Book Review: After (After #1) by Anna Todd

Title: After (After #1)

Author: Anna Todd
Publication Date: October 21, 2014
Publisher: Gallery Books
Pages: 592
Format: Paperback
Age Group: Adult/New Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance

       

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

Thoughts Before: 

A few of my friends started reading the After series before me and they were totally in love with it. But to be honest, the size of the books sort of turned me off.  I mean, each book is at least 600 pages! Seriously!  For that reason alone, I procrastinated in finally starting it.  I knew that the last book was releasing in a couple of weeks so I figured this was the perfect time to do it.  I am so glad I did!  

Hardin:

Hardin.  What can I say about him? Let me make a list of words: Hot, sexy, mean, rude, cocky, messed up, hot (wait, I think I said that already) mysterious and HOTTTTT.  When we first meet Hardin, you think, "OMG this guy is an ass!"  Well, you keep thinking that through out the whole book, but he also has his good moments that makes you forget all the bad ones.    

"You have no idea how good I can make you feel," he says, and I gasp. How does he go from yelling at me to this? And why do I like it so much? I have no words. Hardin's tone and dirty words make me weak, vulnerable and confused. I have become a rabbit in a fox's trap. ~ Page 95

Tessa:

Oh my sweet, naive Tessa.  I am sure she had no idea how much her life was going to change the instant she walked into her college dorm room. She has a good boyfriend, a "safe boyfriend." Someone she has known pretty much her whole life and has been there for her through her toughest moments.  But the moment Hardin steps into her life, things will get flipped around and inside out.  I don't know if my Tessa can take all of Hardin.  He might just be too much for her.   

All the Feels:

I have never highlighted an ebook as much as I have in this whole series.  Every word, every sentence became special to me and I had to make sure that I could always go back and re-read it so I can feel that way again.  

Love & Hate:

There is so much love and hate in this book.  One minute I love Hardin, the next, I want to ring his neck! He brings out every emotion out of me.  Tessa too, though!  She annoyed me at times and I wanted to slap her and tell her to get over it and stop whining so much.  I was in a constant battle with these two.  But I loved every minute and every word of it.

"Kiss me, Tessa." he says against my lips. I shake my head and he grunts in frustration. "Please, just kiss me. I need you." His words unravel me. This indecent, drunken, terrible man just said he needs me, and somehow it sounds like poetry to my ears. Hardin is like a drug; each time I take the tiniest bit of him, I crave more and more.  He consumes my thoughts and invades my dreams. ~ Page 147

Feelings After:

Hardin and Tessa are like my Edward and Bella.  They belong together. They aren't perfect, but they are "them" and that to me is everything.  I have never felt this emotionally attached to a couple as I do with these two.  I love them and I want everyone to  know that.