Review – After We Collided

Title: After We Collided

Series: After #2

Author: Anna Todd

Rating:

This book was sent as a review copy by the Danish publisher. This has not affected my rating of the book and my opinions and holders are 100% my own.

---

Tessa has everything to lose. Hardin has nothing to lose… except her.

After a tumultuous beginning to their relationship, Tessa and Hardin were on the path to making things work. Tessa knew Hardin could be cruel, but when a bombshell revelation is dropped about the origins of their relationship—and Hardin’s mysterious past—Tessa is beside herself.

Hardin will always be… Hardin. But is he really the deep, thoughtful guy Tessa fell madly in love with despite his angry exterior—or has he been a stranger all along? She wishes she could walk away. It’s just not that easy. Not with the memory of passionate nights spent in his arms. His electric touch. His hungry kisses.

Still, Tessa’s not sure she can endure one more broken promise. She put so much on hold for Hardin—school, friends, her mom, a relationship with a guy who really loved her, and now possibly even a promising new career. She needs to move forward with her life.

Hardin knows he made a mistake, possibly the biggest one of his life. He’s not going down without a fight. But can he change? Will he change for love?
(Goodreads)

---

Here we go again. Tessa and Hardin, back and forth, chance after chance. And a lot of sexy time. I think that sums up the book quite well, don’t you?

If you haven’t already, you can read my review of After here.

After We Collided continues where the first book left off and unfortunately, it feels a bit like nothing has changed in book 2. Hardin and Tessa probably have the most problematic relationship I have ever experienced reading in a book.

“Give me another chance.” Those words are probably the ones that are repeated the most in this book, and they always come from Hardin.

There was a good reason why he started off by telling Tessa that he did not want to be in a relationship – because no, he certainly shouldn’t be because he has no clue how to.

All the back and forth, being angry at each other over nothing or a misunderstanding and then reuniting with some sex, there is just a limit to how much of the same repetitions a reader should be exposed to. In particular, considering that from the beginning of book 1 to the end of book 2, about 5-6 months have passed. So it’s a really short time that all this is happening in and a whiplash warning label should have been plastered all over the book.

But that is not to say that the book is bad – because it is not. It’s catchy and you have a hard time letting go of it even if you are not a fan of what happens in the story. Because you still need to know what happens next so you can roll your eyes some more at Tessa and Hardin’s disastrous love affair.

I would go so far as to say that it is a good book to read so you know who you are NOT supposed to be dating and how to recognise the warning signs of an unhealthy relationship. Everything in this book is just one giant red flag.

Again, the book is +500 pages, and if you just removed all the quarrels, we would probably be left with a book similar to a children’s book in length.

The story progresses little by little and I will say that the ending is exciting and the book itself ends on a cliffhanger (exactly as in the movie). But apart from that the movie and book are miles apart, so if you’ve only seen the movie, you should definitely not think that you know everything there is to know about this story. I mean, Hardin is almost an angel in the movie compared to the book – a fallen angel perhaps, but not at all on par with book Hardin. Because that dude is bat shit crazy!

I would recommend this series though, granted I’m only halfway through. I actually would because despite the fact that the story and main conflict run in circles, like an evil vicious kind of circle, it is still entertaining and addictive. These are quickly read books despite their size because one just has to see what happens in the next chapter.

Thanks again to the People’s Press for sending me a copy of the book. Now we can just sit and wait for the third movie as a matching book.

---

Tell me, if you have read the last two books in the series – should I continue? No spoilers though.