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After by Anna Todd


1/5
How can I possibly describe the travesty that is After by Anna Todd...? I haven’t hated anything this much in... maybe ever?
Needless to say, this post is going to be full of spoilers because there are just so many examples of why this book is awful.
I originally picked the book up because it started popping up everywhere. Chapters had a huge display, a movie came out, it has over 1 BILLION reads on Wattpad, and it seemed like something that was right up my alley in terms of what I like to read. It’s based on One Direction fan fiction which threw me a bit but Fifty Shades of Grey started life as Twilight fan fiction so who am I to judge?
This whole book boils down to three things:
1.       Tessa, the virginal “good girl” experiencing her sexual awakening with
2.       Hardin, the emotionally abusive “bad boy” with daddy issues, and
3.       A bet.
There you go. That’s it. The whole book.
The whole book is just a series of tropes and clichés and Tessa is a wildly unrealistic character. She does a complete 180 from what she is presented as – starts skipping classes, partying, drinking, and messing around with Hardin, yet still has time to get all of her home work done and magically gets an incredible paid internship as the assistant to an acquisitions editor in her very first semester of college. She also appears to have a relatively endless supply of money as she is able to eat out, buy a car, buy supplies, shop for clothes, and she and Hardin furnish an ENTIRE APARTMENT all before she gets the job which pays $300 a week. Hardin is older than her as far as I can tell but is taking freshman classes with her. He also apparently has enough money to put first and last down on an apartment for him and Tessa, which she moves into A MONTH after they start dating. I feel like the “good girl” trope was just tacked onto Tessa without any actual evidence of her actually being an intelligent, well behaved woman who makes decisions intelligently. I can’t even begin to count the number of times I thought “OH MY GOD SHE IS SO PATHETIC.” – And apparently Hardin agrees because he uses the same word he uses to describe her.
                Hardin is more believable as a ragey teen with Daddy issues. He magically has an amazing publishing job while still in school that makes him good money. Incredible, really. He’s a member of a frat but is pretty much the exact opposite of what a frat guy should be, has the biggest room in the house and is apparently terrifying to huge, would-be rapists who are also members of the fraternity.
                And then... the piece de la resistance in this triumvirate of clichéd bullshit. 593 pages. The bet. At the very end of the book we discover that Hardin only tried to have sex with Tessa to prove that he could. It’s a bet. The whole thing. And this is after he’s helped her get the job, and had her move into an apartment with him, after he broke her and her “good guy” boyfriend up and demolished her relationship with her mother (which, admittedly, was already a wreck). He is also wildly abusive, emotionally. He calls Tessa names, treats her like crap in public, and hides the fact that they are in a relationship because she doesn’t know about the bet. He has incredible anger and jealousy issues and has no business being in a relationship without some serious professional help.
                I really have no idea how this story amassed over ONE BILLION reads. I realize that that is users going back to it all the time, but still. One billion reads. And I have no idea how it’s Harry Styles/One Direction fan fic because it reads like a tamer ripoff of Fifty Shades, except Ana knew exactly what she was getting in to with Christian and Tessa does not.
                I think part of the reason I really hate books with protagonists like Tessa is because I expect more from young women when they are presented as sensible. I expect them to make mistakes, but I expect them to be intelligent enough to know when they’re being abused. Every other chapter is a screaming match between Tessa and Hardin, and he’s constantly pushing her away and she runs back for more. It’s just a perfect example of what a terrible, unhealthy relationship looks like. And there are SIX BOOKS IN THE SERIES. HOWWWWW DID THAT HAPPEN?!
                I still gave it 1/5 because I like Tessa’s roommate, Steph (until the end when we discover that she knew about the bet too).
                And you want to know what’s sick? I’m tempted to pick up the next one because I really want to know if Tessa gets her crap together, but I know she won’t because well... there are six books in the series.

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