Before

After, Book 5

By: Anna Todd

Narrated by: Shane East, Jason Carpenter, Grace Grant

Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

Book five of the After series - Anna Todd's Wattpad fanfiction that racked up one billion views online and captivated romance fans across the globe! As told by Hardin and other characters, Before will explore the hero's life before he met Tessa, reveal what happens after After, give you new insights on their turbulent romance - and revel in the awesome power of true love. #HESSA

©2015 Anna Todd. All rights reserved. (P)2015 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

loved it..

I have read the entire After series, & always felt it needed more... for the story must go on! as they say lol. this gave it that much needed closure from Hardin's perspective....
thank you ❤️

Love! Love! Love!

A great book to close out the series and all the other character's stories! A must read!

Best book of the series.

It really gave you a whole new perspective of hardins life before and after Tessa.

Awesome

Loved ! Enjoyed getting to know the individual characters stories a little better and see things from Hardin's point of view

New POV’s

With the previous 4 books we’ve all fallen in love with #HESSA’s unlikely love story. But the good girl falling for the bad boy is so hackneyed and cliché that the reader is left wondering, ‘How many times can I read this same trope?’. And again, the only reason it works is that our star-crossed lovers both are especially good looking and have exceptional and sustained passion and prowess in bed.
H revels in T’s virginal purity in the most nauseating and hypocritical way, being the scumbag that he’s always been; taciturn, sarcastic and degrading everyone in his path of emotional destruction. It’s pretty hard to have any sympathy for him until we hear his back story in his own words.
And that’s what redeems the whole novel.
For the most part, their story has been largely told from either Tessa’s or a neutral POV. Now it’s time for Hardin to explain himself. His sadistic and cold indifference. His violent outbursts. His choice of company or lack thereof.
We want to believe he and his band of brooding, menacing companions are the way they are because of some terrifyingly bad breaks in life. And although this is to a good extent explored, lots of people have had it pretty damn tough and don’t resort to bullying and raging against everybody and everything all the time. But, there is still a lot to like in this author’s tale. The dialogue is realistic and the narrative flows so well that one can almost forgive all the recycled themes.
Particularly rewarding is hearing first person from many of the auxiliary characters as well: Christian Vance, Landon and Smith. Even Zed has his say. (Wishing Zed could have had a larger part!)
My greatest disappointments were the double standard perpetuated for males vs. females (eye roll); The repetition of the ludicrous fallacy of simultaneous organisms (pull-ease! just stop already with this unreasonable expectation! Men feel like failures if this doesn’t occur and women feel obligated to fake-fake-fake! How many times do the sex therapists have to explain this? Can’t believe this gaping flaw is penned by a female. Sheesh.); The idea that college is one big party with so little studying and cramming and late nights involved. If it was such a cinch everyone would do it; Later one has to suspend disbelief when H and T are living in separate cities for what 2 years(?) and maintaining exclusivity. (Serious side-eye here.)
Other cringe worthy details are fairly minor, such as the propensity for Tessa to overdecorate and the oversized neon painting of their children In Their Bedroom (Hell No!)
And OMG, Hardin allowing Disney sheets on his child’s bed or anything Disney in his house at all?! (Unlikely and not at all in keeping with his distain for anything pop-culture. BTW, I happen to agree with him 1,000% on this).
Lastly, I’m not seeing Hardin as the ‘Man-Bun’ type. Long hair, OK……but an updo? I say Nope! Updon’t.

great book

my favorite in the series but I love them all. Anna is a wonderful writer.

Sigh…..

I want their love story I know it had rough moments but that’s what made the other moments so beautiful and erotic I only wish (not to ruin it but the ending was her planning her own)
But that is not who they are and this makes them so special.
What a fantastic series Geeze it ties with 50 Shades just in a different way one more relatable maybe?

BB

Absolutely adored this series. This was a wonderful addition to finish it off. I just loved it.

A Good End

Good Read. Voice doesn't match Hardin. Thats the only negative. Appreciate that the author incorporates all supporting characters story line. Its a great bonus.

awesomely satisfied

was very happy to see Hardin's perspective of everything that happened. I had a few questions and they were answered. I'm happy the way things turned out for them it was a great read/listen. I'm happy it turned out to be a beautiful disaster turned love rules all type of books. I didnt care for the back track to the first book but I kind of get it. but it was like reading the "after" all over again in alot of ways. this was a awesome series and I'm happy I read/listened to all of them. it only took 4 days for 5 books 😉