I think this book might be my guilty pleasure.
The writing wasn't the best, that's true, but this book was so incredibly addicting!
It's 592 pages long and I've read it in two days; it was like binge-watching a Netflix series.😄
The characters, the story, there's so much going on and I just couldn't stop reading,
I've devoured every single chapter!
I will try my best to make this a non-spoiler review, so you can read this if you're interested in reading After, or maybe you've already read it and want to see my thoughts on this book!
summary of After with as little spoilers as possible
At the beginning of this story, Tessa is in a relationship with a very kind, but kind of boring guy: Noah. She does everything her mother says, she's a dedicated student, she's very fond of planning, she doesn't drink and doesn't party. Her relationship with her boyfriend is not passionate, but he's very kind and she can rely on him. When she's about to start her life as a freshman in college and she meets her new roommate, Steph, she's shocked. Steph's got bright red hair, tattoos, hangs out with a lot of guys and is into drinking and partying. Her mother wants her to change dorms immediately, but Tessa doesn't want to cause drama and becomes friends with her roommate.
Eventually, Steph convinces her to attend a party at a fraternity house. The party turns out to be terrible for Tessa; everyone is drinking, they are playing truth or dare (like, the sexual version of it) and Hardin, one of Steph's friends, is being mean to her for no reason. Even though she doesn't like the way Hardin acts towards her, there's a passion that grows between them. She's got a boyfriend back home, but she keeps falling for Hardin. His touch makes her weak and makes her forgive anything he said. As their story progresses, there's a lot of drama, uncertainty, fighting, sexual scenes, passion and love between them. Then, at the end of the book, there's a plot twist revealing something so disturbing that I gasped as I read it. (If you've read the book, you know what I mean).
these are my thoughts about After
As I said before, this book is like my guilty pleasure. The story was interesting, I loved the drama and it was super addicting. However, I also have to say: it's not the best-written book, the relationship between Hardin and Tessa is a bit toxic, and the original version on Wattpad is actually a One Direction fanfiction story, where Hardin Scott is called Harry Styles (which kind of makes me feel like I'm reading a book that's intended for teens that are dreaming of a relationship with Harry Styles).
The writing style and storyline is also very Wattpad-like: There’s “the bad boy” and “the innocent girl” and there’s a lot of sexual stuff in this book. I mean, you can clearly tell it’s a Wattpad novel, and that was something that kind of annoyed me; it was a bit too predictable. At the same time though, the ending had me shocked.
I also think some women might not like the fact that the dominance of Hardin is being romanticized in this book. I had no problems with it, I think it was interesting and brought a lot of passion into their relationship. At times, however, I thought he was just being childish, unreasonable or even a bit creepy. His jealousy and possessiveness over Tessa were a bit extreme too, but I also think that that just shapes his character. He’s actually quite insecure and is constantly afraid she might leave him.
I think we can all agree that their relationship isn’t very healthy. He’s being dishonest, over-protective, jealous, controlling and unreasonable. She’s been too naïve, too forgiving and even though she stands up for herself when he’s being mean, the next day she would let him touch her again.
Despite this, I understand why she feels attracted to him. He’s handsome, attentive, a bit dark, passionate and confident, and being attracted to that doesn’t necessarily mean that Tessa is weak or lacks self-respect. She’s got her own goals and is working very hard for it, she knows what she wants in life and stands up for herself when someone speaks nastily to her.
What I liked about this story, is that Tessa gets more of a backbone; she learns to stand up for herself, even more so than at the beginning of the book. She also learns to stop overthinking everything, and to stop letting expectations and her mother dominate her life. She learns what it is to feel alive, which is beautiful!
What I've learned from this book
After shows us that you shouldn't trust people this fast and give up everything for a guy. Tessa completely trusted Hardin, knowing him only for a couple of months, and look where that got her... It turned out that everyone had been lying to her the whole time, even Hardin, who "loved her the most".
I can be quite naïve too; I always like to think that people have good intentions. Why would they treat me wrong if I'm being nice to them? This "experience" (I've read it and felt all the emotions Tessa must have felt, so I kind of experienced it too🙃) was a reminder for me not to trust people that fast, you never know what they might be doing behind your back.
I don't really know what to think of this book... I didn't LOVE it (because of the Wattpad-like storyline), but I liked reading it and it was addicting. What made the story even more interesting is that there were a lot of references to literary classics, like Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Great Expectations.
Maybe the writing will get better, I want to give this story a chance, so I'll read the other After-books too. I actually can't wait to read After we collided, I really want to know what happens next.
What do you think about their relationship?
Do you think Hardin actually loves her or is that just a lie?