Ignite Me (Shatter Me Book 3)

Oh my Shatter Me series heart, I LOVED this book! Like I'd make out with this book... okay maybe not that, but I seriously loved this book so much.The shortened review:Oh my Warner heart! This book is AWESOME!! I have so many Shatter Me series feelings right now I don't even know what else to say other than GO GET THIS BOOK! Mafi has render me speechless right now. I don't even know what else to say at the moment without sounding like a Shatter Me fangirl who can't stop rambling about how awesome this book is.The REAL review: Do NOT read this review if you have not read the rest of the series *slight spoilers*Tahereh Mafi is a writing goddess, or maybe she has that secret talent I like to call writing brilliance. Whatever you want to call it, Mafi has it. There's no other way to explain the awesomeness of IGNITE ME! This book literally ignited all those feelings I tried so hard to keep in while reading this book, but failed miserably at doing. I snort laughed, sighed, swooned, teared up, and laughed until I was crying. This book is nothing but awesome! Literally.Juliette grows up a lot in this book. I admired the fierce, determined heroine she becomes. Tahereh does a brilliant job at showing her struggles with overcoming her preescptions of Warner, Adam, and herself, as well as situations that lead her to where she is now. The realization of how wrong her presceptions have been is a hard thing for her to accept. It was what was driving her, and now everything she thought she knew is wrong. I liked getting to see her struggle with that. Because now Juliette has to figure out where she stands, what she's going to do, and figure out her heart's desire. For the first time in her life, Juilette has never been more free to be herself. More free to make her own decisions, and to follow her heart. It's empowering to be free. Seeing Juliette accept that and embrace that freedom was bitter sweet, and oh so fabulous all at the same time. I loved that Tahereh showed me, vs telling me about her struggles. It's what emotionally gripped me with the story.If you read Unravel Me, then it's no spoiler about where Juliette and Adam now stand. Seeing her battle over her feelings of how things used to be to how things are now between the two was heartbreaking, but incredibly empowering at the same time. Anyone who's had a first love and a first heartbreak will understand exactly what Juliette is going through. I did. Along with that, you'll also understand her hope for where things can go for her and Warner. Understanding the differences in how Juliette felt about Adam and Warner were well established and discussed in this book. It was perfect. It made sense to see and understand the changes in her feelings for both guys. I loved that I got to see that. Not only with her, but with Warner and Adam as well. There's a conversation between Juliette and Kenji about the changes that I loved in this book, as well as the inner thoughts Juliette has as she sorts out her feelings, and the truths of what she's learning. I admire the fact that Mafi didn't rush these feelings and emotions. Everything that unravels in this book has been built up and hinted at in the previous books/novellas in this series. I loved how everything happens in this book.I've said this from the get go, I LOVE WARNER! I just have to say, I KNEW IT!!!! I knew there was so much more to him than we have previously seen, and now we get to see more of who Warner really is. I swear I fell in love with this Warner as much as Juliette. Like her, he's broken, stronger, fiercely determined, and totally vulnerable. Then there's the swoon worthy factor. Oh my Warner. Talk about igniting things.... Warner knows how to ignite a slow burning fire that literally melts the pages. Mafi writes these sizzling moments between Juliette and Warner perfectly! I love what she gave us on the page, and what gets taken off the page. When you read those scenes you'll know what I mean. It was perfect.Ignite Me is full of passion, tension, and action. I love it when an author can emotionally pull me into their book. Between the threat of war, the desolation that is evident at times, and then friction between a few characters I found my self fidgety and literally on edge. I felt like I was about ready to snap in two at times with the mounting tension. Leave it up to Kenji make me laugh so hard I'm crying during those times. He can make those tension mounting scenes laughable. His lines are by far the best in this book. No other character has made me laugh out loud as much as he did. I swear if Mafi published a Kenji quote book, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. He at times reminds me of the things my brothers would say. I love that brotherly love he has for Juliette. These two have such a great, real, best friend chemistry. I loved the scenes when these two were together. Who wouldn't want a best friend like him?! Kenji is by far one of my all time favorite literally secondary characters!I thoroughly enjoyed how everything that has been set up in the previous two books in this series played out in IGNITE ME. It was brilliant! Looking back at everything the has previously happened, it all made sense now at the course of action some of the characters took, and the direction the story went. Tahereh was still able to throw in some great twists, but everything from the romance, the action, the friendships, and shocking truths all made sense. Everything in the other first two books lead up to everything that takes place in this book. To me, nothing, even down to who Juliette gives her heart to, was shocking to me, because of how well Tahereh set up the over all series's plot. It was perfect!IGNITE ME is the perfect ending for a series I am so sad to say good bye to. Now that I have so many Shatter Me series feelings, you'll find me curled up on the couch re-reading Ignite Me over and over again.

Original Review:When I first read Shatter Me last June, I wasn't completely sure what to think about it. The strikethroughs, the flowery prose, the repetition of words without commas...it took me awhile to adjust to the writing style. Nevertheless, I finished the book in a day and was intrigued enough by the story that I immediately downloaded Destroy Me to my Kindle app and drove to another branch of my county library just so I could pick up Unravel Me on my way out of town for vacation.Reading Destroy Me convinced me that Tahereh Mafi's writing style in Shatter Me was deliberate. So I decided to go with the flow and went into Unravel Me with a lot more confidence...and was absolutely and utterly captivated. The now-tempered strikethroughs and descriptive writing style that had somewhat hampered my enjoyment of Shatter Me, I now viewed as strengths. And the plot twists? The love triangle? The character development (one character's in particular)? So, so good.I knew going into Ignite Me that the strikethroughs would be gone, and so I wasn't surprised at their absence when I read the teaser chapters at the end of Fracture Me. What was kind of funny, though, was how much I missed them. I was a little worried, actually, that in losing the strikethroughs, we'd lost a valuable part of Juliette's character. But I worried for nothing.Juliette has ATTITUDE in Ignite Me and it's an awesome thing to behold. She's no longer afraid to say what she means, ask for what she wants, and...well...talk back to the people who tick her off. The result is sometimes hilarious, sometimes painful, oftentimes awkward, and all around incredible. I cannot stress how much I loved some of the conversations in this book.That's not to say that there weren't a few things I wish had been done differently. I was left with a few questions that I really wish would have been clarified and there were some developments with the plot (especially at the end) and a few character interactions that I wish had been more deeply fleshed out, but it wasn't enough to affect my ultimate enjoyment of the book, or the series - which is quite possibly one of my favorites ever.This is a solid 5+ star book in my opinion.Follow-Up to Original Review:I've thought a lot about the plot weaknesses in Ignite Me since I wrote my original review. As I continue to process the book and read other people's reviews, I keep coming back to one question: does a book with such a weak overall plot deserve a five-star review? Is it possible for a book's other strengths to neutralize what would otherwise be a crippling weakness? [WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD]In all honesty, I had several issues with the plot throughout the book, but for me, the two most disconcerting were:1. The complete underutilization of Anderson as a villain. Tahereh Mafi set him up so well in Unravel Me (which I thought had quite a strong plot with several amazing twists and turns)...and then, poof! He was gone. No dialogue, no taunting, no recounting of Warner's weaknesses and his many sins. Nothing. He should have, at the very least, had the dissatisfaction of seeing his sons stand united against him.2. Juliette, even the kick butt version of her we see in Ignite Me, is in no way shape or form ready or qualified to take over the world (or even what's left of the country). I don't care if she can eat bullets for lunch. She's seventeen. Heck, even Warner isn't a believable supreme commander, and he has years of training and military experience. It would have been more believable had the book ended with Castle as Merlin and the rest of the Omega Point survivors ruling via King Arthur's roundtable.But (and this is a huge but)...What Tahereh Mafi does right in this book, she does so very, very right. It's so beautifully written that I can't help but keep reading my favorite parts (and there are many) over and over and over again. The dialogue is snappy and fun and just so very enjoyable. But what captivates me so much about this series is (okay, I'm going to say it) Warner's character development.I'm going to go as far as to say that the most truly powerful thing about the Shatter Me series isn't Juliette's transformation, it's Warner's. This series is truly Juliette AND Warner's story. It's not a series about a dystopian government, or supernatural powers, or even two hot guys who like the same girl; it's a tale of what can happen when somebody believes in you enough to look beneath the ugliness on the surface to see the beauty underneath. To love someone when nobody else will. Tahereh Mafi presented us with what appeared to be a villain in Shatter Me and then proceeded to deconstruct him over the next two books, leaving us with a character who, as Juliette would say, is entirely different and yet exactly the same.I believe the key to understanding Warner's character is this: "'If you hide your heart, he will never be able to take it from you.'" It's the justification for everything he ever did and why he was able to tell Juliette that he was the same man he'd always been. The Warner we met in Ignite Me was always there, he was just hiding. We (the reader) saw glimpses of that person in Shatter Me, it's just that we, like Juliette, lacked understanding and perspective, and therefore couldn't completely understand what it was we were seeing.If I were rating this book on plot alone, it wouldn't get more than three stars, four if I consider other factors that I would normally consider. But I can't give this book fewer than five stars. I just can't. Because despite its technical deficiencies, there is something truly unique about this series that makes it stand out from almost everything else I've ever read. And I can't overlook that.