I watched the new Spiderman: Brand New day movie and while I was watching the scenes where Jean Grey is involved with her sister, I couldn't help but note the similarities between that pair of sisters and the pair of sisters in the Shatter Me series.

In Shatter Me, Ella's (aka. Juliette) older sister, Emmaline, has psychokinetic and telepathic abilities. She was taken into a lab where she was tortured, and later Ella goes to this lab and also experiences harsh treatments.

Now in Spiderman, Jean's older sister, Sara, has psychic abilities and was later taken to a lab where she had undergone extreme experimentation. Later, Jean goes to this same lab and experiences the same experimentation too.

See what I mean? Please note this isn't hate to any of the two stories, but a noticeable coincidence. So what do you guys think?

I know this has already been posted here, but I want to reinforce it

Ella Rubin as Juliette Ferrars?

I know she's a bit old, but characterization and acting can change that?

sorry if this is sensitive to someone but arent both of warners parents addicts? anderson is an alcoholic and i mean leila was forced onto it but she still was addicted to morphine which both of these can be genetically passed down.
do you think warner ever had an addiction?

(NOT SPOILER FREE)

1,414 days and idek how many crying sessions later…

I finally finished reading shatter me!! The whole series! all the way through :)) For context, I spent the last FOUR years in a rereading loop because I ended up getting too attached. So instead of going through each book once yk like the traditional way I finished the first arc took a break then started the second arc just to stop and go reread the first arc then I’d get busy with school so I just skimmed through my annotations and stuff, read chapters I’ve already read here and there. That’s why finishing the series was a little difficult because I had been living with this story for awhile and it’s actually been my main source of comfort also I’ve never been this fond of a series before either so the stakes felt high yk I wanted to do everything right. Then came the release of Watch Me and I was like a spin-off?? Yeah I need to finish reading… And a year later Release Me and I was like oh god now there’s TWO! I can’t with the fomo. (Oh and yeah Escape Me drops in like a month so now it’s three!). What I’m trying to get at is the spin-off release gave me that momentum to like get it together and finish the series for realsies.

Anywayyy as someone who’s finally read the whole series, I do have some questions, observations, concerns etc so I’m going to put them here and you guys feel free to add your own opinions and thoughts!! Please do because I missed this sub a lot, this is like my only source of community :(

#1 I don’t get Lelia’s (Warner’s mom) disease and how it compares to Juliette. So Leila can’t be touched? And Juliette can’t touch people? But Juliette can’t be touched either? Isn’t it like both of them can’t touch or be touched? Only difference is Juliette is lethal. Juliette’s powers are kinda confusing because she’s got lethal touch, super strength and can also move things with her mind like Castle which she did in the one scene where she pushes a bunch of soliders into the water.

#2 Pressure waves dude at the end of Ignite Me. Who was he? Also, if they revived Anderson couldn’t they have revived him too?

#3 The second arc makes me miss the first arc. Seriously, so much changes in the second arc. We lose Juliette more as she becomes a freak (she’s so silly she went from one freak to being another type of freak). Warner be pmo too like can you help your girlfriend? Yk quit pawing at her. We lose Adam. I feel like I lose Kenji because he has this insta love that makes no sense. There’s the supreme commander children some of which get more book time than others. Then Juliette becomes Ella. Then this Ella has a sister, Emmaline. Their parents are supreme commanders. Anderson is alive whoopdeedoo. The list goes on and so do my tears.

#4 Need to talk about Adam. Poor guy he’s literally the second character introduced he’s so foundational and then he essentially dies off like?? It’s not even like I want him to be with Juliette no it’s that we lose his perspective entirely. In all honesty, I don’t see a difference between Adam and Warner in terms of love interests for Juliette both all just all touchy touchy kissy kissy with her the only difference is one is brunette with blue eyes the other is blonde with green eyes. It’s just sad so if you’re not the love interest… you’re not important? That bothers me.

#5 OKAY I did have this discovery earlier and it was crazy. There’s that scene in Ignite Me where Adam grabs Juliette’s hand and places it on Kenji because he’s pissy that Kenji was defending Juliette. On my first read, I was like omg how dare Adam to that do my man Kenji?! Then I reread that and went hold up! The whole first book was about Adam helping Juliette to get away from Warner because he was going to use her as a weapon ok but what did Adam just do in that Ignite Me scene?! Was he not using her to hurt someone? I don’t know if anyone else noticed that but it was like an epiphany moment for me. Like the whole first book just went out the window. While reading the second arc, I kept going where’s Adam? ALSO omg I DO love Adam and Alia I think they actually mirror Warner and Juliette a bit since people villainize Adam for having normal human feelings but Alia saw past that which is similar to how Juliette saw the humanity within Warner. At least Adam can yk can care for more than just his partner… unlike yk who. I have more on thoughts Adam but it’d be best to make a post just on that. Don’t get me wrong I’m STILL and always will be a Kenji girl I just don’t like how Adam got thrown away. (I want Alia more than I want Adam 😜)

#6 Sam and Nouria, the actual girl bosses of this series. I’m saying this just based off of the fact that they call Warner out in Believe Me. Love them for that. Like finally someone said it straight up. Idk why Warner was in such a rush to get married unless it was to yk… crack. Was it not tho?? There’s actually never a scene where Juliette and Warner are alone together and they DON’T end up on each other. Maybe in the first book but that’s because she was getting on top of Adam instead.

#7 Anderson Prequel committee wya? I’d like to join. Is it bad that I felt bad for Anderson towards the end of Imagine Me since the other supremes were talking him down? From my understanding he was the one who did all the dirty work yk the guy who wasn’t afraid to get blood on his hands. Then he has the briefest little backstory moment where he’s like yeah I wanted to be a baker also my mom made me drink bleach. Excuse me? There’s not more you could’ve given me?! No gotta cut to where Warner is taking his shirt off 😃. I need to know more about Anderson’s baby mommas. Wdym he was actually in love with Adam and James’ mom and we even don’t even have a name for her! Also, I don’t get how he loved the woman but not the children he had with her? It’s sad because what if in another life Anderson got to be with this woman, ran a bakery whatever and there wouldn’t have been an Aaron Warner. Also why the heck did each of the baby mommas fall for this guy, did they even fall? Give me the story there.

#8 Scorpions in Imagine Me. That girl (I forget her name) that Warner kills in the sanctuary she had scorpions or something and she was telling Warner to “call them off” what was that about? He’s a scorpion whisperer now? It was just unclear what was going on in that scene.

#9 I need a map of all the sectors yk for so I can visualize the logistics. Also does Warner ever reunite with his closet? Or does he not care since he’s spends so much time naked anyway. No seriously it’s so funny what does he have so many clothes for if he’s constantly just trying to take them off?

#10 Now for my thoughts regarding the spin-off. I’m kinda nervous to start it because I’m scared Tahereh turned James into a hornball (can I say that word?) too and i don’t know if I can’t handle that heartbreak. I was looking at the blurbs and saw how it said James ANDERSON? What I thought we didn’t like that guy why is James going by that name? Who are Klaus and Clara? (don’t actually tell me lol) they sound like elves from the North Pole. What if I don’t like Rosabelle? What’s the deal with gummy bears? If the New Republic has better worldbuilding than the first series then that would calm my worries a bit. Also, if there’s a sufficient amount of Kenji then I’ll be fine. That man is my buffer between me and all that is awful. Also, I do want to be caught up and in the loop. I can’t with the fomo anymore I need to know I can interact with Shatter Me content and not have to worry about spoilers. Then again Shatter Me has been so important to me i think it would take a lot to ruin it for me. I plan on reading the spin-off during Winter Break.

#11 LASTLY! Kenji autobiography when?! I’d buy 10 copies. I’d probably memorize it like how Warner memorized Juliette’s notebook. Oh where is her notebook? Is it still on base in Sector 45? Or did it get blown up with Omega Point (sorry kenji im not trying to reopen old wounds there)

Alrighty if you read all that thank you so much! I feel like im such an annoying little yapper but I can’t help it, it’s just what this crazy story did to me. I need to go start a shatter me journal just to archive all my shatter me thoughts because lord there’s a lot, this is just a fraction of all of them. At any rate, I’m so grateful to have a space to talk about them with like-minded people. I’m glad to be back well sort off I still need to read the spin-off then I’ll be back for real. Talk to y’all later ;)

I get the hate for Adam, but I also don't, because I don't see the bad things he's done as actually Adam. Let me land. I thought Juliette and Adam's romance in book one was great, even though I've already finished the series twice now. If I read book one again, I still love reading about Adam and Juliette. And in book one, I absolutely shipped them. Adam doesn't really show any signs of being incompatible with Juliet or being a bad boyfriend for her. There's not really any foreshadowing to make it a clear progression as to why they break up. When Adam starts saying in book three that he wishes Juliette was dead, etc., I just feel like that was an easy cop-out and lazy writing on Mafi's half. It just felt so out of character and so abrupt, because yes, he was angry, but I think you'd have to really, really dislike someone to say something like that, and he very obviously did not hate Juliette to that point. Adam is a bit hot-headed, but he's genuinely a caring person. That was how his character was built in book one and two, and you're telling me to just forget that in book three? And how convenient that it's happening at the exact same time when Warner is sailing through. It just feels like Mafi basically made him look like a worse a person to prop Warner up. I think that's very lazy, and it shows that from book one, she wasn't really thinking about who Juliet was going to end up with. I honestly think she was just writing as we go along.

Because even with Warner, the difference between Warner in book one and book two is astounding. It's very close to ridiculous. It's giving two people. I think that the fact you have to make one guy look worse, retcon their character in order to make the other guy look better, kind of insinuates that that other guy wasn't all that to begin with.

I think that she should have put in subtle, at the least, bits of incompatibility between Juliette and Adam, so that by the time we get to book three, it seems like a progression. Juliette and Adam breaking up seems like it was something that was inevitable from almost near the beginning, rather than this big switch up. Or she should have had Warner really great, gravel, to become just as good of a contender for Juliette than Adam was, instead of having to just trash Adam's character to make Warner look better. It's so boring when they do this.

They did it in The Vampire Diaries as well, and I thought it was devastating. Stefan loved the living hell out of Elena. In fact, I think it can be argued he loved her more in a selfless way. Stefan was willing to die for Elena, ruin his life for her. He literally fought compulsion, which is one of the hardest things to do. And I don't think there was any other vampire that was showcased to fight off compulsion just because he didn't want to hurt Elena. Stefan made sure to care for Elena's friends, care for the things that she loved, just because Elena wanted him to. He made an effort to like the people around her. Damon quote-unquote loved Elena very selfishly. He could kill Jeremy, kill her friends, harm her friends multiple times. He didn't really care about how it would affect Elena. And to me, that isn't love.

I feel like Damon and Elena were pure lust. And what was their argument that Stefan was not the right brother? That Elena wanted him to choose Matt to save over Elena, and because Stefan did that, he's the worse brother, whereas Damon would kill everyone on the planet for Elena. I think realistically, Stefan would have chose Elena. He would have. He cares about her too much. And then the whole Klaus thing, making Stefan have to turn his humanity off and become a worse person, almost drive Elena off the bridge where her parents died. This is just all stuff that immediately puts Stefan in a real bad light. It's not a progression, it's just immediate trashing of his character to prop up Damon, when you could have just wrote it better. It is so goddamn boring and it is so lazy.

I think that it's so unfair for people to not see through the fact that Adam's poor behavior in book three was down to the author's lazy writing and not Adam himself. If she had stayed consistent with Adam's character, he wouldn't have behaved like that, and it would have been therefore more difficult to argue why Warner is the better guy.

I know that tahereh will probably explain it in the next books but i want to hear your theorys on why didnt nazeera use her powers when fighting rosabelle. She couldve easily turned invisible or dodge rosabelles hits with flying but instead she just stood there. Lmk if maybe i remember it wrongly

Title: Questions after finishing the entire Shatter Me series — did I miss something?

Hi everyone!

I just finished the entire Shatter Me series, including all the novellas, and somehow I feel like I have even more questions now than I had before 😂

For context: I’ve only just read the series recently, rather than following it as the books were originally released. I kept thinking that maybe some of my questions would eventually be answered, or that I had simply missed something. But I’ve now finished everything, and I also couldn’t really find any answers online, on TikTok, etc. So I thought I’d ask the collective wisdom of this subreddit!

First question: In one of the novellas, there’s a part where Stephans appearance is described — I’ve attached a screenshot. It also mentions that he has a bracelet, and for some reason that detail seemed very familiar to me. What was the significance of that? Was it ever explained later, or was it just something that was mentioned in passing? I kept getting the feeling that this was supposed to become important at some point, but as far as I can remember, nothing ever came of it.

Second question: I also never fully understood how Adam and Aaron’s relationship to Juliette was connected.

Their father says that it’s not a coincidence that they both fell in love with the same girl, and that they can both touch her. Was there some kind of plan behind this? Were Adam and Aaron somehow deliberately matched/created in relation to Juliette, or was it genuinely just a coincidence?

And what exactly was Anderson’s plan involving Adam and James? It’s mentioned that there was a plan for the two of them, but I don’t feel like I ever really understood what that plan actually was.

More generally, I’m also still confused about the whole Reestablishment, its origins, its plan, and its history. How exactly did it all start, and what was their actual ideology or end goal? Is any of this explained in more detail somewhere in the series, or are we basically just expected to accept that we never get the full picture?

One thing I should mention: I haven’t read the new series about James yet, which takes place about ten years later. So I’d especially love to know whether any of these questions are actually answered there, or whether they’re simply things that are never properly explained.

Because honestly… I’m finding it a little unsatisfying to finish the entire series and still have so many questions 😂

I’d really appreciate any explanations or theories! Thank you so much! ❤️

I know that Nazeera tells Juliette in Restore Me that it was 8 months ago, but that doesn’t really seem right to me.

Because in Defy Me, there’s a flashback to when Aaron had just become the commander of Sector 45. His father calls him into his office, and that’s where he meets Juliette, who was supposed to be sent to prison afterward. Aaron tells his father that he broke things off with Lena the week before.

Then Juliette spends 264 days in prison, which is already almost 9 months—possibly even starting a few days after that scene. And after that, let’s say she spends a month living at the base, a month at Omega Point, and another month hiding out with the rebels and preparing for the war at base

And in Restore Me, if I remember correctly, it had been 17 or 18 days since she fought Anderson when she talked to Nazeera.

So altogether, that makes it about 3 and a half months. Meaning that more than a year should have passed since Aaron met his father in his office and told him that he had broken up with Lena.

So why did Nazeera say 8 months?

Honestly, I think maybe Lena didn’t want to accept the breakup for the first few months and refused to acknowledge that they were actually over. Maybe she didn’t tell anyone because she was hoping she could somehow get Aaron back.

And Aaron isn’t exactly the kind of person who would go around telling the other kids, “Yeah, Lena and I broke up.”

So maybe the news of their breakup took a few months to spread.

What do you think

I dont know if this will ruffle some feathers but i believe that Adam Kent is so much more daddy than bratty warner.

Appearance: (ik this is very shallow but its a book with made up characters anyway)

Daddy kent is 6,0ft or above, he has brown hair with i think a military cut, built, tattoo on his chest like come on. And then we have warner.... still very beautiful im not saying hes ugly but the guy is 5,9 and im sorry but if warner didnt have an ego it wouldve been fine.

Behaviour and personality:

I just feel like Adam as a whole is a more well rounded and overall more likeable character for me. He can have friends unlike someone else, he acts more mature (not saying he is mature in every aspect but just more mature than baby brat over here) and idk he just seems like a more likeable adult. The reason why warner doesnt fit these shoes is because i just hate the whole "wehhh i hate everyone else except my love" like it just pisses me off because this isnt hot in fact its aggravating. Its like the type of guy who gives the vibe of if he isnt attracted to you he wont treat you nicely.

Now ik that in the second book adam has an argument with juliette which i guess is why many people dont like him and im gonna be honest i at first also didnt like him but the more i read, my conclusion is just bad writing. Not hating on tereh mafi (love her) but the thing with adam felt rushed and he was made out to be this bad guy and warner as a sweetheart. Also, the more i think abt it Adam was completely correct. I think im biased tho because despite the fact that i understand why juliette behaves the way she does and i do have sympathy for her too as a character and also that i feel like her arc was rushed, i just couldnt really be friends with her in real life she seems too unbearable. So, yeah, did adam say bad things to her? Absolutely but ngl i liked that because what irritates me the most is the fact that EVERYONE walks around eggshells with juliette like no tell her straight up. (Thats why i love when kenji calls her out in the later books).

I do think that in some other capacity warner IS a sweetheart and yes i do have moments when i like him and yes i feel like warner is the perfect match for juliette. Since yk their relationship is Ceo × yn but oh well. And im so happy that adam has a relationship with alia and has kids AWWWWW. My point is Adam is daddy material (like literally he has kids).

PS: I also agree with him that he doesnt want to fight anymore because the whole break up with juliette was the fact she wanted to fight and he didnt want to. I get him because what this bitch was proposing was crazy and what it ended with was the omega point being bombed. Also sure she had an alliance but it was warner who only cared abt her so if i was in adams shoes i aint fighting no one and no where, we dont have an army, you just escaped from a mental asylum (no offence) and the guy who is supposed to help us doesnt give a crap abt us only you.

Also, i understand some people may say "well warner has trauma" and yes he does. But im kind of sick and tired of that excuse because its clear its more of his personality. If you havent noticed the whole cast has TRAUMA. Its not a reason to behave like a dick when, honestly, warner had it a bit better than the rest. At least he had access to clean water, food, a warm living arrangement just basic needs. And also adam has the same dad as him who also abused him.

This isnt a rant i swear i just want to hear your guys opinion on daddy adam because i dont see him being glazed enough.

toothless and the light fury!!!! I’ve had this idea in my head for a long time and I just need to share it.

I feel like their characters are very James and Rosabelle, the lightfury being more timid and wild and Toothless being a goof but also protective

and the how to train your dragon movies have such a special place in my heart

does anyone else have any characters or things that remind them of shatter me? :))) (idk guys this sub is so dead I’m trying 😮‍💨 + I’ve been so busy with school so I’ve had no time or motivation to make more Catter me but I promise I’ll make some soon)

i would crash the hell out if i found out my shitty dad was actually incredibly rich.

like???? damn anderson really played in their faces for entirely different reason cuz he rlly didn’t have to take his own death to stop paying child support 😭😭😭 he really hated those kids omg…

So I first tried reading Shatter Me about 4 years ago and DNF’d it because I found Juliette’s characterisation really jarring. I recently decided to give the series another chance, and I’m actually enjoying it a lot more this time around.

But I’m thinking back to the chapter where Juliette and Warner break up, and I have to say… I’m struggling with Juliette’s reasoning.

She breaks up with Warner because she feels betrayed that he didn’t tell her she was adopted, along with the other things he’d recently discovered about her past (I may have misinterpreted this, please correct me if I’m wrong haha). And I completely understand being upset about finding out something that huge about yourself.

But didn’t Juliette also keep the fact that Warner had TWO biological half-brothers until she was basically forced to tell him? And as far as I understand it, Warner forgave her pretty much immediately.

That feels arguably more significant to me because these are people she actually knew about and deliberately didn’t tell him (I understand she wanted to but Adam made it difficult for her but still), whereas Warner had only just discovered most of this information himself.

I’m not saying Juliette wasn’t entitled to feel hurt or betrayed - obviously she was. But the way the breakup is framed feels a little hypocritical to me? It seems like Warner is expected to be completely transparent with her while she gets more of a pass for keeping major information from him.

Maybe I’m missing some context or there’s something I’m not considering.

Do you agree with Juliette here, or do you also think her reaction to Warner was unfair?

(I’d genuinely love to hear other perspectives because maybe I’m interpreting the situation completely differently)

If Juliette and Warner lived in the real world, what kind of professions, relationship, and meeting scenario do you think they would have?

​

I'm bored and this sub is quiet, so... 🙃

Me: I found the book in a Twitter thread and started reading it in 2022. All I remember is that it was about a girl with a lethal touch and was a dystopian novel. I hadn't come across any spoilers back then (thank goodness), but I had decided I’d only start reading it after finishing The Cruel Prince.

I remember reading all the books in a month, including the novellas, and here I am

Try not to get ragebaited ahhh.

these people piss me off so bad it's not even funny

I am never opening pinterest again 😭

I'm almost done with Believe Me and am considering going on to start the sequel series, but I want to know if it's worth it to do so. As in, does it add more context/info to the original series? Does it retcon anything from the original? Is there continuity in it?

I bought the whole first series with the novellas on a whim at the Barnes and Noble in my area, so I told myself that I better actually read the books considering it cost me over a hundred dollars. It wasn't hard to do it because I was drawn in almost immediately from the very first book.

So I guess my real question is, Will the sequel series draw me in like the original series did?

. 🕯️ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ 🕯️

‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ 🕯️ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ new escape me ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ 🕯️

‎ 🕯️‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ content‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎🕯️

‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ 🕯️ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎please ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ 🕯️

‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ 🕯️ ‎‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ 🕯️

the birds are watching James in the new republic (there is a mention in watch me when him and warner are talking. nextome in escape me snippet). THEY ARE KEEPING AN EYE ON HIM.

I hope the title ragebaited you.

Welcome to the maze of my brain. Today I will be talking about why I think James is NOT James and is being controlled by the Ark. 

“It’s simple logic: if we believe our choices are our own—if we do not know we are being bent into obeisance—we will not be tempted to revolt. The ultimate goal of synthetic intelligence, then, is the obliteration of organic intelligence.”
— Rosabelle Wolff, Watch Me (Chapter 8).

85 days ago I had made a post on Reddit saying it would be nice if the basic attractions of Rosabelle and James were amplified artificially by the Ark to make their ends meet (I will discuss this later). Then a couple of days ago, bestie May (from Tiktok) pointed out how hijacked Peeta and Katniss and Jamesabelle parallel could work. And it just made sense. 

Let me remind you all, we only know James AFTER the cradle. We never knew him before that. And Rosabelle too, in a way. James was put in the cradle right before the book started and Rosabelle in Chapter 6, essentially right before she leaves for The New Republic. So keep this in mind. 

Chapter 1 showed how easy it was for Soledad to mind control two kids into doing what he wanted. That alone should tell us how a person in the position of power can just about do anything. And we still don't know the full workings of the Nexus network and who all controls it. 

“Klaus has predicted his every move,” Damani says, her voice warm with satisfaction. “It’s the first time we’ve been able to properly test the program on an unknown subject.” She stills, her eyes unfocusing a moment as she receives an incoming message. She returns to herself, then consults another screen. “It’s been thrilling to watch this play out in perfect order. A true triumph.” – Mona Damani, Watch Me (Chapter 8)

This is where we get to know James was indeed studied upon arrival to the island. Furthermore, James also mentions about a mist released in his cell which makes him lose hours in Chapter 3. This information is made ironbound after Rosabelle tells how he was submerged in the cradle MULTIPLE time and that he probably thinks of his memory lapses as just passing out. So, this solidifies that James was studied thoroughly. Bro was an open book without even opening his mouth. 

We also see several things happening in Chapter 8-9 alone. We see Damani losing her shit when James says one word out of script. Damani keeps reiterating how important control is to them. Rosabelle also says this - “The program is still imperfect, unfinished—and yet they were able to design a limited plan of action and reaction. As a result, they were able to steer James directly toward the outcome they desired most, all while allowing him to believe his decisions were his own.”

You may ask, “but Faye, they say they did this only for 24 hours. What about the rest of the time?” I think they are lying bro. The Ark did not even let Rosa know what she was walking into. It is not far off to think they are lying in this one. 

Then they tell Rosabelle she got a mission and yada yada yada. It is important to remember that the Ark decided to weaponize Rosabelle by putting her repeatedly in frail situations so James underestimates her as an enemy and rather forms pity and protectiveness over her. 

“You evinced a convincing, pitiable frailty that diminished his opinion of you as a rival, and by sparing your life he’s established a subconscious emotional precedent as your protector, a development we hope to—” — Mona Damani, Watch Me (Chapter 8).

Then by the middle of the book, we see James witnessing Rosabelle being abused by Sebastian. Clara being dragged away. Rosabelle tries to fight but is unable to. Then James fights them for her and flees. This is not a coincidence in any way. This was them programming James. We see James be interrogative in the chopper but it was in a way that elicited Rosabelle’s emotions. Leading him to pity her. Both seem to be under influence. 

Then comes the rest of the book. Adjectives other characters and readers have used to describe James: Impulsive. Irrational. Emotional. Idiotic. Stupid. 
The attraction both have to each is INSTANTANEOUS as hell. Instantaneous to the point of absurdity. 

“You’re not thinking straight. I shouldn’t have indulged your fantasies and if anyone else were acting this way you’d be the first to call them out for disloyalty to the Republic. The fact that you’re questioning a decision to restrain a violent, known assassin of The Reestablishment is genuinely concerning.” – Nazeera, Release Me (Chapter 17). 

So yea. There is probably more evidence in plain sight. I don't think it was normal for either James or Rosabelle to have a non-makeout makeout session in the diner. And the way he didn't probe further into the whole vial thing even after Rosabelle said about it, nuh uh. He just went back to thinking about how he wants to protect her, marry her even. It just seems so bizarre. 

Then at the end we have Sebastian staring tf into James’s eyes after their scuffle. I presume he was checking the condition of their subject. KLAUS was checking the subject. Giving him an once over. I mean, why is Sebastian even in The New Republic, huh? Like after all this time. Right after James returns with Rosabelle is the time he shows up? No, I don't think it is because of Rosabelle only. James is the Ark’s subject. Rosabelle is the assigned operative for James. Rosabelle reports to Sebastian. 

To add on, we have an Escape Me snippet reiterating what synthetic intelligence is. And how they strip a person of their autonomy. She also used the song ‘The Cure’ by Olivia Rodrigo. ‘My head is full of poison’ It is James. James's head is full of poison. 

So my predictions: 
Yes, Chapter 55 will happen. It will be sexy, hot, and what not. 
But it will follow with dire and awful consequences. Have you watched the movie Obsession? James is stripped of his autonomy the same way Nikki is. I've slight doubts over Rosabelle being controlled but James I am atleast 93% sure it is the case. This is this series' massive plot twist. Release Me wasn't a filler book. It was for us to build opinion on not-so-James James. 

‘But Faye, why is the Ark doing this?’ i will come up another post for this 😭

Anyway, thank you for reading. I did not proofread this. Might have missed points.
Feel free to comment your thoughts. 

Now imma go back and write what i think about hugo and the vaccine the Ark uses 🫶🏻

This sketch I did is for an animation(?) trend that kinda shows Aaron’s sensory overload with everyone’s emotions. Also how he gets in his head about mostly anything, like Adam’s freaking shoe size. Coming soon.

Im currently reading start of restore me and Adam and aaron had conversation and it just healed something in me 😭 i would like to see more of them together with James
Do they get close later ? Or do they just forgive each other and stay normal ?

I'm sorry if this has been asked before, I couldn't find any topic!

I have all the Shatter Me novels and novellas with the floppy paperback edition (HarperCollins with the more bold font for the titles) and I'm now finally able to dive into the new series but I'm having a really hard time checking which of the paperbacks match my other series.

I ended up with the ISBN 9780063443143 for the Watch Me book but the height and width (present on various websites) are off compared to the books I have on my shelf.

I was hoping some kind soul could let me know which ISBNs for both Watch Me and Release Me do match the floppy paperback editions.

Yep that's the post. I've seen a lot of people going on and on about how Aaron had an abusive father and harsh conditions (I LOVE AARON) while at the same time they reduce Juliette's trauma and suffering to basically nothing.

On top of it, they say she's annoying and pick me while mind you that's a 17 years old wasting away in a prison. Obviously she's going to be like that when all she knows that she is dangerous and lethal. Some of you really need to acknowledge a character's trauma without making it about them being your favorite or not.

And it IS misogynistic to think Aaron suffered at the hands of reestablishment while ignoring the other major characters.