Mini Audiobook Reviews – After (#1) and After We Collided (#2) by Anna Todd (3 stars and 4 stars)

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Hello Hello! How are you?

I decided to do something a bit new on my blog! I’ve just started to get into audiobooks a few weeks ago, and thought it would be fun to do some mini audiobook reviews!

I wanted to start with some easy books in case I got distracted and stopped listening, and even though they aren’t the best books I’ve ever read in my life, and they bugged me a lot, I had a lovely listening/reading experience!

I always thought that I’d be the type of person to hate audiobooks and get distracted by something when I was listening or give up because I couldn’t follow the story, but I’m so glad that it’s not the case! I’ve been reading so many complicated academic sources in the past week or so for my essays I’ve been writing, but I still wanted to read when I went to bed. However, my eyes were going so blurry and were getting so sore from all the screens/words, that I decided to dive into After and it didn’t disappoint!

I actually started my audiobook journey with The Alice Network by Kate Quinn and I’m currently about 30% through it. I’m really enjoying it, it’s totally my type of book, but it’s a lot more hard-hitting and “serious” than After, so I’m keeping it for my last bus rides to university before the end of the semester!

After and After We Collided were the perfect little pick-me-ups while I’ve been struggling through my readings and writing my essays, and I powered through them so quickly but didn’t actually hardly spend any time on them if that makes sense! I started listening to them at a normal speed, and as soon as I got used to the narration and the actual fact of listening to a book instead of taking the words in with my eyes, I booted it up to 2x speed and flew through it!

Since I finished these only a few days apart and didn’t see any sense in splitting them up, I added them to the same post, but don’t worry, there won’t be any spoilers in case you want to read these yourself! Keep reading for my thoughts on these two books!

Mini Review – After (#1) by Anna Todd (3 stars)

Title: After

Author: Anna Todd

Published: October 2014 – Gallery Books

Format: Audiobook – 16h30mins (582 pages)

QUICK REVIEW

I’ve wanted to read this book for quite a while, but I’ve been told that it’s either really problematic and bad, or great and addictive, and I actually found that it was both. It’s a teen romance book, but it is in no way PG, so if that is not your thing, I would really stay clear of this series because it gets more explicit as it goes along and nothing is left to the imagination.

Aside from the numerous sex scenes, Hardan is a very complicated character, and it makes a change to have a well-developed character in a romance novel. Tessa got on my nerves at the start, but as the story evolved I realised that she was a lot like me in always wanting to do things perfectly, always being on time, doing her work, etc. I really like books that are hate to love, and even though this one is seriously messed up with all the back and forth and everything that Hardan does to hurt Tessa, whether he means it or not, I did still enjoy it.

MY THOUGHTS AND RATING

I gave it 3 stars because firstly, I really hated the narrator they chose for the book, I know it doesn’t make the book any different, but I struggled with the person’s voice the whole way through. Their relationship is also so unhealthy, and they shout a lot, not just together, but there is so much violence and shouting all the time, and it grated on me a bit to have them continually go back and forth, even before something would happen I already knew how it would pan out because they would either start sobbing or screaming at each other, it got a bit old at the end. And I sort of got bored of the back and forth, yes Tessa is stupid to keep going back to him, but I can’t exactly say that I blame her.

Overall, I liked listening to this book, it was a good distraction from all my university work and I flew through it, even with all the things I didn’t like about the book, and it wasn’t an especially good one, it was entertaining and it helped pass the time. If you are looking for some teenage angst and don’t mind sex scenes and shouting and cursing, then I think you might enjoy this if you want something quick and not too complicated!

If you would like to purchase this book, you can find it here: Amazon UK (affiliate link) – Amazon FR (affiliate link) – Amazon US – AbeBooks (affiliate link) – Waterstones – Book Depository – Barnes and Noble –Audible FR (affiliate link) – Audible UK – Scrib’d – Kobo

Mini Review – After We Collided (#2) by Anna Todd (4 stars)

Title: After We Collided

Author: Anna Todd

Published: November 2014 – Gallery Books

Format: Audiobook – 19h16mins (674 pages)

QUICK REVIEW

I actually liked this one better, we leave off where it ended in book one, I totally wasn’t expecting that ending, but I think that how it continued on in the second book really made me like it more because it felt like SOMETHING other than screaming matches and sex scenes were actually happening.

I really appreciated how Hardan’s point of view was added to the second book, and although I hated the narrators even more in this one, I much preferred the two points of view that kept going back and forth. I’m still not convinced of Hardan’s feelings for Tessa, but at least in the second book we get more of an insight into his personality, the reasons why he does things and the feelings he has and that he is continually hiding from everyone.

Tessa seems to have developed more, I can tell that she is starting to become more adult, she is still obsessed with Hardan and they still keep going back and forth, but in the second book, I felt like it shifted from a teenage infatuation to something more.

This one was longer by three hours but I think that I actually finished it in less time than the first one, I was really enthralled by the different points of view and I felt that it was advancing less choppy and frantic than the first book.

MY THOUGHTS AND RATING

I gave this one 4 stars because I liked it a lot more than book 1. I think that the first one felt a bit juvenile with the different things that happen between Tessa and Hardan, but in book 2 it seems like they have both started to grow up and it’s no longer a game. I liked seeing how they were trying to mend their relationship and even though they keep breaking up, screaming, sobbing, getting back together, and doing all that all over again, it felt different and I liked it more.

The main reason why I enjoyed listening to this one better than the first was the addition of Hardan’s point of view. I really like reading about complicated characters and he is differently complicated. I also think that his perspective actually made him seem more realistic and human, whereas before he seemed more like a monster than an actual human boy. I’m starting to sense that book 3 is going to be way more complicated still, thanks to the ending of book 2 and things that went down at the end of the book, but I’m looking forward to continuing on this series.

Obviously, as I said before, it’s not a complicated, conspiration theory, political, fantasy series like I’m used to reading, hence why I didn’t give the books very good ratings, it’s just more of a simple complicated romance type of book. I enjoyed them and they distracted and entertained me, but at the end of the day, if you’re looking for something mind-boggling, these aren’t it, but I’d still give them a go if you want something quick and fun!

If you would like to purchase this book, you can find it here: Amazon UK (affiliate link) – Amazon FR (affiliate link) – Amazon US – AbeBooks (affiliate link) – Waterstones – Book Depository – Barnes and Noble – Audible FR (affiliate link) – Audible UK – Scrib’d – Kobo

That’s all for now, I hope you liked my mini-reviews and tell me if you like this concept, see you soon,

Ellie xx