Review: After by Anna Todd

After
(After #1)
by Anna Todd
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication date: Oct. 21, 2014
Genre: New Adult Romance
Rating:

Tessa is a good girl with a sweet, reliable boyfriend back home. She’s got direction, ambition, and a mother who’s intent on keeping her that way.

But she’s barely moved into her freshman dorm when she runs into Hardin. With his tousled brown hair, cocky British accent, tattoos, and lip ring, Hardin is cute and different from what she’s used to.

But he’s also rude—to the point of cruelty, even. For all his attitude, Tessa should hate Hardin. And she does—until she finds herself alone with him in his room. Something about his dark mood grabs her, and when they kiss it ignites within her a passion she’s never known before.

He’ll call her beautiful, then insist he isn’t the one for her and disappear again and again. Despite the reckless way he treats her, Tessa is compelled to dig deeper and find the real Hardin beneath all his lies. He pushes her away again and again, yet every time she pushes back, he only pulls her in deeper.

Tessa already has the perfect boyfriend. So why is she trying so hard to overcome her own hurt pride and Hardin’s prejudice about nice girls like her?

Unless…could this be love?

Now newly revised and expanded, Anna Todd’s After fanfiction racked up 1 billion reads online and captivated readers across the globe. Experience the Internet’s most talked-about book for yourself!

There was the time before Tessa met Hardin, and then there’s everything AFTER … Life will never be the same.

 

Wow. This book was a hot mess. At first I was intrigued, but pretty soon I found myself rolling my eyes a lot. First off, there is cheating in this book, and I’m not just talking a brief “I made a mistake” moment. No, the main character cheated on her boyfriend repeatedly throughout a huge portion of the book. That wasn’t the worst of it though, their relationship was toxic, abusive, and unhealthy. However, it was a broken record of they hook up, he gets controlling, he gets caught lying, she runs away crying, he initiates some sexy sexy time, and all is forgiven… until he gets controlling, gets caught lying, she runs crying, and he initiates sexy sexy time. You get where I’m going with this? That was literally all this book was.

With that being said, I did finish it. I mean, there was a lot of skimming involved, but I made it to the end. I honestly don’t plan to read the next book in the series. If this story had some sort of plot, some redeeming qualities, I might pick up the next book. However, Tessa’s friend and roommate turned out to not be much of a friend at all, all the people in her lil bubble deceived her, and she never seemed to learn anything. I suppose if you wanted a “how to recognize an abusive relationship” this would be a good book to pick up.

3 Thoughts on “Review: After by Anna Todd

  1. Dang, sorry this one turned out to be so bad.

  2. Girl, you already know how I feel about abuse AND cheating, so this one won’t make it to the already overflowing TBR pile. Just no!(lol) Hugs and hope you are well! RO

  3. I’ve heard this was a hot mess fanfic and have stayed far far away.

    Karen @ For What It’s Worth

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