Review: Ignite Me (Shatter Me #3) by Tahereh Mafi @TaherehMafi

Blurb from Goodreads:
Juliette now knows she may be the only one who can stop the Reestablishment. But to take them down, she'll need the help of the one person she never thought she could trust: Warner. And as they work together, Juliette will discover that everything she thought she knew - about Warner, her abilities, and even Adam - was wrong.

The Cover Contessa's Review:

So as you can imagine, finishing this book was a shocker to me. I love this series so much I didn't want it to end. But I know it had to and it was a great addition to this series! I'm so glad I started this. If you haven't you really need to! I have been so moved by this series, it has been hard for me to sit down and write this review. As a matter of fact, it has taken me over a month to pull my thoughts together so I can write something that doesn't sound like gibberish when you read it!

If you have not read this series, then I cannot guarantee there will not be spoilers for either book one or book two (or the novellas for that matter). So STOP here and go back and read the others before you see what I think!

As with the other covers, this one is pretty. I always say that I loved the original cover of the first book and was sad when they changed it. I don't really understand all that much how this ties in with the theme of the book. But it's certainly eye catching for someone who has never read the series. I am pretty sure had I never seen the first cover I would have picked this series up just because of the pretty colors on the covers!

Juliette, my how she has grown. I was pretty angry with her in book two for pushing Adam away. I didn't understand why she needed to do that. At first I figured it was all about her keeping him safe. But in this book I realized it was so much more than that. Juliette needed to become her own person. She needed to be on her own and learn what it was to really live. Adam suffocated her a bit. At first, it was just him wanting to take care of her, but later I felt like he wanted to keep her under his wing and not let her become who she could really be. It was frustrating because I loved his character so much in book one.

Warner, well, so hard to even know where to start with this boy/man who is so damaged and broken and just wants to be loved. Sure, he has done some horrible things in his life, but I'm pretty sure it was to try and please his overbearing father, and also to keep himself alive. He grows into a totally different person in this book. Even in his novella I started to feel a change in my emotions towards him. I was still angry with him in book two, but I knew there was something more underneath that Mafi needed to show us. He's still arrogant and a bit pushy, but he lets Juliette be who she needs to be. He doesn't try to control her or push her in the direction he thinks she should go. He just lets her be. At the same time, he has a hard time letting her in and you feel how unsure he is that she can ever trust him. Heck, I didn't want to trust him, and really thought even up until the end that he would betray her. Warner was tender and sexy and strong. In the end, he was perfect.

Adam, well, I'm just annoyed with him. He is just not the person I thought he was. He's much weaker than I ever thought he could be. He was only strong around Juliette, and perhaps his brother. But every other time he was in a scene I wanted to shake him and tell him to snap out of it. I wanted to tell him he needed to fight for what he wanted (mainly Juliette). But he never did. And, for me, that made him the wrong person for Juliette.

And Kenji, oh Kenji, my favorite character of this series by far. He took on so much more importance in this book. He's goofy and sarcastic and has such a great ability to diffuse the tension in situations. I wrote a blog post not too long ago on how not to write a love triangle. It involved a male female relationship that was the perfect friendship; the perfect balance of what each person needed for support. Kenji fits this role perfectly. While he was never really in the picture as a  potential part of the romance (despite how Adam felt), he ALWAYS supported Juliette. He was ALWAYS there for her. He was just amazing. And let's not forget his ability to lighten a situation, to make the audience laugh when things seemed so desperate.

Mafi mixes together just the right amount of action, suspense, mystery and romance to kick this book into high gear. I can honestly say that I have been disappointed with the final books in trilogies lately. But this one certainly lived up to my expectations. I think my favorite part of this book was Mafi's continued ability to make the romantic situations so intense you just could not turn away. And her character development is outstanding. We watch Juliette become this strong independent woman. We watch Warner turn into the man we didn't think he could be. And we see that Adam has much to learn so he can also grow and become someone great.

The writing in this book was legendary and just so beautiful. I just love Mafi's prose and how there is not one boring moment. And her ability to build the story layer after layer, making everything you read important. In the end, everything falls together so perfectly, like fitting the last piece of a puzzle and sitting back to enjoy your work. And the fact that Mafi chose to end it as it needed to be ended was the kicker for me. I wasn't sure she would do it, because I thought for sure she'd be too scared to make half her audience unhappy. But this didn't stop her from making it perfect. I know many people would love an epilogue. Sure, it might be nice to see what happened to some of the other characters, but I didn't necessarily need it. It did leave me thinking that perhaps we might see an after novella in the future, but it doesn't have to happen! I have all the closure I need.

Usually I am not a fan of the open ended type of ending with books, but it seems to fit this one. Don't get me wrong, there is closure, just not for all the characters. And that leaves me wondering what will happen to them and if they will be happy in the end.

All in all Mafi delivered a final book of a trilogy that packs a punch, that leaves you guessing from beginning up until the very end. And the satisfaction I got when closing the cover was beyond what I expected. Readers who follow this series will not be disappointed with the final installment of this trilogy!

Tahereh Mafi is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the SHATTER ME series. She was born in a small city somewhere in Connecticut and currently resides in Santa Monica, California, where she drinks too much caffeine and finds the weather to be just a little too perfect for her taste. 

When unable to find a book, she can be found reading candy wrappers, coupons, and old receipts.  

SHATTER ME is her first novel. 

Foreign rights have sold in 25+ territories 

to-date and film rights have been optioned by 20th Century Fox.

Her work is represented by 

Jodi Reamer of Writers House, LLC.

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