A review by jazmin
Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

5.0

“Ignite, my love. Ignite.”

Reread #2 Update:
I just felt like reading this again for some reason… so I did. Definitely still as adorable and fun as the last two times.

Original Review:
This book is so gorgeous and is on an entirely different level than it’s predecessors. I love series where there’s a big twist or reveal that changes everything; and this book is where that happens in this series. And let me tell you it is one of my favourite things ever. Warning: spoilers.

⇢Juliette
If there’s anything I love its character development. Or rather, character growth. And no one changed as much as Juliette did in this book. She’s so different than the terrified girl she was in the first book, and honestly the way she describes it is absolutely perfect:

“This isn't about Adam or Warner," I tell him, "This is about me and what I want. This is about me finally understanding where I want to be in ten years. Because I'm going to be alive, Kenji. I will be alive in ten years, and I'm going to be happy. I'm going to be strong. And I don't need anyone to tell me that anymore. I am enough, and I always will be.” … “He and I would end up like water going nowhere. Water that never moves-- It's fine for a little while. You can drink from it and it'll sustain you. But if it sits too long it goes bad. It grows stale. It becomes toxic.
 I need waves. I need waterfalls. I want rushing currents.”

⇢Aaron

Aaron Warner. Is there a more perfect character? Okay, there is, but purely because he’s still pretty morally grey even after the big reveal, but I love him nonetheless. He’s one of those characters you don’t expect to like (for good reason in this series) and then it makes it all that much better when you do. And honestly, 90% of this book’s iconic lines are said by him so that tells me all I need to know.

“It's not charity," I snap. "He cares about me--and I care about him!"
Warner nods, unimpressed. "You should get a dog, love. I hear they share much the same qualities.”

⇢Juliette and Aaron
And don’t even get me started on Warner and Juliette as a couple. Literally, everything about them is perfect. Their initial interactions before this book, how Juliette went into this book not knowing the true Warner, her discovering who he really is, her advocating for him to her friends, her process of discovery when it came to her feelings, her admitting them, E V E R Y T H I N G was perfect. I honestly wouldn’t change anything except to increase how much of them we got. Which I always want.

“It's the kind of kiss that inspires stars to climb into the sky and light up the world.”

And one more because as I said they are perfect:

“His hands are holding my cheeks, and he pulls back just to look me in the eye and his chest is heaving and he says, "I think," he says, "my heart is going to explode," and I wish, more than ever, that I knew how to capture moments like these and revisit them forever.
Because this.
This is everything.”

⇢The Plot
I think the one thing lacking in this book is the specifics of the plot. I still love it because to me the characters will always matter more than what they’re actually doing, but with this book, the amount of detail that we knew about the world increased a lot, and so much of it could have been done better.

First, the actual world-building. At times it was unclear, confusing, and didn’t seem fully planned out. Second, the character interactions, besides Warner and Juliette and Juliette and Kenji and Adam. The dynamics between the characters as well as the content we got from them could have been a lot more relevant and interesting.

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ❦ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

My Ignite Me Playlist:
Romeo by Until The Ribbon Breaks
Hold Me Down by Halsey
Glory and Gore by Lorde
my aaron warner playlist

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