Waiting on Wednesday (29): Unravel Me

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. Visit Breaking The Spine to see more entries!

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2) by Tahereh Mafi

Release Date:  February 5th 2013 by HarperCollins

Format: Hardcover

 Goodreads Summary:

tick, tick, tick, tick, tick
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

Reasons I want to read & own this book: 

1. The genre. I really am falling in love with young adult dystopian novels. Shatter Me (book 1) in this series was a mix of a post apocalyptic world with a dash of xmenish vibes because some characters have unique powers and are willing to risk it all to get away from the oppressive system/government in the story.

2. The villain. Warner. I just loved how complex he was. Beautiful on the outside, corrupt and tyrannical on the inside yet somewhat vulnerable with a hidden longing. When you hate and love a character, all at the same time, and feel confused as a reader on how to feel, you know you have a winning character in terms of depth.

What do you guys think? :)

Dreamcasting (7): From books to film

I am a very visual person and when I read a book I like to envision in my head what each book character would look like in actuality and who could play their roles if they ever adapted that particular book into a film.

What is a dreamcast? Well, it's the cast of actors that you think would be perfect to interpret a character on screen. Today I will dreamcast a popular book character and explain why I think the actor I chose for this dreamcast would be perfect for the role of said character.

Dreamcast for Sophie Collins, Warner & Adam Kent

Astrid Berges-Frisbey as Sophie Collins from Clockwork Angel

I originally learned of Astrid because she is an Spanish/French actress who appeared in the last Pirates of the Caribbean film (On Stranger Tides) as a mermaid named Syrena. Her character in that film really stood out to me because on the surface, she was part of a group of very vicious mermaids who attacked men at sea, but when you got to know more of her, she showed that she was not as violent as the rest of the mermaids. Astrid was incredibly fierce yet gentle in Pirates of the Caribbean and also caring and full of character. 

Sophie Collins who is a secondary character in the historical urban fantasy novel named Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, holds all of the qualities that Astrid displayed so well in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Sophie is a very strong character who carries a scar on her face because when she was a parlor maid (a maid chosen for her beauty in the Victorian era) - she refused the advances of the younger man who was her boss and he later proceeded to cut her face to 'ruin' her physical beauty. Sophie definitely is insecure about her scar but she is described as being incredibly beautiful, loyal, shy but determined to do the right thing and smart. I definitely feel like Astrid could portray the beauty, vulnerability & fierce strength that characterizes Sophie to the T.

Sebastian Sauve as Warner from Shatter Me

Warner is the resident villain in the incredibly poetic and powerful dystopian novel named Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. He is a unique villain in that he is incredibly young, he is not the older Voldemort-esque villain that tends to be prevalent in young adult literature. He is described as being very fit, handsome, perfectionistic and obsessed with power. He runs an army on behalf of the reestablishment which is lead by his father and controls the society at large in Shatter Me. Warner is a very cold villain, who will shoot and kill anyone on the spot to inspire terror and fear at large with his soldiers. He also, as evil as he is, has a certain charm and hidden vulnerability that makes him all the more dangerous because here is this young man who is incredibly physically beautiful, who at first glance people would not suspect to be so murderous and dangerous, who nevertheless is incredibly corrupted and murderous.

I decided to pick Sebastian Sauve as my Warner because he is an incredibly popular male model in the fashion world, who has the build, height and look for Warner - blond hair, height, angular face, strength to his presence. Also Sebastian seems to be in his personality, very light hearted and charming and Warner - though incredibly cold and calculating- is a charmer, despite his psychopathic tendencies and I think Sebastian could embody that on screen and as a model, he can bring that silent/strong energy that he uses on the runway to Warner's calculating & villainous personality as the head of an army for his dad.

Michael Fjordbak as Adam Kent from Shatter Me 


Adam Kent is the male lead in the dystopian novel Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. He is a soldier in the army of the Reestablishment (that is the government and system in place that controls society in Shatter Me). The only reason why Adam joined the army was to learn of Juliette (the female lead in Shatter Me who has been locked up for years because she can't touch people due to having special powers). Adam is incredibly caring, strong, and an amazing support system to Juliette and his little brother, and he is a character that tugs on the heartstrings because of how ill he was treated by his father. Adam is described as being tall, with incredibly piercing blue eyes and dark hair. So, when I saw Michael Fjordbak on Teen Wolf one day, I was, like, "that is so Adam Kent" - since Michael has the height and physical appearance of Adam and also because I feel like he could portray the goodness, determination, strength that so defines Adam in Shatter Me from what I saw from his character on Teen Wolf (the young Peter Hale).






 Have you ever dreamcasted your favorite book characters? If you have, let me know about it. Also, if any of you have a different dreamcasting idea for the character I mentioned in this post, I would love to hear about it, as well. Thanks for reading :) 

 

Cover Reveal Thursday

Hey guys.

So, lately there have been a lot of cover reveals for either new books, upcoming releases or re-releases and I wanted to share with you, my readers, my favorite two covers that I have seen over the last few weeks.

Cover #1

Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2) by Tahereh Mafi

Release Date:  February 5th 2013 by HarperCollins

Format: Hardcover

 

 

Isn't this cover just stunning? Cover art at it's best, in my opinion. So Unravel Me is the second installment in the Shatter Me series. Shatter Me was an incredibly amazing and poetic dystopian novel and I can't wait to read book 2 in this series.

Cover #2

The Indigo Spell (Bloodlines #3) by Richelle Mead

Release Date:  February 12th 2013 by Razorbill

Format: Hardcover

 

 

 

I cannot wait for this book. I am a huge fan of the Bloodlines series and I'm constantly amazed at how talented Richelle Mead is when it comes creating book series that are so unique even though they may take place in the same world as her previous books. I say this since the Bloodline series is a spin off series of Vampire Academy. I love the main characters in Bloodlines (Sydney and Adrian) and can't wait to see how they conquer more challenges in The Indigo Spell. Speaking of, I just love the cover for The Indigo Spell. The color, with the flowers around the title, everything looks great, though I am intrigued by the new guy on the cover (one on the left) since Adrian is on the right. I wonder who he may be? February can't come soon enough! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do you guys think? Are there any book covers that you are gushing about? And if so, which ones are they? :)

Thanks for reading lovelies <3

 

Cover Reveal Friday

Hey guys.

So, lately there have been a lot of cover reveals for either new books, upcoming releases or re-releases and I wanted to share with you, my readers, my favorite two covers that I have seen over the last few weeks.

Cover #1

Destroy Me (Shatter Me #1.5) by Tahereh Mafi

Release Date: October 2nd 2012 by HarperCollins

Format: Ebook

You guys. This cover. This COVER. So stunning that I can't even. So, Destroy Me is Shatter Me told from the point-of-view of Warner. If you haven't read Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi you really should think about doing so. It was an incredible dystopian novel with an incredibly poetic prose. And why am I super excited about Destroy Me? Well, because it is the story of Shatter Me told from Warner's perspective. Warner was the resident villain from Shatter Me. He was to me the biggest highlight of the story because of the dimensionality of his character. And that's a lot to say because Juliette and Adam were AMAZING main characters.

 

 But back to Warner, our villain in Shatter Me. Yes, he was crazy evil and a scary psychopath with incredibly neat hair BUT there was a subtle, dare I say it, vulnerability to him underneath all of that. Well, at least, that was the vibe I got, like there was just much more to him under the surface. And no I didn't like Warner as a person but I loved that he was so fascinating and that he had that vibe of maybe having a secret compelling side to him. And let me tell you, a villain like this is not easy to come by which is why I thought Tahereh did such an amazing job with the creation of his character and why I need Destroy Me, asap!

 

 

 

 

 

Cover #2

All the Broken Pieces by Cindi Madsen

Release Date: December 11th 2012 by Entangled Publishing

Format: Paperback 

 

 

 

Love love love this cover. I love how fragmented it is while remaining beautiful and cohesive, all at the same time. In All the Broken Pieces we have a girl who is recovering from a car accident that put her in a coma and from what I read in the summary, it seems like her thoughts are gonna be split in two different directions. So, I definitely think this book is gonna be deep, complex, and interesting and I can't wait to read it. Besides, Cindi is awesome so I know this will be fabulous as well!

What do you guys think? Are there any book covers that you are gushing about? And if so, which ones are they? :)

Thanks for reading lovelies <3

 

Cover Reveal Thursday

Hey guys.

So, lately there have been a lot of cover reveals for either new books, upcoming releases or re-releases and I wanted to share with you, my readers, my favorite three covers that I have seen over the last few weeks.

Cover #1

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Release Date: October 16, 2012 by Harper

Format: Paperback

Shatter Me is already out in Hardcover. It is an amazing dystopian & incredibly poetic novel. Read my review here. But yea, for the paperback release, they decided to change the cover because they wanted a cover that more accurately reflected the story.

Cover #2

Finale (Hush, Hush, #4) by Becca Fitzpatrick

Release Date: October 23rd 2012 by Simon & Schuster

Format: Hardcover

I have not read the Hush, Hush series yet. But I am crazy over the covers for these books. They are just so gorgeous & full of drama & artistic. I just love them. A lot of my fellow book bloggers have gushed about this series so I look forward to starting it eventually since I luckily own the 1st installment in this Hush, Hush saga.

Cover #3

My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris

Release Date: September 11th 2012 by Entangled Publishing 

Format: Paperback

I just can't even. I want to hug this cover. Isn't that dress just amazeballs and the backdrop with the castle and everything? <3 I'm a historical geek, what can I say. And speaking of geekery LOL --> I totally geek out for the Italian Renaissance and the premise of this book is that the main character, Cat Crawford, goes to Italy on vacation and through magic of some sorts or something like that, she gets transported to the 16th century in Italy. The Italian Renaissance to be more specific. And, I cannot wait to read about it. I just think that this book is gonna be incredibly fun and I love Rachel. She is so nice, and if you don't, follow her on twitter. Sweetest person evahh.

What do you guys think? Are there any book covers that you are gushing about? And if so, which ones are they? :)

Thanks for reading lovelies <3

Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1) by Tahereh Mafi

Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1) by Tahereh Mafi

 Publisher:  Harper/HarperCollins 

 Release Date: November 15th 2011 

Genre:  YA Dystopia/paranormal/romance

Source: Bought 

Goodreads Summary:

Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war-- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting as The Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices, Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel.

My Review:

In accordance to it's title Shatter Me really does shatter your thoughts. Why? Well, because this book is thought provoking, packed with suspense, and emotion. It just breaks through to you, almost making you feel renewed because of how different you start to look at things after delving into such beautiful writing and storytelling. This book takes place in a really dark and suppressed environment -a semi post apocalyptic world- yet is filled with much hope and passion. The stakes are high for the main characters in Shatter Me and the emotions are raw.

The characterization in this book is what made it so excellent for me. And yes the writing is quite unique and poetic but the characters in Shatter Me just blew me away. They had such a loveliness to them and such depth!

Juliette, our female protagonist and narrator, is a phenomenal young woman. She believes herself to be a monster because her touch can be fatal and has been made to feel like one because of The Reestablishments (the government in place) forced isolation and the rejection of her peers and parents. Ironically though, the mistreatment bestowed upon her has not made Juliette a bitter person at all. On the contrary, she is actually quite compassionate and empathetic. And is very moral in the sense that she has a keen sense and conviction to do the right thing! 

Adam, the male lead in this book and romantic prospect for Juliette, is quite a beautiful character as well. He has an incredible love and admiration for Juliette and his little brother James and he truly just wants to hold onto what is good even though the world he lives and operates in is quite confined and dark. When you meet these characters, you quite aren't sure where their familiarity with each other comes from, but the sparks between them are electric. The tension and suspense is on another level when it comes to Adam and Juliette and when you consider that Juliette has not been allowed to live or really feel because of her powers, the emotional ramifications of their encounter and who they are to each other, is quite elevated, indeed!

The best part of this novel, what makes it shine for me, is it's villain. Warner has to be one of the most well developed villains I've read about in a long time. What I thought was unique about him was the fact that despite how evil he was, I never wished him away. And when I say he is evil, I mean it. He gives Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter a run for his money. And it is is more eerie because Warner is a quite young and handsome man, even charming, one could say. Making him even more dangerous.

Warner is all about instilling fear in others through physical violence and psychological manipulation. He is very maniacal in the way a crazed dictator would be and hungry for power. And since he thinks power comes from controlling others, the level of violence he implements on those under his command is quite escalated. Though despite his machiavellic and morbidly sick way of operating, there is a mystery to him. A hidden sense that maybe his lack of humanity comes from a tortured past or broken family. Though past hurt doesn't justify a person becoming a monster, people who suffer extreme trauma usually become overly sensitive to others pain and crusade for justice OR they take out their anger, frustration, and fear out on others through violence and Warner might be the latter. Not that any of that is known for sure because Warner is a mystery. Though the sense that he might be secretly hiding some sense of vulnerability is never quite lost in the novel. And his inexplicable connection to Juliette is quite intriguing as well. Despite mistreating her and despite her hate for him, there is an energy there that is quite mysterious and new when it comes to heroine/villain dynamics in novels. 

Book two in this series couldn't come quick enough!

My Rating: 4.5 / 5