Hello there, bookworms and happy weekend! It’s snowing in my neck of the woods yet again, so after spending my morning doing some cleaning and reading my latest book, I thought I’d come on here and bring you guys a book review. I’m reaching into the vault on this one because this is a series I read last summer, but I haven’t jumped on here to review fully just yet. I have a few reasons for this. One, is time. Two, debating my feelings on this series (still!). Three, they’re big books so they’re a lot to review. That being said, I want to try a new approach to how I review series, or at least this series in particular. I’ll add each summary and then review the series as a whole at the end, so if you need to scroll – go for it! I’m rambling and getting off track. Let’s get down to it and talk about the After series by Anna Todd.
#1 After
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.
#2 After We Collided
Tessa has everything to lose. Hardin has nothing to lose… except her.
After a tumultuous beginning to their relationship, Tessa and Hardin were on the path to making things work. Tessa knew Hardin could be cruel, but when a bombshell revelation is dropped about the origins of their relationship—and Hardin’s mysterious past—Tessa is beside herself.
Hardin will always be… Hardin. But is he really the deep, thoughtful guy Tessa fell madly in love with despite his angry exterior—or has he been a stranger all along? She wishes she could walk away. It’s just not that easy. Not with the memory of passionate nights spent in his arms. His electric touch. His hungry kisses.
Still, Tessa’s not sure she can endure one more broken promise. She put so much on hold for Hardin—school, friends, her mom, a relationship with a guy who really loved her, and now possibly even a promising new career. She needs to move forward with her life.
Hardin knows he made a mistake, possibly the biggest one of his life. He’s not going down without a fight. But can he change? Will he change for love?
#3 After We Fell
Tessa and Hardin’s love was complicated before. Now it’s more confusing than ever. AFTER WE FELL…Life will never be the same. #HESSA
Just as Tessa makes the biggest decision of her life, everything changes. Revelations about first her family, and then Hardin’s, throw everything they knew before in doubt and makes their hard-won future together more difficult to claim.
Tessa’s life begins to come unglued. Nothing is what she thought it was. Not her friends. Not her family. The one person she should be able to rely on, Hardin, is furious when he discovers the massive secret she’s been keeping. And rather than being understanding, he turns to sabotage.
Tessa knows Hardin loves her and will do anything to protect her, but there’s a difference between loving someone and being able to have them in your life. This cycle of jealousy, unpredictable anger, and forgiveness is exhausting. She’s never felt so intensely for anyone, so exhilarated by someone’s kiss—but is the irrepressible heat between her and Hardin worth all the drama? Love used to be enough to hold them together. But if Tessa follows her heart now, will it be…the end?
#4 After Ever Happy
Tessa and Hardin have defied all the odds, but will their fairy tale ending be turned on its head? AFTER EVER HAPPY…Life will never be the same. #HESSA
It’s never been all rainbows and sunshine for Tessa and Hardin, but each new challenge they’ve faced has only made their passionate bond stronger and stronger. But when a revelation about the past shakes Hardin’s inpenetrable façade to the core—and then Tessa suffers a tragedy—will they stick together again, or be torn apart?
As the shocking truth about each of their families emerges, it’s clear the two lovers are not so different from each other. Tessa is no longer the sweet, simple, good girl she was when she met Hardin—any more than he is the cruel, moody boy she fell so hard for. Tessa understands all the troubling emotions brewing beneath Hardin’s exterior, and she knows she’s the only one who can calm him when he erupts. He needs her.
But the more layers of his past come to light, the darker he grows, and the harder he pushes Tessa—and everyone else in his life—away. Tessa’s not sure if she really can save him—not without sacrificing herself. She refuses to go down without a fight. But who is she fighting for—Hardin or herself?
#5 Before
As told by Hardin and other characters, Before will explore the hero’s life before he met Tessa, reveal what happens after After, give you new insights on their turbulent romance—and revel in the awesome power of true love. #HESSA
So now that I’ve let the Goodreads summaries do the talking to tell you what each book is about, it’s time to have some thoughts, and I’m going to review the series as a whole rather than each individual book.
To start, I feel like I’ve had a long long/hate relationship with this series. I know it originated on Wattpad, but I discovered these books a little late. I saw them on the shelves of my local B&N and thought about reading them when I was looking for a big, fat romance novel I could lose myself in. Since I didn’t know enough about it, I googled the book before I bought it and found out it was initially 1 Direction fan fiction which was just a “no thanks” for me. I spent too much time in my young adulthood scouring the internet for Hanson fan fiction so I felt those days were long gone – plus I was never particularly a fan of 1D (I’m just not their key demographic).
I essentially picked up their book series after I saw the teaser trailer for the first movie which had me totally intrigued. I was about half way through the first book when I went to see the movie in the movie theater (remember those days?) and finished the rest of the series from there.
While I’m in my 30s and the key demographic for these stories is certainly not me, there is a ton of drama (and short chapters) that kept me turning the pages. For awhile, I went through an obsession with these books and all the press for the movies because I just needed more. However, if I’m being honest, there is a lot of repetitive drama and even some themes and behaviors that as a reader, you question.
Through the course of 5 books, Hardin and Tess go through the ringer together – and apart – and together again – and apart again, etc so on and so forth. They fight constantly (almost every other chapter in some cases), and some of their actions toward one another are not only mature, but borderline on toxic in some instances.
Look, I’m the first one to tell you that there’s a genre and plot line out there for everyone, and many things we read in fiction, we would never dream of encountering, being attracted to, or acting on in real life. I’ve read (and loved) plenty of stories with dominating alpha males, taboo topics, age gaps, dark romance, and things I would never defend in a real-life scenario. However, not every reader approach these books the same. Since Hessa is geared more towards young adults, there might be impressionable elements of these stories that readers can take with them (and definitely shouldn’t).
Through 4 books, Hardin and Tessa have a bad romance, and realize they’re each other’s own worse enemies. They’re destructive not only to each other, but also to everyone around them. They have a lot of growing up to do – and while it takes them a long time, worse and worse behavior, and years apart to make amends for all the harm they’ve done, eventually they find their way back to each other for their own version of happily ever after.
In the moment reading these books, I got totally sucked in. Even when I was appalled by the behavior of these characters, I had to keep turning the page to find out what would happen next because I couldn’t get enough. It was only when I finished this entire series that I had to let what I just read marinate in my brain, and then I felt like a guilty enabler to their messy relationship.
I won’t go into all the specific terminology and put a defining label on Hardin and Tessa – I’ll just leave it at “messy”. Like I said, they’re not kind to each other nor are they good to anyone around them due to their connection, and until they right their wrongs, they aren’t particularly likable characters that I felt a connection with at all.
The last book I won’t really touch on because the title makes it clear. Before tells the story from Hardin’s POV of what his life was like before Tessa came along – and the rest is history. I’m not a fan of authors doing story retellings with a different POV – but with this series, I had to just suck it up even if I skimmed it, just to say I completed the whole series (blame it on some OCD tendencies I have).
So far, 2 of the 4 movies made have been released, and they’re good and worth checking out on a cozy Friday night (if you haven’t already), but once I watched the second movie, I felt like that was the nail in the coffin for me with this series. Book 1 and movie 1 end completely differently – and the movie watered things down completely (since it was only a PG-13 rating), so when AWC got a new director, I had high hopes. While it was entertaining, I have no clue what happened to the story. I always judge books and their film adaptations differently since they are two different mediums but this movie quite literally lost the plot. I know these books are big books, but so many significant events that have repercussions later in the series were just eliminated entirely which made me lose interest.
That being said, I’ve come this far with the series, and I’m sure when books 3 and 4 are released on screen I’ll check them out, but aside from a short obsession, I fell out of love with this series pretty quickly.
If you haven’t read these books yet and are looking for something big that will take up your time and is filled with drama, then check these out, just tread carefully because you’ve been warned. Haha!
I think (and hope) I covered all my thoughts in this review. If you’re interested in checking out the movies, I’ll leave the trailers below for you, and until next time, happy reading! xx
