Book Review: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Shatter Me
Shatter Me #1
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Reading Level: YA
Genre: Dystopian/Paranormal
Released: November 1st 2011
Review Source: Purchased
Available: Amazon
Reviews: Yara & Joshua's

Summary: (from goodreads) 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.

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting as The Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices,Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel.

I didn’t know what to expect when I started reading Shatter Me. I had heard so many great things about it. Plus, Yara and Joshua had read it and gave it wonderful reviews. I have to say that I was not disappointed. The cover of the book is breathtaking, but in my opinion, it doesn’t go with the book. The story is a little dark for this cover. With that being said, the story was awesome. Tahereh’s writing was like poetry, it just flowed so beautifully. I gave it 5 stars because the book was amazingly written and took me to the world where Tahereh intended for the readers to go to. One thing that took a while for me to get used to was the words and/or sentences being scratched off, but after a while I got used to it.

Juliette was abandoned by her family because they feared her. You see, Juliette was cursed gifted since birth with the power to kill someone by just touching them. So because of this, since she was a little girl, Juliette has always distanced herself from people and always kept to herself. Then after an accident which caused the death of a little boy, Juliette was taken and locked up away from society. There she spent 264 days alone with no one to talk to, until one day she is given a roommate, a boy named Adam. She feels like she knows the boy, but can’t remember from where. Soon she figures out that someone wants to use her as a weapon. The world isn’t the same now and people are dying because food is running out. Juliette will now have to choose between being accepted for what she is or run away and live a life of solitude once again.
I fell in love with all the characters from the very beginning. Juliette despite being abandoned and mistreated is the sweetest girl ever. She could brighten up a whole room by just her presence. Adam is this tough, mysterious and protective guy that captivated my heart from the start and together they totally kick butt! She and Adam have such great chemistry together. Now, Kenji had me laughing the whole time because he is so sarcastic. I can’t wait to hear what happens to them in future books. Shatter Me is a must read and believe me, you will NOT be disappointed.