I just wanted to say that I admire your dedication to taryn x garret/taryn since noone likes her lmaoo 😭😭 probably one of the only taryn truthers out there 🥲

asdkajsdkas thank you. I really didn't care that much about taryn after finishing the books—like she was interesting, and I thought holly had done something clever with her and jude's relationship, and the thought of the ghost/taryn dynamic gave me something to chew on in my free time, but that was it.

but then I came on tumblr and saw that people like. really see this 17 yr old traumatized girl as an irredeemable monster? and the more I thought about it, the more ridiculous that seemed to me?? like yes she genuinely makes bad, harmful decisions; I don't deny that. but damn, I'm glad my family & friends allowed me the chance to grow past the person I was at 17. we already see her growing in tqon, and it's clear from the new oak books that she and jude have made their peace (to the point that her disastrous marriage to locke is the butt of a joke!)

I'm also aware that for some people, taryn-hate is just a meme. that's fine, I get it, I've been in fandom spaces for most of my life at this point. but I truly believe you have more fun with the books when you read her as a whole person, and I'm also sad that we hold girl characters to much higher standards than their male counterparts—to the extent that we're so comfortable treating this teenage girl like the scum of the earth. and that's not even really to speak to the media analysis aspect of conversations surrounding taryn