After

By: Anna Todd

Narrated by: Elizabeth Louise

Length: 16 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's Summary

Now newly revised and expanded, Anna Todd’s After fanfiction racked up 1 billion reads online and captivated audiences 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

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?

©2014 Anna Todd (P)2014 Simon & Schuster Audio

✫✫ 4 Stars ✫✫

I enjoyed this NA romance for what it was, which is a story about a girl who was obviously sheltered but also bullied by her mother growing up and a boy who has ptsd and his way of dealing with that is anger. He tries to be the bad boy but his good boy shows through whenever he lets down his guard. I think he is also trying so hard to be the bad guy that he doesn't have guts enough to stand up for what he thinks but instead does things no matter how awful because he doesn't want to look weak to his "friends". 1/2 the book I loved him and the other 1/2 I thought he acted like a boy and not a man! I hope book 2 will show him growing but from the nasty reviewers I'm guessing he doesn't. That will not deter me from continuing on to book 2 because I have to see what happens next. The story pulled me in from the beginning which is what i'm always looking for in a book.

The narration of this audiobook was great! She does a great accent for Hardin.

9 of 10 people found this review helpful

Decent, a little immature for me.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The incessant internal thoughts. This can absolutely ruin a book for me if characters have too many internal dialogues.

Have you listened to any of Elizabeth Louise’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not, the narration was pretty good in my opinion.

Was After worth the listening time?

I will not be re-listening to this but don't think it was a waste of time.

Any additional comments?

I think the this book was just based on characters too immature for my liking. Also the supporting characters were very inconsistent. They were some of the meanest people ever and then all of a sudden we were supposed to like them or forgive them. Just didn't work for me.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Must read the entire series!

I listen to audio books to help me get to sleep. This book and entire series kept me up many nights and distracted at work. Every chance I got to listen I did! I finished listing to the series in 15 days. I can't wait for Anna's next series.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

rollercoast

i could not stop listening but this story is too depressing and the characters not likeable. this guy is a jerk, big stupid ahole and teresa just keeps forgiving him... it makes me so mad that girls might think being treated liked that is acceptable after the guys says im sorry and i love you. a jerk is a jerk no matter how hot or cute he is.
i didnt like the narrator much either...

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

Abusive and Demeaning Boyfriend Romance Story

This was a good book and it did keep me intrigued with all the drama, so much so that I stayed up all night long to finish the 2nd half of it to the end. (So Extremely tired at work now) It is about an abusive boyfriend that is so demeaning and cruel to his girlfriend regardless of how much she gives up for him. I wish Tesse could have made a true friend in college that she could depend on and go to for help and advice. I kept hanging in there hoping Hardin would eventually make a drastic change and start treating Tesse with some respect. Does NOT happen which is very disappointing. I could NOT believe the cliffhanger ending and cannot wait until 11/25/14 when the next book comes out. I guess that's why they always leave good stories like they do, I hope that in the second book Harlin gets what he deserves and Tesse learns to get a back bone and she ends up happy with someone else who appreciates and deserves her.

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

Painfully repetitive

I love some good tension between a love bound pair that shouldn't really be a good fit, yet love and attraction overcomes their differences. This is a teeny bopper roller coaster on steroids. The boy is abusive. The girl is pathetically gullible. The only reason they 'love' each other is pure teenaged lust. Their relationship has exactly nothing real. Its pathologic. At least not where I left off. 14 hours long. I'm tossing in the towel with five hours left. Another series that should never have gotten anywhere near book 2.

7 of 9 people found this review helpful

Pure New Adult.

A perfect example of New Adult fiction. Very enjoyable and interesting throughout despite being long and overly filled with angst.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

After

Hate that at the end of more than 10 hours you have to buy another audio book!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Mixed feelings

The author wrote a story that keeps you interested but Tessa is a stupid girl for letting Harden treat he that way. And there's 4 other books?! It made me crazy and evoked real emotions in me so I guess the author did her job. It really was like a ping pong match.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Wow!!

This book was unexpectedly amazing!! Very addicting! And that ending! Wow! Also, this is narrated by my favorite narrator. She did amazing!!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

guilty pleasure

although it's very poorly written, many narrative mistakes, characters wearing different clothes within the same scene, mentioning the passage of time and then speaking of a previous even as if it happened yesterday...
apart from that, this is such an addicting story, target audience are teen girls and all that matter to the story is the romance. it's a teen version of 50 shades, however much more interesting and characters with more depth. you empathise with them.
the narrator is fine, but her voice is a bit annoying. performance though is descent. nothing special.
it's one of those books that make you listen for hours. I will certainly listen to the next two and looking forward for the movie.
if you are looking for something light and simple to listen to this is nice. It's not literature, but it serves its purpose.
huge dissandvantage is the top many sex scenes. it should skip at least half of them. it becomes annoying after a while.

disappointing

I don't know if it was a good story or not as I stopped listening. The reason I stopped listening was because everytime something interesting was about to happen the story paused to introduce a new chapter. Like when they first kiss, as soon as their lips meet, it' paused to start the next chapter, only to carry on what was happening, and there was no need for it. The chapters are so short, always unfinished only to continue in a new one and interrupt the scene, and they actually ruined the story for me. It killed the first kiss. As for the narrator, she was good, but her English accent was not. I'm English and we don't sound like that.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful