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3.23 AVERAGE
3.23 AVERAGE
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Will be honest, did not finish. I was looking forward to this title and it seemed to have started well but moved too slow to my liking. The book tends to focus on trivial things much of the time and is written in a style for YA. I would argue I enjoyed the premise of focusing on characters in the American military world though which is usually outside my realm. But again, DNF so no idea how this ends. Maybe it improves. 2 of 5 stars. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.
I really struggled to stay engaged with this book. I thought the main character acted immature in many scenes, especially in the end of the book. I didn’t think there was much of a plot to this story and it was such a SLOOWWW burn and I feel as if there was so much potential and it made me want so much more to many scenes.
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
SHIT... IT'S SHIT.
After is shit and TF is this overly anti-racist section.
“I get that. For real, I do. But to me, a black kid from Riverdale, joining the army changed the trajectory of my life. It was the thing that changed my whole family. My greatgrandpa’s dad was a slave, and here I am, you know? The only job I’d ever had was bagging groceries at Kroger and now I drive a decent car, can help my mom—” He stopped abruptly.
... WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK. I'm black, my mum is black, my grandma is black, I have never heard any of us just burst out exclaiming our grandparents were motherfucking slaves. That's such an emotional thing to talk about, we don't just blurt it out as if it's nothing and not to mention how he doesnt point out that most black people hate the army because they were the ones that made us slaves????? And then she just had to say “I get it.”.... I mean i was pretty pissy already but that pushed me over the edge. YOU LITERALLY CANNOT "GET IT" IF YOU AREN'T A RACIAL MINORITY.
please Anna Todd, that made me want to bang my head against the wall. I don't know what sort of weird anti-racism angle you were aiming for but u failed.
EDIT-
okay, i have calmed down a little now but i refuse to change my review (plus if you r gonna call me "the angry black woman" i prefer the "angry black generfuild") anyways, pls try and see it from my perspective. I have to put up with racism every single day and I use books as my escape. All I wanted to do was read a harmless book, I was not prepared for that shit.
After is shit and TF is this overly anti-racist section.
“I get that. For real, I do. But to me, a black kid from Riverdale, joining the army changed the trajectory of my life. It was the thing that changed my whole family. My greatgrandpa’s dad was a slave, and here I am, you know? The only job I’d ever had was bagging groceries at Kroger and now I drive a decent car, can help my mom—” He stopped abruptly.
... WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK. I'm black, my mum is black, my grandma is black, I have never heard any of us just burst out exclaiming our grandparents were motherfucking slaves. That's such an emotional thing to talk about, we don't just blurt it out as if it's nothing and not to mention how he doesnt point out that most black people hate the army because they were the ones that made us slaves????? And then she just had to say “I get it.”.... I mean i was pretty pissy already but that pushed me over the edge. YOU LITERALLY CANNOT "GET IT" IF YOU AREN'T A RACIAL MINORITY.
please Anna Todd, that made me want to bang my head against the wall. I don't know what sort of weird anti-racism angle you were aiming for but u failed.
EDIT-
okay, i have calmed down a little now but i refuse to change my review (plus if you r gonna call me "the angry black woman" i prefer the "angry black generfuild") anyways, pls try and see it from my perspective. I have to put up with racism every single day and I use books as my escape. All I wanted to do was read a harmless book, I was not prepared for that shit.
fast-paced
This book was entertaining; however, the story was almost too fast paced, and Karina acted so childish at times!
Thanks to NetGalley for the Arc
I’d like to preface this by saying that this book has somehow managed to encapsulate all my least favourite tropes in one book. Second chance is just not for me and with a military man couldn’t have started much worse for me. However, I was willing to give this a go as I thoroughly enjoyed the After series, as did many others so appreciate there is a lot to live up to (Which I can only imagine is very intimidating as an author). I do think that this book has room to appeal to a lot of people, but I also don’t think that it has done anything revolutionary or interesting enough to make it anyone’s new favourite.
The Characters did not spark any real interest in me individual or as a couple. While they’re not a ‘toxic’ as Tessa and Hardin I also wouldn’t call the relationship unproblematic, and I just feel there is a lot of miscommunication and neediness . I think Kael is an interesting character with his broody nature and I related to his frustrations with Karina. I appreciate that she is dealing with a lot of her own trauma and trying to get her life together, but I also didn’t ever connect with this side of her and found a lot of this to be quite tedious. We also have a lot of side characters which I’m sure will become more integrated into the story with no doubt some unexpected things to come. I am interested to see where things go as we’ve ended on a cliff-hanger, but I can’t say that I will be rushing to read the rest of the series and I honestly think that I will have forgotten everything in any detail by the time I get to book 2.
I don’t want to continue saying negative things about this book because overall I don’t think it was bad, the pacing was fine, and the very short chapters always help to speed through which I really love. At least the characters have backstories and are more complex than you’d initially expect and as I said I think the military themes of this would be refreshing for a lot of people as it’s not something you often find. I appreciate the exploration of how this has affected them and at times found it emotional but It just wasn’t for me. Overall I don’t think I will forget having read it and I have a feeling this book will probably grow on me more over time.
I’d like to preface this by saying that this book has somehow managed to encapsulate all my least favourite tropes in one book. Second chance is just not for me and with a military man couldn’t have started much worse for me. However, I was willing to give this a go as I thoroughly enjoyed the After series, as did many others so appreciate there is a lot to live up to (Which I can only imagine is very intimidating as an author). I do think that this book has room to appeal to a lot of people, but I also don’t think that it has done anything revolutionary or interesting enough to make it anyone’s new favourite.
The Characters did not spark any real interest in me individual or as a couple. While they’re not a ‘toxic’ as Tessa and Hardin I also wouldn’t call the relationship unproblematic, and I just feel there is a lot of miscommunication and neediness . I think Kael is an interesting character with his broody nature and I related to his frustrations with Karina. I appreciate that she is dealing with a lot of her own trauma and trying to get her life together, but I also didn’t ever connect with this side of her and found a lot of this to be quite tedious. We also have a lot of side characters which I’m sure will become more integrated into the story with no doubt some unexpected things to come. I am interested to see where things go as we’ve ended on a cliff-hanger, but I can’t say that I will be rushing to read the rest of the series and I honestly think that I will have forgotten everything in any detail by the time I get to book 2.
I don’t want to continue saying negative things about this book because overall I don’t think it was bad, the pacing was fine, and the very short chapters always help to speed through which I really love. At least the characters have backstories and are more complex than you’d initially expect and as I said I think the military themes of this would be refreshing for a lot of people as it’s not something you often find. I appreciate the exploration of how this has affected them and at times found it emotional but It just wasn’t for me. Overall I don’t think I will forget having read it and I have a feeling this book will probably grow on me more over time.
Reread December 2023
I read this again since it was rewritten and I really liked it the first time around but definitely loving the rewritten version its way more detailed especially in regards to the characters Karina and Kael I can’t wait to start book 2!!
I love Anna Todd so I was excited to get into this book but I found myself struggling to get past the first few pages so I stepped away for a few days then tried again and it had me hooked I then couldn’t put it down it’s amazing then the end came and I was left screaming for more immediately go to purchase the second book of the series only to find it’s still not released yet,.. devastated! I know Anna has said publishing has been affected by the pandemic (damn it) I am dying here waiting to continue this story! Fingers crossed that it comes soon
I read this again since it was rewritten and I really liked it the first time around but definitely loving the rewritten version its way more detailed especially in regards to the characters Karina and Kael I can’t wait to start book 2!!
I love Anna Todd so I was excited to get into this book but I found myself struggling to get past the first few pages so I stepped away for a few days then tried again and it had me hooked I then couldn’t put it down it’s amazing then the end came and I was left screaming for more immediately go to purchase the second book of the series only to find it’s still not released yet,.. devastated! I know Anna has said publishing has been affected by the pandemic (damn it) I am dying here waiting to continue this story! Fingers crossed that it comes soon
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes