The Selection to be Made into a Movie

Another YA book series is getting a movie adaptation. This time it is "The Selection" by Kiera Cass!

I'm pretty excited for this movie adaptation because it gives me a reason to start reading this series now. I've had The Selection on my wishlist for a while but have not yet gotten around to reading the series.

The Selection follows America Singer who is selected along with thirty-four other girls to have the chance to marry Prince Maxon. The plot sounds sort of like The Bachelor done in a YA style. America does not even want to be a part of the competition to marry the prince though. She's in love with Aspen but he's of a lower status than her so she must take part in the Selection.

This is a five part book series and the final part comes out May 3, 2016. It will probably get at least six movies if the first does well. After all, they have to stretch the final book into two movies as that seems to be the trend now.

Cass said in an interview with Yahoo that she is happy with the script. "I have read the first draft of the script and I'm very happy with the direction they're heading in." She went on to say "We had a long conversation about the story and points that we thought fans would consider must-haves."

So if Cass is happy with the direction that the film is going in, fans who liked the book will probably be happy with it too. Authors don't usually actually have any real or deeper involvement with writing the script or any other part of making the film.

Judging by the reviews on goodreads it seems like people either love or hate the book but nothing in between. So, have you read The Selection? Did you love it or hate it?

The Chosen One Review

Title: The Chosen One
Author: Carol Lynch Williams
Buy It At: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Chosen One is a story about a young, teen girl named Kyra who lives in a compound run by a religious cult leader. She is only thirteen years old when the cult leader comes to her father and tells him that God has chosen for her to marry her Uncle and become one of his many wives. Despite no one being happy with the match, no one will help Kyra escape and the marriage cannot be stopped. Kyra makes the life changing decision to break out of the compound and gain her freedom.

The Chosen One is obviously a take on the FLDS cult though the book does not outright state the religion of the characters.

Kyra's story might be fictional but the issues she faced are very real and do happen to many young girls living in the FLDS compounds. This is a world where women have no choices when it comes to anything and must always "be sweet" so they don't upset the men. The Chosen One gives readers a brief glimpse into what such a life is like for a teenage girl. All Kyra wants is to spent time with the boy she likes, read books and play the piano. Instead, she must prepare to marry a man more than twice her age and get ready to become a wife and bare children.

This is a young adult novel so the story is easier to read and does not go into a lot of details compared to FLDS Mormon and polygamy books aimed at adults. So, while we know Kyra's story it is just one girl's story. The book does not give a lot of details about the cult, community or living situations of other members on the compound because this is just Kyra's story.

Still, I personally think it was better that the book focused on one girl's story instead of trying to cover a wide range of topics. Especially because this is a young adult book.

While I absolutely loved the story, some of the writing was a little off putting to me. At times the writing style tried to be too pose-like for my taste.

The Chosen One was a very interesting and captivating read. You cannot help but hope and cheer for Kyra as she struggles with wanting to escape the marriage (which means leaving the compound, her family and the only life she has ever known).

Rating: 4 out of 5

Sweet Peril Review

Title: Sweet Peril Review (The Sweet Trilogy #2)
Author: Wendy Higgins
Get the Book: Amazon | Barnes and Noble

I finally got around to finishing Sweet Peril. To be honest, I was not feeling this book as much as I was the first book and I really enjoyed the first book. A lot of other readers and reviewers are saying they loved the second book and that it even blow the first book away. That wasn't really the case with me. I am still not sure if I am going to pick up the third book or not.

Sweet Peril picks up where Sweet Evil left off. Kai and Anna have broken up and now Anna has to put together a team of Nephs in order to stop the demons and end things once in for all.

I think one of the reasons why I was not as into this book as I was the first book is because the whole book was Anna getting allies and putting together a team. It was all preparation. The book started to get interesting again towards the end though. Sure, it was interesting to read about Anna and Kope going to Syria to meet Z, and I did enjoy reading the book overall, but the rest was not as exciting.

Anna spends some time talking with her dad and getting a cool sword. Anna is pretty accepting and trusting of her dad despite the fact that he was never in her life. I mean, it makes sense that he was never in her life because otherwise he would have had to corrupt her from the beginning, but Anna is way for accepting, trusting and forgiving than I would have been in her situation.

Anna also graduates from high school in this book! I did not really care for the fluffiness of Anna graduating. Patti actually started to annoy me a lot during this part of the book. She is just too good and nice. Dial it down a notch, Patti.

I really did not care at all for the love triangle between Anna, Kope and Kai either. We all know Anna will end up with Kai in the end. Speaking of Kai and Anna...

There was a very steamy scene between Anna and Kai near the end of the book. My first thought while reading it was "I thought this was more of a Christian YA!" Of course, nothing actually happened but it was unexpected.

Overall, I did enjoy the book but I was not in love with it like I was the first book.

Rating: 3 our of 3

Unplugged Review

Title: Unplugged
Author: P.D. Quaver

Unplugged is a young adult ebook about what would happen if teenagers had to live without their modern devices and social media. A group of teenagers are sent to partake in "The Natural Path" - a program that aims to help teens addicted to their the internet and their devices run by Dr. Zarkov. However the program turns out to be something more - a kidnapping! Trapped on a remote island without any way to contact their parents or the outside world, the group of teens have to learn to band together to first survive then defeat their kidnappers.

The book is recommend for teens 13 or older. There were a couple (hilarious) of illustrations in the book which usually places a book for a pre-teen or younger audience. Still, I think those in their teens might also enjoy this book for the story.

Instead of partaking in a program that is meant to help them, the teens find themselves part of a kidnapping. They are being held for ransom. However, none of the teens are going to just sit back and let Dr. Zarkov and his crew use them. It is hard for them at first to not be able to use technology but by coming together and building a friendship, they learn to survive and win.

The story has interesting characters each with their own personality who all have to learn to come together if they want to survive. The story not only deals with the issues of teens being on their modern devices too much but also touches on themes of friendship and family. The book does all of this while taking place in a thriller styled life-and-death situation plot. The plot adds a lot of interest and excitement to the story.

Each character has their own problem that they are dealing with which play a role into why they were sent to the island to begin with. By the end of the book, through all the challenges, each teen has grown a lot. Throughout the book you end up cheering for the teens not just to survive the island but to overcome their own problems so it is really nice to see the teens go through a lot of character growth.

Overall, the story was interesting and fast-paced enough once the kidnapping plot got going that I would recommend this book to young teens.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Fever The Chemical Garden #2 Book Review

Title: Fever (The Chemical Garden #2)
Author: Lauren DeStefano

I enjoyed this book just as much as I enjoyed the first book and, once again, the author got me at the end and now I need to get the third book to see how the story ends.

The beginning of the book was interesting and I enjoyed reading it but I did not really come to care for any of the new characters that were introduced. Especially since they are only there at the beginning of the book. The second book in the Chemical Garden trilogy starts off with Rhine (and Gabriel) waking up at what looks like a carnival but is really a place of prostitution. The two manage to escape from the "carnival" and start heading to New York to try and find Rhine's brother.

Of course, the evil Vaughn is still chasing after Rhine and will stop at nothing to get her back to the mansion.

The book does a great job continuing to paint the world that Rhine and the others now live in. Rhine remembers growing up with her brother, and while it was not glamorous or secure by any means, she had freedom compared to the brief time she was forced to spend in Vaughn's home. However, with freedom came a lot of danger and while she was under lock and key in the house, Vaughn did provide her with safety. Of course, he's still evil what with the creepy secret lab and what-not.

I'm glad that the author showed us a little more of the world. The first book was focused more on Rhine's new life in the big house with Linden and Rhine's sisterwives so while we knew a bit about the world we did not really get to see it.

There were some parts of the book that dragged on a bit and I still don't care for either of Rhine's love interests, but I did enjoy the book overall and I must get the third book now just to see how things end.

Rating: 4 out of 4

James Clyde and the Diamonds of Orchestra Review

Title: James Clyde and the Diamonds of Orchestra
Author: Colm McElwain

James Clyde and the Diamonds of Orchestra is about a young boy named James who has been surrounded by mystery since he was born. One day, while he visits his grandfather's house, he is given the mysterious Diamond of Orchestra. The dimond changed his life and threw James and his friends Ben and Mary into a wild adventure. James ends up finding out about his mysterious birth and just what exactly it means for him.

This book is great for preteens (middle grade students) and young adults but given how fun the story is, I'm sure most people at any age would enjoy this book.

James' story and adventure was so fun to read. The story itself is a blend of fantasy and adventure. The writing is great and the author really succeeded at created a rich world and story for the book. The characterization of James, Ben and Mary was also well done in my opinion, The characters felt real and strong.

I just really enjoyed reading James Clyde and the Diamonds of Orchestra. I cannot really find anything bad to say about it especially as a middle grade reader.

Rating: 5 out of 5

The Iron Daughter Review

Title: The Iron Daughter (The Iron Fey #2)
Author: Julie Kagawa

The Iron Daughter is the second book in The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa. I absolutely loved the first book in this series so I was excited to finally get the second book and start reading it.

The first book ended with the defeat and death of the Iron King. So what else could go wrong? Well, it seems like that even thought the Iron King was defeated, the Iron Fey are still around and they have a new leader! Before the iron fey come back though, there is some court drama between Meghan and Mab, the Queen of the Winter court. The drama basically revolves around Winter-Summer fey drama and Meghan's feelings for Prince Ash. It is forbidden for a fey from the Winter Court to be with a fey from the Summer Court so this gives us a little tragic Romeo-Juliet esque story.

In this book, Meghan and the gang have to leave the fey world and make a trip to Earth. To be honest, while this was a nice break from fey world drama, I found myself skipping some parts here; namely the prom scene.

Really though, the fey court drama and the fight with the new foe, iron fey, are my favorite parts of this series. I don't care about Meghan's school drama. :p

Another interesting thing that happened in The Iron Daughter is that we learn about Puck's feelings and thus the love triangle is introduced! I have to say though, although the love triangle plot device is overused in YA literature, I think it works with the Iron Fey series. It makes sense and I do not feel like Puck's feelings are so out of place that they are completely unrealistic. They were friends for a while and he spent enough time around her to maybe develop feelings.

I am still not a fan of Ash and would much rather see Meghan with Puck or no one. Ash treated her like crap throughout the whole book until the end and even in the end he is not that nice and loving. He gets jealous over some guy at Meghan's high school trying to flirt with her. I just don't see the appeal in a guy who is a jerk to you then gets jealous at everything. He's not worth it, Meghan!

Ironhorse and Grim are still the best characters though. but I think Ironhorse needs to go to a day spa and learn to relax! He keeps yelling (ALL CAPS).

Over all, I loved this book and was not disappointed. The writing flows together nicely and there was no part in the book where I felt like things were dragging on so much that it made me want to put the book down. Also, the cover art is still so beautiful.

Rating: 5/5 Chocolate Bars

New Books

Yes! My books from amazon have arrived! I'm so excited. I'm just waiting for a couple from B&N now.

I've been dying to continue reading The Iron Fey and The Chemical Garden series. I'm on The Iron Daughter and Fever respectfully. Which one should I read first? I can't decide now. I also got a couple of non-fiction books because they were on sale and on my wishlist.

Tell Us We're Home Review

Title: Tell Us We're Home
Author: Marina Budhos

Tell Us We're Home is a story about three daughters of immigrant parents.

I picked this book up because I got it for a really good price, the cover is so pretty and the story sounded interesting.

To me, a lot of scenes in this young adult book gave me Lifetime Movie vibes. Now, I love Lifetime network movies but I did not enjoy reading this book. The relationship between the girls and the other characters at times felt a little fake or over the top.

A big part of the book is about class and race/immigration and understandably so. There were some interesting parts of the book that touched on these topics in a way that teenagers could relate to by presenting typical teen problems (dating, friendship, etc.) but also putting them in the context of also being a child of an immigrant. The parts about assimilation versus being afraid of losing your heritage in the process were also interesting to read.

Overall, I think this book does a good job in some areas but it just did not capture or hold my attention.

Rating: 2 out of 5 Chocolate Bars

Wither Review

Title: Wither (The Chemical Garden 1)
Author: Lauren DeStefano

In DeStefano's world, all of the countries except for the USA have been destroyed and now girls die at age 20 and boys die at age 25 all thanks to genetic engineering and science. This means that young girls are getting married in their teens and some are even kidnapped and forced into marriage. Usually, the young guy ends up marrying more than one girl too which leads to some potentially interesting sister wives drama and friendship.

This is exactly what happened to our main character, Rhine. She gets kidnapped and finds herself in a marriage along with two other young girls where she is expected to produce children until the whole dying at 20/25 thing is fixed. Rhine does not like it in her new home though.

I really enjoyed reading Wither. I love the concept and the relationship that comes from being forced into not only an unwanted marriage but a plural marriage. However, even though I was looking forward to seeing the sister wives dynamic play out among the family, I found it to be a little bit boring in this book. Of course, that was not the main focus of the book but it would have been nice to see more of the girls' relationships with each other and have them help each other out more than just the typical two boys-one girl love triangle.

I also really liked the whole concept for the dystopian world but some things did not make too much sense. North America being the only surviving country while all the other countries in the world are underwater really made no sense to me. There were some other little things that made this world less than believable. I really would have loved to see this dystopian world fleshed out more.

The writing was very beautiful to read though. For that reason alone (also, I do overall like the story), I will pick up the second book. I also enjoyed Rhine's character. I want to see her develop more in the next books though. I did not care for either of the guy characters and potential love interests. Especially Linden the sexy, rich husband.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Chocolate Bars

Breathe Book Review

Title: Breathe
Author: Sarah Crossan

Breathe is the first book in a new dystopian series. In this world everyone lives in Pods and the government controls the oxygen supply because of The Switch. The Switch happened when massive deforestation occurred resulting in few trees, no animals, people dying and the controlling government moving selected people into Pods. So, the plot is a typical totalitarian government controlling everything verses a small group of rebels deciding to fight back only now the rebels are hippies.

I really did love this book though. Even though the story idea is not the most original thing in the world, the author did a good job making an interesting and original story out of it.

One thing I liked was how the love triangle was actually one guy and two women because I usually don't see that. it is usually two men fighting over the same girl. Another thing about the love triangle in Breathe is that there is no fighting over the main guy, Quinn. Bea doesn't hate Alina just because Quinn likes her. It is also nice to see Alina not give a damn about Quinn. So, really, it is not much of a love triangle. I'm kind of glad about this fact because it was refreshing to read a story that was more about the dystopian world and the action and less about the romance compared to many other Young Adult books that I've been reading lately.

I have to say though, I don't care much for Quinn. He has not really done much yet but I see a lot of room for his character to grow and develop.

I also liked how the author wrote the story from the three main characters' point of view. It is very interesting to read the events from the three different perspectives and it is not confusing at all to go back and forth between each character.

A lot of reviews that I have read mention that the ending felt weak and disappointing. I can see why some people are saying this. The ending was kind of a weird place to leave off but this is part of a series so I have hope that the next book will wrap things up better.

Breathe is very nicely written and if you love dystopian novels I would give this one a shot.

Rating: 5/5 Chocolate Bars

The Iron King Review

Title: The Iron King (The Iron Fey #1)
Author: Julie Kagawa

The Iron King is about a young girl named Megan who finds out that she is half fey (fairy). When her baby brother is kidnapped and taken to the Fey's World, she has to go in after him and rescue her brother before it is too late.

Firstly, I am in love with this cover! Look at it! It is even more beautiful in person. I also like the little designs that got carried over from the book cover above each chapter heading. As an artist and designer, I just love these little artistic pieces in books. I need to get the whole series now just for this, haha. Bu really, I enjoyed this book a lot and I will be picking up the next one soon.

The Iron King was such a great read. I loved how Kagawa sets up the fey world. I want to go there! I also think she does a good job with the characters. I've even found myself laughing at some parts in The Iron King. My favorite character so far is Grimalkin the cat. He is awesome. Here is my favorite line from him:

"'I am a cat,' Grimalkin replied, as if that explained anything."

It explains everything. ;)

Robin "Puck" Goodfellow

The only thing that I did not care about in this book was the set up for the romantic love triangle between Megan, Ash and Puck. I did not like Ash when he first appeared in the book. Even later on I still didn't really care about him. Hopefully he gets better because right now I am just not invested in him. Also, I just don't feel like Puck is that great of a match for Megan either. It is really just the fact that he is A Midsummer Night's Dream Puck which to me is just..... yeah, I love Puck and A Midsummer Night's Dream but no thanks. That makes him really old too in relation to Megan. 

I love the story, I just don't care for the romance that's starting to happen right now. I just want to see Megan take on The Iron King and kick his butt!

Rating: 5/5 Chocolate Bars

Stolen Review

Title: Stolen: A Letter to my Captor
Author: Lucy Christopher
 

Gemma is a young woman who gets kidnapped at the Bangkok airport. She is taken away by Ty to the middle of Australia where no one lives. There Ty had already built a house where he intends to live forever with Gemma.


This is one roller-coaster of a book!


The descriptions of the setting, the Outback of Australia, were fantastic. I could really picture the beauty of Australia from Christopher's words. The way she had Ty describing his love for the land and living off of it was fantastic too. It made me feel like just taking off and living in the wild myself! There is a quote about nature and the land that fits perfectly with an art project that I am working on that I just loved.

"But without humans, the wild would take over (London). It would only take a hundred years or so for nature to win again."

This quote is a good example of Ty's love for the wilderness and disdain for the city which is a huge part of his reason for doing anything in the book. He talks a lot about nature, humans interacting with it, past stories involving the land and the need to learn to listen to the land.

Stolen takes you on an emotional ride with Gemma as she remembers her home in London, has conflicting feelings over Ty and tries to escape multiple times. The book is written as if Gemma is writing a letter to Ty after everything that had happened. Still, you don't know until the end of the book if Gemma managed to escape her captor or fell in love and decided to stay with him.

Am I the only one who did not completely fall in love with Ty? Even at the end of the book I still disliked him because I feel like he managed to break down part of Gemma. I feel like he played with her emotions to get her to love him. I did love Ty's dedication to the land and did feel a little sorry about what happened to him when he was younger, but a part of me still cannot trust him after everything that he put Gemma through.

Overall, Stolen is a very interesting book to read. It is one that is very well researched and also a bit chilling to read at times.

Rating: 5/5 Chocolate Bars

Flirting In Italian Review

Title: Flirting In Italian
Author: Lauren Henderson

I did it! I finally finished Flirting In Italian! This took me longer to read than I had initially expected and the reason why is because I started to get bored and annoyed with the story a little bit before the half way point. I have a problem though were I cannot put a book down once I start it with few exceptions.

Flirting In Italian is the story about Violet who travels to Italy after seeing a painting of an Italian girl that looks just like her. Violet just has to know more about this painting! She also starts to wonder if she was adopted and is really Italian because she looks nothing like her Scandinavian mother or Scottish father. Violet herself loves art history and uses this as a pretense to get her mother to agree to send her to an etiquette school in Italy. At the school she meets another British girl and two American girls. They sort of become friends and go to parties with Italian boys together.

I loved all of the art talk at the beginning which is why I was excited to read this book at first. I also loved the way that the author described Italy when Violet and the three other girls where being driven to the estate. It made me want to book a flight and go there myself!

I started to dislike the book when it became all about the boys and more specifically, all about Violet's crush, Luca. I knew that there was going to be a lot of flirting and making out with cute Italian guys but the actual plot of the story that was set up in the beginning (the mysterious painting) seemed to have been completely forgotten now.

The characters also became quickly irritating.

All of the Italian women were bitches! Seriously. Every single Italian woman that Violet and her friends met were perfectly beautiful and secretly made fun of the foreign girls in Italian. I don't know how Violet knew this since she doesn't exactly speak Italian but she does.

Speaking of the Italian language, I love how there is so much of it in the book! I have to wonder if enough of it was translated though. If you know some basic Italian like me you'll be able to get the gist of things but for someone who doesn't know any Italian, it might be more annoying.

There were a few other smaller things that annoyed me as I was reading the book. Mostly the stereotypes of the American girls and Italian boys, Violet being a mary sue and Violet's (fake) crying at Kelly being poor and having a tough life while Violet didn't even think about how much the trip to Italy cost. I don't feel bad for you Violet! 

By the end of the book I was starting to lose all hope of ever finding the plot again. Maybe Henderson was saving it for the next book. But then the plot showed up again when they finally visit the estate where the painting is. So, the girls go there and everyone comments on how much Violet looks like the girl in the painting. Then someone tried to kill Violet. Yep. We find out who attempted to kill her at the end of the book too and everything seems resolved but I am still lost as to why and what exactly happened. I don't feel like it was a good wrap up to the book. Also, what does that leave for the next book? Is the second book nothing but Violet misunderstanding Luca and then making out with him? I'll pass on that.

Rating: 2 Chocolate Bar

Sweet Evil Review

Title: Sweet Evil
Author: Wendy Higgins

In Sweet Evil, Anna is a high school student who seems to have a normal, average teenage girl life, but her life is anything but normal and it is about to get even stranger. Anna has always had unusual abilities, like being able to see a person's mood or feelings in the form of colors, but she didn't know why or where they came from until she met bad boy Kaidan.

Summary from Goodreads:

What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?
This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.
Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She's aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but Anna, the ultimate good girl, has always had the advantage of her angel side to balance the darkness within. It isn't until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He's the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.
Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns? 

I loved this book. The writing flowed well, the characters were fun, and the story was original. I am so glad that I liked this book as much as I did because I was a little hesitant to pick it up. Being a story about demons and angels, Sweet Evil could have easily become a cliche and predictable story. Instead, I found myself not know what was going to happen next and wanting to know what was going to happen.

The story flowed very nicely throughout the book. The trip to California with Kaidan and Anna might have been the only time when there was not a whole lot of action - it was mostly Kaidan and Anna having hot make-out sessions, Anna figuring out her feelings for Kaidan, and a way to tell the reader more about the fallen angels and how Anna fits in with everything - but I still enjoyed reading that part of the book. Kaidan and Anna are both children of Dukes - the fallen angels who work for Lucifer and are in charge of sins. Kaidan's father, the Duke of Lust, has the job of tempting humans into giving into their lust. Kaidan, like all children of Dukes, has to work for his father by seducing women himself.

Anna is such a sweet girl, but she is also pretty naive. It makes sense that she is a bit naive though. She was raised by Patti instead of her father so she never knew what it meant to be the daughter of a Duke. I think her character has a lot of room for potential growth though.

Kaidan or Kopano? I don't know who to love! Usually, in a love triangle, I have a favorite, but with Kaidan and Kopano, I love them both for different reasons. They are both different characters with their own charms. I really hope Kopano is not just there to create a love triangle and be a love interest to Anna. I did not get that vibe from this book though, so hopefully that doesn't change in the next book of the series. Kopano feels like too well written of a character to just be there for the romantic plot. Kopano, like the other children of fallen angels, has a duty to lure humans into dark things however he refused to continue to do his duty. Normally he would be killed but his father let him live. I want to know more about him just from the little bit that was revealed in this book.

I think Anna's father, the Duke of drinking and drug abuse, is one of my favorite characters in Sweet Evil. He went against Lucifer by waiting for his love and only having a child with her, and by not being as aggressive with his duties of tempting humans compared to the other Dukes. In fact, he says that he has given Lucifer false reports on occasions.

Overall, Sweet Evil takes an old idea and gives it a new and original twist. Higgins creates an intriguing world of demons, angels, and their children.

I'll be picking up the second book when it comes out next year.


Rating: 5/5 Chocolate Bars

Shatter Me Review

Title: Shatter Me
Author: Tahereh Mafi

Shatter Me is Tahereh Mafi's debut novel.

Juliette is a young girl with an extraordinary ability (or is it a curse?) making it impossible for anyone to touch her. Anyone except Adam that is. Feared by everyone for something she has no control over, Juliette is locked away from society. She spent years of her life living alone in darkness until Adam once again enters her life.

Now, in a destroyed world, The Reestablishment plans to use her as a weapon to strike fear into those who are still resisting.

I was not expecting to like this book at all. In fact, I really did not like the beginning, but I was enjoying the story and characters by the end.

I still do not understand why the author used the strike-through text option so many times. I can see what Mafi was going for when she used the option when she had Juliette wrtie in her diary, but she also used the strike-through option in other places in the book. I guess it might have been to show Juliette's conflicting feelings about things but instead it just felt annoying and unnecessary. The other problem I had with the writing was how Mafi would repeat random words, again to show Juliette's thought process but it also got annoying fast.

Despite what I just wrote about the writing, I did enjoy the book. Shatter Me starts to get interesting about half way through the book when the action starts to pick up. Juliette is not just sitting around feeling alone and writing about her thoughts. Now, she has to deal with Adam's sexy self, Warner trying to convince her to join him (and being a complete creep while doing so), and running away from the evil Warner and The Reestablishment.

I have conflicted feelings about the relationship between Adam and Juliette. Their relationship moved a little fast for me. It felt like at one moment Juliette was questioning what Adam's motives were and the next they were making out and everything was fine.

I adored Adam's little brother and I really liked Kenji though from what I read of them in the book. I hope Kenji has an important role in the next book and is not just here to be the second love interest for Juliette. Every book does not need a love triangle.

By the end of the book I started to wonder if this story was at one point in time X-Men fanfiction because of all the young people with special powers. Luckily I love the X-Men.

I feel like this book was largely a set up for the second book in the series. A lot of events that could have happened did not happen, and Shatter Me ends right when things were starting to get interesting. I am curious to find out what happens next so I will be picking up the second book probably in e-book format.

Rating: 3/5 Chocolate Bars