(0.25/5: 0.1 for Landon, 0.1 for Noah, 0.05 for Steph. That's it. Fuck everyone else.)
Shoutout to the Cursed Books Club, without whom this rant would (0.25/5: 0.1 for Landon, 0.1 for Noah, 0.05 for Steph. That's it. Fuck everyone else.)
Shoutout to the Cursed Books Club, without whom this rant would not be possible, because I would have committed arson gone insane two days ago.
[image] Real footage of me being convinced to read this.
Here's your spoiler warning because I honestly have no patience to be funny right now. This book was terrible. I'm going to talk about everything that I found problematic or even vaguely annoying in this book. Please keep all trigger warnings in mind while reading this review. If you enjoyed this book and think I should have as well, I don't want to hear it. Otherwise, well, have fun.
TW/CW:(view spoiler)[rape, slut-shaming, emotional/domestic abuse, descriptive sex, drinking, alcoholism, past trauma, peer-pressure, general nastiness. (hide spoiler)]
(To everyone who has been anticipating this review, apologies that it has taken me a week to type up. Apparently thinking about 'After' for any period of time makes me prone to fits of fury and general rage. Sorry about that.)
Objectively, 'After' is the worst book I've ever read. It has absolutely everything, and to top it all off, it's Harry Styles Wattpad fanficton. This book honestly infuriated me even more than Ignite Me did, and that's saying something. However, unlike 'Ignite Me', 'After' also had exactly three somewhat redeemable points.
(That's not saying much, because the entire book is a sea of 'nope', with about three droplets of 'not-as-shitty-as-the-rest-of-it'.)
[image] Real footage of my braincells dropping dead because of this dumpster fire.
'After' tries to tell the story of Tessa Young, a perfect little college student whose life is turned absolutely upside down after meeting bad boy Harry Styles Hardin Scott, because of a relationship that is as long as it is fun to read about. So that is to say, not fun long at all.
Tessa is your classic good girl. All she does is study and never has any fun. She just wants to be successful in life and not get in trouble, and is therefore not like other teenagers, let alone other girls. Logic 100. Additionally, because of her financial situation, despite her AmAzInG gRaDeS she only applies to one school. Not even ONE safety school. Logic 1000.
[image]
As you can see, Tessa is the smartest person on the planet, ever. When she meets Hardin, things aren't exactly off to a great start for this pErFeCt CoUpLe. She goes as far as to acknowledge that she's judging him for his tattoos and piercings, but turns right around and says that she's being polite. She claIMS THAT THERE ARE ONLY TWO GENDERS. SHE INSINUATES THAT PEOPLE WITH OCD ARE CRAZY.
*visibly attempts to remain sane*
She hates Steph, her roommate, on-site because she wears revealing clothes and has tattoos/piercings. (I actually somewhat liked Steph because she defends Tessa and remains supportive of her even when Tessa is so outright judgemental about her, even if Steph peer-pressures Tessa somewhat.) This brings us to one of the biggest problems with this book: all the slut-shaming.
You see, Tessa holds herself in such high regard because of how 'perfect' and 'innocent' she is. She hates everyone who "looks different", especially girls who dress differently from how she does. It gets particularly worse when a side character, Molly, is introduced.
Girl-on-girl hate reaches its peak in this book, because Molly exists solely to make Tessa jealous, and she goes as far as to call Molly a 'skank' and a 'whore' multiple times. Just because Molly used to sleep with Hardin. Which Tessa now does.
[image]
((Call-out paragraph for Tessa's mother, who takes one look at the band posters, piercings, and pentagrams black leather, and demands that Tessa change dorms, and occasionally shows up from time to time. No joke. Tessa's mother is more of a Karen than the character named 'Karen' in this book.))
Tessa goes to a party with some other people and drinks for the first time. She stumbles into a bedroom with books in it. Because Tessa is the most intelligent of all intellectuals, her favorite book is 'Wuthering Heights', which she notices with the books. Just as she sits down to read it, Hardin walks into the room. We learn that not only is Hardin a bad boy, but an intellectual because he reads ✨classics✨.
There is instant kemistree between the two of them, and we know this because we get more descriptions of Hardin's eyes than what goes on at school. In one of the few chapters that we do get to see what goes on at school, Tessa befriends Landon, who turns out to be Hardin's step-brother, but is one of the only characters I actually liked because of how genuinely nice he is.
[image]
Apart from all of that, Tessa has actually had a boyfriend this entire time - Noah. Noah is also nice but basically has no role in the story other than to build part of Tessa's love triangle. He's worried about Tessa and calls her mother on a few occasions, on account of how Tessa seems unable to make good decisions anymore.
Time passes, drunken games of truth-or-dare are played, and Hardin and Tessa decide to try to be friends. They decide to go out one day...
...and Hardin fingers her at a lake.
[image]
Tessa comes to the conclusion that she doesn't want to be with Noah, but actually Hardin. Of course, for how smart she is, Tessa can't figure out how to break up with him, bEcAuSe ThEy'Ve BeEn BeSt FrIeNdS fOrEvEr. So, basically, it's okay to cheat on your boyfriend if you ✨feel bad✨ about it. She repeatedly acknowledges that cheating is wrong but continues to do it because she's nOt LiKe OtHeR gIrLs.
The level of drama in this book genuinely rivals that of a soap opera. Noah finds out that Tessa has been cheating on him with Hardin in the most dramatic way possible, but decides that he can put it behind them if Tessa stops seeing Hardin. So she does.
Kidding! Of course not! Tessa and Hardin get caught by Landon of all people and continue messing around with each other. Poor Noah finds out about them again and they properly break up.
[image]
And so begins a disturbing montage of push-and-pull between Tessa and Hardin, as they decide to properly date. Except not really. Hardin starts oPeNiNg Up to Tessa, and shows her a SoFtEr SiDe of him, which convinces her that he really does like her, but just feels conflicted sometimes.
So when the two of them argue (which is almost constantly), instead of standing up for herself, Tessa thinks that it's better for her to just be quiet and let him work through it. Hardin will yell at her, and then thirty seconds later we're getting ghastly descriptions of him going down on her. All while being told how rOmAnTiC he is.
This brings us to the biggest problem of the book: the relationship itself. Tessa and Hardin's relationship is emotionally and at times physically abusive. Hardin manipulates Tessa to the point where she thinks that their relationship is normal. Hardin is actually so terrible that everytime he acts even remotely decent, he is lauded for how incredible he is.
[image]
He also constantly called Tessa 'bAbY', which absolutely grated on my nerves. If I ever have to hear that word again, I am going to ✨yeet myself into a void✨ and die a traumatized human.
Hardin is terrible to everyone, a behavior which seems to stem from the fact that his father was a neglectful alcoholic at one point. And so because of that, Hardin is still incredibly disrespectful to his father, his step-mother, his step-brother, and the world at large.
There's one scene in particular that comes to my mind. Tessa is screaming about how miserable she is when she's with Hardin, and how being with him was terrible for her. She acknowledges that his behavior is borderline sociopathic, and tells him that he brings out the worst in her.
His response? That even though he brings out the worst in her, she brings out the best in him, so it's good for them to stay together.
Yeah. uMM-
[image] AKA Hardin in a gif.
To make matters worse, they move in together. Tessa's mother shows up, and drama ensues.
However I'd like to point out one VERY big problem with this: Tessa doesn't really know Hardin. She met him, what, 6 months ago, when she started college? She doesn't even know his favorite color, let alone who he truly is. He could be an axe-murderer for all she knows, luring her into a false sense of security, getting her to trust him completely and abandon all of her friends only to betray her in the worst way at the end.
Oh wait.
Tessa also gets an internship at Vance Publishing, where she gets her own office and basically reads manuscripts all day. I'd like to point out that Tessa is a COLLEGE. STUDENT. If she spends all day at her internship, and all night fucking Hardin, where the hell does she find the time to go to classes? Does she even go to classes?? What about hOMEWORK???
[image]
One day, Hardin stays out all night and refuses to tell Tessa where he had been. It's clear to her that he has been drinking, even though he had initially claimed to almost never drink although he spends a good portion of this book drunk, but we're not going to start questioning that now.
Tessa decides that she's going to be strict with him, and tells him that she isn't going to sleep with him that night, or something. He tells her something along the lines of "bUt YoU kNoW i GeT nIgHtMaReS wHeN i DoN't SlEeP wItH yOu" (which, hey, again, manipulation!), and explains why: when he was really young, he saw his mother raped in front of him, and has had nightmares ever since.
I know, that's a terrible thing to happen to someone, especially at a young age. But what does giving Hardin a tragic backstory do, other than "excuse" him for his disgusting behavior? Absolutely nothing. Trying to garner sympathy because you witnessed something that horrible is not okay. It does not, in any way, shape, or form give you special permission to treat everyone like dirt.
[image]
Things actually seem to get better between Tessa and Hardin, to the point where he acts like a decent human being at his father's wedding. Of course, they have sex. However, things aren't adding up, and Tessa decides to go meet Steph (who, surprise surprise, is still alive!) and the rest of their friends.
When she gets to the restaurant where they're all meeting, she finds Hardin with Molly and immediately sees red. She demands an explanation from everyone there and finds out that her relationship with Hardin thus far has been a farce. It was all a bet to find out who could take Tessa's virginity first.
Definitely didn't see that coming.
Tessa leaves the restaurant in a heartbroken fury, all whilst Hardin attempts to console her, and claims that he had never meant to hurt her, and all sorts of irritating drivel.
[image] Tessa and Hardin's relationship right now. Probably. Hopefully.
And so this dreadful dumpster fire goes out. Except not really, because there are four more books. I'd like to think that Tessa really means it, splits with Hardin for real, and gets her life back on track, but something tells me not to be optimistic.
All of that being said, if you think about it, there's really no plot whatsoever. It's just a couple of college kids being horny and making bad decisions.
We're not even going to talk about character development, because it's nonexistent.
The writing was simultaneously slow and rushed, and ultimately very painful to read.
The narrator was... oh god. Let's not even talk about this. The narrator must have been desperate to go through with all of this, but their voice only made it worse for me.
[image] That's actually a lie. I managed to make my way through this book, didn't I?
There's just one last thing I'd like to address: the 60,000 five-star ratings. To everyone who gave this book that high a rating, I'd just like to know one thing: why??? There's literally no redeemable aspect of this book. It isn't even remotely fun. The smut is dry and stale. Hardin's relationship with Tessa is disturbing and abusive. Harding isn't even hot!
Essentially this book accomplishes two things:
1.) Embodies every terrible trope that is characteristic of Wattpad fanfiction, and
2.) Tells readers that the sort of relationship Tessa and Hardin have is okay. That it's perfectly fine, good even, to be emotionally abused the way Tessa is in the book if he's "hot" and has a tragic past. (If I'm being completely honest, however, it is difficult for me to even show any sympathy for Tessa because of how awful and hypocritical she is.)
[image] Live footage of me yeeting all my memories of this book.
So yeah. I'm done.
Pray for my braincells. ✌
~~~~~~~~
i know i said i would never read this
but here we are.
buddy read with the cursed books club! (yes, that is a thing now. don't ask.)
~~~~~~~~~
update: my teacher was playing a harry styles song in english class today
i'm disappointed in myself to say that this is where my thought process ended up at.
~~~~~~~~~
what the actual fork
apparently this is harry styles wattpad fanfiction
Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I'm not entirely sure where to begin w(3.5/5)
Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I'm not entirely sure where to begin with this book. It was certainly sweet and wholesome, more so than I expected it to be, but at the same time, by the end of it, I was left wanting something more from it.
Float Plan is about Anna and her journey (quite literally) following the suicide of her fiance, Ben. She decides to take his sailboat and go on the trip they were supposed to take together as a way of escaping the grief she finds herself chained to. Things don't exactly go according to plan, however, and Anna recruits Keane, a professional sailor, to assist her on her journey. Sparks fly between them, but it isn't exactly smooth sailing for the pair.
The very first thing I'd like to mention is that when I first read the synopsis, as well as the brief content warning, I was expecting an angst-riddled book filled with discussions of grief and suicide. What I got instead was a comforting, almost light-hearted read - not what I was expecting, but a good reading experience nonetheless.
The romance was quite adorable, but was almost to the point of insta-love for how quickly it moved. Don't get me wrong, I actually did enjoy the relationship between Anna and Keane, but the book very quickly became focused on their growing romance, almost entirely pushing aside Anna's growth as a character about three-quarters of the way into the book. While I do understand that this a soft, romance novel at its core, I really would have liked to see more of Anna addressing her loss and growing as a character.
Reading about Anna's travels was actually very fun, as well all of the characters that she met along the way. The descriptions of the islands that she visited along with the ocean itself were not excessive, but rather, vivid, and really entertaining.
The ending, unfortunately, was quite rushed. It just felt like the book needed to end, so that's what happened. All of the conflicts were basically magically resolved, and the characters found their loving way back to each other, with Anna's journey complete. But not much meaningful character growth had occurred?? It was fast, to say the least.
I definitely liked the audiobook narrator's voice, especially for all of the different characters, as well as the special touch that they brought to the book itself in the format that I consumed it in.
Overall, while I certainly would have liked to see more from this book, it did make for a short yet enjoyable read. It was a lot softer and more of a "comfort read" than I had been expecting, but it was alright nevertheless. I would definitely recommend this if you've ever wanted to travel through the Caribbean or enjoy romance-travel novels....more
That was actually REALLY adorable (even though it got pretty angsty towards the end) and I seriously enjoyed this. The art style was pretty cute too, That was actually REALLY adorable (even though it got pretty angsty towards the end) and I seriously enjoyed this. The art style was pretty cute too, if somewhat derpy at times :)
Thank you to Netgalley and Wendy Lamb Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
(actual rating: 2.5/5)
'Everyone Dies Famous in a Thank you to Netgalley and Wendy Lamb Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
(actual rating: 2.5/5)
'Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town' is a series of short stories about how different small towns are connected in ways that you would never imagine, told through the perspectives of different characters, each dealing with their own issues and lives, and unknowingly affecting many others'.
I'm going to be honest here and say that as well-written as this was, it was quite boring. Yes, I went into this book knowing that there wouldn't be a set plot and that I shouldn't anticipate much action because it's largely character-based. But at the same time, I didn't realize just how boring it actually would be, especially because the synposis I read seemed to hype this book up a lot more than I think it needed to.
I really do think that this book was well-written. It managed to connect the characters who mostly had nothing to do with one another in really creative ways, while also weaving in various social issues in a way that never felt blatantly intrusive.
That being said, I think that the reason this book is rather dull is because of the sheer amount of stories that were being presented. Each of the characters were individual and almost completely different from the others, living in different circumstances and experiencing different things. As a result, not one of the stories or characters was extremely developed, making the book and its individual characters rather forgettable. It also made the book feel like it was dragging on, despite how short it is.
The best thing that this book does is weave all of the stories together. I enjoyed getting to the end of the chapter and seeing how it was connected to the overarching story, as well as the resonant themes of family and teenage emotion.
Overall, this wasn't as enjoyable as I was hoping it would be, but it did make for an interesting read. I would probably only recommend this if you're interested in this style of storytelling, because while the concept is intriguing, it can become a bit tedious if not boring....more
(4.5/5) (i took away half a star because the characters were weirdly childlike in the beginning, but it got better)
This book shouldn't have ended. At l(4.5/5) (i took away half a star because the characters were weirdly childlike in the beginning, but it got better)
This book shouldn't have ended. At least, not the way it did.
SO MANY UNRESOLVED PLOT POINTS. MY SHIPS.
AJLSKDJALSKJDALKJSDLAKJDSLJASD
I really liked this book, especially since some of the aspects of character building, etc, could be developed - things that couldn't be developed as much when in graphic novel form.
I just. I love everything about this, okay? And I don't think I'm emotionally stable after that last Harvard chapter.
I'm y e a r n i n g for more. I NEED.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHY AM I ONLY FINDING OUT ABOUT THIS NOW????...more
(i have no clue why bobby and dante are on the cover but this needs to be said: bobby is a smol bean cinnamon roll and he needs to be protected(3.5/5)
(i have no clue why bobby and dante are on the cover but this needs to be said: bobby is a smol bean cinnamon roll and he needs to be protected at all costs.)
Things just got spicy.
(Yes, I binged the whole thing in one day and am low-key crying right now because I neED THE NEXT ISSUE NOOOOOWWWWW)...more
(Was the only one who was extremely happy when they explained some of the fencing stuff? Probably becI am very quickly becoming very invested in this.
(Was the only one who was extremely happy when they explained some of the fencing stuff? Probably because it's on my long-long-long-term bucket list...)...more
(i related to the whole being forced to be a doctor thing, but hated the rest of it, so 1 sympathy star)
(this book might have the greatest amount of s(i related to the whole being forced to be a doctor thing, but hated the rest of it, so 1 sympathy star)
(this book might have the greatest amount of shelf tags in any book i've ever read. if you're confused... i am too.)
[image] This gif pretty much sums up my feelings toward this book. Surprisingly accurate yet succinct unlike this review.
Anyway. Disclaimer and stuff. If you liked this book, you probably shouldn't read this. If you don't want any spoilers for the book, don't read this either, because SPOILERS GALORE!
Now onto the real stuff, heheh.
[image]
How do I loathe thee, book. Let me count the ways:
This book tries to do much. Honestly. First, there's a love triangle. Then, there's a coming-of-age arc. We look at stereotypes and how toxic they are for a bit. Of course, it's not a circus book without fake dating somewhere in there. Not to mention healthy amounts of guilt and parental pressure. There's girl hate, cheating, angsty bad boys, using people, and revenge nudes. Random bits of everything is thrown into this mess, and it's chaotic as hell. And not good chaos.
[image] Lets get into it.
- The love trianglesquare web: Basically, we have Ever, who is best friends with Sophie (at least for now), who has a crush on Xavier (who is rich), who is rooming with Rick, (who is Sophie's cousin, who has a girlfriend, aka "Boy Wonder/impossible parental standard" Rick), who has a crush on Ever and vice-versa despite said girlfriend. If you're confused because none of that makes any sense, I'll tell you that it's not supposed to. (I think). Rick's family hates his girlfriend, Jenna, because of how dependent she is on Rick, which gives Ever the genius idea for
- the fake dating ploy. Naturally. There's a lot of flirting and they sort of make moves but not really. At this point, lots of shit had happened, and was still happening, but, mind you, we're only halfway through the book. Ever meets Rick and Sophie's Aunt Claire, who absolutely loves her and dotes on her the way her parents never did, but most importantly, approves of her wanting to do her own thing and follow her passion. This, of course, sets off
- the coming-of-age arc. This may be the only thing I actually liked about this book. Ever starts off the story as her parents' daughter, living her life the way they want her to, and giving up everything she could ever dream of for them. At least, she starts that way. Very quickly, she sheds the skin of a perfect daughter and becomes a total rebel, living for breaking her parents' rules. The beginning is quite drastic, but after the halfway mark, she starts to become who she wants to be, and even though it might not be exactly what her parents want, it's not going exactly against them either. This brings up
- her parental pressure. I'm sure many people have experienced the crushing weight of their parents' expectations, and the even worse feeling of guilt when you let them down. I am certainly no exception. My parents are very adamant that I become a doctor, and while they haven't 'sacrificed', exactly, for this, the way Ever's parents have, they want to see me successful at the cost of my happiness, and I want to make them proud. But the internal struggle is difficult. It is so hard to 'follow your dreams' when your parents already have one for you, and are either constantly criticizing and hating your hobbies every time you share them, or are building you up to a standard you simply can't hold. And surprisingly, I liked the way Wen wrote about Ever's conflicting emotions. And I get that some people may think that this seems like an overused trope or something, but it's really not. Students suffer mentally and harm themselves physically from the insane standards that their parents and just society, in general, put them up to.
- The stereotypes, of course, don't help at all. This was only touched on by a few characters in the book (side effect of putting 900 plot-points in a book), which was disappointing. There was so much potential, but the whole "combatting Asian stereotypes" plotline was dissolved into a humor-y thing, not taken very seriously but to provide a few laughs. Then, there's
- Xavier aka angsty-boy-with-daddy-issues, aka rich-player-who-gets-what-he-wants. Except not really. At the beginning, Xavier was seen like the bad boy good girls shouldn't hang out with even though they're inexplicably drawn to them, and that Sophie (his girlfriend-but-not-really) was Going To Get Hurt. Nevermind the fact that Xavier was in love with Ever the whole time (drawing pictures of her and giving them to her, etc). But he's a player, so apparently that makes it okay for Ever to lead him on and not even properly break things off when he was so clearly in love with her? No one deserves to have their heart torn out like that. Ever just used him to get over Rick, after
- Sophie distributes Ever's nudes to get back at her for - get this - kissing Xavier. I know. It sounds insane because it is. And while I know that you should never get with your friend's exes, what Sophie did was inexcusable and could have ruined Ever's life, completely. Or at least, I'm the only person who thinks this way, because Ever was totally okay with letting go of the grudge (which, to be fair, was also partially her fault). No one's blameless. But there was still a disgusting amount of girl-on-girl hate through-out the book that really rubbed me the wrong way while I was reading it.
All of this isn't to forget the drama [image] Except for the part where they do.
The characters were so incredibly annoying (I wanted to bitch-slap them more than once), and were literally tropes poured into the shape of teenagers. I guess since the characters were so flat and boring af, the author needed to put something substantial in, so added excessive drama instead? Like my wonderful friend here (who, incidentally, is the reason I read this), said in her review, the sheer amount of drama in this book rivaled that in my mother's soap operas,
[image] oh don't forget: [image]
which, well, you can see for yourself. And since there was so much drama, the language had to be equally showy and pretentious. Naturally.
I would talk about the plot, as I usually do, but there was none.
[image]
The romance was... disgusting. Someone once wrote in the review of some other book that what makes love triangles good (when done right) is that you are stuck in the helplessness of falling in love with them both, and you can't pick. Unfortunately, I've never come across anything like that, and this book was by no means an exception. I hated all the characters except for Pearl (Ever's little sister), but especially Rick (lay off Xavier for a while, will you Ever? You just broke his freaking heart). All of Ever and Rick's relationship gave off a feeling of "what we're doing is okay because Jenna is depressed and needs professional help, not Rick". Yeah buddy? If you loved Ever so much, you should have helped Jenna get help and made it clear to her that you two were over. The romance was so disgusting and gave me serious Anna and the French Kiss vibes (which, if you read my rant, I also hated). Just, GAAAH.
[image]
Last but not least, there's the whole matter of the car crash. It was ridiculously dramatic and lasted all of about 5 pages. Of course, it happened right before Ever's big performance, but apparently, she was still able to put on a show with a recently dislocated shoulder and a twisted ankle - that too, perfectly???
[image]
Yeah right.
All in all, I hated this book for very justifiable reasons.
Also, there's no way I'm going to read the next book. ("There's a NEXT book?!!" You all scream out in equally justifiable horror.)
Loading...
