[Out and About] Veronica Rossi, Tahereh Mafi, and Veronica Rossi in the Philippines (Bloggers' Forum)

One thing is for sure - National Bookstore is spoiling all PH-based book lovers. It's only April, and yet there have already been four major bookish events (Gayle Forman's signing; Kate Evangelista's Til Death book launch; Becca Fitzpatrick's signing; and now, Tahereh Mafi, Ransom Riggs, and Veronica Rossi's signing)! How crazy is that!? Hey, I bet none of us are complaining, though! As a matter of fact, around 2000 people attended the signing in Manila, and around the same number attended the one in Cebu!

I had the chance to be part of a bloggers forum with the authors, and I am so incredibly grateful to National Bookstore for the opportunity. We were a bit pressed for time this time around, but everyone still had so much fun! Tahereh and Ransom, despite obviously still being very jetlagged, were very accommodating. If I didn't already love them from their first visit, I would have fallen head over heels in love with them last Saturday! (Also, oh gosh, can we please talk about Tahereh's outfit? A perfect 10, all throughout! Her make up too!) Moreover, Veronica is one of the most amazing, down-to-earth authors I have ever met, bar none. She is just so friendly!

And Ransereh. Ransereh. RANSEREH. They were all sorts of adorable. I think everyone died from all the cuteness!

We had a chance to hold a quick Q&A and ask the authors questions personally. Here are my favorite factoids (or at least the factoids I feel strongly about):

• While writing Shatter Me, Tahereh already knew who Juliette was going to end up with. Guys, this broke my already fragile heart. I adore Adam from the bottom of my heart, and I consider him one of my favorite YA heroes. But you know what? I guess I kind of have more closure now after hearing Tahereh say this.
• Veronica Rossi is co-authoring a New Adult book under the pseudonym "Noelle August".  I am so excited for this! I love New Adult, and I have always loved Veronica's writing - her words just flow, and she has a knack for excellent world-building. I can't wait to see Veronica explore the nitty-gritty world of New Adult!
• If Ransom had to choose a picture to represent his books, he would choose a picture of the inside of his heart. Creepy, huh?
• Tahereh intentionally portrayed a weak Juliette in Shatter Me. She wanted her readers to see how Juliette grew into a strong woman as the series progressed. This is such a tough concept to pull off, but Tahereh was able to do it with flying colors. Juliette from Shatter Me - weak and scared - is so different from the latter books' Juliette - strong, poised, and beyond all, confident. I say with no doubt whatsoever that readers truly were witnesses to Juliette finding herself. What a journey it was!
• Veronica's message to her readers through her trilogy - you can find happiness, and that you should think about what home is to you. Such sound advice, and I suppose I'm not alone in saying that this couldn't have come at a more apt time. This truly made me ponder - what is home to me?

For other fun facts (and for the complete Q&A), please refer to my fellow bloggers' recap posts. They transcribed everything! The links are on the bottom of this post.

And now... the signing proper, plus tons of photos!
(Photos grabbed from Kate, Jesselle, Louisse, Nina, and Chyna.)

With Tahereh Mafi, Ransom Riggs, and Veronica Rossi!

Veronica: I like your name!

Me: I like you!

Tahereh: It's so good to see you again!

Me: *freaks out* *unable to speak* 

(after 10 seconds...)

Me: I like your make up!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what happens when you talk to people you admire when you've only had two hours of sleep. So much for being eloquent. But hey. At least I was able to make them laugh!

Selfie 3.0 with Kate of The Bookaholic Blurbs, Louisse of The Soul Sisters, and Jesselle of The Lifelong Bookworm. I think we're getting the hang of this!

Here's a gratuitous picture of me! I didn't have the chance to change into this beautiful shirt (designed by the talented Hazel of Stay Bookish) especially created for this signing, so I opted for this kind of picture instead!

Here's a group shot of all the bloggers with Ransom, Tahereh, and Veronica!

Here's a photo I snapped of the crowd at the book signing proper. Crazy, isn't it? Reminds me of crowds during sports functions!

 

All in all, I had an excellent time. As always, thank you so much to the entire National Bookstore team for bringing these three authors to the country, and for organizing both the Bloggers' Forum and the book signing proper. You guys are incredible! Also, getting to spend time with my fellow book bloggers is a great way to end the week - can you guys believe that we've all known each other for more than a year now? I love you all!

Always remember, everyone, per Veronica Rossi, go where you can shine.

Other Recaps:

Kai at Amaterasu Reads

Sab at the The Book Eater

Louisse at The Soul Sisters

Kate at The Bookaholic Blurbs

Jesselle at The Lifelong Bookworm

Chyna at Lite-Rate-Ture

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Title: Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1)
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Release Date: November 15, 2011
Published by: HarperCollins

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.

THOUGHTS:

Honestly, I hate myself for taking so long to buy myself a copy of this book. Once I finally did, I then let it sit on my shelf for how many weeks before I even picked it up. So why did I do just that, you may ask? Simple.. Bloggers have been positively raving about Shatter Me since I started blogging (that was six months ago!) and it had somehow become engrained in my brain that books that are hyped aren't good. Crazy analogy, huh? (This is the reason why it took me forever to pick up The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer as well.) Too hyped - it can't possibly live up to the hype!, I couldn't help but think. And if it's not adamantly obvious by the very first statement of this review, Shatter Me lived up to the hype surrounding it. In fact, I'm going to go one step further and state no-holds-barred that this novel blew me away.

First and foremost, I loved how Mafi didn't try to make her dystopian world so utterly complicated. Plenty of authors make that mistake - they suddenly throw out all of these names and terms that make no sense to first-time readers on the first few pages - no background whatsover, I might add - and they don't realize that most often than not, they lose these readers due to the fact that their worlds are too perplexing to grasp. I love how this world portrayed in Shatter Me is so simple, yet Mafi made sure that we had enough background to know just why the world we live in came to be the world she built. I found it easy to lose myself in this particular fabricated world - every single detail about it was absorbing, and I honestly couldn't read about it enough.

I loved the writing. I loved how unconventional it was, and it fit Juliette's personality to a T. I know that some people found it to be a bit too exaggerated, but that wasn't the case to me. It perfectly showcased Juliette's loneliness, desperation, and self-hatred. Labelled a murderer because of her fatal touch, Juliette is deemed too dangerous to be amongst other people, and she was thrown into isolation. Via the writing, you see how 264 days in isolation affected her - she had no one to talk to but herself all those days, and Juliette merely had a pen and notebook to keep herself company. Furthermore, we were also privy to the difference between how Juliette herself wants to think, and how she was taught to think by those around her. As a matter of fact, in my opinion, Juliette is a step or two away from complete and total insanity, all because of what she went through in life. After such a long time living in her cell by herself, Juliette is thrown into a loop when she is suddenly joined by another prisoner by the name of Adam.

I think it couldn't be more obvious that a relationship, a connection, would develop between Juliette and Adam. What else could you expect between two people locked together in confinement? What I was interested in was how Mafi would write about this said relationship - how exactly would she develop it? I'm not going to lie - I was expecting insta-love, but that couldn't be further from how Mafi portrayed Juliette and Adam's budding relationship. A lot more things are at play between the two. Well, sure, there is a bit of insta-love from Juliette's side of things, but hey, can you blame her? How long has she been without another person beside her? However, just because Juliette is attracted to Adam, that doesn't change the fact that she's almost forgotten how to act around another person, and that she is wary of other people, simply put. Their initial interactions were minimal at best. That of course changes as time goes by, but you get my drift. I appreciate that Mafi's writing was true to Juliette's character and background through and through.

Okay - this review would be in no way complete if I don't talk about Warner. Warner, Warner, Warner. Pretty much all my friends who have read Shatter Me are gaga over Warner and want him to end up with Juliette, but I really can't say the same. It's not that Warner isn't an intriguing and fascinating character (because he IS, and I want to learn everything I can learn about him), but I just don't think he's a good match for Juliette.Warner is TOO infatuated with Juliette, and this infatuation seemingly stemmed from merely his admiration of her power, and I do not like that (of course, I could be wrong, given that I haven't read the sequel). He's practically obsessed! Besides, Juliette is (for the lack of a better word) broken. In my opinion, a guy like Warner - power-hungry, domineering, sly and dangerous, amongst others - can't possibly help Juliette love herself more in the long run.

All in all, I LOVED this novel. (And I just love Tahereh!) I can't wait to see how Juliette will continue to grow as a character, and I'm positively excited to know more about both Adam and Warner. I don't usually like dystopia, but this one sets itself apart from other books from its genre. I'm definitely following this series to the end!

Rating: 5 Stars