thesecretstudentgardener - Tumblr blog

[thesecretstudentgardener]

Okay, so I just finished reading the Shatter me series and have some thoughts.

It was, without a doubt, one of the most memorable reads I’ve had this year. I would like to say that I read the first three books when they were out, before the last were written, and only recently found out, hence the finishing of six books in 2 days.

It was a ride.

1. I understand Aaron Warner’s hype, I really do, but there is so much more to the story than his consistent and devoted love for Juliette/Ella. Personally, I would have loved to see the other kids of the Leaders discuss their pov on the matter. We know they were practically raised together and every time they were re-introduced, they were drawn to each other. Great. I want a scene where the two are still practically toddlers. Did Aaron even care about the other kids, or just her? He says he doesn’t consider the other kids his friends. Is that because he only ever considered Ella his one friend/ or because his history with her as children is so tied up with the other kids, that he doesn’t remember a time when he wanted to be around them? I want to know more about their history, not just the moments of ‘hello, I’m Aaron, you look pretty’, every few years.

2. Adam. He gets a lot of hate for his treatment of Juliette and his act of trying to save James by submitting to his father. I get it. But also, unlike Aaron, who only ever had himself and his heart to protect, Adam has a child who relies on him to be safe and fed and alive. He put his trust in Omega Point and if James hadn’t wanted to help, Adam would have had to walk through the rubble of the underground compound hoping but knowing James hadn’t made it. His one person who needed him to survive almost didn’t because Adam trusted someone besides himself. We see, after that moment, that James becomes his one and only priority. He kicks Juliette out bc Aaron, the person he worked for and was almost killed by, was in his home, near his brother, asking him to trust him. Asking him to trust Juliette. Who was the only reason he had ended up at Omega Point with James. I’d be scared and angry, too. He knew he was most likely giving up his life when he asked Anderson for immunity. But he did it, knowing there was barely even a chance for James to be safe and alive. I can’t hate him, because after the second book, the only thing he cared about was James. He didn’t want to fight and risk he or James dying. If he died, James was in his own. He did what he felt he had to.

3. The other kids. Simply, I just wanted more of them. According to the memories we are given, they were all friends, and were all getting their memories back. They were all victims of their parents. I understand why it had been Emmaline and Ella who were the ones to end it for all. But I wish we had had a moment where the kids, as a group and the further leaders, made the decision to start over. To take back the life and world their parents took from them. Nazeera and Aaron are the only kids that actually, genuinely get to fight back. The others are almost immediately immobilized for later use. It would have been a fitting end for the kids that had no say in their own lives and memories to choose the fate of those who took it from them.

4. I did love that both Ella and Emmaline each got to kill a parent their own way. Ella, through sheer force of strength, and Emma, through force of will. That was the perfect ending for them.

[thesecretstudentgardener]

I am definitely fucking gay

[thesecretstudentgardener]

There are literal CHILDREN being forced into sex work rn and the amount of Christian victim posts are horrifying. ‘People are choosing to die for their faith there but in America, people are choosing sleeping in on a Sunday to avoid a small flu. Go to church to be saved for your sins.’

What.

Those two are not the same. Instead of using the victim card(that needs to be revoked bc wtf), use your religion to help them! Wow, what a concept. Let them know they are safe here should they flee. Pray that they are safe and/or get to safety. Use your faith not to put others down but to lift them up. Is that not the point of religion?? Especially women and children that are being killed and invaded in so many awful ways that makes me want to cry. Wanting to not get sick and get others sick is not the same as literally being gunned down and raped. Most Americans have some form of entertainment to keep us busy and connected. We know we are safe in our homes and our friends and family are happy and healthy. They literally can’t say the same and fuck you for your white/american/Christian entitlement and need to be victims where you’re the oppressors to others.

[thesecretstudentgardener]

I hate when a series that I read years before and loved finally has a new book come out but I’m not interested in rereading the series. Like I’m proud that they’re moving in with their fictional lives but I’m no longer in the same head space I was when it first came out.

It gives me reader’s guilt and for what

[thesecretstudentgardener]

Yeah it’s not cool that mental health terms are being thrown around as jokes such as ‘triggered’ and suicide and whatnot, but at the same time, mental health is actually being talked about openly and taken seriously because teenagers are willing to add humor to their trauma to make others feel more comfortable talking about it. Should it be used as a coping mechanism? No, but is it effective in making mental health openly discussed? Absolutely. Say what you will about Gen Z, but I’m so fucking proud of them for overcoming the mentality of ‘hide your issues so others don’t judge you’ that held the older generations back and continue to hold them back. Because these young adults are feeling the pressure of life and capitalism and have the ability to share that pressure with others and the effects it puts on their mental health, depression, anxiety and so much more are finally being taken more seriously and allowing people to feel like what they’re going through are valid.

Do you know how many times I’ve scrolled through tiktok and found videos of people just cleaning their room bc it took all their energy just to do that and then explaining that their proud of themselves for doing something? The comments are always filled with others encouraging them and hyping them up, instead of talking down to them like many family members and authority figures do. Some comments are even about seeing someone going through the same thing they are and going through with such a simple task made them feel like they can do it to despite being in the middle of a depressed episode, or whatnot. It’s truly amazing to see one person being comfortable enough to show their daily struggles that allows a total stranger to believe they can too.

[thesecretstudentgardener]

I want to see a character who suddenly gets these new, terrifying powers and doesn’t want them. At the beginning of the story they are given the option to subdue/have the gifts be taken away and they try to, but for some reason or another, they are forced to keep them and learn to control them. For months or even years, they are taught control and kick bad guy butt and learn to accept their powers. Using them is as easy as breathing and they have managed to do some good with them. But then. At the end and that damn option is still available. Subdue forever/taken away. For the most part, people expect them to keep them, as it’s apart of them at that point. But no. The person wants them gone. They don’t want to live a life where one wrong accident or flare up can hurt innocent people. They just want to move on. And that’s okay. How fascinating would it be to go through this whole journey of learning how to use and control it and protecting people, only to still give it up at the end? To see a character just want to be non-extraordinary. To continue working toward their dream job. How many characters have I read about or watched been gifted with as destructive power? How would it have felt to have been given the power of hurting people with a touch and be offered to have it taken away, to be seen as safe to be around? That’s a story I want to hear about.

[thesecretstudentgardener]

[thesecretstudentgardener]

My zoom teacher-“the pepeptuation of the abolishing of slavery and the community surrounding the novel gives us the”-

Me, my phone to the side with the camera and mic off playing on my laptop- “can’t believe this music artist is allowing her PR team to fuck with her shit on YouTube, like holy”-

[thesecretstudentgardener]

Nobody mention 2021, we don’t want to frighten the good vibes away

[thesecretstudentgardener]

2020 really said

“New year, worse bitch” and I wish I wasn’t alive

:)

[thesecretstudentgardener]

As a group, I think we can collectively agree that if Annabeth had been chosen to be traded instead of Percy, our boi would have torn the world apart for her.

Now

Can we please get rick to give just a small taste of what that would have been like, like just a chapter, as a treat, you know

I want to know what he thinks Percy would have done, if he agrees with our thoughts or has a different Percy in mind

Just a though

[thesecretstudentgardener]

The World Stands in Solidarity

Italy

Germany

Australia

United Kingdom

Canada

Japan

New Zealand

Sweden

Netherlands

Denmark

Ireland

Syria

Brazil

Iran

[thesecretstudentgardener]

I believe in soulmates, but not the kind that is romanticized. I don’t think that we have a single person on this world that we are meant to be with for our entire lives, from the moment we meet them to death. I believe that soulmates come in all shapes and sizes, in friends and family and moments. For example, I met one of my best friends in fifth grade and we stayed close until I left for college and she stayed back home. I fully believe for those seven years, she was meant to be someone I confided in and trusted. The first week of college, I met my current best friend, who made the transition feel as natural as breathing, who continues to make me smile even when I’m crying, who motivates me to live my life to the fullest. She’s the soulmate I need as I begin my adult life, away from my parents and my childhood. She may not be my soulmate in a few years, but I will cherish every moment I have with her. I’ve never been in a serious relationship, but I believe I will fall in love with different soulmates throughout my life as I need different people in different times of my life as I grow and change. There’s too many people and too much time and too many possibilities on this earth to only allow us one soulmate for our lives, that’s meant to be our other half and our best friend and family and partner all at once. It’s too much for a single person to handle for as long as we’re alive. Besides, it’s comforting for me to think this way every time I lose contact with someone I’ve known for years, and to meet people who make me feel as if I’ve known them for years, and to fall out of love with someone I’d once swore

[thesecretstudentgardener]

I’m still not over that one time that I found a book online that I really liked, even if the writing was a bit amateurish, but whatever. More than halfway through, the readers finally get told the name of the love interest and it was Martin Garrix and I felt like I’ve heard that name before so I looked it up and. It was a fucking fan fiction. And I didn’t realize it. Still fucks me up every time i think about it.

[thesecretstudentgardener]

All these books about the apocalyptic and worldwide sickness just did not age well

[thesecretstudentgardener]

I love you but I can’t keep helping someone who refuses to let me help and love him, getting mad when I show my feelings and getting mad when I don’t. Don’t fuck with my heart like this, I’ve been fucked with enough by others.

[thesecretstudentgardener]

This man is the real MVP.