1.5 Stars

When I finished this book, it was a two-star book in my mind. But when I actually sat down to type up this review, I realized that it doesn't even deserve two stars.

Now, I am not an ultra fangirl of the Shatter Me series. I enjoyed the first trilogy, with the third book being my favorite by a long shot. It wasn't even close to perfect, with the lack of world-building and backstory, but I honestly read it for the characters and their relationships, and in that was I was mostly satisfied.

When I learned that TM was writing another 3 books in the series, I was intrigued, but I wasn't sure it was necessary. My hope for the second trilogy of books was that it would expand the world and really progress character arcs.

Restore Me was okay, IMO. I gave it three stars. I appreciated that we got to see other characters from other parts of the world, and we learn about Juliette's true background and the fact that her birth parents are still alive. But honestly, nothing much happened in that book and I felt like the romance between Juliette and Warner wasn't strong at all, even before they broke up because they couldn't use their words. I still loved Kenji and Juliette's friendship, but it felt like nothing happened in that book until the last couple chapters.

I didn't really have any overwhelming urge to read Defy Me, but I was very curious when I saw people who usually rate these book high rating this one low. I wanted to know what was so bad about it.

I get it now.

It's not that this book is offensive or problematic in any way. It's not, at least, not that I discerned. But NOTHING HAPPENS IN THIS BOOK. The book takes place over the course of about a two-week span. But really, 75% of the content is flashbacks into Juliette and Warner's childhoods. We even have instances of flashbacks WITHIN flashbacks, which is a particular pet peeve of mine. I get that this is done to show that Juliette and Warner are beginning to remember things that had been previously wiped, but honestly, it didn't feel like any of the information was new. It didn't further their arcs as individuals or as a couple. Even though we didn't know that they'd been so close in the past, none of that information felt new in any way. I felt as though I was reading something I'd already read.
Also, the amount of telling, not showing is astounding in this book. There is almost no action in the book. It's just flashbacks and then people thinking about their flashbacks and then people talking to each other about what's happened in the past two weeks (because it was completely skipped over).

Another gripe I have is that when Juliette learns from her mother that Anderson is actually alive (!) she has zero reaction. Her mother is monologuing about this, that, and the other thing and brings up that Anderson is alive even though she (Juliette) attempted to kill him and blah, blah, blah. And never once, even though this is supposed to be from Juliette's perspective, does she have any sort of reaction to that news. It should've been shocking. And it's not brought up again by Juliette until she and Warner are back together.

Also, I would've liked more development with Juliette's relationship with her parents. We see them as these evil, moustache-twirling villains for 99% of the story, aside from one flashback where they are making pancakes together and the parents are being lovey dovey with one another...I'm sorry...WTF?! How on Earth did they go from being Ozzie and Harriet to Mommie and Daddy Dearest? We don't know, because there was NO DEVELOPMENT.

Now to one of my biggest gripes...the names. It makes no sense to me that everyone back at their base would find out that her birth name was Ella and then just start referring to her that way. The number of times someone said, "Julie-Ella" or something to that effect would've left me comatose if I'd made it a drinking game (although I will admit maybe alcohol would've made this experience a little more fun). Why would they assume that she would want to go by Ella? They'd only known her as Juliette. And then when she herself says that she likes Ella better because Juliette is "the name Anderson gave me." I couldn't help but roll my eyes. So the name Anderson gave you is tainted, but you don't mind going by the name that your sadistic, abusive POS parents gave you? Cool...cool, cool, cool, cool, cool...

It just doesn't feel right to have this character go by Juliette for four books only to have her change her name part way through the fifth. Ella just doesn't feel right for that character. Sorry, not sorry. Maybe a different name would've worked, but she just doesn't feel like an Ella to me.

The writing was also subpar, especially for TM. I'm sorry, but one of the things that made me a fan of this series was the lush, descriptive writing. It would just suck me in and I was able to overlook some of the plot issues and lack of world-building because the words were so lyrical and evocative. That was not the case in this book. I listened to the audio, which I've done with all of the other books as well, and it felt markedly different. It honestly felt like mediocre fan fiction. There was a general lack of description, and the dialogue was bad. Just cheesy and repetitive and cringeworthy.

In case anyone reading this review thinks that I am just looking to totally drag this book for no reason, there were some things/scenes I liked.
It may sound ridiculous, but the scene with Warner and Kenji talking about movies was my favorite scene in the whole book. I love that Kenji's favorite movie is Tangled, and that he became so defensive about it. So. Good.
I loved the scene between Emmaline and Juliette and wish it hadn't been such a brief moment. I'm curious to see if she's going to be able to save her sister or if she will end up helping Emmaline die.
I liked the reveal that Warner's dad isn't dead, because I feel like he deserves more of a comeuppance than he got in the third book.
I was okay with Nazeera and Kenji. I didn't hate them, but I'm not totally sold on them either. I thought it was strange that they would start making out with each other right after Juliette and Warner go missing. Like...really?

I will probably still read the last book because I want to know what happens, but if I ever reread any of these books, it will only be the first three.