Tahereh Mafi – Past Midnight Book Reviews & More

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Author: Tahereh Mafi

Format: E-book

Pages: 352

Categories: Dystopian, Young Adult, Romance

Book Blurb:

Juliette Ferrars isn’t who she thinks she is.

Nothing in her world is what it seemed. She thought she’d finally defeated the Reestablishment. She thought she’d finally taken control of her life, her power, and her pain. But Juliette has only just begun to unravel a lifetime of lies, and she finds herself faced with a familiar choice:

Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

This time, she’s not alone. Stronger, braver, and more resilient than ever, Juliette will fight for life and love with her friends by her side—but first, she has to survive the war being waged against her mind:

She has to remember who she was.

Narrated by Juliette, Warner, and Kenji Kishimoto, this gripping novel perfectly sets the stage for the highly anticipated forthcoming conclusion to the Shatter Me series.

MY REVIEW

Defy Me, is the fifth book that just released in the Shatter Me series. I’m still wrapping my head around the magnitude of what was revealed in this book. This book was wild! It was non-stop twists and turns.

Not going to lie, I’m having a hard time with the name change though. Juliette is really Ella. I’ve invested eight years of love towards this series, haha, so Juliette is now Ella – got it, but my mind is rebelling against it a little. I’m glad Kenji is still allowed to call her “J” though – it makes the transition a more bearable.

We already knew about the abuse Warner and ~~Juliette~~ Ella went through as teenagers but it broke my heart reading about the truth of their earliest years. Yes, I even teared up 😢. It made me want to protect them from their horrible parents.

We get three different perspectives from Juliette, Warner and Kenji. There is a lot of secrets coming to light in the beginning, so there was a lot of talking. And I just have to get this off my chest, has Adam always been this annoying? I’m glad his appearance was very brief. Being in Kenji’s head was great, I enjoyed his perspective the most because we pretty much know what goes on in the minds of Warner and Juliette.

Speaking of Warner and ~~Juliette~~Ella, they finally have the happy moment I was craving for. Yay! It was a bit over extended in the ending, in my opinion, just a few repetitive things, but it’s okay, let them bask in the love, they deserve it.

Some major things happen in the story which I won’t spoil but I felt like this book ended on a good, hopeful note. It wasn’t a cliffhanger so whatever happens in the next and final book would basically, I’m assuming, be about the war they have to fight and more about Emmaline. And maybe we find out if Kenji will get his happy ending too? 😉 I loved Defy Me, it broke my heart and mended it. Now Warner and Ella will be better for it, with the past behind them, they are strong in their present moment and the future looks promising.

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My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2

Author: Tahereh Mafi

Format: E-book

Pages: 434

Categories: Dystopian, Young Adult, Relationship Drama, Grief

Book Blurb:

The girl with the power to kill with a single touch now has the world in the palm of her hand. Juliette Ferrars thought she’d won. She took over Sector 45, was named the new Supreme Commander of North America, and now has Warner by her side. But when tragedy strikes, she must confront the darkness that dwells both around and inside her.

Who will she become in the face of adversity? Will she be able to control the power she wields, and use it for good?

MY REVIEW

Oh Juliette…🤦🏻‍♀️

I read the first book in this series when it first published, back in 2011 so I’ve been on this journey with Juliette Ferrars for eight years. Shatter Me was so different. Tahereh Mafi’s writing is poetic, and the story was like journal entries with lots of crossed out phrases but it worked. It was the perfect way to be introduced to Juliette Ferrars, a special girl held captive because she was very different. We got to enter her mental prison. As the series went on we see the writing change, it is still poetic but less journal-style, because Juliette evolves – its one of the reasons I love this series. Juliette goes on an emotional, mental and physical journey and we are there along for the ride. Plus the fact that Juliette’s romance with Warner was such a beautiful hot delicious mess. Warner is my ultimate book-boyfriend. 😍

It ended perfectly for me in the third book, Ignite me. But I was happy to hear Tahereh Mafi was bringing us back into Juliette’s world with Restore Me because let’s face it, I really missed Warner. Was I a bit worried at how much the characters would change? Maybe…

This is my second time reading Restore Me. The first time, I skimmed through a lot of it. Why? Was I over dystopian stories? Not in the mood for it? Or did I skim it because Juliette is a seventeen year old Supreme Commander not fit to lead? I wasn’t totally mad at her for not being ready to lead – but where is her support? Why isn’t Warner helping her and filling her in on everything he knows? Why isn’t Castle advising her, he’s like the oldest person around them? Why is Juliette not heeding advice? I was seriously frustrated and I needed to remind myself she’s only seventeen! Warner, though he’s tough and more experienced, is barely twenty.

And honestly, I thought we got over a lot of these humps in the first three books. Juliette ends the trilogy being confident and strong. I was so proud of her.

The first half of Restore Me is Warner grieving the death of his evil father. He’s in shock, conflicted about his feelings and trying to move on but it’s challenging. Totally understandable. Juliette is trying to run a country and finding it harder than she thought it would be. She’s constantly questioning herself but I was missing that confidence she worked so hard to build. Thank goodness Kenji is there to make her laugh and make me laugh! Between Warner’s grieving and Juliette’s issues it was getting a bit sad.

But the drama doesn’t end there. We find out secrets that Warner’s kept from Juliette and she’s devastated and hurt once more. So they break up. And at one point I had to cringe because “breaking up” seemed so trivial with all the major things taking place, like The Re-establishment coming to kill everyone in Sector 45. Or the secrets that Warner had just revealed. I was thinking, who cares if you are breaking up – save your people! I wanted to shake some sense into them. Warner and Juliette was having mental break-downs and I wish Castle could have just stepped in and taken the helm of the sinking ship. Do you feel my frustration? 😂 Trust me, it’s only because I love this series, that I’m passionate about it.

Juliette and Warner have some serious relationship issues to deal with…or should I rephrase that and say they have some serious personal issues to deal with first, by themselves, before getting together again.

Now those issues bugged me because like I said I’ve had time in between reading that first book and this one. I’ve invested eight years to my love of Warner and seeing Juliette grow. I didn’t hate this book. I like it a lot actually, I just didn’t want to be introduced back into this world with my loves falling apart. 😩 It pained me. But I understand…two steps forward, one step back, right? That’s what progress is.

I still love the writing, and how the characters have their own strong voices. The parts where we meet new characters was good too. I like Nazreen because Juliette needs a strong girlfriend in her life telling her to get herself together. Let’s just hope Nazreen is trust-worthy. I will always love Warner, he just needs some support. I hope his relationship with Adam flourishes because he needs to know he’s not alone, he still has family.

And I didn’t even mind Lena, Warner’s ex-girlfriend, because I think it’s okay for Warner to have a past. Like I said he and Juliette really need some down time, and they need to communicate.

As for that ending…all I said was, what just happened?! What a cliffhanger. So I can’t not read the next book coming out Tuesday. I need to know what happens and I’m kind of happy that I chose to re-read this book now, since now I don’t have to wait so long for the next one. *Happy dance*

This book wasn’t quite what I expected but it hooked me at the last moment, oh Tahereh Mafi, what you do to me! I’m ready for Defy Me, bring it.