Review: After by Anna Todd - After #1

After by Anna Todd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Synopsys:

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?

What I think:

Never expected to be sucked into this story the way I was. This is a book with more than 500 (!!) pages and it only took me three evenings reading for a couple of hours to finish it. This is such an easy and light read. The writing style is awesome.

I liked the buildup of the story and slowly fell in love with Tessa and Hardin. Somehow the repetitive scenes of fighting and making up didn't slow the story down and the mystery around Hardin kept the story interesting.

I can't wait to read the next book in this series and I'm devastated that I finished this book already.

This book made me tear up more than once. The ending basically gave me a heart attack. I immediately understood how Tessa felt. Crushed, heartbroken, lost. Why Anna Todd? Why did you have to do this?! But thank you for making three more books after this. I'll forgive you this once, but don't break my heart at the ending of book two, I can't take more.

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