REVIEW: After (After, #1) by Anna Todd

Reviewer: Kristen 
Author: Anna Todd
Pages: 592
Format: Paperback (provided by Simon & Schuster) 
My Rating: 8 out of 10 

Summary (you're golden, Goodreads): 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. #Hessa
My Thoughts: Just in time for all you enthusiastic Valentine's day folks, I present to you After by Anna Todd! Now, first things first. I need to get this off my chest because of reasons: Please don't not (double negative use, for the win) pick this up because you heard it was One Direction fanfiction, because I won't lie to you, I was all kinds of hesitant. But, like everything, you just have to give it a chance to actually form your own opinions on it. That's my two cents, so let's proceed with the actual book now. 

So, Tessa and Hardin.... Hardin is a little bit much at times. And because of that, I can understand why people are saying that he's a bad person and that the story romanticizes an abuse relationship. What I can't understand, however, is when people like Hardin and Tessa to Christian and Ana (those are the names from FSoG right?). Tessa doesn't take no shit - she's fiesty, she stands up for herself, she gives chances when she believes they are deserved, but if they blow their chance, it's blown. She's not just taking the crap that Hardin throws at her, and I think that that is a major reason why I didn't just write this off as some crappy novel with no redeeming qualities. 

This book is long. Incredibly long. So very long. It's like 3-novels-in-one kind of long. But you know what? It only took me two days to finish this book (and it only took me that long because of that incessant need to sleep). I was so completely swept up into the story - I wanted needed to know what happened to Tessa and Hardin. I needed to know why something was said. I needed to know why. I just could not put it down. 

This story is definitely on par with Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire and Thoughtless by S.C Stephens. If those are your kinda things, I definitely, without a doubt, recommend that you take this baby out for a test ride. I enjoyed it, and I'm actually really excited to read the next in this series. Anna Todd has found herself a new and I hate to admit it but kind of unlikely fan! 

Final Thoughts: If you're in the mood for a steamy, unapologetic romance that I liken to Thoughtless by S.C Stephens, then this book is for you. For all you romantics out there, I cannot recommend this enough!