The first book in the Shatter Me series, acclaimed by The New York Times Bestseller young adult fantasy hexalogy Shatter Me. Shatter Me is a fantastic book series that keeps you hooked from the very beginning. Shatter Me is a book full of adventure, emotion, and tension with great views of the characters. All the main characters are easy to fall in love with, and each one has their moments to shine.

The book started with Juliette Ferras being locked up for 264 days by The Reestablishment. The Reestablishment is an international movement that has staked a claim on all the inhabitable land left in the world. Their vision of the future is to re-create the world with one universal language and to forget everything else. Juliette’s touch is lethal. Everything she touches, she kills. She was locked up because she killed a boy she was trying to help stand up. They will kill anyone who tries to stand in their way. 

The Reestablishment decides to give Juliette a cellmate named Adam Kent. Adam has been a soldier in Sector 45 for two years. North America has been divided up into 555 sectors to limit communication around the world. Juliette and Adam first met each other in third grade. Adam was physically abused by his dad regularly, and everyone was afraid of Juliette because of her ability. Over the next couple of days that Adam shares the cell, he tries to communicate with Juliette but gets minimal conversation out of her. Then, while Juliette is asleep, Adam touches Juliette, expecting to feel pain, but he can touch her without any consequences. 

Soon after Adam’s arrival, Juliette is forced to meet with the leader of Sector 45, Aaron Warner. On her way to meet him, she finds out that Adam is a soldier for Sector 45, and Juliette believes that everything he told her was a lie. Before Juliette can meet Warner, Warner laid out a dress for her that she is forced to wear. When she puts on the dress, she finds her notebook that she has been writing in for the time she has been in the asylum. 

When Juliette meets Warner, he gives her a proposition. Warner’s proposition is for Juliette to join The Reestablishment, to become one of them. Juliette is forced to accept his offer, or she will be killed. Juliette resents Warner because of the position he put her in. Since Juliette had to accept the offer, she gets a new room to stay in, but Adam has to move in with her because he has now been assigned to watch her at all times. While Adam is watching Juliette, they form an instant love connection. Warner notices the connection and starts to take Juliette with him wherever he goes to have Juliette for himself. 

Warner begins to test Juliette’s abilities. He puts her in a torture chamber with a child. If Juliette doesn’t get to the child in time, he would die, but if she touches him, he will experience pain. She decides to try to save him, so she has to get through obstacles to get to him. Once she gets to him, his scream pierces through the air. Warner’s voice comes through the intercom and says, “Brilliant, love. I’m thoroughly impressed.” Hearing his voice enrages Juliette. She smashes through the two-way mirror and pins Warner against the wall. All the guns are pointed toward Juliette, but Warner yells at them to stand down. She says, “If you ever put me in a position like that again, I will kill you. And I will enjoy it”. Adam finds her on the floor of the shower crying because the effect of killing another child has crashed into her. He talks her through what she did to calm her down. 

Adam confesses his love to her and is going to help Juliette escape. By the time both of them get out of the shower, an alarm is hammering through the walls. Adam doesn’t know what to do with Juliette until Warner walks in to watch Juliette. Warner asks Juliette why she ripped her dress, but she avoids the question. Warner then pins her against the wall, asking why she has a notebook. She tries lying, but Warner doesn’t buy it. Adam puts a gun to Warner’s head and says, “Get your hands off of her before I bury a bullet in your head.”

Adam slams the butt of the gun into Warner’s head and turns to Juliette and says, “Let’s get out of here.” Juliette and Adam are forced to go out through the window because all the soldiers would be outside the door waiting for them. Adam goes out first to catch Juliette at the bottom. Before Juliette can get out the window, Warner tries to grab Juliette to stop her but instead brushes his hand against her leg without consequence. Adam and Juliette run through the streets to get to a parking garage where Adam’s little brother James is. The parking garage is a place where all the orphans stay when they are the only ones left in their families. 

They stay the night and wake up pounding on the door. James is at school and Adam is in the shower. Juliette goes to get a gun, but Adam comes out of the shower to help. The pounding stops. “Please, man, if you’re in there,” Adam straightens his back in an instant. He opens the door to his friend Kenji. Adam is not pleased to see Kenji, but he’s injured, so Adam decided to help him. Once Kenji is cared for, he tells Adam and Juliette about a safe place where they can go, and after a lot of convincing, they agree to go. While they are waiting for James to get home, they pack what they will need to go to Kenji’s safe place. Once James gets home, Adam explains to James that they need to leave, but he has to stay for his safety. Before they can finish their conversation, they hear Warner’s men outside the door. Juliette, Adam, James, and Kenji run into James’ room to go out through a hidden door when something explodes 15 feet behind them. They make it out onto the road and find a place for Kenji and James to stay hidden. 

Adam and Juliette keep running to find a car to use. Eventually, they find one, but someone says, “It’s about time.” Juliette sees blood everywhere. Adam is on the ground, clutching his body where he has been shot. Juliette is being dragged away into an empty classroom by Warner. Warner confesses his love for Juliette while he backs her up into a corner. Juliette wonders how many buttons she would have to undo on his jacket before she can get her hands on a gun. “I’ll be so good to you, Juliette. I promise.” Warner whispers into Juliette’s ear. Then Warner kisses her. She is so stunned she forgets to pretend. She grabs him by his jacket to start undoing the buttons when Warner picks her up and gives her the perfect angle to get his gun. Juliette wraps her hand around the gun just as she feels him freeze. She pulls the trigger and starts running to find Adam.

She runs out of the classroom to find a trail of Adam’s blood. Juliette follows the trail to a soundproof building with a metal door. She is infuriated that she found him but can’t get to him. She punches the door to let out her anger, but she punches right through the door. Then, she climbs through the door to find out that the building is a slaughterhouse. She finds Adam hanging from the ceiling with bound wrists above the conveyor belt. Once she climbs up to him, she gets him down. They start to walk, but it’s more difficult because Adam can barely stand. They find their way back to a car and Juliette starts driving. 

They find their way back to Kenji and James. James is asleep in the front seat, Kenji is driving and Juliette is holding Adam in the back seat. They get to Kenji’s safe place, and four people run out to the car to get Adam. Juliette screams to go with Adam, but they won’t let her, and Kenji has to sedate her to get her to calm down. She wakes up, scrubbed clean, in a creaky old staircase. A guy sitting in the corner starts to question her to make sure she didn’t lose any memory. While he is questioning her, Kenji comes in and says that Castle wants to meet her. The three walk through an entire underground city to meet Castle. Juliette is in the room with Castle when he decided to give her a tour of Omega Point. 

Castle explains to Juliette that Omega Point is a secret organization of people with abilities like hers that aims to destroy the Reestablishment. Castle leads Juliette to the medical wing, so she could see Adam. Adam slowly wakes up to Juliette’s touch. Two twins who are the healers tell them that the sedative will wear off soon. The twins go to get James, who is playing with other children. When James gets in the room, he is so excited to be able to play with other kids and that Adam is awake. Adam says that he is glad to be done with Warner when Kenji comes in and says that Warner is still alive. Kenji tells Adam and James that they are staying with him and that Juliette is staying with the twins, Sonya and Sara. Juliette changes the conversation and asks how they know Warner is still alive. Kenji says they caught him on camera above ground, but that they don’t need to worry because Omega Point is safe. 

Juliette learns from Kenji that he can turn invisible, Sonya and Sara have healing powers, and Castle can move things with his mind. They soon go to bed and Juliette wakes up to Winston knocking on the door. Winston takes Juliette, Adam, and Kenji to another room, so Juliette can try on a suit that Winston made for her. When Juliette finished changing, Winston explains that the suit can make Juliette able to touch anyone because of the fabric. Once they leave the room. Juliette is ready to fight, because this time, she’s ready.