Thursday, March 19, 2015

After Ever Happy - Anna Todd



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It’s never been all rainbows and sunshine for Tessa and Hardin, but each new challenge they’ve faced has only made their passionate bond stronger and stronger. But when a revelation about the past shakes Hardin’s inpenetrable façade to the core—and then Tessa suffers a tragedy—will they stick together again, or be torn apart?

As the shocking truth about each of their families emerges, it’s clear the two lovers are not so different from each other. Tessa is no longer the sweet, simple, good girl she was when she met Hardin—any more than he is the cruel, moody boy she fell so hard for. Tessa understands all the troubling emotions brewing beneath Hardin’s exterior, and she knows she’s the only one who can calm him when he erupts. He needs her.

But the more layers of his past come to light, the darker he grows, and the harder he pushes Tessa—and everyone else in his life—away. Tessa’s not sure if she really can save him—not without sacrificing herself. She refuses to go down without a fight. But who is she fighting for—Hardin or herself?   




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After Ever Happy is the 4th and final book in the After series by Anna Todd. You cannot read this book as a stand alone. This review contains spoilers from the previous books in the series.


I was in no way ready for this series to end. I found myself counting down the pages and the closer it go to ending the more I was dreading it. I know I said in my last review that book 3 was my favorite but book 4 was more than my imagination could have ever hoped for. It was everything I wanted and so much more from these characters I love so much!

With book 3, After We Fell, ending in such a dramatic and uncertain way I was eager to pick up this one straight away. Back home in England, where so many of Hardin’s demons were born, he’s there for his mothers upcoming wedding but the secret that he learns isn’t one he ever imagined. I could feel what Hardin’s reaction was going to be. It was brewing inside of him.  When he found out that not only his mother, but Christian, a trusted family friend were hiding a secret from him. Ken, who Hardin thought was his father, and the root of all the hatred and anger he has in his life is not actually his father. He doesn’t know who he can trust or turn to. Just when things between him and Ken we evolving and communication and trust was being built. After all they had been through, Hardin was learning to control his anger and temper.

But it seems that was all hiding under the surface, because we know what Hardin does so well is self destruct and when does, he drags the people he loves down with him, and destroys them also. I wanted to scream and cry and beg Hardin to wake up to himself, he was being so incredibly selfish putting himself and Tessa through this. How many times was he going to promise her that he wouldn’t do it again? How many times would she let him do this?

So when Hardin sends Tessa packing in the most hurtful way, she returns to America and to the comfort of his family. But when she goes to their old apartment to pack up the rest of her belongings, Landon drops her off to leave her to have some time to say her final farewells to her and Hardin's life together and then the unthinkable happens. What she finds will be the start of her own downfall, and the start of Hardin's incredibly hard recovery from the person he no longer wants to be.         


The journey that they both go through to be the people they want to be is one that evoked all my emotions. I cried more times than I could count, and I think I may have laughed just as much. Even though Hardin has so many memories that haunt him, Tessa has been through too much in the past year to not have her own demons. No matter how far apart or how much time has passed, Hardin and Tessa have a magnetic draw to each other that was incredible to witness. I could easily sit down and read this series over and over. I am sure these characters will stay with me forever. I am already finding myself missing them. But that is the great thing about books, I can always pick them up and start again. I cannot wait to see what Anna has up next I’m sure it will be just as fantastic, if not better than the After series.

* Review by Kayla



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Anna Todd is a first-time writer spending her days in the Austin area with her husband, with whom she beat half the statistics by getting married one month after graduating high school. Between her husband's three deployments to Iraq, she worked odd jobs from a makeup counter to the IRS processing counter. Anna was always an avid reader and boy band and romance lover, so now that she’s found a way to combine the three she’s enjoying living a real-life dream come true.



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