Unravel Me - Review

Unravel Me (Shatter Me, # 2)

By: Tahereh Mafi

Published: February 5th 2013 by HarperCollins

461 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic, Fantasy, Paranormal

Source: Personal Kindle Library

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--tick
tick
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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.

**There will be spoilers for Shatter Me and Destroy Me.**

I said this in my review of Destroy Me but I feel like I need to say it again. When I read Shatter Me the only thing I really knew beforehand was that people loved it and that there were Team Adam fans and Team Warner fans. While reading Shatter Me it was hard to imagine that there could possibly be Team Warner fans because of how strongly Juliette feels about Adam and how negatively she feels about Warner. Just the simple fact that Warner could touch Juliette, like Adam, was the start to the whys behind all of that. But it was just difficult for me to imagine how the events could possibly play out that would even bring about a Team Warner. After reading Shatter Me, I polled my fellow readers to see if I should “bother” with the in between novellas Destroy Me and Fracture Me and with the exception of one no, everyone said yes, and I decided to follow their advice. Because Destroy Me is told from Warner’s POV, I think this is where a lot of the sympathies and Team Warner fans began to develop. When you can see inside someone else’s head, you understand them more and I find that I’m more sympathetic with them. But there’s a play on perspective because Warner guards himself so closely that I just had to wonder how Juliette would ever see the things that Warner feels. And so that’s essentially where I was starting Unravel Me.

Even though I really enjoyed Destroy Me, I was struck anew with how beautiful Tahereh Mafi’s writing style is in Unravel Me. Destroy Me was well written, but Unravel Me was on an entirely different level. Part of this is due to Juliette’s narration over Warner’s. And I actually love that there’s such a drastic difference between the way that she writes from each character. It just fits each one uniquely and perfectly. But the problem with Unravel Me being so much better was that I was highlighting in my kindle for DAYS and DAYS! And I’ll probably end up sharing WAY too many quotes in this review. You’ve been warner. Feel free to skip them, but I just love her writing so much. That being said, Kenji pointed out to Juliette that she was entirely too self-involved considering all the events going on around them, and he was so right. After that, it was almost like no matter how well worded Tahereh Mafi’s sentences were, I could only focus on how whiny Juliette was being.

I’ve got some beef with Unravel Me that only begins with Juliette’s complaining. I’m a little nervous about discussing my issues because some of them are spoilers. One thing I know I can say (that’s not a spoiler) is that even though I read Destroy Me and was able to see inside Warner’s head for a bit, I still found him hard to read and interpret through Juliette’s eyes. His motives and decisions didn’t always seem to add up with the information present or with the information presented in Destroy Me. So I can definitely see how anyone who might decide to skip the in between novellas will not be sympathetic to him at all. I was only beginning to be, and I was almost rooting for him (who doesn’t want to root for the guy who you can see is capable of more?). I did enjoy seeing the things that Juliette zeroes in on that they have in common, especially when they were things that Warner hadn’t pointed out in Destroy Me.

Another issue I had was in the conflict that arises between Juliette and Adam. I’m not going to go into any detail on what that conflict was, but I just had a hard time with it. I’m never really a fan of “leaving for the good of the other party”…I mean honestly, I think that happens in real life. There are times when you need to make a tough decision in relationships for the sake of the other party, but in books it just never seems to actually be used in the right way in my opinion. The characters tend to hover around each other which just leads to continually hurting each other. With Adam and Juliette…well I just struggled with that conflict.

***Spoiler*** Highlight to show spoiler: I found myself completely confused with the Adam, Juliette, Warner love triangle. Here’s why. We start off Unravel Me, and Juliette and Adam are “so in love” and Warner is public enemy number one. When Adam and Juliette are physical it’s like the world has stopped and it’s just the two of them. Yada, yada, yada. But then said conflict I discussed above comes into play and they have to put some distance between themselves. We know from Destroy Me that Warner truly does love Juliette for who she is. So when events take place that lead to Warner and Juliette having a few physical moments, Juliette does the same thing. It’s like she completely forgets about Adam. Warner is the only thing she can think and feel about in that moment. I hate when characters claim to be so in love with one person, but then there’s a connection they share with a third character and in describing the encounters with the third character the main character uses descriptive terms such as “best ever,” “never felt this way,” or other terms that render them incapable in the moment to think about the character they supposedly love. I don’t like it, but I can accept when this happens when the main character has emotional feelings for guy A but perhaps has a supernatural connection with guy B. I still tend to struggle with those scenarios, but as far as I know at this moment in time, there is no supernatural connection between Juliette and Warner that would explain why being with him in any kind of physical connection would severe or overcome her emotional connection to Adam. Unless her emotional connection to Adam isn’t as strong as she originally believed. But evidence doesn’t support this theory either. Ultimately, I know who I’m rooting for and why, but I have no clear vision of how Juliette actually feels and how she can bounce back and forth between the guys so completely like she does. *** End spoiler.

Favorite non-spoiler quotes:

-The world might be sunny-side up today. The big ball of yellow might be spilling into the clouds, runny and yolky and blurring into the bluest sky, bright with cold hope and false promises about fond memories, real families, hearty breakfasts, stacks of pancakes drizzled in maple syrup sitting on a plate in a world that doesn’t exists anymore. Or maybe not.

-But time is beyond our finite comprehension. It’s endless, it exists outside of us; we cannot run out of it or lose track of it or find a way to hold onto it. Time goes on even when we do not.

-It’s like my skin and bones have been craving contact, warm affection, human interaction for so many years that I don’t know how to pace myself. I’m a starving child trying to stuff my stomach, gorging my sense on the decadence of these moments as if I’ll wake up in the morning and realize I’m still sweeping cinders for my stepmother.

-He’s kissing me like he’s lost me and he’s found me and I’m slipping away and he’s never going to let me go.

-“Do you have any idea how awkward it is to wave at someone and have them ignore you? And then you’re just looking around like a [jerk], trying to be all, ‘No, really, I swear, I know that girl’ and no one believes y—“

-I gasp
and
the
world
d i s  a   p    p    e     a     r     s

-How many times, I hear a voice whisper in my head, how many times will you apologize for who you are?

-“We have a million things to take care of down here, and less than none of them involve your love life.”

-I know that he is a tortured soul who, like me, never grew up with the warmth of friendship or love or peaceful coexistence. I know that his father is the leader of The Reestablishment and applauds his son’s murders instead of condemning them and I know that Warner has no idea what it’s like to be normal.
Neither do I.
He’s spent his life fighting to fulfill his father’s expectations of global domination without questioning why, without considering the reprecussions, without stopping long enough to weigh the worth of a human life.

-I forget sometimes, that there are people out there who still manage to smile every day, despite everything.

-I’m so confused, because I don’t even know who he is anymore. He’s 100 different people.

-“Finding this,” he says, his voice soft as he pats the cover of my notebook, “was so”—his eyebrows pull together—“it was so extraordinarily painful.” He finally looks at me and he looks like a completely different person. Like he’s trying to solve a tremendously difficult equation. “It was like meeting a friend for the very first time.”

-I’m checking my pockets for spare words and sentence but I’m finding none, not an adverb, not a preposition or even a dangling participle because there doesn’t exist a single response to such an outlandish request.

-Because what if one day I slip? What if one day I fall through the cracks and no one is willing to pull me back? What happens to me then?

-I want to study the secrets tucked between his elbows and the whispers caught behind his knees.

-”On the darkest days you have to search for a spot of brightness, on the coldest days you have to seek out a spot of warmth; on the bleakest days you have to keep your eyes onward and upward and on the saddest days you have to leave them open to let them cry. To then let them dry. To give them a chance to wash out the pain in order to see fresh and clear once again.” ….This blond boy has my secrets in his mouth. …”So much of it was like seeing myself on paper,” … “Like reading all the things I never knew how to say.”

-I’m only just beginning to realize how quickly I came to rely on the healing properties of an excellent hug.

-“I want you,” he says. He says “I want all of you. I want you inside and out and catching your breath and aching for me like I ache for you.”

-It’s a wanting so desperate, a need so exquisite that it rivals everything, every happy moment I ever thought I knew.

You guys, I could keep quoting and quoting. And believe it or not, I cut out the quotes where I highlighted entire pages at a time. I just can’t help it. This book is packed with so much...so many beautiful words.

I didn’t spend much time talking about the secondary characters, because there aren’t too terribly many of them. But Kenji is an absolute favorite. He’s the one that puts Juliette in her place when she needs it the most, but he also brings the comedic relief as well.

Unravel Me wasn’t as good as Shatter Me even if it was headed in more of a direction that I want to go because of the confusion I had with the triangle. I still love Tahereh Mafi’s writing. Some twists were unexpected, and others were merely annoying. But either way, I’ve GOT to know what happens next. Unravel Me gets 4 Stars from me. Have you read Unravel Me? What did you think? Let me know!

10 Reasons Why I DNF'd Lailah by Nikki Kelly

Lailah (The Styclar Saga, # 1)

By: Nikki Kelly

Published: October 7th 2014 by Feiwel and Friends

352 pages

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Paranormal, Vampires, Angels

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)

( Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository )

*Note: The above links to Amazon and Book Depository are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--The girl knows she’s different. She doesn’t age. She has no family. She has visions of a past life, but no clear clues as to what she is, or where she comes from. But there is a face in her dreams – a light that breaks through the darkness. She knows his name is Gabriel.

On her way home from work, the girl encounters an injured stranger whose name is Jonah. Soon, she will understand that Jonah belongs to a generation of Vampires that serve even darker forces. Jonah and the few like him, are fighting with help from an unlikely ally – a rogue Angel, named Gabriel.

In the crossfire between good and evil, love and hate, and life and death, the girl learns her name: Lailah. But when the lines between black and white begin to blur, where in the spectrum will she find her place? And with whom?

Gabriel and Jonah both want to protect her. But Lailah will have to fight her own battle to find out who she truly is.

I made it about 30% into Lailah before DNFing it. I don’t DNF often, but I’m trying to get better at it. Not because I want to DNF more, but truly because I don’t have as much time as I’d like to read, and so I really want to focus on books that are bringing out all the good feels for me and not the frustrating ones. Let me preface this review by saying that my sister-in-law read and reviewed Lailah and really enjoyed it. She gave it 4 Stars. Here’s a link to her review if you’re interested in seeing a different opinion. That being said…here are 10 reasons why I did not finish Lailah:

1. The beginning was very confusing. It’s not that I have to have things figured out all the time, but during the action sequences in the beginning of the book, I kept feeling like the author was leaving out information. Like how a character makes it from point A to point B. I didn’t highlight any of these in my kindle so I don’t have any specific examples, but there were several times that I had to stop and go “wait, what just happened?”.
2. I was very confused about Lailah’s connection to Gabriel. I didn’t make it far enough into the book to find out what their actual connection stems from, but I did ask my sister-in-law. The prologue really threw me off and had me thinking some really far off ideas about Gabriel that was giving me the creeps. Even after my sister-in-law told me it WASN’T what I was thinking I still found that I couldn’t really find it in me to root for these two.
3. There’s at least somewhat of a love triangle. Now I will say that love triangles in and of themselves do not bother me…IF they’re done well. But like I said I couldn’t root for Lailah and Gabriel, I didn’t feel like I could root for Lailah and Jonah at this point either. The idea of a love triangle in this book was bringing about some major sighing from me.
4. Then there’s the fact that Lailah herself is WAY overly dramatic. (See what I did there?) She’s a bit whiny. You guys know the difference between drama and melodrama, right? Well Lailah fell onto the side of melodrama for me. Just her reactions to everything seemed over the top.
5. The name dropping—iPhone, Chanel, Dior, Mini Cooper, etc—was driving me bonkers. Anytime an author uses brand names, current popular television shows or movies, popular bands, etc…the book is automatically zoned for a specific time period and generation. And readers outside of this time period/generation will have trouble relating. Books like this will never be considered classics.
6. PLUS inconsistencies. There’s the fact that Gabriel gives Lailah an iPhone. She says (I’m paraphrasing) “You’re giving me an iPhone…that’s like the most extravagant gift anyone’s ever given me. I love it!” and then the very next moment he tries to give her his credit card for emergencies. Well now she’s all “I can’t accept that. I HAVE to pay my own way. Or at least pay you back.” And I’m like “Oh so you can accept the $600 iPhone, but not take the credit card?” Seriously?
7. Character stupidity. There are at least two pureblood vampires after Lailah and yet she’s like “I can’t stay here at your safehouse. I have to go back to work.” Because tending bar is so much more important than her life??? Oh wait…she has to pay her way. Maybe that’s why her job is so important.
8. More stupidity/inconsistencies. Gabriel and his group of reformed vampires live in a “safe house” yet Brooke has a PINK MINI COOPER? Because that’s inconspicuous. (I wish you guys could see my face right now.)
9. Plus there’s the “female” that keeps popping in to save Lailah. I want to read about characters learning to save themselves in the moment. Having some invisible or shadowed force or being constantly swooping in to save her from danger is just not that appealing. She, also, conveniently keeps forgetting to mention this female to Gabriel.
10. The writing in general. So this isn’t the worst writing ever. It’s not like epically bad or anything like that. The writing just lacks maturity. Nikki Kelly throws in a few too many adjectives and adverbs. Each sentence is packed with them. Instead of pulling me in, hooking me, and creating a desire to devour this book, I ended up getting pulled out of the story by the writing, feeling apathetic when I wasn’t drowning in frustration, and wanting to put this book down. I found myself highlighting passages in my kindle every page or so and making notes like “ugh” over and over.

And that’s that. It wasn’t awful, but Lailah definitely frustrated me. Unfortunately, this book wasn’t a win for me. There are others who have enjoyed it, so I probably just wasn’t the right person for this book. Have you read Lailah? What did you think? Let me know!

Love Triangles - The Ones That Worked For Me & the Ones That Didn't

Parajunkee did a Valentines Day Book Blogger Challenge, but I totally missed out on getting to post while it was going on. However, I love a couple of her topics so much that I wanted to post my answers to those anyway. Today's topic is all about love triangles. The ones that worked for me and the ones that didn't. Bear with me because this is going to be fairly lengthy.

****There will be spoilers for the books listed below. Proceed with caution.****

The Ones that Worked

Rose/Dimitri/Adrian – This one worked for me because even though I was rooting for Rose and Dimitri to end up together, I still wanted Adrian to have his own happy ending. When the author can make me root for the third wheel while also rooting for the main couple…well that usually (though not always) makes for a successful triangle.

Meghan/Puck/Ash – This one is similar. I was all Meghan and Ash in The Iron King, but in The Iron Daughter, Ash left me pretty cold and had me changing over to Team Puck. While I haven’t finished reading this series, I’m pretty sure I know how this triangle will end.

Elizabeth/Wickham/Darcy – This triangle works because the reader is just as much blinded by Wickham initially as Elizabeth is. Wickham is nothing if not charming. And he effectively (for a while) turns Elizabeth off Darcy (obviously that's not Elizabeth's only turn-off, but for the sake of today's topic...). He could never have predicted that she would reveal to Darcy that Wickham slandered him. And Wickham was also banking on Darcy being too proud to care what lowly Elizabeth Bennet might think of him.

Stephanie/Ranger/Morelli – Oh how I wish Stephanie would choose between these two. However, I can’t blame her when I find myself just as torn between the two of them as she is.

Blue/Adam/Gansey – When reading The Raven Boys, I was frustrated that there was a prophecy that clearly indicated a hookup between Blue and Gansey, yet, Blue and Adam seem to develop a relationship. However, in The Dream Thieves Maggie Stiefvater started really building up this triangle. Obviously this series isn’t over, but right now I like the direction that it’s headed. Had you asked me before reading The Dream Thieves, this one would have been in the “didn’t work” column.

Samm/Marcus/Kira – There’s a slow change and build for this triangle. The triangle also isn’t the main focus of the series so that helps. While I know who I’m rooting for Kira to end up with (*cough* Samm), I’m also rooting for Marcus as well.

The Darkling/Mal/Strumhond/Alina – This square has been up and down for me. I rooted for The Darkling until I realized there was no redemption for him. I am utterly opposed to Mal, so when Strumhond came into the picture, I jumped onto his bandwagon. Unfortunately, I fear I might end up disappointed with the way this one turns out.

Catcher/Elias/Gabry- This was a great love triangle for me. I was whole heartedly rooting for Catcher. And then the unbelievable happens. Slowly I came around to Team Elias. Another sign of a good love triangle (for me) is when I can pull a completely 180 like this without feeling any residual doubt over my choice. The slow progression is what made this one believable.

The Ones that Didn’t

Clary/Simon/Jace – I didn’t buy it. I expected that truly Clary and Jace wouldn’t be brother and sister. But even if they were, Clary clearly never felt for Simon what Simon felt for Clary. And neither felt close to feeling what Clary and Jace felt for each other. Who wants to be the consolation prize? Who wants to be the one who says “I can’t have who I really want….but you’ll do…I guess….maybe.”

Tessa/Will/Jem – I’m sure this one worked for most people. I mean come on Tessa gets a happy ending with both Will and Jem. But I don’t buy it. It felt like a cop out to me. Being a Will fan, it felt like a betrayal. I loved where The Infernal Devices was headed with Clockwork Prince, but Clockwork Princess was a letdown for me.

Katnis/Peeta/Gale – Katniss is totally up front with Gale about not being on the same page with him as far as feelings go at the beginning of The Hunger Games. Of course, she develops feelings for Peeta throughout the Games, and we actually find out that they have history (albeit small, but history none the less) before the Games. Only after Gale’s life is threatened by Snow does Katniss show any real more-than-friends type feelings toward Gale and turn her back on Peeta. This felt like one of those “It’s always been Peeta,” situations, but she flip flopped based on who was in the most danger.

Bella/Edward/Jacob – I think I’m establishing a pattern. I apparently don’t like love triangles that involve the love of the heroine’s life versus the best friend of the heroine. Jacob never stood a chance. So I don’t even understand how this one became as big of a conflict as it did.

Ashton/Beau/Sawyer – This whole series doesn’t work for me. It’s never a good idea to completely change yourself in order to be with someone. Especially if there’s another option that accepts you for who you are. And how Ashton and Sawyer even ended up together period never made sense to me.

Lena/Alex/Julian – Lena annoyed the snot out of me when it comes to this aspect of the series. She finds out that her mother never really died like she thought she did. She’s spent years thinking that her mother was dead to find out that she’s really alive. She doesn’t actually witness Alex’s death, but yet, she readily assumes that he died in their attempted escape to the Wilds. Julian comes in and I could have bought their relationship if I wasn’t yelling at her that Alex is probably still alive. Of course he is. And then she proceeds to act like a two year old and throw Julian in Alex’s face any chance she gets. She comes off as being angry with Alex when she’s the one who started another relationship.

Jack/Cassie/Chrystle (The Perfect Game by J Sterling not pictured, which I haven't posted my review for yet)- Jack thinks he knocks up Chrystle in a one night stand and drops the love of his life like a sack of potatoes as soon as he finds out in order to be a good dad. I'm not buying what you're selling. Especially considering how he’s planning on marrying someone that he not only doesn’t love but pretty much despises. Even a moron could figure out that such a relationship can only end badly. Plus how do you justifying having an ongoing relationship outside of marriage with someone you pretty much hate? Yeah. This is probably one of the worst triangles ever.

Evan/Emma/Drew/Jonathan- Again. We’ve got the love of your life. You had a misunderstanding. And yet you purposefully seek out another relationship. It’s not going to work. And I can’t root for it. Then despite everything else, Emma is completely oblivious to the potential danger that Jonathan presents to her relationship with Evan. Wise up.

Deamon/Katy/Blake – Was anyone Team Blake? At any point? I just wanted to slap Katy through this stint of the series.

Cassian/Jacinda/Will – I was all for Team Will when I read Firelight, but whenever supernatural/willy-nilly love bonds are forged I find it hard to fight against them. Once Jacinda and Cassian were bounded (aka dragon term for married, but deeper to where they can feel everything the other feels) then I find it hard to believe that Jacinda maintains her independent feelings for Will. After the bounding ceremony I was Team Cassian.

Peter/Alice/Jack – Again…supernatural connection here. I’m pretty sure Amanda Hocking starting her writing career with this series as Twilight fan fiction. So for there to be so many similarities to Twilight is expected. Yet, I think Ms. Hocking played with the concept of what if Jacob had imprinted on Bella. Would that have changed anything? Her conclusion: no. Jack and Alice fight the blood bond that Alice and Peter have in order to end up together. I, however, don’t fight the supernatural bond and wanted Alice to end up with Peter.

Mercy/Flynn/Luke/Paul/Sebastian - Mercy…Mercy. I feel love “triangles” that include more than 3 parties are pretty much ridiculous anyway. Well at least when all of the points lead back to one person. If it were a square with two guys and two girls. Ex: Characters A & B are in LURVE, but character C is trying for Character A and Character D is trying for Character B…maybe. But even that’s pushing it. Mercy finds herself making out and feeling all these feels for MANY guys. Therefore I find her “true love” with Luke even more far fetched.

Zoey/Eric/Heath/Stark/Kalona – Again with the multiple people involved with this mess. Zoey is just as bad as Mercy in bouncing from guy to guy. Now that I think about it, I wonder if the Cambion series is a retelling/spin off/fan fiction based off the House of Night series? Zoey “loves” too many characters in this series for such a short span of time. It’s not believable. Except for showing how much she must not know/understand real love.

Mimi/Jack/Schuyler/Oliver – Jack’s got a supernatural type connection to both Schuyler and Mimi. The whole twin thing was confusing. It would have been harder not to root for Mimi if she weren’t a shallow and hateful person. She made it easy to hate her, but it was confusing that Jack struggled with this. And then when Jack and Schuyler go through a stint of “we literally CAN’T be together,” Schulyer has a brief relationship with her longtime best friend Oliver who is the consolation prize similar to the Clary/Jace/Simon triangle from The Mortal Instruments.

To sum it up, apparently love triangles that work for me are often slow building and take a lot of work on the authors part to have me switch teams when necessary. And love triangles that don't work for me happen when there's a supernatural aspect the characters are somehow able to overcome. You can bet that if the love "triangle" has more than 4 parties then I'm out. Best friend vs. love-of-my-life...love of my life is going to win every time. Consolation prize relationships are 100% doomed to failure. What about you? Did any of these love triangles work for you that didn't work for me? Are there any that I didn't list that you feel strongly one way or the other about? Let me know!