WARNING: READ ONLY IF YOU WANT TO BE SPOILED; OTHERWISE DON'T.
As a major Averyjameson fan, I have made it quite well known for the past few years that something has been off to me about Avery and Jamie as characters and their romance since the og series ended. The epilogue of this final book quite clearly illustrates the ultimate evidence of that. While I do believe the two of them being certain about the other has remained fairly consistent and in character for their respective arcs, that feels undermined by this topsy turvy revelation.
Let's start with the first obvious problem; the proposal. Assuming it's right after she recovers from the you know what event then are we supposed to assume that Jameson's immediate reaction is to propose after nearly losing her??? As much as I am certain Avery would be flattered, you can't convince me that she wouldn't feel that it's rather sudden especially after the convo they had in TNIP regarding the promise ring. I think the real reaction she would have would be as others have stated, declining it, shocked, wanting Jamie to reevaluate and realize how traumatized both of them have been and genuinely need therapy. Side note, I think that was one of the first things that never made sense to me as to how come we never seem to address Avery's own trauma either and how for a more level-headed person like her, we didn't see her going to therapy. It was a missed opportunity even in the og series. Whatever the case, it would make sense to me that she would decline and say later. On Jamie's end, I think even despite this boy being more traumatized than ever, he'd be more sensible than propose. He loves Avery with his whole heart and I think that is clear as day; there's no way he doesn't want to be her husband, we know as much. But still, I genuinely don't think that even his impulsive brain would scream propose after that kind of thing. More believable to me would be that he's going to be more protective and glued to her side, sure.
Next, comes the wedding. To hear how quickly they got hitched is just nuts to me because a) this doesn't match up to previous goals set, b) they were going at a steady pace, and c) this doesn't align with their arcs. I'm pro marriage and as much as I wanted for Avery and Jamie to get married at some point, the expectation for me would have been that the epilogue in that case would have been set some years later (mid to late twenties). No, instead it's months after the twins are born (crazy, I know). What happened to Avery's plans of majoring in actuarial science at UConn and Jamie's in going to Yale? Those things were never addressed since their only mention in the TFG epilogue. Glad we got to see them traveling even though TNIP was ruined for me because Avery was just not sounding very much like herself and of course because Alice had to ruin it (why couldn't you be a proper granny???). Anyways, the only way I'd see Jamie and Avery getting married this early is if they got drunk and it was a Vegas wedding on spring break. What I think would happen likely in reality when they felt more ready to wed, I could see an elopement for just themselves and then a family wedding or just a regular wedding because Avery might give in to that.
But my main point is, we know that these two are ambitious and in the same way we see Lyra and Gray returning to college, the same should have been for Avery and Jamie. JLB robbed them of that and this is part of the huge disconnect between who we knew Averyjameson to be in TIG to TFG and what she did to their arcs in TBH to TGB and I HATE IT. TGG was never meant to be their story, they should have been in the backdrop. The more they got involved in the storyline, the more their character arcs regressed and down the drain went everything that this author built up in the first three books which were their foundation. If I'm being completely honest, that goes for just about everything set up in the og trilogy but that's not the point here. The Avery and Jameson we should have ended with and the ones we have instead are like two different sets of people.
I really wish we ended at TFG because at the very least, we got to imagine what the years ahead would be like for them and believe that they healed and got better. To find out that there has been no such thing happening, makes me extremely sad because what a waste of pages for both them as mains and those that should have been the focus in the first place. It makes me enraged that after what felt like a time of acceptance of Jamie as both Avery's choice and as more of a complex character with deeper values than we thought when TFG was released, TBH onward basically undid all that. There was more hatred because he was taking Gray's spotlight and being an a**hole which rightfully is criticized. Blatantly, that was a turn off for me to continue reading the series because no one was getting just character development, even though Jameson is my favorite Hawthorne. All I saw was that Jameson still didn't know what he was doing, extremely codependent on Avery and basically being the person he was when we met him in TIG, quite ironically. Where the h*ll did the development go???? And not to mention, Avery just being kidnapped over and over, reduced to a distressed damsel, WHUT?
I just, I'm tired. So bone deep tired when I relive the nonsense. Again, to everyone with the highest hopes for this last book, I hope you can still find a way to enjoy it. But I don't think you will; the pretty covers are deceptive and hence our favorite proverb, never judge a book by its cover. Anyways, those are my two cents.
If The Gilded Blade doesnt end with all my favorite characters happy, my crashout that will in fact ensue will be worthy of the classification of a category 5 hurricane
I see we are again debating who is being held accountable and who isn't. As a Jameson stan, let me be the first to say I absolutely will hold Jamie accountable for when he has been wrong and out of line. I hate some of his decisions and actions, especially in the last few books as of late. For those that are Grayson stans and keep him accountable for his actions, good on you. For the fans who agree in general all characters should be held accountable for certain actions, wonderful. Glad we're on the same page. But let's get something straight.
As unbiased and neutral as I try to be, I often saw that Jameson fans were far more attacked about their favorite than Grayson fans especially back when I joined tumblr in 2022. And let's be honest, as much as Avery and Jamie are among the faves, I would argue that no matter where you turn, whatever the social media, the fan fave character was always Grayson. He's quite literally the Harry Styles of this cast of characters.
Not that I'm mad at anyone for it but it always felt like Jameson fans had to work harder defending their choice and you could see that especially pre-release of TFG. Once TFG came out, I felt those statement posts felt even more valid (the good stuff about him, that is) but once TBH came out, some of that fell into the water. As I've said before, it always did feel like Jamie's development finished in TFG and ever since then, he stopped having progress.
It felt like JLB wrote herself into a corner with him because this series was already meant to be finished (look at TFG acknowledgments). Once Avery's story was done, we technically considered Jameson's that way too, right? Hence, she never knew what to do with him because of his arc being over and that's why I always had the feeling of being stuck in a loop post TFG regarding Jamie's character development or lack there of. But that was not the case with Gray. We knew exactly that TFG was his rock bottom and because he was the fan fave, he was going to get a redemption AND a love interest. JLB had a story to still tell and he had progress which he deserved but that's why Jamie hasn't been as much of a lovable character I'd say. That's why Lyra and TGG exist. That's why Lyra was always loved from the start; because we knew her role through the Grayson lens.
Now don't get me wrong, I certainly get that not everyone loves Lyra or Lyra and Gray as a couple but I think I see more love for them to the point they outshine Avery and Jameson. They weren't even a couple before we started dishing out so many fanfics about them, meanwhile how much time did it take for Averyjameson fics to roll out? 2-3 years on here. In general, it took like a good two years to start rolling out the fics for this series on tumblr, not that this is the point I am trying to make with that statement. Now, yes, times have changed but certain dynamics haven't and that would be the Jameson vs Grayson fans.
I think more valid criticism of Grayson's actions was only really pushed forward once the series originally ended but Jameson's was from the start because of his unruly nature. Now I get that he is a tough character to like so no judgment but the calling out was always there. Maybe Gray had some but not nearly as much. I know right now it seems more Jameson fans are defending his behavior and not all of it is justified because some stuff is for sure his AND Avery's fault (yup I am def saying our Heiress too) but let's not pretend that Jameson hasn't been called out 100 times more at this point than Grayson. If there was anything that Jamie has been right about, it's that even when Emily was playing both of them, it was always Gray. And you guys have always been the louder critics about Jamie's actions ever since TIG came out. There's never been a competition on that front, I just hope you can see that outside your bubble.
Thanks for reading and from now on, let's just say every character deserves criticism no matter how loved or not they are. Keep or change your opinion, that is your right. Just don't be blind.
