Ten Author Facts About: Taherah Mafi

1. Her name is pronounced with the accent on the first syllable and her family is originally from Iran.

2. She has four older brothers and was born in Connecticut.  She currently lives in Orange County, CA and has a season pass to Disneyland.

x3. At age five, she wanted to be a chemist and grew up “living in the library.” Harry Potter is one of her favorite books because she was the same age and grew up with Harry

4. She went to a small liberal arts college and never took a creative writing class.  For her, writing a book was always something that seemed like it was too difficult. Tahereh says “Writing is such a solitary pursuit that you often have to be your own biggest fan and cheerleader.  I know writers who had to wait for 10 years or 20 years before they were published.  I needed to keep myself motivated so that I could hang in there.”

5. She is an obsessive writer who would lock herself up in her house for weeks and literally wake up, write and fall asleep.  Repeat.  She wrote ‘Unravel Me,’ the second book in the series, in two weeks.

6. She wrote five manuscripts and received hundreds of rejections before coming up with Shatter Me.  Her advice for people who want to be writers is to never give up.  “I have been there many times.  The only difference between successful and unsuccessful writers is time.  So don’t give up too soon.” 

7. She loves to do things with her hands including cook, draw and doodle.  One of the things Tahereh is known for is “defacing” her books, where she draws, writes a quote or just goes crazy on the white hard covers.  This practice started one day when she was just sitting around and took the jacket off one of her author’s copies.  She saw that the cover was plain white and just started to draw on it.  She put the photo up on Twitter and it received so much positive reaction that her publisher asked her to do a few more for a giveaway.  It has now become her “thing.”

8. She is a picky eater.  When one of her friends found out she was coming to Manila, she was asked if she would try balut. She replied “NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”

9. She has the same agent as Stephanie Meyer.

10. On the fans in Manila, Tahereh says: “The readers here are so passionate and it is very difficult to describe but I have never been to a signing where people were just so into it and screaming.  You can ask ‘Who is Team Warner?’ and people would scream.  They are just so genuine in their interest that you just want to squeeze and hug each one of them.  And it is very flattering to the author.”

Source: http://www.philstar.com/sunday-life/2013/03/10/917688/10-things-you-did-not-know-about-tahereh-mafi

COVER REVEAL: IGNITE ME by Tahereh Mafi

BLURB: The heart-stopping conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Shatter Me series, which Ransom Riggs, bestselling author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, called "a thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love"

Juliette now knows she may be the only one who can stop the Reestablishment. But to take them down, she'll need the help of the one person she never thought she could trust: Warner. And as they work together, Juliette will discover that everything she thought she knew-about Warner, her abilities, and even Adam-was wrong.

In Shatter Me, Tahereh Mafi created a captivating and original story that combined the best of dystopian and paranormal and was praised by Publishers Weekly as "a gripping read from an author who's not afraid to take risks." The sequel, Unravel Me, blew readers away with heart-racing twists and turns, and New York Times bestselling author Kami Garcia said it was "dangerous, sexy, romantic, and intense." Now this final book brings the series to a shocking and climactic end.

Praise for the Shatter Me series:

"Dangerous, sexy, romantic, and intense. I dare you to stop reading."-Kami Garcia, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of the Beautiful Creatures series

"Tahereh Mafi's bold, inventive prose crackles with raw emotion. A thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love, the Shatter Me series is a must-read for fans of dystopian young adult literature-or any literature!"-Ransom Riggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

"Addictive, intense, and oozing with romance. I'm envious. I couldn't put it down."-Lauren Kate, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Fallen series

SHATTER ME SERIES PLAYLIST

Since Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi is my absolute favourite book, because of it's utter perfection, I've decided to compile a list of songs that I believe fit perfectly with the series. As Ely knows, I've had countless obsessive moments where I rave about Warner and all the other characters of this series, So without furthermore (No Spoilers), here I go:

7. Landscape - Florence and the Machine

This song screams Juliette at every aspect of the series. She's dangerous and chaotic, no matter how much she doesn't want to be. She's just like the weather. Can't hold her together.

6. Happening - Olivia Broadfield. Olivia will always be one of those indie artists that I absolutely adore to pieces. "Happening," to me, explains the best chapter of the series (Chapter 62 - Unravel Me) when Juliette said a couple of idiotic things about Warner, and she questions him.

5. I'm In Here - Sia. If we jump back to the first novel, "Shatter Me," this would be the background scene to the whole Asylum life. Every word in this song sounds like an aching call. Juliette's aching call.

4. Dream - Priscilla Ahn. If we could convert Juliette's white bird into a song, it would be this. This is utterly perfect. This is what she would want to have.

3.  Ashes and Wine - A Fine Frenzy. One line just really gets me in this song. "If that will make you hurt like me." You are probably thinking that it is the weirdest line to pick from that song, but it's not. In the end of Unravel Me (No Spoilers i promise!) something happens to one of our leads that results in another one of our leads acting out in desperation to save that someone. That someone looks up at the other lead and says a line that announces that if someone died, another person would die too.  Now I hope that didn't give too much away.

2. Echo - Jason Walker

 Warner. Warner. Warner.

1. LandFill - Daughter

This is the song of their people. This is how I think Juliette felt about Warner at the end of Shatter Me. I'm not saying anything else!

I hope everyone enjoyed this. I had fun making it.  If you have time please send it to Tahereh Mafi on twitter. I've been trying to get her attention but no luck!  Leave a comment down below if you have any other suggestions.

TOP 3 DYSTOPIAN MUST HAVES

1. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi (GoodReads)

If your thinking, "Really? This is your first pick out of all those other popular Dystopians?" Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Because this one deserves just as much hype and earns the title of my favourite book. Yes. The Honour goes to the Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi. The best characters, an amazing plot line, beautiful writing and a potential for so much MORE! If your looking for a fast paced, poetically written story about a girl that can destroy someone with her touch, and a boy so menacing but intriguing that it becomes despicable to fall in love with him. Then this is your man!

Blurb:
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



2. Divergent by Veronica Roth (GoodReads)

I don't know where you have been if you haven't heard anything about this book. With an upcoming movie and all, it has gained a lot of hype. Oh Divergent. How I truly do love you. And though Divergent has fallen second in that reserved place in my heart, it is something you have to read to be up to date with Dystopian Genre. Though the second book in the series is quite heavy, it is a read as well. It has such a strong amazing main character and will do well. So get on it!

Blurb:
In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.


3.  Legend by Mari Lu (GoodReads)


Though i haven't read this one, it's gone shooting into everyones book radar for awhile. I have the book gingerly sitting on my self, waiting to be called upon for its unravelling. Though i haven't read it, i feel like it's going to be a must have!

Blurb:
What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic’s highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June’s brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family’s survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias’s death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Full of nonstop action, suspense, and romance, this novel is sure to move readers as much as it thrills