Unravel Me

by Tahereh Mafi

Amazon Prices:

Paperback: $10.99

Hardcover: $17.99

Kindle: $10.99 (Not available on Kindle Unlimited)

Audible: $27.99 (Not available on Kindle Unlimited) 

Before Reading Facts:

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi was published in 2013 by Harper.

Page Count: 496 pages (paperback) 480 (hardcover) 485 (kindle)

Audiobook length: 11 hrs 53 mins

Chapters: 73

Language: English (also available in the following translations: Italian and Portuguese)

Summary of Book:

“Juliette has escaped from The Reestablishment. Now she’s free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from hr lethal touch. Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible. Haunted by her past and terrified of her future, Juliette knows that she will have to make some life-changing choices. Choices that may involve choosing between her heart–and Adam’s life.” -Harper

Author Biography:

“Tahereh Mafi is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Shatter Me series, Furthermore, and Whichwood. She can usually be found overcaffinated and stuck in a book. You can find her online just about anywhere @TaherehMafi or at www.taherehbooks.com” -Harper

Book Review:

Overall Book Rating: ★★★★★ / ★★★★★

Disclaimer: I think I have finally read enough love triangle stories and want a change in character dynamic. This new outlook is going to change the way I read and review books from now on as I will ignore that part of the novel to see what else it has to offer. If a book cannot offer anything beyond a love triangle, it is going to end up in my DNF shelf on Goodreads.

After re-reading Shatter Me, I continued with the next book in the series. I recalled the first time I read this book and felt similar emotions toward it the second time through. I felt conflicted. I did not know what I wanted or expected the first time I read it. Was I Team Adam or Team Warner? I was a little more invested in where Juliette’s emotions would lie when I read Unravel Me for the first time. However, after my second time reading this novel, I wasn’t so much interested in the love triangle. I mentioned in the my review of Shatter Me that I have come to a point as a reader where I have no interest in love triangles. My disregard for the love triangle between Adam, Juliette, and Warner continued. However, like with the first novel, other conflicts and characters held my interest.

There was not a lot of James in this second novel, which I was kind of disappointed since he was one of my favorite characters in the first novel. However, there was a whole lot of Kenji to account for James’ absence. I was very impressed by this character in the first novel and grew to like him even more in the second. In a way, my re-reading made me completely forget about my Team Adam or Team Warner feeling I experienced the first time through. Instead,  I found myself siding more and more with Kenji. The conflict with Warner and Adam was just too much. I couldn’t really handle much of it, and Kenji’s scenes made the love triangle bearable. I do admit that if Kenji were to be nonexistent, I would not have enjoyed this book at all. It would have been one of the books that ended up in my DNF shelf if it relied solely on Adam, Juliette, and Warner.

This second novel moved slower than the first. The first novel focused more on the plot, and that was what made the reading feel so quick to me. However this second one focused more on the Juliette love triangle and her interactions with both Adam and Warner. For that reason, this second novel read slower. The plot was slowed down because Mafi caught more of Juliette’s confusion about what she wanted. That, honestly, annoyed me. At some point,  I found myself saying, pick one already; you’re just making yourself look slutty Juliette. I didn’t really care about the whole, “I don’t know who to choose; I can’t pick one over the other,” part to this story. Again, I admit that that is due to my being tired of love triangle stories.

After re-reading this novel, my feelings about the characters and plot changed. By the end of this re-reading, I was interested in what would happen with The Reestablishment (since that is the main conflict carrying the whole series), what would happen between Adam and Warner, and what would happen with Kenji. I did not care where Juliette’s feelings would end up. By the end of this novel, I just found myself saying, “girl you better pick one in the third book. You’ve gone undecided for two books now. You’re running out of books. Just pick one already.” I was instead more interested in what would happen with Adam and Warner after what was revealed in this novel. After what Mafi revealed in this novel about the two (I won’t spoil it) I wondered how that revelation would change this whole love triangle she introduced. I actually hoped it would shatter the love triangle altogether.

Audible Review:

Narration Rating: ★★★★★ / ★★★★★

Narration by Kate Simses

Simses does an amazing job narrating the second part of this series. Her narration made the story interesting, and I enjoyed that the same narrator was used for this next book. It is kind of strange to me when different narrators are used to narrate a series, and it kind of makes me disconnect from the series since I relate the narrator’s voice to the story. I am glad the same narrator was utilized for this novel so that didn’t happen. Simses’ narration at 1.0 speed was too slow for me. The best speed for me was 1.50. For those of us who like to multitask and listen on the go, I recommend listening at a 1.75 speed, so one does not miss anything. For those who are listening while reading the book, I found 2.0 and 2.5 speed to be the best speeds. 3.0 and 3.5 speed was too fast for me, and I was missing a lot of what the narrator was saying and had to eventually slow down the narrator’s reading speed. 

Other works by this Author:

Novels

• Furthermore
• Whichwood 
• A Very Large Expanse of Sea

Shatter Me Series

• Shatter Me
• Unravel Me
• Ignite Me
• Restore Me
• Defy Me

Novellas

• Destroy Me
• Fracture Me
• Shadow Me

Novella Collection

• Unite Me