Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi

Yeah. Ok. So it took me a while to figure out my feelings for this book. The first time I read it, I absolutely loved it and I couldn't get past my own feelings to actually accurately rate the plot, characters and just the overall writing. So I read it again. And again. And again. This time, I think I know what to say.

After finishing this series in it's entirety, I felt so incredibly sad because I wouldn't get to see all the different relationships in the book progress. The plot of this book was focused differently than other dystopian's I've read. The others focus on the rebellions and the overall movements of the people. This book focused on Juliette's personal journey from scared little girl to a strong and independent woman. I actually really liked that however I think I would have liked an epilogue just to see if they win the overall rebellion and what happens after that. But the way it ended (the last sentence - OMG) was amazing too.

I love 3 main things about Tahereh Mafi's writing. 1) Her characters are so fluid. Just like real people. She doesn't have to force them to become real, they just are because she writes them that way. It's like she isn't even aware that their fictional characters because they are real in her mind. 2) She is the QUEEN of metaphors. I didn't think so many things could be comparable but the way she writes her metaphors just paint beautiful pictures in my mind. 3) Just her writing style. She doesn't worry about fragments or run-on sentences. For example, when Juliette is frantic and panicking, her sentences are run-on's showing Juliette's train of thought that doesn't stop. Or when she's in shock or speechless, all the sentences are short. It's in this way that the book is perfectly paced so you feel like you're in Juliette's head and seeing everything truly from her eyes.

Oh, and I LOVE the cover's for all 5 books!! So gorgeous!

This book is truly a work of art, full of mind-blowing metaphors, beyond real characters, riveting plot, and phenomenal pacing. I absolutely loved it and wouldn't take it any other way. 5 perfect stars!

Now for some quotes I adored:

“I can do anything I want. 
Be with anyone I want. 
And it'll be my choice.”

“Why do you call her 'love'?" James asks. "I've heard you say that before, too. A lot. Are you in love with her? I think Adam's in love with her. Kenji's not in love with her, though. I already asked him." 
Warner blinks at him. 
"Well?" James asks. 
"Well what?" 
"Are you in love with her?" 
"Are you in love with her?" 
"What?" James blushes. "No. She's like a million years older than me." 
"Would anyone else like to take over this conversation?" Warner asks, looking around the group.”

“I’m not sure. But there’s something about the darkness, the stillness of this hour, I think, that creates a language of its own. There’s a strange kind of freedom in the dark; a terrifying vulnerability we allow ourselves at exactly the wrong moment, tricked by the darkness into thinking it will keep our secrets. We forget that the blackness is not a blanket; we forget that the sun will soon rise. But in the moment, at least, we feel brave enough to say things we’d never say in the light.”

“Words, I think, are such unpredictable creatures.
No gun, no sword, no army or king will ever be more powerful than a sentence. Swords may cut and kill, but words will stab and stay, burying themselves in our bones to become corpses we carry into the future, all the time digging and failing to rip their skeletons from our flesh.”

“And we are quotation marks, inverted and upside down, clinging to one another at the end of this life sentence. Trapped by lives we did not choose.” 

“Water that never moves." I say to him. "Its fine for a little while. You can drink from it and it'll sustain you. But if it sits too long it goes bad. It grows stale. It becomes toxic." I shake my head. "I need waves. I need waterfalls. I want rushing currents.” 

“I promise myself then, in that moment, that I will hold him forever, just like this, until all the pain and torture and suffering is gone, until he's given a chance to live the kind of life where no one can wound him this deeply ever again.” 

“He looks up, so slowly, gold lashes lifting to reveal more sadness and beauty that I've ever seen in the same moment. I didn't know a person could convey so much with just one look. There's extraordinary pain in him. Extraordinary passion.”

“I'm not falling for Warner," I say quietly.
"Sure you aren't."
"I'm not," I insist. "I'm just-- I don't know." I sigh. "I don't know what's happening to me."
"They're called hormones.”

“Damn,” Kenji says after a moment. “Damn damn damn. This shit is bananas” 

“Hanging out with you has made me weird, J. All I do is sit around thinking about my feelings these days. Thanks for that.” 

“But I'm also strong enough to break through just about anything," I tell them, "and without even injuring myself. Concrete. Brick. Glass-"
"The earth," Kenji adds.” 

“Ignite, my love. Ignite.”