Book Five of the After series–Anna Todd’s Wattpad fanfiction that racked up one billion reads online and captivated romance readers 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
Before was a lot of stuff from before. I thought it would just be the first book kind of from Hardin’s point of view, way cut back obviously because of the size. But it was more than that. We got glimpses into the girls that he had done terrible things to in the past. We got glimpses into the girls from his group when he met Tessa, including Molly and Steph. And while they had bad pasts, I can tell you that one of them, I don’t feel a bit sorry for. She has always been an evil witch from what we learned about her. But it’s not just before, there’s during, and that is where we get the view of what happened during After, but now from Hardin’s viewpoint. And then, there is even some after. We get some of those details I was missing from the fourth book filled in. I loved those so much! Was so happy for those! Although I’m still hoping for some more details in the Landon book coming up. I just have to say that this author knows how to wrap up her characters’ stories. I could sit and watch all of these characters in a soap opera type of show, all the boring, happy times, along with any of the not so good times. My brain has settled down a bit. Not needing to get back to a book to know what will happen next and if things can be overcome. I love also that her characters do grow and change. But it’s not really in a sappy, stupid way. I feel like they worked for their changes, it wasn’t easy.
I hate that I didn’t talk more about other important characters, my favorite being Landon. While I’m very excited for a movie to be made, I just hope that they do it right. Don’t pick a skinny, no curves girl for Tessa. She’s got to have curves. And it has to be rated at least R, as the steamy scenes are the best, better than just about any I’ve ever read. If you hated the series, I’m sorry. I’m now a #Hessa fan for life.
I enjoyed this! It was a great addition to the series. I loved the Before and the After sections. Both provided a great look into the people’s lives that affected Hardin and Tessa. The Before covers the original hook-ups of Hardin that are most mentioned: Steph, Molly, etc. I think Molly’s story was especially interesting. The After gives glimpses of the other characters like Zed (his part was great!) Landin, etc. as well as into the future with Hardin and Tessa. I only wish we got a Noah section.
The bulk of the book is parts of book 1 retold. This provided some great insight into these deals, for example how the bet was made and pre-planned before she showed and how Truth or Dare, despite them claiming is a normal party game still, wasn’t that and was just a way to begin breaking the ice. My favorite is how at the beginning of each paragraph, we get his first-person emotions/feelings written out. As if the narrator is telling us exactly what is happening to him even when he doesn’t realize it. Then it goes into the chapter as a normal story inside Hardin’s head.
Overall, great ending and bonus to the series!
This book is amazing I have read all of the after series and honestly I love it I 100% recommend I loved how it had all the characters perspective I’ve read all of the After series and all of the books are so good and hopefully lots of people read it because it deserves to be read
I’m going to be in a book hangover for months after this series. The After series won my heart. This is a great addition to an already awesome series. I love getting a little more on the other characters (Molly, Steph, Zed, Vance and Smith). I also loved to see how Hardin’s relationship with Smith had grown and getting a Hardin’s POV of his time with Tessa during the first book in the series. I loved seeing what was going through his mind during that time with her.
I now can understand Molly and even feel for her. It’s also nice to know that Steph was always crazy lol.
If you’ve read the rest of this series then you definitely need to read this one!
It is amazing book to read
I loved that Anna did this! There were a lot of questions about other characters as well as Tess and Hardin I had and Before gave me that piece of mind.
I didn’t like this one as much as the rest of the series. I usually am a huge fan of getting the story from someone else’s POV, but since the After series was told in alternating POVs anyway, this was maybe a bit of overkill.
I did, however, like learning about certain characters (other than Tessa and Hardin) before and after the events of the After series. Especially Molly. I always kind of hated her in the series until the very end, and knowing where she came from made me look at her character in a whole different light.
I also think it would be interesting to see a book or series about Molly and Logan, and even one that tells more about what happens to Zed after his part in the After books.
If you’ve come this far in the After series, I do recommend reading this just to get some insight into other characters.