After We Collided by Anna Todd (After series #2)

After We Collided by Anna Todd is the much-anticipated and fiery sequel to book one in the After series. But let me be clear. When I say “fiery,” I literally mean smokin’ hot, burns so good it hurts hot. As in smoldering. All-consuming. And as far as romantic love sagas go, I can’t get enough of Hardin Scott and Tessa Young, and neither can the rest of the Afternator posse it seems.

I didn’t really spoil anything in my review of the first book, but here, there will be spoilers. Consider yourself warned.

After We Collided summary

After left off with an explosive bombshell: Hardin Scott made a bet that he could take Tessa’s virginity, and once he did, he accepted a whole lotta money for it. Thousands of dollars. One of the many areas the book differs from the movie is that in the book, how this all goes down is way more horrible and graphic than the flick. Hardin—God bless his sexy, dark, disturbed soul—kept the used condom and bloody bedsheets to prove to his friends that he was Tessa’s first. What in the literal f*ck.

It goes without saying that book one ends with Tessa emotionally destroyed. She hops into Zed’s truck and he whisks her away, leaving Hardin crying on his knees in the parking lot.

After We Collided opens from the point of view of Hardin—something we never had in the first book (it was solely from Tessa’s perspective). Hardin, overcome with regret for his terrible choices and actions, resolves to fix his mistakes. But as we learn in Tessa’s opening scene with Zed, she won’t be forgiving him anytime soon—understandably so. Especially after Zed tells her that Hardin dished out loads of money to keep the truth from her. It’s lower than low.

With nowhere to turn (she severed ties with her mother to continue seeing Hardin in book one), Tessa resorts to crashing at the Scott household with Landon and the rest. You can guess what happens next. Hardin turns up, drama ensues. And not just between the two of them, but with everyone. Their families, their friends, coworkers, university staff—everyone gets sucked into the hurricane that is Hessa.

Codependency and toxic relationships all around.

Book review: After We Collided by Anna Todd

AWC is a good hundred pages lengthier than After, totaling nearly 700 pages. And at times, it feels that way, too. But with Hardin’s added perspective, a longer novel is to be expected. We do get more backstory for both Tessa and Hardin, which helps explain why they are the way that they are, and we see Tessa attempt to break out of her shell and try to have fun (random guy at the club, Trevor, Zed). All it accomplishes is making Hardin jealous and enraged.

The official trailer for After We Collided is everything

But even a jealous Hardin is an irresistible Hardin. Check out the first official AWC teaser that launched on Valentine’s Day:

*swoon*

If that isn’t enough for you, the official AWC trailer came out July 27. And it is everything. Drama, drama, drama.

But anywho. Like the first book, I ended up giving AWC 4 stars on Goodreads. Though relatable, the rollercoaster of their relationship seemed to drag on throughout, like wreckage you just can’t turn away from.

Still, I don’t care. Team Hessa, all the way.

You can find my review of the next book in the series, After We Fell, here.