Book Review: Shatter Me

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre: Dystopian/Fantasy, Romance

Am I super extremely late to reading this? Yes, yes I am. I just couldn’t get myself to start this series. I was so close to buying the first book multiple times and even got it checked out of my library just to return it without reading it. At first, I was hesitating because I thought I’d get too obsessed so I was waiting until the summer to read it. Then it just shifted into this-probably-won't-live-up-to-all-the-hype. And, it wasn’t the worst and I’m willing to give the second book a try. 

Continue reading for more details.

Synopsis:

I have a curse

I have a gift

I am a monster

I'm more than human

My touch is lethal

My touch is power

I am their weapon

I will fight back

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.

Review:

Let’s start with Juliette. I really liked how at the beginning her character really reflected the circumstances she’s been going through. I’m glad she didn’t act and had thoughts like any other girl would, but actually seemed like she’s a girl who's been living in a mental asylum with no contact with the outside world for a long time. This did improve once she left the asylum and met Adam, maybe a bit too quick to be realistic but understandable. She definitely has willpower and strength which is admirable because I’d just want to run away from everything and hide in a hole. She is strong, but her mind seems so fragile, she’s definitely one of the more interesting characters I’ve read about because of this weird blend of opposite qualities.

“All I ever wanted was to reach out and touch another human being not just with my hands but with my heart.”

Adam was very sweet and would definitely make such an amazing boyfriend. There’s really not much to dislike about him, if anything at all. As a book character he is a bit bland and easily forgettable, but he was so sweet and gentle with Juliette. And, honestly, he was everything Juliette wanted. A caring guy who didn't see her as a monster and more which I'm not going to mention just in case it doesn't come across like a spoiler. 

“Every butterfly in the world has migrated to my stomach.”

Sooo…Warner…. He's a psychopath. Period. There's really nothing more I can say. His obsession with Juliette was very weird. And yeah 🤷🏽‍♀️ I have heard he gets better in the second book so I'll hold out hope.

Though, I don't know how much I liked the two of them together. Juliette obviously would feel attracted towards him for a variety of reasons keeping in mind her circumstances, but they didn't feel like they had much chemistry during their scenes together. I would want something much deeper but this felt like purely physical attraction and very instalove and high school-y (I know this is YA, but based on their circumstances I would expect more maturity?)

“My life is four walls of missed opportunities poured in concrete molds.”

The world building isn’t bad. I personally find this world so depressing, which it is since everything is destroyed and broken so I think that tone and atmosphere was presented clearly and successfully through Juliette’s thoughts/point of view. 

The author’s writing style was…interesting. Definitely takes some getting used to but it’s really vivid and descriptive with the metaphors and other usage of figurative language. As the book went on, I got used to it more and some parts were really 

“Raindrops are my only reminder that clouds have a heartbeat. That I have one, too.”

Previous

Next