Review: Unravel Me

Title: Unravel Me
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Date Released: February 5, 2013
Pages: 461
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Description:
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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.

Review:
I did read Shatter Me; I just never got around to writing up a review for it. In short, I liked it.  On the other hand,  I loved Unravel Me.  It had much more intensity and more things were coming together.  I felt that the first book was too much of an introduction to the Juliette's world, even though it is the first book and that makes sense for the first book in a series, I just felt that there was something lacking in Shatter Me; it just didn't draw me into Juliette's world.  But Unravel Me had it all.

Juliette has now found refuge with Adam at Omega Point - a place where people like her live; people with powers that maybe lethal or helpful.  However, Warner is still on the look out for her and Castle is ready to do whatever it takes to protect his people, even it means trying to go against the huge army of The Reestablishment.

The intensity of Unravel Me was raised up a thousand notches.  I loved all the twist and turns, when plans didn't work out and when victories were made.  Mafi was able to make the story super intriguing, adding major surprises along with fight scenes and intense encounters that definitely kept me reading.

One thing that I wasn't the biggest fan of in Shatter Me and for a bit of Unravel Me was Juliette.  She seemed like a nice person who was just scared.  But sometimes, she does mope around a lot as if she is the only person going through the situation that she's going through when in reality, the people around her have it worse as well.  Kenji, one of my favorite, funny characters, was the one who sort of gave her the wake-up call that she needed to change her attitude.  She got progressively better throughout Unravel Me, and I hope that in the next book she'll have a different attitude that's less mopey.  And maybe a little more decisive because...

UGH!  The love triangle!  Don't even get me started on that.  Unravel Me had me torn between who Juliette should be with - Adam or Warner?  That is the question.  One of the biggest surprises was Warner's change in character, which I guess anyone could see coming, but still, it was a pretty deep change.  He became vulnerable and weaker in Unravel Me in comparison to the cruel man he was in Shatter Me.  But Adam... Adam is still the kind man he was in Shatter Me, always taking care of Juliette and his little brother.  He doesn't have a single mean streak, unless it comes to Warner.

Overall, Unravel Me was a great follow up to Shatter Me.  Mafi's writing is wonderful and the words just flow out and almost seem like poetry.  Through her writing, you really understand the strong emotions that Juliette's feeling.  Unravel Me was also a lot more of a roller coaster ride with more character development in Juliette.  The love triangle was also escalated to the next level with the twists and turns that Mafi kept adding into the story.  I loved this one and definitely cannot wait until the last one comes out next year!

Cover Review:
I will admit that I was kind of bummed that they changed the cover concept.  But, now I realize that I actually like this one A LOT more.  Sure it doesn't fit my Shatter Me copy, but I love the intricate detail coming from the eye and the overall light blue color scheme mixed with a bit of pink.  It really catches your eye, even though the eye is a bit creepy.

Cleo :)

*Description and cover from goodreads.com
**Review copy won in a giveaway hosted by Pitch Dark.