Recently, I finished the fourth installment to the Shatter Me series, Restore Me. I was not at all expecting the sheer brilliance that came along with this novel. Although I was a huge fan to the original three books, I wasn't exactly the most interested in continuing the series. For starters, the time gap between the release dates of the third book and the fourth book were simply too long. The third novel was released in February of 2014 whereas Restore Me was released in March of 2018. It would only be expected for a good handful of readers to lose interest in the series between the excruciatingly long span of four years. Secondly, the third novel had wrapped up the story---I might have had a few questions as to what would happen afterwards, but the novel was simply supposed to follow Juliette's rise and struggle to fight back the dystopian government that chained her to the asylum.

That being said, I ended up picking the novel up just out of sheer boredom. The book picks off immediately off the last novel, and though the first 75% of the novel moves at a slow, turtle crawl, I actually understood the importance of the slow pace. Through the first 75% of the novel, Juliette scrambles around helplessly in confusion, adjusting to her new authority and workload. It would be awfully weird if Juliette seamlessly transitioned to an insane girl from the asylum that somehow managed to destroy the Supreme Commander of North America to a serious, responsible leader. She is so incredibly new to this crazy, tangled world that's overflowing with treachery, politics, and issues. Being Supreme Commander is more than just fighting against rebellious forces constantly. It involves the intriguing, dark relationships between the most powerful leaders around the world. You can't just waltz into one of the world's most powerful positions and expect everything to be blood and glory. Instead, it's a slow, sweet burn of painful deception and lies----a wicked game played between the world's most significant leaders.

Another thing that I particularly enjoyed about this novel was the reality check. In the first three books, Warner and Juliette have undeniable chemistry and quickly become infatuated with each other, but once that infatuation burns out, it's time for the two sides of the relationship to truly understand each other. Finally, we get to see a more realistic side of Warner and Juliette's relationship. They realize that besides the events that occurred in the pats month, they really don't know much about each other. At times, it was indescribably painful to witness their conflicts, but at the same time, I relished them. After all the lustrous flirtations between the two of them in the past few novels, it was nice to see the other side of things. Love isn't always going to be a smooth ride of infatuation and flirtations; you're going to have to make an effort to know who this person is and what they stand for.

Finally, I loved the plot twist at the end. Even though I almost guessed it in the first few pages, the anticipation is slowly but steadily built up until the climax where everything comes crashing down. I loved it. Honestly, the cliffhanger puts all other cliffhangers to shame. I don't want to say much, but reading the ending was probably one of those moments where everything that happened in the novel earlier is tied together beautifully into one giant package of astonishment.

Overall, this novel was fantastic, and I'm excited to see what the next two novels have in store for Juliette!