THIS BLOG DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS! TURN AWAY NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ ANYTHING YOU DON'T WANT TO READ!!!!
So.
Where do I even begin? The books in this series if you are not aware are..
- After
- After We Collided
- After We Fell
- After Ever Happy
All written by Anna Todd.
Go make a cup of tea while I figure out how to put my thoughts into words about Hardin and Tessa.
I'm no expert, so this review I'm about to give is completely a personal opinion after having read all four books of the main series (this excludes Before, Nothing More and Nothing Less - prequals and sequels of the main story)
I'll be sure to talk about the books, characters, story, relationships, drama and then the comparison of the movie to the books.
So, After.
Reading these books in the space of about 3 months, has been quite intriguing. Admittedly, I did watch After on Netflix first, this is where I went looking for the books.
I know that most people prefer to read the books first then watch the movies but honestly, usually movies cut out a large portion of the books. So, personally I'd prefer to watch the movies first, get used to the characters, the theme and atmosphere of the story and then dive into the books where extra scenes and in depth emotions hide - this way, if the movies are rubbish, then I won't be disappointed if the book was great. Nothing worse than being let down by a movie...which may be the case here. But we'll get to that later.
But, discussing the books first. They were incredibly well written and continuously pulled me in to keep reading more.
When I first started reading After, I had actually bought a copy for myself and another for my younger sister (of 15) Luckily, I started reading these books first, as after I read the first sexual chapter, I immediately snatched my sister's copy back off her, claiming she was too young to read such in depth sexual scenes at her age!
That's one thing that was consistent through the books series, the detailed descriptions of the intimacy and physical passion between the two lead characters. I've personally never read 50 Shades of Grey, but I'm sure those who enjoyed those books, will enjoy After.
The Books
So much happens in the books, I mean... SO much happens. So much so, that sometimes I can't remember if certain things happened in book two or book three! The drama is so jam packed into the pages that every other chapter, you as a reader would be there with the characters experiencing the drama with them. We have weddings, fights, violence, break downs, danger and pure shock! Also, humour, sweet moments, lust and the feeling of want to have things work out for the characters. Even moments that have you pausing to play songs.
So, if you're somewhat aware of the first story, it's no surprise that they break up, after Tessa finds out about a bet Hardin had with the others in his friendship group. This is the main secret throughout the whole of book one, After.
Before this point, the amount of emotion, confusion and experiences felt is simply real. I love that Hardin, a closed book, starts to have feelings for someone like Tessa. After all his crude remarks and non-existent feelings towards females of his past, he found someone that brought out a good side in him (even if he was not able to hold such a quality for long) Whereas Tessa, she found Hardin, a curious individual that made her feel truly alive for the first time. She spent all her life fitting into the shape of perfection for her Mother, that when Hardin showed her how to breathe without that type of corset on, she couldn't go back.
The constant feeling of fire and passion between the two of them, the spark they feel when either of them simply touch. It's the type of thing you only wish you could have the chance to find. That is, until the other side of their relationship seeps through the pages.
A lot of feedback readers voice about After is that they have a dangerously toxic relationship. Some have even said that it is the wrong type of relationship to promote to young audiences, saying it is wrong to portray this in case this is the type of relationship young impressionable girls will pine for. On this point, I agree. Hardin and Tessa do in fact share a toxic, unhealthy relationship with one another. They love, they fight, they purposely hurt one another and they make up with sex and repeat. and repeat. and repeat. So much so, that I feel that unless you are an adult reading it, then the 'love' side of the book might just make those young readers want to find someone like Hardin. Not that the Hardin's of the world shouldn't be loved. It's a sticky ground.
The relationship they share is something they combat, even when they have won one another's affections, they still seem to be fighting something. Their relationship isn't easy, something always gets in the way, whether it is a past barrier or present one or in some cases, a future one. As soon as the dust settles, something else happens that will make either lead role get angry and yet another argument will role out. As a reader this can get kind of exhausting. We spend hours upon hours reading through one argument or situation that once we've seen the resolve, something else will crumble. Luckily for the author, it is well written enough to keep us reading or at least wanting to know what happens next.
The characters are incredibly valuable to the story. You find yourself gunning for some and silently wishing that others would just leave and never come back.
There's too many to single out and talk about.
I have such a love for Landon, Karen and Kimberly. If you've read the books, then you know what I mean. Karen was the perfect mother figure that came into Tessa's life even when she really didn't need to care for Tessa the way she did. I wish, so many times in the books, I saw the opportunity for Tessa to say this to Karen and I wish she did.
Landon and Kimberly were the friends that Tessa needed. I kind of wish Tessa had more friends but I suppose some of us are not lucky to have such a luxury (I know how that is) Trevor kind of sits in this category but not as much as Landon and Kimberly.
People that I absolutely despise are Steph, Tessa's Mother and a little bit, Zed.
With these three, I don't even know who to begin with.
Tessa's Mother is so whole heartedly a full blown bitch that I have never, ever hated someone to quickly in literature before in all my life of reading. The times she would look Tessa up and down and judge her, insult her, disrespect her that I just couldn't believe that this woman was her own mother. What mother would do that and more?
Steph, those of you who have read the books and knows why she's in this category will understand this hate. Steph pretended to be Tessa's friend all through the majority of the books, until, in After We Fell (book 3) we discover that Steph is actually far more cynical than the original protagonist, Molly, so much so that Steph orchestrated a scenario where Tessa would get drugged and raped by a male within the friendship group. Thank god Tessa was not harmed and Steph's attempt failed, I was cringing the entire time reading through this section with actual tears in my eyes with fear of what would happen. Poor Tessa thought Steph had come to her rescue after she had been drugged, but instead, Steph came to make sure it happened. Molly in fact saved the day.
Zed, like Steph, was fake but just not as much. He possibly did have feelings for Tessa and offered a hand as a friend that she clung onto too hard, but in fact, he wanted to have her to get back at Hardin for a previous occurrence between the two.
THE END
The ending of this series was, I think, one of the most satisfying endings I have ever read. When you come to think about it, you have spent the last four books reading through the story and getting to know the characters, Tess and Hardin. At the beginning, I thought that After was all about Tessa and then later, about Hardin and Tessa, BUT I now believe that it's really all about Hardin.
Tessa knows who she is, despite having a few wobbles here and there over the year of knowing Hardin, but she knew what she needed to make her happy and eventually what was going to lead her to the life she wanted. All in all, Tessa's change through the books was miniscule compared to Hardin. Hardin absolutely transforms throughout the series of After. While reading, you probably think that he doesn't. It's like life and growing up, you don't ever realise you're changing until you look at yourself from a year ago.
The transformation of Hardin is what makes these books worth reading. He is this self hating, confused boy, filled with anger towards anything and everything. At the end, he is a respectful, loyal, patient, successful man who fully realises the values in his life and doesn't take them for granted. He accepts and I dare say even loves Landon and Smith as brothers and forgives Ken and Christian for the mishaps, violence and lies he has grown up with. He is patient and caring towards Tessa after accepting that she needed the space to figure herself out - which, might I add took two years to do and all that time he kept faithful and even figured himself out along the way.
This all led to the epilogue of the final book, which again is one of the best ones I've read. It had me feeling bubbly knowing they were living together and happy, it had be jumping for actual joy when they discovered they were pregnant after a year of trying with the fear of infertility. Only to make me cry actual tears seconds later when they miscarried. Then BOOM years later, they have two kids that are the sweet and tough versions of them and they themselves are much older, no longer kids of the world but still kids at heart. After their first year in college of going through hell, they managed to come through the other side and spend their lives together.
There's so much that I want to write on about, about the ending (including the heart string pulling realisation that Hardin not only accepts Landon as his brother, but his best friend - SUCH DEVELOPMENT) - I just think that After transformed Hardin into the person he didn't even know he wanted to become.
"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."
Movie Comparison
I can only compare the books to the first movie as, currently, I have not watched the newest movie After We Collided.
As I've told you, I watched the movie first After on Netflix before reading the books. Now, whenever I'm reading the book version of something, I don't touch any of the movies or digital versions of it just so I can stay fully immersed in the words the author wanted us to read. Then, once I'm finished with reading, I rewatch the movie and compare.
Honestly, the After movie is quite a disappointment.
An awful lot of the After books are filled with monologue emotions that we, as the reader, have the opportunity to dive into; which ultimately helps us connect and understand the characters better.
My issue is, between the heated kisses and 'cute' scenes shown in the After movie, it actually heavily lacks any actual passion between these lines. Hardin is such a hard case and doesn't show any affection towards Tessa, whereas in the book, you are able to see much, much more. The majority of the scenes that were left out, I fear, were heavily needed.
I'm hoping that when I do eventually watch After We Collided, the bits I felt were lacking are hopefully present. It would be such a shame if all the movies don't get across the true story that is Hessa.
Overall, I believe that the books (at this point) are much more worth investing your time into. By all means watch the movies, the actors are impressively perfect to the roles they have to play and sometimes it helps having a visual of the layouts of certain scenes and characters. But if you're at all interested in the After saga, then please read the books, I have surprisingly really enjoyed reading them each night.
I feel that Anna Todd does deserve the praise that she gets from this story she has created.