After by Anna Todd

★

SYNOPSIS

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.

REVIEW

Have you ever had a book that you started reading because it seemed like the whole world loved it and you thought "Heck yeah, this will be good!" and you're so excited to read it only to come out disappointed? This is the one book for me.

Oh. My. God. Seriously. When this came out and everyone was euphoric about it, I obviously had to buy it and see what the big deal is. And then I started reading it and on the 30th page, I closed the book just to see if I'm reading the right one. Is this really something that got everyone so wild?

And then I googled it to read the reviews and they were mostly positive with good ratings. So I continued reading it, thinking it just might get better.

Boy, was I wrong. It doesn't get better. It only gets worse.

Even on my second try, I couldn't read the whole book. I came to about 80% (which is a big progress), but I just couldn't finish it.

Let me explain why. Tessa is annoying. There. I said it. Throughout the book, she keeps running back to the toxic guy, no matter how much he manipulates her and is plain mean to her. I got tired of reading her excuses for him.

And Hardin ... Don't even let me start on him. This guy is anything but hot. He's such a toxic and annoying character and when you think he might change at the end of the book ... guess what? He doesn't. But Tessa, dear Tessa, still loves him for who he is, and that's many shades of fucked up.

Reading this book was also like reading the same thing over and over again. Hardin fucks up. They fight. They make up. Everything is well for two seconds and the circle repeats. See what's wrong here?

Basically, this is not a love story. This is a toxic relationship that's being romanticised and normalised. This doesn't even deserve one star, it should have zero.