That's What HE Said is a weekly meme hosted by the wonderful ladies at Chapter Break. It's a chance for us to spotlight and gush over a quote from our current book crush to the object of his desire. We like to pretend it's us ;) What better way to celebrate our book boyfriends?
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The Shatter Me series is a great choice if you're looking for something that has plenty of tension. With Ignite Me, I had no idea which way Juliette would go, but I enjoyed the chemistry she had with Warner when she was around him. ~ Bel
Warner steps so close to me I’m actually afraid to move.
“You once accused me of not knowing the meaning of love,” he
says. “But you were wrong. You fault me, perhaps, for loving you too much.” His
eyes are so intense. So green. So cold. “But at least I do not deny my own
heart.”
“And you think I do,” I whisper.
Warner drops his eyes. Says nothing.
“What you don’t understand,” I tell him, my voice catching,
“is that I don’t even know my own heart anymore. I don’t know how to name what
I feel yet and I need time to figure it out. You want more right now but right
now what I need is for you to be my friend—”
Warner flinches.
“I do not have friends,” he says.
“Why can’t you try?” He shakes his head. “Why? Why not give
it a chance—”
“Because I am afraid,” he finally says, voice shaking, “that
your friendship would be the end of me.”
I’m still frozen in place as his office door slams shut
behind him.
The heart-stopping conclusion to the New York Times
bestselling Shatter Me series, which Ransom Riggs, bestselling author of Miss
Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, called "a thrilling, high-stakes
saga of self-discovery and forbidden love".
Juliette now knows she may be the only one who can stop the
Reestablishment. But to take them down, she'll need the help of the one person
she never thought she could trust: Warner. And as they work together, Juliette
will discover that everything she thought she knew-about Warner, her abilities,
and even Adam-was wrong.
In Shatter Me, Tahereh Mafi created a captivating and
original story that combined the best of dystopian and paranormal and was
praised by Publishers Weekly as "a gripping read from an author who's not
afraid to take risks." The sequel, Unravel Me, blew readers away with
heart-racing twists and turns, and New York Times bestselling author Kami
Garcia said it was "dangerous, sexy, romantic, and intense." Now this
final book brings the series to a shocking and climactic end.
WOW!!! The description does not lie. Ignite Me is rife with
a lot of turmoil and uncertainty but it also comes with a surprising amount of
humor.
Last we saw, Juliette was fighting for her life and Warner,
with the help of the twins, set about to save her. When Juliette wakes up
disoriented, she is greeted by a relieved Warner who has to give her the
unfortunate news that the rest of her comrades are dead from the attacks
carried out by his psychotic father. Warner
keeps her at his compound, safely hidden from the public eye as she recuperates. Things
were already getting complicated between them previously and now they're both doing this awkward dance around each other. He basically lays
all his cards on the table for her and she would rather not say anything, well,
because she’d have to make up her mind once and for all – Adam or Warner. It’s scary. And it’s
Warner for crying out loud!
Anyway, while they’re busy with that, there is the matter of
the Reestablishment and what to do about daddy dearest. Juliette firmly
believes that she can’t do anything without her friends and with Warner’s help,
she seeks them out. The rest of the story is essentially enemies and friends
coming together to take down the order that has ruined their lives. Alliances
never thought possible are born but that doesn't erase any suspicions or tensions easily.
Speaking of tension, while it’s easy to just zero in on the whole
Juliette-Warner-Adam love triangle, Ignite Me is really about Juliette. She’s
no longer a dainty wallflower. This is where she realizes her full potential. She’s had
enough and wants to get rid of the current regime once and for all. Her
conflicted feelings for Adam and Warner may distract her temporarily here and
there but manages to find her focus.
I have to say another of the
best parts of Ignite Me has been Kenji, Adam's best friend. He’s a much-needed
foil to Juliette’s tendency to live inside her head. Honest to goodness, he had
me laughing out loud several times. (Once while I was at my kid’s basketball practice.
That earned me a few weird looks. Their loss.) I have many, many passages in this book
highlighted and they’re mostly Kenji’s quotes. Their friendship is built on
solid trust and encouragement. It’s heartwarming to see Juliette have that
after years of misery and isolation. Her friends mean more to her than the
possibility of a relationship with either of the other two men in her life.
When she finally figures that mess out, it’s on her terms after she has sorted herself out first. You even notice her change through her language. Gone are the series of repetitive, almost hypnotic thoughts that get scratched out every so often. It’s a rough road with some broken hearts, harsh truths and uncomfortable changes. This new Juliette is a far cry from who we met in Shatter Me
and it’s awesome!
The entire series has been an absolute thrill ride with
plenty to keep me excited about and on edge. The sexual tension between
Juliette/Warner/Adam may have had me swooning but that’s secondary
to the real story. Juliette’s
hard-fought journey to become the assertive, formidable young woman and warrior
that she is in this final installment is what makes Ignite Me impressive.
No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal, but The Restablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon.
But Juliette has plans of her own.
After a lifetime without freedom, she’s finally discovering a strength to fight back for the very first time – and to find a future with the one boy she thought she’d lost forever.
I couldn’t believe my luck that I was the first one to snag a copy of Shatter Me from my library! I literally pushed aside all the other books on my list to read this one.
Juliette Ferrars has been locked away for 3 years because of a crime she unwittingly committed. In that time, she has counted and recounted every detail that surrounds her – the minutes, hours, days gone by, the walls. She associates everything with numbers. And that’s how she has survived until she is stuck with a cellmate. After years of solitary confinement, sharing a cell with a complete stranger startles her senses and awakens her from her numbness. And it's quite awkward for her because her new cellmate is a boy, Adam Kent, someone she remembers from her past. It's remarkable to watch her go through her inner struggle of wanting to interact with someone and also withdraw into her own shell where she feels most protected. You realize how fragile she can be and thankfully Adam is exceptionally kind and gives her the space to breathe.
The third character in the book is Warner, a brutal dictator-in-training, who has “daddy issues”. Think of a nineteen year-old demon spawn son of any recently fallen dictator and that’s what you have here – a kid looking for acceptance and power by preying on everyone’s fear. Juliette is his key to absolute power and he’s seriously disturbed. Any time he’s close to Juliette is cringe-worthy. He confuses his blood lust for power with that of love. While Juliette is repulsed by his deranged mind, she also finds herself strangely fascinated by him. He tries to convince her that they are one and the same – gifted people unwanted by others. Juliette though doesn't want to be a monster even if the whole world has turned its back on her. She is at a crossroads between embracing her touch as a gift or as a curse and she has to decide soon because she could be the linchpin in the pending rebellion.
One of the things I love most about Shatter Me is that Mafi has given Juliette a distinctive voice. Her rhythmic and hypnotic tones are mesmerizing and through her words I could see and feel all the jumbled thoughts dancing around Juliette’s mind. It gets more intriguing when she starts to experience heightened awareness of things around her. And the descriptions of her intimate moments with Adam are so poetic at times. Adam is definitely her hero who has his own complicated past but hopes for a bright future. He provides Juliette the reassurance and sense of security she needs. Together they have a very passionate connection that it's like watching fireworks go off.
I highly recommend Shatter Me. It's heavy emphasis on the beauty and urgency of physical contact is filled with plenty of anticipation and emotion. The action is quite intense and on par with the Hunger Games or the Maze Runner. But what sets it apart from the others is Tahereh Mafi's beautiful prose that plants Shatter Me in another sphere entirely.
Jason has a problem. He doesn’t remember anything before waking up on a school bus holding hands with a girl. Apparently she’s his girlfriend Piper, his best friend is a kid named Leo, and they’re all students in the Wilderness School, a boarding school for “bad kids.” What he did to end up here, Jason has no idea—except that everything seems very wrong.
Piper has a secret. Her father has been missing for three days, and her vivid nightmares reveal that he’s in terrible danger. Now her boyfriend doesn’t recognize her, and when a freak storm and strange creatures attack during a school field trip, she, Jason, and Leo are whisked away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood. What is going on?
Leo has a way with tools. His new cabin at Camp Half-Blood is filled with them. Seriously, the place beats Wilderness School hands down, with its weapons training, monsters, and fine-looking girls. What’s troubling is the curse everyone keeps talking about, and that a camper’s gone missing. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist they are all—including Leo—related to a god.
I’ll probably start a riot by saying this but I love Percy Jackson more than…Harry Potter.
Alright, looks like I survived saying the unthinkable.
There is just something about Percy and his friends that I find so endearing. So when I finally found the time to pick up The Lost Hero at the beginning of this year, I was ecstatic and suspicious all at the same time. I was ecstatic because, the world of Camp Half-Blood was back. I was suspicious because Mr. Riordan was starting a new series with new characters. What if I didn’t like them as much as Percy? What if the story was disappointing? What if, what if, what if?
Well I worried needlessly. The Lost Hero manages to stay close enough to the original series to make young fans happy but also holds its own apart from the Percy Jackson books. Jason, Piper and Leo end up being just as lost and loveable as our Percy.
The story begins with Jason waking up on a bus that is taking him and his friends on a field trip. The problem? He doesn’t know who he is, where he is or how he got there. Leo and Piper are at a loss as to why their friend doesn’t remember them. But before they can find a way to regain Jason’s memories, disaster strikes and the three of them find themselves as the newest guests of Camp Half-Blood. As they learn about their parentage and Jason tries to regain his memories, a new prophecy is given:
Seven half-bloods shall answer the call
To storm or fire the world must fall
An oath to keep with a final breath
And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death
The three of them head off on a quest to not only fulfill the prophecy (or at least part of it) but also to learn more about Jason. And here begins what Riordan does best. Non-stop action. Along the way they meet both old and new friends and enemies. They overcome and/or escape ridiculously dangerous obstacles. It’s a wild ride that leaves you with a doozy of a cliffhanger.
There were three things that I absolutely loved about this book. First, Riordan cleverly alternates between three points of view (Jason, Leo and Piper). And even though each POV is in third person, you are still able to get a clear view into each characters personality. Second, it was super AWESOME to see both Greek and Roman mythology woven together. And third, I loved the age of the characters. Unlike the beginning of Percy, where the kids are 12 years old, Jason and his friends are 16/17 years old. The age difference allows for more action and a slightly more mature narrative.
I honestly could go on and on about how much I enjoyed this book but I don’t want to spoil any part of it for you. So I will just tell you this - buy this or borrow it. One way or another, you MUST read it!
And then when you are done reading it (because I told you to and you should all listen to me, Bel and Shel) go and buy or borrow Book 2, Son of Neptune, which was just released today. Just in case you didn’t figure it out from the title, PERCY IS BACK and the Bibliojunkies could not be more excited!
Now let’s live it up a little and celebrate Greek Week in true book blog fashion. We are GIVING AWAY a hardcover copy ofTHE LOST HERO by Rick Riordan. You can enter up to three times by doing one or more of the following - Leaving a comment on this post, Following us on GFC, or following us on Twitter. Be sure to click on the “I Did This” button in the box below after each entry. This contest is open through 12:01AM CST on 10/9/2011. A winner will be announced on 10/10/2011.
If you haven’t yet done so, check out yesterday’s interview with the FABULOUS Jennifer Estep. She talks about her book, Touch of Frost and also tells us what fictional boy she would most want to date. Let’s just say that her response left me in a tizzy as she (along with Tahereh Mafi) is now direct competition for one of my long time fictional loves! And don't forget to enter to win a copy of Touch of Frost!
And check back tomorrow as we continue our celebration of Greek Week with Shel’s review of Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini!
