YA Writer, Tech Support Girl & Tea Addict

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 a word, Tahereh Mafi‘s debut novel “Shatter Me” is fast-paced. This is a book that, once started, you’ll struggle to put down. The only other book to have that affect on me this year was “The Hunger Games”, so the speedy plotting is a skill. The story doesn’t stop for breathing, zipping from action to romantic tension then straight back to action without stopping for breath. I loved it.

But keeping things lean and speedy comes at a cost – there’s very little setting description, making the dystopian future of the story hard to visualise. Characters are described sparingly, and given very little time to shine. Villan Warner is a brilliantly-written bad guy, who you can sympathise with and understand, but love interest Adam comes off as a bit two-dimensional at times.

The only thing Mafi doesn’t skimp on is the metaphors. They’re everywhere, and I really liked some of the clever turns of phrases.

“I spent my life folded between the pages of books.
In the absence of human relationships I formed bonds with paper characters. I lived love and loss through stories threaded in history; I experienced adolescence by association. My world is one interwoven web of words, stringing limb to limb, bone to sinew, thoughts and images all together. I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed through fiction.”

“Killing time isn’t as difficult as it sounds.
I can shoot a hundred numbers through the chest and watch them bleed decimal points in the palm of my hand. I can rip the numbers off a clock and watch the hour hands tick tick tick their final tock just before I fall asleep. I can suffocate seconds just by holding my breath. I’ve been murdering minutes for hours and no one seems to mind.”

If beautiful writing and an unputdownable story are what you’re needing in your life,  ”Shatter Me” will provide all of that and more – but if you want to get lost in a fictional world and its characters, you might be disappointed. Nonetheless, I loved the story and will happily pick up its sequel when it hits the shelves – I want to see more of Warner, and hopefully a bit more worldbuilding. I’m also a little curious how the X-Men similarities will be handled in future books.

Genre: YA Dystopian/Romance
Publisher: HarperCollins
Buy It: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Book Depository

Choosing character names is a struggle for me, but it’s clear author Malorie Blackman has some naming skills. The two main characters of her latest novel “Boys Don’t Cry” are Dante, whose story revolves around being left holding his newborn baby after his girlfriend skips town, has a younger brother named Adam, an openly gay black teenager that Dante’s friends hate.

Dante and Adam. Those are fantastic names. The Christian origin, the dichotomy of it – Adam being the son of God, residing in Heaven, Dante being a famous bard who went down into the depths of Hell in search of his love. Religion isn’t mentioned in the book, but the symbolism here – the opposite meanings – rings true. Dante and Adam are close as brothers, especially when they’re in the house around each other, but they disagree on a lot of things and argue often.

But this story is about a lot more than the two brothers. When Dante is sitting waiting for his A-Level result, his ex-girlfriend appears at the door with a baby she claims is his. Then she disappears, leaving him holding the baby and facing the fact that he might be about to lose everything – a promising university education, his social life, and his current girlfriend Colette.

Told from a rare single father point of view, Dante has to figure out how to be a dad – from changing nappies to worrying about whether it is really his kid. His dad helps him out using his own experience as a single parent – but the help is in true-to-life ‘dad’ form, with lots of grumbling about what a bloody idiot he is for getting into this mess in the first place.

I wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy this story, but Dante’s strong voice pulled me into the story. He’s very British, and very honest and real – he sounds like a typical English teen guy, it’s great. It’s also a very honest story – it doesn’t skim over any of the harsh realities of being a teen parent. Dante’s friends stop calling round to visit, his girlfriend doesn’t want anything to do with him, his guy friends mock him when they’re not busy taunting his brother.

Author Malorie Blackman

The story unfolds at a quick pace, with chapters from Dante’s point of view showing the child-rearing side of life, and Adam’s chapters showing some of the darker sides of Dante’s circle of friends. By the end of the story, the viciousness of Dante’s friends shows its true colours and has horrible consequences.

The ending left me wanting more – it was realistically done, but I really wanted karma to be served. I also wish they’d mentioned the families skin colour more – the only obvious mention about Dante being black was towards the end. You could argue that this is clever – the ambiguous cover and narrative mean any young guy can relate to the story – but personally I wish this was clearly and proudly from the start.

It’s been a long time since I read Malorie Blackman (as a kid I poured over stories like “Hacker” and “Pig-Heart Boy” in my Primary School library), and I’m glad to see she’s as brilliant a writer as ever.

Maybe I should get around to finally giving her “Noughts & Crosses” series a look…

A review copy of this book was provided by Random House.

Lauren Kate’s “Fallen” series is one of the most popular reviewed series here on the blog. Thanks to Random House, I got hold of an early copy of the latest book in the series, “Passion”, for review.

“Every single lifetime, I’ll choose you. Just as you have chosen me. Forever.”

Luce would die for Daniel. And she has. Over and over again. Throughout time, Luce and Daniel have found each other, only to be painfully torn apart: Luce dead, Daniel left broken and alone. But perhaps it doesn’t need to be that way. . . .

Luce is certain that something—or someone—in a past life can help her in her present one. So she begins the most important journey of this lifetime . . . going back eternities to witness firsthand her romances with Daniel . . . and finally unlock the key to making their love last.

Cam and the legions of angels and Outcasts are desperate to catch Luce, but none are as frantic as Daniel. He chases Luce through their shared pasts, terrified of what might happen ifshe rewrites history.

Because their romance for the ages could go up in flames . . . forever.

Time travel is the latest addition to the “Fallen” series, playing an integral role in “Passion” as Luce hops around time trying to find some of the answers behind her curse. I love time travel, so I enjoyed Lauren Kate’s take on it.

With a unique set of rules preventing interaction with their past selves, both Daniel and Luce visit various different decades, and see their own past selves. The settings and cultures are only visited briefly, but Kate shines at them – showcasing culture and colourful characters, even if each location only features for a small amount of time.

She takes Luce from war-torn, snowy Moscow to 19th-century England; from Tahaiti islanders who mark themselves with elaborate tattoos to a Tibetan palace; even to a Mayan tribe with some terrifying rituals (my favourite scene).

It is important to realise that this book is both prequel and sequel – or else you might have the same niggling annoyances I did. The story arc didn’t seem to develop as much as in earlier books – the plot begins with Luce travelling through time to find answers, and that remains her objective for most of the book without any real detours. I could have definitely used a few more twists, but the last act of the book brought in some strong reveals and foreshadowing for the final book, “Rapture”.

As with “Torment”, there’s steady improvement in the writing – new characters, like the loud-mouthed gargoyle Bill, add some witty lines and a change of pace. The dialogue is sharper with some funny exchanges between Luce and Bill, and Luce takes a lot more control of her situation than we’ve seen her before. The world-building is also clarified – we find out more about the Announcers, shadows that are used to step through time and space, and there are some new rules about time travel and some exciting hints about Luce and Daniel’s curse.

I did miss some of the other characters – especially Cam. Cam’s awesome – but “Passion” does a solid job of filling in the back story and setting the scene for “Rapture”, which looks like an action-packed end to the series.

“Passion” is out on the 23 June. You can read our reviews of Lauren Kate’s other novels by clicking here, and we’ll have some exclusive editing advice from the lady herself on Friday.

You can pre-order it with free shipping almost anywhere in the world from the Book Depository, in Hardback or Paperback.

Disclaimer: A copy of “Passion” was provided for this review by Random House.

That image is of my current To Be Read pile. Sorry for the blurry picture, my cameraphone decided “Crop” was a synonym for “Destroy” and deleted all the steadier shots I’d taken. We’ve got…

• Lindsey Barraclough’s “Long Lankin”, a haunting story of murder, witchcraft and revenge.
• “Blood Magic” by Tessa Granton, an eerie story about an angry city boy and a curious young girl who find a book of dangerous magic. It’s got a gorgeous paperback cover, and it’s nice to see a white cover when black is the current tred.
• Becca Fitzpatrick’s “Hush, Hush” sequel” Crescendo”
• “Boy Don’t Cry” Malorie Blackman’s latest novel about a boy left holding the baby. I’ve read the first chapter of this, and the voice is great – very British and very relatable.
• One of the first copies of Lauren Kate’s “Passion” to reach the UK – an advance copy specifically for review.

Is there anything above you’re particularly excited about? Let me know in the comments and I’ll try to get a review up for it ASAP. Or you can suggest a novel you’d like me to review.

My ”Passion” review should be up in the next week, to let you know what to expect out of the latest installment of the “Fallen” series. Then, on th 10th of June, Lauren Kate will stop by with a guest post on editing. I’ve had a peek, and she’s got some brilliant advice. I’m so excited for that post to go up! 

Once the details are finalised I’ll put a banner up on the right-hand side listing the other savvy UK bloggers who’ll have Lauren Kate posting.

I’m deep in redrafts for the WIP and moving house at the start of June, so blogging time may be scare while we move everything. If you’d like to write a guest post for EmmaMaree.com, feel free to drop me an e-mail using the ‘contact’ button above.

Disclaimer: With the exception of “Crescendo”, which was bought for personal reading, all of the above books were provided for review by Random House.

Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to centre stage of her own life – and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey’s boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie’s own. Joe is the new boy in town, with a nearly magical grin. One boy takes Lennie out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But the two can’t collide without Lennie’s world exploding…

This is one of those books that didn’t quite “click” with me.

The narrative and characterisation is flawless -Lennie and her sister are both loveable bookworms, and the Lennie’s ‘voice’ is light-hearted and absolutely adorable. Every character is someone you’d like to meet, from Lennie’s gardener-extraordinaire Gran and pothead lothario Uncle Big, to Lennie’s best friend Sarah and Joe, the constantly-grinning new boy in her music class.

But the plot just didn’t work for me. Lennie’s relationship with Toby didn’t feel romantic. As much as I wanted to believe it was grief behind Lennie’s relationship with her dead sister’s ex, a lot of her reasoning behind it was that she felt ‘drawn to him’.

Grief can make you irrational, and it makes you want to be around people who understand what you’re going through. But after this has happened a few times it’s more of a matter of Lennie being unable to keep her lust in check, and my sympathy wore off. The story still managed to be amusing and upsetting in turns, but I felt ‘disconnected’ to Lennie and spent most of the story waiting for her to do the sane thing and choose Joe.

The edition I had was gorgeous – it was advertised as a hardcover on Amazon, but it was a softcover with a textured cover and lovely full-colour images of Lennie’s poems throughout. (Ringo the Cat has some pictures of this edition.) I haven’t seen as unique and detailed an edition of a book before, so if you decide to pick this up, that’s the version to buy.