therobinjoyce's reviews
348 reviews

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

A gripping and fast-paced sequel to Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me. I really enjoyed the continuation of the story in this book and loved all the different characters that we get to meet and know more.

I did find Juliette’s character rather wishy-washy throughout and Adam’s brooding just made me want to slap him but Kenji’s characterization and character arc as well as Warner’s re-introduction was brilliant and really enthralling.

I also loved that we got to see more of James and how he has adapted to life at Omega Point.

The action was non-stop and the constant revelations, red-herrings, and twists and turns left me reeling, from frustrated one moment to OMG the next! It was honestly brilliant and the writing style used to convey Juliette’s character is really well done and poetic. I loved it. Not as much as Shatter Me, but still an amazing book!

Content Warnings

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 13%.

DNF'ed. Very slow and the writing style was not evocative or engrossing. Bland characters and no conceivable storyline. Jumping form one timeline to the next with no warning. I do not understand the hype.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 61%.

DNF'ED at page 200. Very slow paced and lengthy. Not at all gripping enough to keep going

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Juliette is 17 years old and has been a prisoner, locked away from society for 3 years. It has been an eternity since Juliette experienced physical touch because within her roils a power that is dangerous to those around her. Just one touch from her can cripple a man. Just one touch can kill.

Everything about this story was astounding. From the pacing, to the plot, to the characterization, the character ARCS, the dialogue to the climax. I was put off from starting these asI was worried they wouldn’t live up to the hype but man, they totally felt worthy of all the praise I’ve seen. I was left gobsmacked, reeling, crying, and literally whiplashed from reading this book and it was SOOO worth it!

For a YA book series, there’s a significant amount of steam between certain characters and it was nice to read a YA with gritty undertones and that erred on the older age bracket of the YA spectrum, allowing for some more mature content to slip in.

Just everything about this book was incredible and I would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone who enjoys fiction, especially YA dystopian lit with a romantic subplot.

Content Warnings