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Random thoughts on After We Collided (spoilers)

What is written down below is just my opinion. If you don't like it, please ignore it and read something else.

Recently I finished reading After We Collided, in English this time. (I read the first one in French) It was another one of those books that was super easy to read, I could just breeze through and enjoy it, switching off my brain for a bit. OK, maybe that means that the book is not intellectually challenging or whatever, but does it always have to be? It was just a nice bit of entertainment after a long day of lectures and work. I don't really know how each book in the series is so thick, when the chapters are actually super short.

I forgot some of the things that happened in the first book, all I remembered was the bet thing and Hardin and Tessa breaking up. This break up... honestly didn't last that long. I honestly don't really like their couple and I think they're better off without each other, but on the other hand I just can't stop reading this series. Hardin is a dick, but sometimes he was rather entertaining. We got to have some chapters from his point of view this time round, and I suppose that was interesting, although he literally couldn't go one sentence without saying "fuck" at least five times. I know he's supposed to swear a lot, but there are plenty of other swear words around that could've been used. His commentary was sometimes funny, the scene where him and Tessa go to a yoga class did make me laugh a bit, but most of the time I just really wanted him to fuck off and leave Tessa alone. It's annoying when he just barges into places, like when he saw Tessa and Zed innocently sharing a bed and just pushed his way into the flat. Why didn't Zed's roommate call the police?

We also hear a bit about Hardin's past. I know his dad was an alcoholic, but it doesn't really excuse his past behaviour, especially the things he did to Natalie. Even though she managed to move on and be happy, he still did what he did. I'm surprised he didn't get arrested.

As for our heroine, I've never really had an opinion on her that much.However, I didn't really like how she just got drunk and then had sex with Hardin in Seattle that easily.... I suppose it was the alcohol talking, but it really wasn't a good thing to do. These books are really just an example of what the teachers in your sex education class tell you NOT to do. Her mum obviously has issues, but I feel like she shouldn't have chosen her over Hardin. Now literally the only place she has to live is with Hardin, or with his dad, which is super weird. I know she was super close with Landon and all that, but wouldn't it be super odd staying at their house for that long.... Even staying with Trevor would be a better choice. I don't know, I would feel so odd staying there, especially since Tessa broke up with Landon's stepbrother, who is technically supposed to be living in that same house.

I did particularly enjoy the fight between Tessa and Molly, and the version in the film was equally as entertaining. I actually sort of like Molly in the films... She is a bitch, but I kind of like her attitude. Her actress does a very good job.

As for the other boys in this book, I liked Trevor best. (I'll go more into him later...) And also, I ship Tessa and Zed so hard. I know Zed's not exactly innocent, and he was sometimes laying it on a bit too thick with the "you deserve so much better than Hardin" stuff, but I thought he was cute. Maybe he should've waited until Tessa had fully healed from her multiple breakups with Hardin before trying to get with her. Didn't he also have another girlfriend too? If so, that's a bit weird that he was still simping for Tessa even when he had someone else right there. I would like to find some Zed x Tessa fanfiction one day. What is interesting is that Zed in the films looks very similar to how I imagined him to look. Too bad he barely has a role in the movie adaptations.

The scene where Hardin beat the shit out of Zed and broke his nose was also entertaining, for some reason I just really like reading drama where there are a lot of fights. This is the same reason why I appreciate reality TV. Love triangles are overdone but I still love reading them.

I remembered that this book was originally a One Direction fanfic, so I wondered which characters were supposed to be which band member. The original story on Wattpad is technically still there to be read, but all of the names have already been changed as to not get in trouble with whoever manages One Direction's music nowadays. This doesn't really change how I imagine anyone when I read, but if you see the image on my left you can sort of see who is supposed to be who. (Source: some random Pinterest account) I really don't know if the characters in After reflect their personalities at all, because I don't really know much about the band members, I just know their most popular songs. I think Tessa was an original character, but it made me wonder if she's supposed to be Taylor Swift or something. Their names both begin with a T, and if I remember correctly, I'm pretty sure Taylor used to date Harry Styles at one point.

As for the sex scenes, they really don't interest me that much. In fact, I just want to get back to the plot so I skim through them. It doesn't help that I don't really like the couple. It's weird, there are a lot of romance books where I don't like the two main characters, but for some reason I still enjoy the story.

I hope in the next book Tessa just moves away to Seattle and kicks Hardin out of her life for at least a few months. All of their "breakups" haven't really felt significant enough, they don't last long enough to be meaningful. If you are going to have them breakup, put them apart from each other for months, not just a few weeks. Maybe she can go off with Trevor, who is actually a normal guy with seemingly good prospects, although it seems like he could be a bit older than her.

Anyways, literally half an hour after finishing the book, I decided to watch the film. The first After movie was sort of meh, it removed all of the stuff from the books I actually liked, and I'm not really a big fan of the actor they chose for Hardin. Even if I do think he plays the part well, he just doesn't look the part. Where are the piercings? And why does he only have a few farty prison-looking tattoos? He doesn't look like a bad boy, his voice even sounds more like he just walked out of a private school. Still, Hero Fiennes Tiffin did do a good job, he can clearly act.

I actually enjoyed the film adaptation this time, it even made me laugh in places. Again, they did have to cut stuff for time, so we don't really have any Zed moments in the film. However, this leaves way for more Trevor. Trevor's plot sort of dies off after the beginning of the book, but he's present throughout the whole film this time. I much prefer him in the movie, Dylan Sprouse does a super good job acting here. I've never seen any of his films/series before, but I like him a lot. I only know his brother because I used to religiously watch Riverdale. In the movie Trevor is more of a dorkish character than in the book, but he's quite adorable honestly. I hope he doesn't just disappear in the next film. He was probably the best part about the whole movie.

I don't know if I could give this book and this film a rating, they aren't really the best romances but I absolutely can't put them down. I do wish Anna Todd did some more research on England and how British characters speak. At one point Hardin compared Target to M&S in the UK... Those two shops could not be more different from each other. I know it's incredibly hard to write a British character authentically, and I certainly find it hard to write in American English, but just using word "mum" instead of "mom" is not gonna work. The one good thing about these books is that I get to experience wild university frat parties without actually going to one, so that's nice. This series is much easier to go through because I don't have an urge to self ship with any of the characters, I can just detach myself from it and enjoy the plot without writing X Reader fanfiction in my head.

I will probably read the next book... eventually.

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