Review and Giveaway: Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

ARC received from HarperTeen

Release Date:  2-5-2012

Reviewed by:  Middle Sis Jenn

The Sisters Say: Undeniably and Irresistibly Unforgettable

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.

 It might be called Unravel Me, but I want nothing more to be tangled up in Mafi’s world!  I loved Shatter Me more than words can describe, so I was just hoping that this second installment would live up to the first.  Oh how my hopes were tossed to the stars when this sequel captured my heart even more than the first!!!!  Laced with secrets and hidden agendas, catapulted into the void between good and evil, and filled to the brim with unwavering and unrelenting love—from page 1, Tahereh’s world will entrap you within its web.

I just love, love, love the language and metaphors that Tahereh uses in her novel.  Many people find it annoying, but I think it’s breathtakingly beautiful.   Poetic and truthful, it cuts to my soul.  Now you might think I’m exaggerating or being too “oh my she’s awesome,” but I really have never had a reaction to writing like I do to Tahereh’s prose.

“These sticks and stones may break my bones, but these words, these words will kill me.”  ARC, pg. 279

Ah!  I just love it.  I can feel the sorrow seeping from Juliette’s heart—knowing what people say about her—that she’s dangerous, untrustworthy, ready to explode.  Juliette can take all the physical pain in the world—I mean, she was locked away for so long without any comforts or communication; but words?  They can cut you more deeply than anything, and the way that Tahereh shows this…my words can never do her genius justice.

One way I know if a book is memorable is whether or not I like the heroine.  Like I’ve said before, it’s easy to right a swoony guy.  But a girl that will keep my attention and gain my confidence?  That’s difficult to do.  But Juliette had me rooting for her from the first page of the first book, and I will continue rooting for her until the very end.  She’s strong and brilliant, and she doesn’t let the bleak and the hopeless break her.  She stands firm and fights for her cause—even if it means she could die.  She’s willing to give up everything, and for that, I admire her.

I loved that we got to know Warner even more in this book.  We see a side that is so surprising and so heartfelt, and I do believe many girls will start to waver between Adam and Warner.  I know I did—I was Adam all the way in Shatter Me, but now, there is a part of me that wants Juliette to love Warner.  It’s like they are Catherine and Heathcliff—two souls that reach out and recognize each other, through all the pain and fear.  I won’t say much more about what we learn about Warner because it is so great to get to read and discover his truth for yourself!

My only complaint—and it’s not really even a complaint, it’s just an observation, really—there wasn’t much Adam in this book.  There were so many steamy scenes with them in the first book, and I loved seeing them feed off each other, but there weren’t many scenes with them together in this book.  I understand why she did this, though, because this installment was more about Warner and Juliette’s discoveries as opposed to Adam’s, but I think some readers will find themselves missing him.

Steam.

Longing.

Truth.

Betrayal.

Power.

Unravel Me has it all.  This is a series I will never hesitate to recommend to everyone—even the stranger in the elevator!  Full of life and death, love and hate, fear and power; Unravel Me will bring you to the edge of your seat, and come the end of the book, it will kick you right over the edge!  Now I just have to wait until 2014…oh, the horror!

a Rafflecopter giveaway