Courtney (why did I request all these!?)’s review of Release Me (Shatter Me: The New Republic, #2) > Likes and Comments
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i've been getting some fomo seeing these books on my feed, i think this confirmed that i am indeed too old for these books now 🤣 i used to love the first couple books as a teen, but i can totally see what you're saying. especially the characters being stuck in the same spiral forever. doesn't sound like satisfying reading. great review!! 🫶🏻
Not me over here reading the entirety of Shatter Me for the first time at the age of 34 👀 But yes much of YA I am definitely aging out of. That's why I was so happy when I read This Woven Kingdom, it's so much more complex and adult. But she couldn't seem to help herself and by book 4 was doing the same old. Like I don't need the characters to have open door sex but I need some adult decision making and a more complex plot
you hit the nail right on the head! imo in the spin-off, the relationship feels so rushed and there’s little to no build up unlike in shatter me 😟 i have yet to read twk, but genuinely this review is very true
I haven't read the ESOF but this is scaring me
azura 🍡 (juliette’s version) ༊*·˚ wrote: "you hit the nail right on the head! imo in the spin-off, the relationship feels so rushed and there’s little to no build up unlike in shatter me 😟 i have yet to read twk, but genuinely this review ..."
Right like, why do they even like each other? Like just WHY? I need a bullet list from Mafi because I'm not seeing it
Payal wrote: "I haven't read the ESOF but this is scaring me"
Have you read any of This Woven Kingdom, and you're just not caught up yet? Or haven't read the series at all
Omg I TOTALLY AGREE!!! The plot in her books is being so damn boring, when I started This woven kingdom I was so surprised by the writing idk what happened to her, everything happening in 2-3 days and its NOTHING. When I hear a book is only 2-3 days I be like, okay then there must be ALOT of things that happened in this time, but NOTHING!!
I totally agree! And the most part that pisses me off is the fact that when there was actual plot towards the ending she decided to cut it off to set a cliff hanger when allegedly her and her editor cut off approximately a 100 pages from the book? While I absolutely loved the romance and the dynamics between the old characters, I just wanted to see more uk
@Hannah that's exactly what she did with Every Spiral of Fate as well. It's 70% of nothing and then all this plot crammed in at the end in a rush. I don't understand why. It isn't even time devoted to character development. Nothing is being developed. Like an entire chapter was devoted to Rosabelle taking a nap FFS
@Ss maybe if she writes 8 more books then we can pass like a year in time? Is that how this works now?
Courtney (why did I request all these!?) wrote: "Have you read any of This Woven Kingdom, and you're just not caught up yet? Or haven't read the series at all"
I have read the series but not the last book. I need to reread ATTG before I read ESOF but I am waiting for the last book to release before diving back into the world. that series is soooooo good but ATTG was dragged on a lot (loved it nonetheless) so, I am little worried now😭🙏
@payal Unfortunately ESOF drags even more. It really should not be 5 books at all, there's enough content for 3. It's very weird because This Woven Kingdom is top tier writing. The plot, pacing and characters are all really well done. I don't think ANY of her other books live up to it. Hopefully she gets herself in order for the final book and whatever the hell she is doing with Shatter Me
also twk was originally supposed to be a trilogy 💔 ig whatever makes more money
Okay, I just finished reading it and I agree. Will definitely be returning so I can get my twenty dollars back lol.
But also like, I actually liked Watch Me. So why is this books so drastically different in every way??
I liked Watch Me too! I thought it was a really strong start to the new series. She just threw the storyline off a cliff
I absolutely agree, I’d be okay with the drawn out yearning if we got story to go along with it…the balance is way out of whack with this one and with ESOF. I’m not sure how much longer I can hold on to new installments where little to nothing of substance actually happens, but I love Mafi so much I’m giving her more grace than I might anyone else.
@Laura I'm the same, like I read 70-85 books a year so I don't have anything to LOSE by reading them, but that doesn't make me less frustrated. I do wonder if it's possible her publisher is putting pressure to drag out plotlines into multiple books and it's not entirely her creative decision. It wouldn't be the first time I've seen a publisher or studio exec or anyone else holding the purse strings get greedy. But even theorizing on that is offering a lot of grace for Mafi that I wouldn't extend to other authors.
I feel exactly the same! James was kind of annoying me the whole time, which really disappointed me because I liked him in Watch Me. I just hope the series doesn’t end up like This Woven Kingdom, where there was basically no plot development for three books straight.
1000% like so much happened in this book in just a couple of days (book length wise also not much) but like idk none of it was of any importance? we keep having the same conversations and actions that lead nowhere. i like james as a character but yeah hes stupid, rosabelle is just outright unlikable and its the og characters that kept me reading this book obviously
Oh no, I'm sorry it was disappointing :( I've been stuck on starting Ignite me for ages now, would you recommend continuing with the series? I think the Adam novella really put me off from continuing and I can't decide if it's too teenage drama for me at this point.
Nedelitta wrote: "Oh no, I'm sorry it was disappointing :( I've been stuck on starting Ignite me for ages now, would you recommend continuing with the series? I think the Adam novella really put me off from continui..."
So I honestly don't like the novellas at all. I enjoyed the first novella with Warner, but one of them I actually DNFd. So I would say if you continue the series I would maybe try a read through without the novellas and maybe that will help. As for the series itself, I really like the original 6 books, although the first 3 and the second 3 are wildly different. People have a lot of opinions on the direction the story goes in books 4-6.
I think the story does manage to get away from the teenage drama a bit later in the story, like even now the first book is so over the top ridiculous to me, and the writing is just bad at times. Thankfully she stopped using the awful strikethrough text and some of the other goofy stuff she was doing.
I enjoyed book 7 from the new series too, but seeing the direction she just went with Release Me... idk.
Rosabelle was annoying me so much in this. Like girl for once in your just talk to him 😭😭😭
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gabbie
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Apr 09, 2026 12:08AM
i've been getting some fomo seeing these books on my feed, i think this confirmed that i am indeed too old for these books now 🤣 i used to love the first couple books as a teen, but i can totally see what you're saying. especially the characters being stuck in the same spiral forever. doesn't sound like satisfying reading. great review!! 🫶🏻
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Not me over here reading the entirety of Shatter Me for the first time at the age of 34 👀 But yes much of YA I am definitely aging out of. That's why I was so happy when I read This Woven Kingdom, it's so much more complex and adult. But she couldn't seem to help herself and by book 4 was doing the same old. Like I don't need the characters to have open door sex but I need some adult decision making and a more complex plot
you hit the nail right on the head! imo in the spin-off, the relationship feels so rushed and there’s little to no build up unlike in shatter me 😟 i have yet to read twk, but genuinely this review is very true
I haven't read the ESOF but this is scaring me
azura 🍡 (juliette’s version) ༊*·˚ wrote: "you hit the nail right on the head! imo in the spin-off, the relationship feels so rushed and there’s little to no build up unlike in shatter me 😟 i have yet to read twk, but genuinely this review ..."Right like, why do they even like each other? Like just WHY? I need a bullet list from Mafi because I'm not seeing it
Payal wrote: "I haven't read the ESOF but this is scaring me"Have you read any of This Woven Kingdom, and you're just not caught up yet? Or haven't read the series at all
Omg I TOTALLY AGREE!!! The plot in her books is being so damn boring, when I started This woven kingdom I was so surprised by the writing idk what happened to her, everything happening in 2-3 days and its NOTHING. When I hear a book is only 2-3 days I be like, okay then there must be ALOT of things that happened in this time, but NOTHING!!
I totally agree! And the most part that pisses me off is the fact that when there was actual plot towards the ending she decided to cut it off to set a cliff hanger when allegedly her and her editor cut off approximately a 100 pages from the book? While I absolutely loved the romance and the dynamics between the old characters, I just wanted to see more uk
@Hannah that's exactly what she did with Every Spiral of Fate as well. It's 70% of nothing and then all this plot crammed in at the end in a rush. I don't understand why. It isn't even time devoted to character development. Nothing is being developed. Like an entire chapter was devoted to Rosabelle taking a nap FFS
@Ss maybe if she writes 8 more books then we can pass like a year in time? Is that how this works now?
Courtney (why did I request all these!?) wrote: "Have you read any of This Woven Kingdom, and you're just not caught up yet? Or haven't read the series at all"I have read the series but not the last book. I need to reread ATTG before I read ESOF but I am waiting for the last book to release before diving back into the world. that series is soooooo good but ATTG was dragged on a lot (loved it nonetheless) so, I am little worried now😭🙏
@payal Unfortunately ESOF drags even more. It really should not be 5 books at all, there's enough content for 3. It's very weird because This Woven Kingdom is top tier writing. The plot, pacing and characters are all really well done. I don't think ANY of her other books live up to it. Hopefully she gets herself in order for the final book and whatever the hell she is doing with Shatter Me
also twk was originally supposed to be a trilogy 💔 ig whatever makes more money
Okay, I just finished reading it and I agree. Will definitely be returning so I can get my twenty dollars back lol. But also like, I actually liked Watch Me. So why is this books so drastically different in every way??
I liked Watch Me too! I thought it was a really strong start to the new series. She just threw the storyline off a cliff
I absolutely agree, I’d be okay with the drawn out yearning if we got story to go along with it…the balance is way out of whack with this one and with ESOF. I’m not sure how much longer I can hold on to new installments where little to nothing of substance actually happens, but I love Mafi so much I’m giving her more grace than I might anyone else.
@Laura I'm the same, like I read 70-85 books a year so I don't have anything to LOSE by reading them, but that doesn't make me less frustrated. I do wonder if it's possible her publisher is putting pressure to drag out plotlines into multiple books and it's not entirely her creative decision. It wouldn't be the first time I've seen a publisher or studio exec or anyone else holding the purse strings get greedy. But even theorizing on that is offering a lot of grace for Mafi that I wouldn't extend to other authors.
I feel exactly the same! James was kind of annoying me the whole time, which really disappointed me because I liked him in Watch Me. I just hope the series doesn’t end up like This Woven Kingdom, where there was basically no plot development for three books straight.
1000% like so much happened in this book in just a couple of days (book length wise also not much) but like idk none of it was of any importance? we keep having the same conversations and actions that lead nowhere. i like james as a character but yeah hes stupid, rosabelle is just outright unlikable and its the og characters that kept me reading this book obviously
Oh no, I'm sorry it was disappointing :( I've been stuck on starting Ignite me for ages now, would you recommend continuing with the series? I think the Adam novella really put me off from continuing and I can't decide if it's too teenage drama for me at this point.
Nedelitta wrote: "Oh no, I'm sorry it was disappointing :( I've been stuck on starting Ignite me for ages now, would you recommend continuing with the series? I think the Adam novella really put me off from continui..."So I honestly don't like the novellas at all. I enjoyed the first novella with Warner, but one of them I actually DNFd. So I would say if you continue the series I would maybe try a read through without the novellas and maybe that will help. As for the series itself, I really like the original 6 books, although the first 3 and the second 3 are wildly different. People have a lot of opinions on the direction the story goes in books 4-6.
I think the story does manage to get away from the teenage drama a bit later in the story, like even now the first book is so over the top ridiculous to me, and the writing is just bad at times. Thankfully she stopped using the awful strikethrough text and some of the other goofy stuff she was doing.
I enjoyed book 7 from the new series too, but seeing the direction she just went with Release Me... idk.
Rosabelle was annoying me so much in this. Like girl for once in your just talk to him 😭😭😭
