Bookish BFFs: Girls and Boys Can Be Just Friends!

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We’re fast approaching Valentine’s day, and I’ve pledged that this month I’ll only read Romances (and it’s going great so far – 3 down!). But a couple of days ago was Friends’ Day, did you know that? Yep. So it got me thinking about something I really love to read in books: strictly platonic boy-girl BFFs. Oh, don’t get me wrong, one of my favorite type of romance to read is BFFs turned something more, but I do love when a book shows that a girl and a boy can be friends and nothing more. Here are some of my favorites.


1. Juliette and Kenji – Shatter Me Trilogy 

I absolutely love Kenji and Juliette’s dynamic. They go to strangers to best friends in no time, because they connect really well together. And although Kenji throws some flirtation around – because it’s Kenji and he just can’t help it – there’s never a moment where it seems like their relation might go that way. Instead, they truly become BFFs, with Juliette using her BFF as a relationship advisor and all.

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2. Cinder and ThorneThe Lunar Chronicles

Their relationship warms my heart! I just love how much they fight and banter and everything, but at the end of the day, they trust each other completely and would do just about anything for one another.

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3. Harry and Hermione – Harry Potter

This is goals! Never while reading the 7 books, did I ever doubt that this was a strictly platonic friendship. NEVER! Harry and Hermione are BFFs and that’s it. Yes, I’m aware that a while back J.K. Rowling said that Hermione should have ended up with Harry, but I’m gonna forget she ever said that, because Hermione always belonged with Ron.

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4. Simon and Penny – Carry On

Oh, they are beyond perfect! I love their friendship. Early in the book, Simon explain how he and Penny are just friends and they never felt more than that, and how some people thought it was weird… yeah, see point nº 3!

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5. Maggie and Ben – The One Thing

Even though Ben is several years younger than Maggie, their friendship is beautiful and one of the many reasons you should read The One Thing by Marci Lyn Curtis. I wish I had a Ben in my life…


So, tell me. Do you like to read about awesome friendships between boys and girls that doesn’t lead anywhere else? What’s your favorite?

Ignite Me (Tahereh Mafi)

>>>>  Nº32 on My 2015 Reading Challenge – A Trilogy #3  <<<<

The heart-stopping conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Shatter Me series, which Ransom Riggs, bestselling author of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, called “a thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love.” 

With Omega Point destroyed, Juliette doesn’t know if the rebels, her friends, or even Adam are alive. But that won’t keep her from trying to take down The Reestablishment once and for all. Now she must rely on Warner, the handsome commander of Sector 45. The one person she never thought she could trust. The same person who saved her life. He promises to help Juliette master her powers and save their dying world . . . but that’s not all he wants with her.

The Shatter Me series is perfect for fans who crave action-packed young adult novels with tantalizing romance like Divergent by Veronica Roth, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and Legend by Marie Lu. Tahereh Mafi has created a captivating and original story that combines the best of dystopian and paranormal, and was praised by Publishers Weekly as “a gripping read from an author who’s not afraid to take risks.” Now this final book brings the series to a shocking and satisfying end.


*** Warning, there will be lots of SPOILERS ***

I am obsessed with this book! I started it on Thursday night (actually it was friday already, around midnight or something), thinking I would read a couple of chapters and head on to bed… yeah, that didn’t work out. I stayed up until 6 a.m. reading it and only stopped because I was conscious that I needed to get some sleep before sunrise – by this time I was also fully aware that there was no way I was going into work in the morning. I finished it as soon as I woke up on Friday… and then I re-read a few chapters… several times during the whole weekend.

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So as you might have figured it out by now, I absolutely loved this book, it’s definitely my favorite of the series and I don’t understand why it isn’t longer, because I needed more of it. I have so many questions, and I don’t understand why this is only a trilogy, because I could have had more (or at least some more novellas to keep me tight up).

Warner + Juliette

Have I mentioned before how much I love Warner? Yes? No? Oh well, I love Warner, a LOT! I loved that he finally explained everything to Juliette and that even extremely heart broken, he still did everything in his power to help her and gave her everything she wanted. He was so vulnerable throughout some parts of this book and that was such an interesting thing to read, given how he was always so in control in all the others. I loved all his moments with Juliette, and that what’s kept me awake for the whole night!

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Juliette grew so much in this book. I loved that she stood up for herself and those she loves!

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I also liked that she took her time figuring out her feelings and that she only went to Warner when she knew that she had all the choices but all she wanted was him. But it was hard! He was in so much pain and she wanted him and didn’t say it… oh…. my heart was in physical pain throughout all this.

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But people… the sex! OMG! The sex! If their scene together in Unravel Me was hot (and it was), it doesn’t hold a candle to everything that goes on here, just… wow!

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By the way, “Lift your hips for me, love.” will forever be etched into my brain…

(Also, why do I keep imagining him slightly british when he calls her “love”? I keep going to Tom Hiddlestone accent… don’t know why…)

Juliette + Kenji

This was my second favorite thing about this book: Kenji and Juliette’s friendship. I want a best friend like Kenji! He’s hilarious, so damn funny, and I loved all their talks. I loved that he took the time and had the cool head to actually listen to her. Even if he thought she was a bit mental for trusting Warner, he still listened and understood. Such beautiful moments there…

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Adam vs The World

When I started to read Shatter Me and loved Adam, I talked to Kat @Life and Other Disasters and she told me she didn’t like Adam, that he did something bad. I couldn’t understand, I believed I could never hate him, ship Juliette with Warner, maybe, but dislike Adam? Not possible!

Then I read Fracture Me and my feelings for Adam started to change very drastically, and then I got to this book and I wanted to kill him each time he opened his mouth! It’s not that I don’t understand where it’s coming from, I can understand that, but what he said to Juliette? Some of that stuff is unforgivable in my book.

But I did like that Juliette stood up to him (you go girl!), but this Adam?! GOD! By the end he seemed a bit more mellow, but he was just so stupid throughout everything… I didn’t like it, and I didn’t like him! 😦

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What I loved:

I really liked that ending. I liked that Anderson died with 2 bullets to the head – though Juliette, love, it should have been “One for Warner. One for Adam.” and not the other way around… but hey, I forgive you.

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I loved all the powers and projections and stuff. I’m a huge fan of Warner’s power and how quickly he was able to control it.

I loved Juliette’s relationship with Warner. I loved that he respected her, her powers and her opinions. And that she did the same regarding him. They ended up being a perfectly balanced couple, and I couldn’t have predicted that on book 1.

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WHY I WANTED MORE:

I wanted more of Juliette and Warner. I wanted more of them as a couple, I wanted to know what happened when she took control, I wanted to know it all. I also wanted more bed, tables, walls, bathtubs and disrobing scenes… seriously, they can’t even keep their clothes on!

I also would have loved to have a double POV in this book, I wanted to know what Warner was thinking for most of the book, especially during all those weeks when he couldn’t even look straight at Juliette.

More Kenji! More Kenji with Juliette. More Kenji with Warner. Basically, more Kenji.

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I wanted to know more about Winston and Brendan and all of the gang. I wanted backstories and the works. Novellas, maybe? Can a girl dream?

I wanted Warner bonding with Adam and James. I absolutely loved that Warner was the bigger man and showed interest and getting to know his brothers, but I wanted to see him actually interacting with the both of them as brothers. Also, James would be confused as hell…

I wished that Anderson would have been aware that both his children were against him – not that it would have mattered to him… he was a monster.

I wanted to know all the secrets that Warner was still not telling. Come on, we just know that there’s a lot more stuff, right? I wanted everything!

Rating: 4.7 Stars

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PS: to everyone that told me that Warner would win me over and that I would change my opinion of him from the first book on… you were so so right!

PS2: I’m so unwilling to let go that I actually went looking for fanfiction last night… I never ever read fanfic before…

Shatter MeDestroy Me – Unravel MeFracture Me

Fracture Me (Tahereh Mafi)

In this electrifying sixty-page companion novella to the New York Times bestselling Shatter Me series, discover the fate of the Omega Point rebels as they go up against The Reestablishment. Set during and soon after the final moments of Unravel Me, Fracture Me is told from Adam’s perspective.

As Omega Point prepares to launch an all-out assault on The Reestablishment soldiers stationed in Sector 45, Adam’s focus couldn’t be further from the upcoming battle. He’s reeling from his breakup with Juliette, scared for his best friend’s life, and as concerned as ever for his brother James’s safety. And just as Adam begins to wonder if this life is really for him, the alarms sound. It’s time for war.

On the battlefield, it seems like the odds are in their favor—but taking down Warner, Adam’s newly discovered half brother, won’t be that easy. The Reestablishment can’t tolerate a rebellion, and they’ll do anything to crush the resistance . . . including killing everyone Adam has ever cared about.


***** Warning, there will be SPOILERS from this novella as well as for Unravel Me *****

OMG! This novella left me a bit pissed off at Adam (and that was before I read Ignite Me, which left me even more enraged with him).

First things first, although this novella gives a good informative points about what happened after Juliette was taken away to Anderson on Unravel Me, I somehow wished that this had been through Kenji’s perspective, because I didn’t like Adam’s voice. Actually, I thought he was rude and I started to not recognize the person I was reading about.

I actually liked to see a bit of his relationship with James, though I have to say that I feel like Kenji and James have a more brotherly relationship than Adam and James (I  know that it’s because Adam sees the kid as his kid, but still). Then I hated his thoughts about Juliette all the while they were heading to battle. He kept thinking how ill-equipped she was to be there, and how she should have stayed back at Omega Point. How broken she was, basically, and that was wrong. This girl can break him in half, she had proven herself before, why was he doubting her?

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Still on Juliette, it was so clear that her mind was on Warner… *bless her*… Adam thinking that she was oh so upset about hurting Kenji (even though he had told her that he knew it hadn’t been her), and all the while she was fantasizing her previous night with Warner, and his hands, mouth, etc… (I almost felt sorry for Adam in here).

The whole thing about James was beautiful, and I was so glad that the kid was ok. But then Adam’s thoughts immediately begin with “I don’t want to fight, I just want to be safe”, and while that’s in part normal, it’s so frustrating. And there was Kenji saying how they needed to get the girl Adam LOVES right away, and he was like “there’s time, I don’t want to leave the safety of this house, I don’t want to have to run again so soon, Warner can have her for a while”.

I mean, dude!!! You think that she’s with a guy that you think is obsessed with her, that can TOUCH her, and you think you have all the time in the world?! DUDE!

Obviously we know that she’s not with Warner (yeah, she is, but he’s not the one who has her), so when Kenji finds out that Juliette is dead (*cof cof*), Adam breaks. I felt sorry for him, really, he thought it was his fault and all, but honestly I felt much more sorry for Kenji, who was clearly heartbroken.

All and all, I have a lot of mixed feelings about this novella. I like the story, hate the voice, and it made me really pissed off at Adam. I was Team Adam on book 1, I wanted him to be happy, he was so sweet and considering of Juliette and all, but this book made me think that maybe he doesn’t actually see the person right in front of him, he sees what he wants to see: a broken girl that he has to protect. I didn’t like it at all. Love shouldn’t be like that.

Rating: 3.3 Stars

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Unravel Me (Tahereh Mafi)

>>>>  Nº32 on My 2015 Reading Challenge – A Trilogy #2  <<<<

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.


I LOVED this book! Seriously, wow!

Warning, there will be SPOILERS, actually, there will be nothing but SPOILERS, because we already covered Mafi’s wonderful writing in the review of the first book and the premise, so what’s left?! SPOILERS!

***** Full disclosure: I AM OFFICIALLY TEAM WARNER! *****

First I need to say, I love Juliette. I know a lot of people can’t stand her, or doesn’t identify with her, but I do (in some weird way). It’s not easy to be conditioned your whole life to believe in something and then change your ways from one moment to another. So I thought that her behaviour at the beginning of the book was totally normal, she was scared, she didn’t reach out to anyone because she has never been able to in her whole life. This means that I was a bit pissed off at Castle and later at Kenji when both of them pushed a bunch of accusations towards her, not to say that they weren’t right in what they said, but they said it all wrong, especially Kenji – I could have punched you, if you weren’t so adorable!

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I was a bit frustrated by Adam keeping secrets from her, I know he didn’t want to lose her, but he didn’t trust her, and that’s not OK. And then, obviously, things went very wrong very fast and then the touchy moment ended abruptly. Poor Juliette. At first I was a bit dismayed that she was giving up so fast, but really, what choice did she had?!

This prompted her to make some friends and that was super! And she started to control her powers and that was awesome!

Then came trouble, enter Warner’s dad – a.k.a. the most despicable human being in existence! And his awfulness bring Juliette to a state of fury and control that she didn’t think possible and she awesomely starts torturing him – sorry, but he totally deserved it. He was lucky Kenji was there! And then it turns out that that stupid awful Anderson guy is Adam’s father! Say what?! Yes, Adam and Warner and brothers and that’s freaking fantastic!

Now Warner is being held hostage and Juliette has to talk to him, and he begins to unravel himself and she begins to really like it. Like really really, inappropriate thoughts and all that!

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Warner has a power, which by the way is way cooler than his brother’s (not James though, James is special!). Warner can sense and harness energy from other gifted people. So he can use Juliette’s energy and it will never ever hurt him (interesting, right?!). This eventually leads to a chapter that I had to read at least 3 times because I was getting all dizzy and stuff… very hot chapter!

The pants on the floor?! OH MY LORD! And then… grrrrr, I could have slapped her!!!!

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And then shit hits the fan and she’s dying and Warner saves her and THE END! I need more!!! I want more Warner and Juliette, because he’s so great with her!

I still like Adam (though I just read Fracture Me and I’m mad at him), but the truth is that Adam treats Juliette like she’s this broken thing who needs fixing and who needs 24h protection. While Warner knows what she is and what she’s capable of, and loves it, owns it, respects it… that’s why I’m Team Warner right now, and I don’t see that changing.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

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Shatter Me (Tahereh Mafi)

>>>>  Nº32 on My 2015 Reading Challenge – A Trilogy #1  <<<<

I have a curse
I have a gift

I am a monster
I’m more than human

My touch is lethal
My touch is power

I am their weapon
I will fight back

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.


Even though everyone had already read this book but me, I still had no idea what the story was all about – yes, I did not read the blurb, on purpose, I trusted that it would be good!

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I am in love with the writing! So damn in love with it. So I’ll warn you right now that there will be a lot of quotes in this very short review, that’s how gorgeous the writing is. This month has been a treasure in terms of unique books, first The Wrath and the Dawn, and now this?! WOW!

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I’m so intrigued by Juliette! Truly, how sane would anyone be if you couldn’t touch anyone? I would go mental. Parents not wanting you… wow…I felt so sorry for her. Also, she’s just like Rogue from the X-Men, so I immediately loved her. Plus, her internal dialogue is amazingly beautiful.

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I mean, it’s just so poetic… I can’t get enough… Last night when I was trying to choose which quotes to put up here, I couldn’t make up my mind, because the writing is so gorgeous! (not to be repetitive or anything…)

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I just wanted to wrap Juliette is my arms and tell her that everything was going to be fine (too bad that would probably get me killed in the process…).

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Fair warning, I doubt that I will spoil anyone, because I bet that you’ve all read the books, but either way, be warned, I might say something SPOILERY!

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Now, before you kill me for what I’m about to say, keep in mind that so far I’ve ONLY READ SHATTER ME, I haven’t read the sequels yet. Are you keeping that in mind? Good! So, I really like Adam! He’s just so sweet and attentive to her, and their scenes together are hot and steamy (and not just the ones in the shower).

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I really like him. I like Adam with Juliette and I like Adam with James, and I wanted to punch James and Kenji a couple of times during the book, because come on! They have the worst timing ever! Couldn’t they just let Juliette and Adam advance their relationship… poor Juliette (and Adam, after the second time I bet that he was just about to explode).

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Also (again, don’t kill me), Warner is a bit of s psycho in this book. He has a very weird fixation on Juliette and that whole scene in the warehouse (or whatever), though undoubtedly kind of hot, was super disturbing. How can he be so obsessed with someone he just met? His happiness for being able to touch her and then proceeding to assume that she would want to be touched by him, was unnerving. I know that everyone loves Warner, and I’m pretty sure I will to, but so far, nop, the guy is shady and creepy, albeit hot and beautiful.

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I really liked the setting, I want to see more of it. The plot itself was nothing special, this book mainly introduced the characters and set up the world, and I’m betting that the next ones will have a deeper plot, so I’m excited for that.

Also, I really liked Juliette’s character development, and there’s no denying that this girl learns things fast. She goes from a broken little bird to someone who can hold her own (-ish) pretty fast. I can’t wait to dive in to the next one.

I’m saying this again, because I feel like it will never be enough. Tahereh Mafi’s writing is gorgeous, and I have a feeling that as soon as her next book is out, I’ll be there to collect it.

Rating: 4.2 Stars

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