Bumped (Bumped #1)

Bumped (Bumped #1)
Megan McCafferty

Publication Date: April 26, 2011
Date Read: January 8, 2012
Format: Paperback
Pages: 323

From Goodreads:

When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society. Girls sport fake baby bumps and the school cafeteria stocks folic-acid-infused food.

Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and have never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Up to now, the twins have followed completely opposite paths. Melody has scored an enviable conception contract with a couple called the Jaydens. While they are searching for the perfect partner for Melody to bump with, she is fighting her attraction to her best friend, Zen, who is way too short for the job.

Harmony has spent her whole life in Goodside, a religious community, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to convince Melody that pregging for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she is running from.

When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls’ lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, one that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common.

I really have no idea what to write in this review. Bumped is positively the strangest, weirdest book I have ever read in my life. It's weird and confusing and for most of it I didn't really have a clue what was going on.

Melody and Harmony are twin sisters separated at birth. In a society where people become infertile at the age of 18 they have two very different perspectives on the situation. Harmony, brought up in a religious community, frowns upon the act of 'bumping' and is determined to help her sister before she sins. Melody has a contract to 'bump' for a infertile couple. When the sisters come face to face sparks fly, but can they overcome their differences and find that they have more in common than they first thought?

This is such a difficult review to write as I have very mixed feelings about this book. When I first heard of this dystopian book I could not wait to read it. It sounded like such an interesting storyline and I was looking forward to diving into this book. However, I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed by this book.
It is a very strange book and I am not a massive fan of the writing style. I wasn't gripped right away and the writing style didn't make me want to keep reading. There is a lot of futuristic slang that I didn't really understand and it wasn't explained so throughout the book I found myself having to guess what the characters were talking about. I also didn't think there was enough world-building in this book. At the beginning of the book it felt like a chore to have to pick up the book and read it as I was just confused so much. Nothing about the society was really explained. It didn't mention the virus until a few chapters in. To me I felt like it wasn't a first book in a series but a book further on in a series and you should have read some other book beforehand in order to understand the book.
Furthermore I felt like the story was very slow in progressing. Just when I felt like some good things were about to start it still took around 80+ pages to actually get there. However the storyline was very interesting and that is what kept me going through the book and I am so glad I did. Once I got to the end and looked back on the book I realised that it is a good story and I did in fact enjoy it.

Now on to the characters, again I have mixed impressions. I love Melody and Harmony. I love how different they are but deep down they are so similar and have it in them to be best friends. I really liked both of them and I was reading the book just waiting for them to start bonding and sisters. The boys is another matter. First I love Zen. He is my favourite character in the whole book and every scene he was in I was laughing. He is the reason I kept reading because I loved him so much. As much as I loved Zen I disliked Jondoe. He is such an infuriating character. First impression of him is what an ass. He is stuck-up and comes across as if he is completely in love with himself and has a very very high opinion of himself which just really irritated me. Then we see a different side to him and see a sensitive side to him and I started to warm to him. Then he switches back and I disliked him again and by the end I couldn't really decide.

The ending of the book was the most positive thing about the book in my opinion. It was a great ending and as much as I struggled through this book I will definitely be reading the next book. I am looking forward to seeing what happens between the characters and seeing which side of Jondoe is the 'real' one.
Because of my mixed views on this book it was very difficult to rate. I am so torn between 2 and 3 Roses. I want to give it 3 because by the end I did enjoy the book and I am looking forward to book 2 and seeing how the story ends for these characters, but the writing didn't particularly grip me and it was very very slow progressing through the story so I will give it 2 Stars, I hope the next one isn't as slow going as this one.

Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1)

Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1)
Tahereh Mafi

Publication Date: November 15, 2011
Date Read: December 21, 2011
Format: Hardback
Pages: 338

From Goodreads:
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.

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting asThe Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices,Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel.

*Thank you to the very awesome Lesley @ My Keeper Shelf for lending me Shatter Me =)

Wow! I don't even know where to start with this review. This book was just incredible. It completely blew me away and was so much better than I ever imagined it could be. I had read so many great reviews gushing about how incredible this book was but nothing I read, or you will ever read, can truly prepare you for the awesomeness that this book is.

Juliette has been locked up in an asylum for 264 days. She has been isolated and forgotten about. Juliette has an unusual gift, she can kill with just one touch. When Juliette is enlisted to help The Reestablishment take control she knows she must escape their clutches but she doesn't know how. Can Adam, the guy she has loved since childhood help her, or will his bosses keep them apart?

I genuinely loved this book. There are no words to explain how incredible this book is. Before I started this book I was torn between reading this and 2 other books and I really couldn't decide which to read so I decided to read the first chapter of Shatter Me just to get a feel of the book. The next thing I know I am about 100 pages in. It completely hooked me and I could just not put this book down. It was expected that I would like this book as it is dystopian and that's all I really need to know about a book for me to want to read it as I just adore dystopian books but I did not expect to be gripped so early in the book.

I love Juliette, she is such an amazing character and I really felt through her. The story is told through Juliette's eyes and I just couldn't comprehend all that she had been through. I think she is an incredibly strong character to have kept on going as she did after all that had happened to her.
Adam, Oh how I love Adam. He is just incredible. I love how protective he is. Both of Juliette and of his younger brother, he will do anything to protect the ones he loves even if that risks his own life. He is an amazing character and I think everyone will love Adam.

I was very surprised by the writing style of this book. It was something that if in any other book it would probably have annoyed me heavily and put the rating of the book down but in this book it compeletely fits with the storyline and I loved it. A lot of the narration to start with is very short simple sentences which in other books do annoy me and have caused me to even not finish the book. However in Shatter Me it completely fits and it's one of the things that had me hooked right through. Juliette has been isolated for so long she doesn't even know if she remembers how to speak, so her thinking is very simple to start with, and with her being locked in an asylum it totally fits as I am sure if you were in her situation that is how anybody would start to think and process everything. The other thing that struck me is that throughout the book there are sentences that are
crossed out
. This would have heavily annoyed me in any other book but with this one it also fit as Juliette feels like some of her thoughts she shouldn't be having. She shouldn't be thinking things like this so she crosses them out. To me I see this as the way Juliette has come to process things in her mind after being in solitude for so long.


I love that Shatter Me mixes a dystopian society with Paranormal aspects. My two favourite genres of book are dystopian and paranormal so to find one that mixes them both is the perfect book for me. I loved how it merged the two and how there is a superhero aspect to it. I cannot wait to read the rest of the series and I will be
im
patiently waiting for book 2. It completely surprised me and left me reeling. It is definitely a must-read for everyone. It will take your breath away with the intensity of the emotions throughout the book and will leave you breathless and needing more.