Review: After

After by Anna Todd
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Sigh, where's 14 year old me?

Here, little J. Here little girl. Here.

Aha gotcha. *grabs her and shakes her hard* What were you thinking, you bad boy lover of romances, you nincompoop of sensible novels, what happened?

*sighs* Sorry y'all, you had to see that. Some 14 year olds never learn.

But let's continue.

The cover -Stormy, just like teenage feelings. And honestly they're far more complicated then what an adult would think.

Think back to highschool years. Your first crush. Your first day of school. The mean girls, the jock boys, the emo and goth guys and gals, the grumpy and overworked staff, and you the preppy, or quiet, studious one. Didn't know where to fit in. Feelings going every which way.

This was that moment shown in this cover, this whole book. It's not an easy time, being an 18 year old. And especially if you've never heard of college stories and you're about to head in, unprepared. This is that time period in this book. So I appreciated it and totally related to it.

I mean I'm about to head into college in a few months so I understand the nervousness, the tension, the chaotic nature the first day. Praying that everything goes right, but usually it's only 99% that does haha.

But a good cover regardless.

The summary -Totally cliche and utterly unoriginal. But still loveable for the 14 year old in me, while reading this and the college girl that I'm about to be (except for the romance part, of course). So if I can relate to a summary this way or a certain character, I'll definitely feel a lot closer to the book. And this summary did make me feel that way. So a star to that.

But like everything touched with fate, things do go wrong.

1. The characters are terribly cliched and stereotypical and way too judgemental of each other for my liking. Specially with Hardin, Tessa and her other "friends". Hardin for Tessa being so uptight and conservative with her dressing. Tess for Hardin being an illiterate and a dumbass because of his dressing and tattoos. So not fair, either of you, sigh...The bullets did come in handy when I finally shot them, muhahahah.. but really so darn terrible they were.

2. Peer pressure. She's 18 and yet she acts like a 13 year old when pressured to do something, acts more like a child than a grown girl. And does everything when her "friends" say so. GROW UP!

3. Being a "square". Simply because she wasn't so intimate with her boyfriend, she's a "square". Damn you Hardin. Why can't people save themselves for marriage or something, huh? Got a problem? Then fuck you. Plain and simple.

4. Bullies. Being a bully and trying to get with the girl who you just insulted is beyond my comprehension. It's verbal abuse and no one should be insulted especially if you like em. Acting like a bastard will never guarantee you any brownie points with a girl.

Me, I'd just slap the guy and walk off. Or call him names, my mother wouldn't be so proud of hearing. But that's my view.

Moving along...

5. The romance was also forced, I felt, like there was no actual chemistry. Just a drunk mistake. And the worse part is she already has a boyfriend, but she still wants it to go on?

Like what happened to your morals, or self-reservations, girl? You lost em? Damn it.

6. Feels more like a highschool romance than college romance. The characters are not sensible and they behave like college is no serious business at all.

Sigh...

All of this adds up to the most ridiculous, cliched, and a terrible book of all time.

I won't even watch the movie version since I haven't read a lot and it would just piss me off more.

So, not recommended. AT ALL.

Until the next read,

-TMR

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