Shatter me was a book I kept seeing everywhere… Even in my dreams. Usually, I restrain myself from buying these books because I know I’ll end up not liking them that much and then I’ll want to punch myself for falling for the same trap as usual. So I gave it some time, continued to ignore the reviews, the comments, the online talk, the sighing, the drama and teenage cries, the 60 year old cries, the dogs barking shatter me shatter me as I walked past… and then, finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and bought the damn book.
I loved it. I loved it so much that I quickly bought the second and third book and read them all in like 2 days. And then by the third book I was slowly starting to get pissed off… Why? Here are the reasons:
Juliette was a cool lead for most of the duration of this trilogy. She’s kinda of weak at the begining which is the way she’s meant to be due to her circumstances. And slowly you watch her grow and become stronger. The way its meant to be. The cycle of life…
However, I don’t know when she tripped and banged her head against the floor… I definitely wasn’t there to see it… Because suddenly she becomes stupid. Sorry, I hate calling people stupid, it’s rude and disrespectful but this girl is just STUPID. I KNEW a YA wouldn’t be able to keep a strong lead female for too long… They all fall pray at some point.
The thing is, this Juliette is in love with Adam for like the entire part of these books. Then she meets Warner who is basically fucked up in the head, and does some pretty messed up things to her. And slowly you start to realise she’s into this guy… Now, that’s not the problem. At all. I love bad guys, and I love the romance of a good girl falling in love with a bad guy. But in this book, the author painted a pretty horrible picture of this bad guy Warner and then realising she wanted Juliette to end up with him, chose to find some rather poor excuses as to why he was bad. So suddenly, he isn’t bad anymore. Oh, I killed a guy but… it’s not what you think, he was a really bad guy himself, he would beat up his wife and stuff. Okay… To start with, that still doesn’t justify you killing someone in my opinion, but even if that’s the case… Warner is meant to be a BAD GUY! just leave it at that! So he’s bad and kills people… he’s messed up, broken and you love him for it in a very sick way, still, I’ll believe you and even defend you! But if you’re constantly telling me he’s bad and showing me that he’s bad and then suddenly you come up with lame excuses to write him off as the good guy… No, sorry, I’m not that damn stupid.
Then, the author went and did the exact same thing with the first love interest, Adam. Just the other way around. This guy does all types of crazy stuff to save the love of his life, Juliette. He does it because he’s in love with her… and he’s a sweetheart throughout the entire book. And then the author decided Juliette had to be with Warner and we couldn’t break Adam’s heart so… let’s make him bad. So suddenly Adam turns into this sort of violent domestic abuser that screams at her, tells her he’d rather see her dead, etc… what the hell?! I’m supposed to be okay with this stuffhgh!?! I can’t even write thinking about it!
The thing is, the romance in these books was amazing… and I loved it, and died with every single sentence, but then got pissed off, and then fell back in love and re-pissed myself off again. Constantly. So I was left with a headache and a very confused heart. I wanted Juliette to end up with Warner but not for the reasons the author gave at the end. If you fall in love with a bad guy, you fall in love with him, there’s nothing wrong with that. Just don’t try to make up excuses for his actions!
Shatter me, you shattered me into a thousand emotions. Some good, some not so good.
What did you guys think about this trilogy? Did you absolutely love it, hate it, or felt like me?
writersmania 
It sounds like you were in an abusive relationship with a book 🙂
So heartbreaking!
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hahahaha totally!!! A day does not go by that I do not think about this book!!
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Our experiences start of quite similar. I tried to ignore it as well, but eventually caved in because of all the hype and fuss. While I hated these books for more than one reason, the lovey switcheroo you described is a big part of it for me as well. It just didn’t make any sense to suddenly make Warner look good and Adam bad. I mean, that whole “the torture chamber wasn’t real” and all? Puhlease.
My two cents: by the second book the fans were clearly divided Team Adam vs. Team Warner and the latter were more prominent online, in so far as I followed the whole thing. My guess is that the whole goodwashing of Warner is some fanservice. Either that or bad plotting in advance 😛
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totally agree with everything you said!! I really think she either felt obliged (or wanted to) root for team Warner, and the only way to do that was come up with that lame excuse that he was actually good… and she did it so badly!I think I woudl’ve probably been quite happy with the trilogy if it weren’t for the stupidity it reached at a certain point…But I’m glad to see im not the only one out there!
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I didn’t make it past the Warner novella, but similar experience. A lot of characters can get away with doing terrible things and being redeemed, but it was so predictable. As soon as I started reading Warner’s perspective it just didn’t make any sense. Total turn around. This series has a lot of problems it seems, but one of them, I suspect, is that because Adam and Juliette have always been in love with each other even when they didn’t speak as kids. But as soon as they confess to one another then they are together and that’s that. A lot of it is probably hormones since a soldier isn’t getting around and Juliette’s never been touched, but as a couple it sounds like they suffer a bit from a Romeo and Juliet romance. If you fall in love with someone based on who you think they are/physical appeal and then throw yourself head long into a relationship with them, you’ve got nothing left once the physical excitement is gone. Not having ventured into books two and three, I find it hard to imagine Adam being an abusive partner but from the comments above it sounds like the author second guessed herself and took popular opinion to heart.
I don’t know what everyone loves about these books, but I found them to be disappointing.
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