Audio Review ~ Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi

Publication Date: February 5, 2013
Publisher: Harper Audio
Source: purchased

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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.

My Review:  * Contains spoilers for Shatter Me ~ fair warning *

At the end of Shatter Me, Juliette seemed to be on the verge of taking control.  At least, that is what it felt like for me.  She had escaped to Omega Point, found refuge with others who have bizarre powers, found a safe place that was willing to help her nurture her abilities.  I expected Unravel Me to start with a huge punch of power, of self awareness and control on Juliette's part.

What I found instead was the same old Juliette.  Mopey, depressed, self-deprecating and annoying.  There were several moments when we would see a spark, a flicker of something...something that maybe meant Juliette was finally ready to be more. All too quickly that little flicker would snuff out.

“I am nothing more than the consequence of catastrophe.”

I understand her life has been ridiculously horrible and hard but come on already. Grow a backbone and use it rationally. That's all I'm asking.  I lost a bit of my love for Juliette with Unravel Me. She just got more and more ridiculous, more selfish, more ridiculous...did I say that already?  Her decision making ability was non existent, she did dumb thing after stupid thing followed by moronic thing.  When she should have been learning and training and working to save lives she was instead dreaming about boys and kisses and touches and ugh....just getting utterly distracted by all things Juliette, Adam and Warner.

Let's move on, shall we?  We are finally exposed to the reason Adam can touch Juliette and brings on a whole new set of problems for them.  While I can sympathize with the situation, Adam's reaction to it and decisions he makes because of it had me gritting my teeth in anger on multiple occasions. I'm (almost) always spoiler free so I can't go into any detail here but I can say he should be thinking a little more about her than himself at this point. Yet, he is still so sickly sweet and loveable that it tears at my emotions.

“Juliette, please, tell me what I'm supposed to do. How am I supposed to feel? It's one shitty thing right after another and I'm trying to be okay--God, I'm trying so hard but it's really freaking difficult and I miss--I miss you, I miss you so much it's killing me.”

I was pretty upfront in my review of Shatter Me that I was Team Warner ~ all the way.  I loved him even more after reading the novella Destroy Me which is told in his point of view.  However, Warner also has my emotions torn in two now.  I still adore him, he's the best character in the series as far as I am concerned. But there are more and more confusing decisions made by him that make me think, yes he's redeemable but not necessarily ever will he be deserving of winning the girl.

Then we have Kenji.  Kenji takes a much more prominent role, being a big wig at Omega Point he seems to be everywhere.  He too is an amazing character and this book would be missing something horrible if his quirky jabs were not a part of it.

“Are you kidding?” I stop in the middle of the kitchen. Spin around. My face is pulled together in disbelief. “You’ve spoken to me maybe once in the two weeks I’ve been here. I hardly even notice you anymore.”

“Okay, hold up,” he says, turning to block my path. “We both know there’s no way you haven’t noticed all of this” — he gestures to himself — “so if you’re trying to play games with me, I should let you know up front that it’s not going to work.”

“What?” I frown. “What are you talking abou—”

“You can’t play hard to get, kid.” He raises an eyebrow. “I can’t even touch you. Takes ‘hard to get’ to a whole new level, if you know what I mean.”

“Oh my God,” I mouth, eyes closed, shaking my head. “You are insane.”

He falls to his knees. “Insane for your sweet, sweet love!”

The writing style is as strange as it was in Shatter Me, and again I have to applaud Kate Simses for her wonderful job of narrating.  She is remarkable at taking me to a place I don't think I could get to on my own.

With all that I hated about Unravel Me, I still loved it.  Sometimes I wonder what is wrong with me. Why do I like these train wrecks so much? I love the world, I love the struggles, I love the turmoil of this stupid love triangle, I love that it makes me an emotional puddle of soupy goo. I think I am just as ridiculous as Juliette for wallowing in this misery.  Or maybe I am just as insane as Kenji...insane for this crazy emotional roller coaster ride.