 22nd 2011 by Simon & Schuster for Young Readers

My rating:

Summary: 

In a brave new future, DNA engineering has resulted in a terrible genetic flaw. Women die at the young age of 20, men at 25. Young girls are being abducted in attempts to keep humanity ahead of the disease that threatens to eradicate it.

16 year old Rhine Ellery is kidnapped and sold as a bride to the son of a cruel scientist who desperately pries Rhine's friend's cold dead bodies open in a failing attempt to find a cure in the cold sterile basement of the mansion Rhine is trapped inside of.
All Rhine dreams of escaping that cruel place with it's endless hallways and it's lies that hide behind the beauty of the place, and find her way back across the country back to her twin brother and her home, as unsafe as it might be.

But no matter how far Rhine runs, all ways lead back to husband she does not love with his three wives and murderous father.

Will Rhine be able to find a way to escape or will she need to learn to love her captor in the little time she has left to live?

My Thoughts:

In Wither, Rhine's character appealed to me - her stubbornness and persistence. I also like Jenna, one of her sister wives, and despite her annoying bossiness I grew a liking towards Cecily, her other sister wife too.

You only get introduced to Rowan, Rhine's twin brother through memories and dreams, but even still, I like him too.

Gabriel is a servant working at the mansion who Rhine develops feelings towards, although I found his character rather flat and two dimensional. Maybe that's just because I didn't get to see much of him, or maybe it's because I vote for Linden (Rhine's husband) to be with her.
About that, I find that Linden is a very troubled guy. His love and loss over Rose, his first wife, clouds his feelings toward Rhine and at times it's hard to determine whether he truly loves her (Rhine), or if he wants to be with her purely for the fact that she looks a lot like Rose.

Despite that, the friendship that develops over the space of the novel between the sister wives and Rhine is the realest relationship for me in Wither. The bond that they have by the end of the book is unbreakable, despite their hatred of each other in the beginning.

Overall this book is incredibly creepy. The story, the writing style (it's exquisite)  - everything about it is disturbing, but that made me love it all the more. I found it nearly impossible to put down, but not just because it's a page turner, but because I found myself feeling Rhine's every emotion - hating who she hated, and missing who she missed.
Each character had their likable traits (except Linden's father - he was one of the creepiest villains ever) and if you read carefully, there are lyrics to life in there.

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Books in The Chemical Garden trilogy: