After The High

by A. Noire

593 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 9, 2026

Reviews

[Gianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I genuinely feel gaslit ❤️‍🩹 this was a heartbreakingly beautiful masterpiece. Watching the FMC fall in love with this man, and how things slowly changed had my anxiety at an all time high.

I’ll be crying for the foreseeable future. There is no HEA


PLEASE know that this has heavy tops of manipulation and abuse. 🫂

[bryanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Heartbreaking. This one will stick with me for a long time. Thank you Gianna for the rec. I will continue crying now.

[Jasalina · Rating 5 out of 5]

📚 BOOK REVIEW📚 After the High by @a.noire0
♾️⭐️ Infinity stars - Soul book for me 🖤

● Toxic Relationships
○ Emotional damage
● Found Family
○ Manipulation
● Domestic violence
◇ Check your triggers

This book OBLITERATED my heart, but also made me feel seen. I unfortunately related to many aspects of the story.
I can't imagine ever forgetting Morgan and Cameron.

P.s. the Author's Note at the end crushed my soul. What a beautifully tragic story filled with ups and downs showcasing real life situations and how sometimes love just isn't enough. You can't save someone who doesn't want to be saved 💔

P.s.s. this is a debut novel, which was EPIC and in my opinion, a masterpiece! @a.noire0 you are amazing and beyond TALENTED 🥹

HUGE thank you to @booklifewithkb and @misreadmissi for the recommendation and holding my hand thru it all and listening to my crash outs [there were ALOT]

------------Book Blurb ------------
Every kiss hurt, every touch burned, but we could bear the pain because it wasn't as suffocating as the one in our hearts. On the anniversary of her parents' death, Morgan finds herself sharing a cigarette with a hooded stranger in the cemetery.

What begins as a chance encounter grows into something intoxicating, and with new friends who make the world seem lighter, she starts to remember what it was like to truly live. But beneath his charm lies secrets and darkness she never could have suspected, and the love Morgan clings to begins to show its cracks.

As the delicate threads of their relationship start to slip between her fingers, Morgan must decide whether to hold on to the memory of the man she fell for or find the strength to reclaim herself before she loses everything.

For the ones who've heard, 'Why didn't you just leave?'

#emotionalreads #toxiclovestory #foundfamily

[Brittany Desroches · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need to rave about this amazing debut novel! I knew from the dedication that this was going to speak to my soul:

"To the ones who've heard 'Why didn't you just leave?' What happened to you was not your fault. You are strong. You are beautiful. You are worthy of love."

I finished this at 1 a.m on Friday and I was crashing out hard 😅 I haven't stopped thinking about this story and characters! This is an ♾️⭐️ read!

After the High is such a raw and emotional book. It is so real! It shows how a relationship can be so perfect at first. You find the one who makes your heart happy. Until they don't... Things will get messy. You see the cracks and they show their real character. My heart sank when it happened 😭💔

The message was so powerful. As someone who has dealt with abuse and manipulation, this story made me feel so seen and was actually living through it with Morgan.

I'm so glad that Morgan had the friends that she deserved. They would go above and beyond for each other! They saw the changes and that Cameron was consuming everything in her.

I cannot recommend this book enough! After the High healed me in so many ways. It will stick with me for very long time! Please check your triggers before reading. There are some heavy topics!

If you are in an abusive relationship, I'm praying that you can get out. You deserve a place to feel safe 💖

[Katie Boyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can confidently say that this book absolutely FINISHED me.

I need all of my girlfriends who have ever been in a relationship that was toxic, manipulative, or made you question yourself to read this book. Because holy hell… this one is going to hit. ❤️‍🩹💔

Morgan is grieving the loss of her parents and has been alone for so long—until our MMC, Cameron, enters the chat. At first, everything feels like the beginning of any relationship. The butterflies. The attention. The feeling of finally having someone.

And then everything starts to change.

This relationship is going to break your heart because of how painfully real it feels. It’s raw, messy, uncomfortable, and so incredibly human. There were moments that genuinely hurt to read because I know so many women are going to see pieces of themselves in Morgan’s story.

The found family. 😭 The friendships in this book absolutely tore at my heartstrings. This group of friends is everything. They are the kind of friendships you’re going to fall completely in love with and wish you had sitting beside you through your darkest moments.

I genuinely cannot get over the fact that this is A. Noire’s debut novel. I’m not kidding when I say the writing felt so raw, emotional, and realistic in a way that completely consumed me.

Please know that this book is HEAVY, so absolutely check your trigger warnings before going in.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ EASY FIVE STARS.

This is one of those books I know I’m not going to stop thinking about anytime soon.

AND THAT ENDING?!

Absolutely diabolical. Tore me the hell apart. I am UNWELL.

With all of that being said… please go read 🥹🫂

[Kaci Misun · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW... I feel like I just lived through that relationship myself.

I went into this book knowing the relationship would eventually unravel, but I still caught myself making excuses for Cameron. Even when I knew, deep down, he was manipulating her, I kept hoping he'd change. And honestly, a part of my heart will always ache for him and the cycle he could never seem to break.

What makes this story even more devastating is knowing it's inspired by the author's real experience. The author's note absolutely shattered me. And perhaps the hardest part is realizing how many women will see pieces of their own story in these pages. I know I did.

I was in a manipulative relationship in high school. Thankfully, it never became physically violent, but the emotional manipulation was very real. It took me breaking up with him three separate times before he finally accepted that it was over.

That's why I hope this book reaches as many girls and women as possible. It has the power to help someone recognize the warning signs before they're too deep in the cycle. If it helps even one person realize they deserve better, then this story has done something incredibly important.

“It was then that I realised I was trying to save myself from him without even knowing it. I finally accepted the truth; I feared him as much as I loved him.”

“You can love someone so much it hurts. It can threaten to consume you entirely, but once love is used to hurt, it isn’t love anymore. It’s the worst kind of poison. The false hope and the high it offers is so tragically addicting."

[Danielle Foote · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m writing this through tear filled eyes. I find it hard to even convey how I am feeling.

This book is an absolute masterpiece. Every twist and turn and part of this story between Cameron and Morgan was real. And raw. You can literally feel your heart twisting with Morgan’s. I want to hate Cameron .. I do…

He was a failed child by his mother. He then failed himself by not getting the help he needed. But how could he when he’s never known any different. But his actions were horrible and there’s no excuse. I cry for the child Cameron.

And don’t get me started on Jackson. Utter perfection. That’s all I’m going to say. Because I could go on and on. I love him so much. Chapter 54 😞 that’s all.

This author is such talented and gifted writer. I felt it all. The whole journey. My heart hurts. I’m so happy I got to read this. 🙏🏼❤️ this is an infinity star read.

I hope anyone in an abusive relationship reads this.. finds the strength to walk away and know it’s not your fault. Or your responsibility to heal anyone but you.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

My heart is in ruins 💔.

Morgan & Cameron seem to be kindred souls but from early on into their relationship, his fear is ending up like his Dad- an abuser.

When the red flags start to surface, Morgan clings to the person she loves, the positives, the kind person she knows he can be & is unable to marry up the other side of him.

The trauma in this book hits so hard, it's brutal & devastating & as the reader, you genuinely feel gaslit. I still don't know how to feel.

The Author's Note had so much impact for me. To go through so much and be able to channel all of that trauma & emotion into a brilliantly written book 💔.

[Rachel Inman · Rating 5 out of 5]

🙇‍♀️

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

♾️/⭐️ * 𝘣𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘺’𝘢𝘭𝘭*

As someone who is currently in the throes of grief, this was an incredibly cathartic read.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘁𝗺𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴

I was hooked from the beginning. We meet Morgan in a cemetery on the anniversary of her parents' death, where an ominous hooded stranger approaches her, and somehow that shared cigarette is the coziest she has felt in years. My curiosity was piqued from the get-go, and their story unfolds so naturally from there.

It feels as if nothing in their story moves fast enough for you to catch it while it's happening, so by the time you clock the low moments, you've already been making excuses right alongside Morgan for a hundred pages. The reveals are timed so that you're complicit in her hope, and the flashbacks land exactly where they'll do the most damage. The inner-turmoil is a physical ache in the chest the whole time, and if you’ve gone through similar events, you’ll know exactly what I mean.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗠𝗖

Morgan is grieving when we meet her, and what struck me is how quickly I related to and understood her. She isn't looking to be rescued or for pity. She's looking for a reason to feel something again, and once she has people around her who make the world seem lighter, you can feel her start to come back to life. That's what makes the rest of it so hard to read. Her hope is the most sympathetic thing about her, and also the most dangerous. I wanted to rescue her from the mindf*ckery over and over again.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗠𝗖

Then there's Cameron. I finished this furious at him and heartbroken for him in the same breath, and neither feeling cancels out the other. That dichotomy of love and hate is one of the hardest things to write without flattening one side of it, and A. Noire never flattens it. He's charming, he's dangerous, and he's a person losing a fight, all at once. I could rant but I don’t want to give anything away — just know he is an onion. The man has LAYERS.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗱𝘆𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗰

This is where the authentic experience of the writer translates, and I haven't seen this topic handled this honestly. It sheds light on how impossible it is to love someone through addiction without losing pieces of yourself. Enablement and overextending at your own expense is something I've witnessed firsthand, and when it's tangled up in someone you love, it feels like drowning. You understand why Morgan keeps choosing him and what it's costing her at the very same time. She had to make some incredibly tough calls, and ultimately, I'm proud of her for setting boundaries and standing up for herself when it felt impossible to.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀

Rylee had been Morgan's best friend since childhood, and what comes apart between them isn't villainous, it's just painfully human. She was carrying trauma she never let Morgan see, and so much of it came out sideways as expectations Morgan had no way of knowing how to meet. I ached for both of them.

Brooklyn is what a real friend looks like when someone you love is drowning. Not gentle, not enabling, just there and unwilling to look away. Even in the moments she slips into mother mode, her protectiveness sparks real arguments while Morgan is far too blindsided to see she's being looked out for. Morgan just feels misunderstood, and she feels Cameron is misunderstood too. Those arguments were tough to read and it certainly pulled at my heartstrings.

And then we have our SWEET Jackson, who is the kind of friend everybody deserves and most of us don't get. The ray of sunshine, the one you can always call, the one who will never judge you, the one who is only ever in your corner. He felt like the pillar of hope in this story. A true gem in every way.

𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙖𝙮…

What I found most realistic across all of these relationship dynamics, platonic or romantic, is that NONE of them are perfect the whole way through. There are a lot of arguments here, and I'll be honest, that was a little triggering for me at times, because people say what they don't mean in the heat of the moment, but it is a true testament to what is the imperfect human condition. This will spark moments of reflection, and I encourage readers to lean into it if that conviction settles.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗔𝗧𝗛 𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵

Underneath all of it, this story is about the people you hold closest and the importance of letting them in. Being open to what they have to say in the moments you may not know you need to hear it, and trusting to digest the hard things from those who truly know you best, even when it doesn't make sense at the time.

It's okay to be looked after.

The whole book has this hazy, humming, lit-from-within quality when things are good, and the moment it starts to curdle you feel the temperature drop in your own body. A. Noire writes the highs so well that you understand exactly why Morgan chases them. You are not watching this from a safe distance. You are in it with her.

This story felt kismet for me. It was heart-wrenching. It was brutal. It was beautiful. It was REAL.

𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗿

PLEASE read the trigger warnings before you start. This story does not shy away from dark subject matter. What I keep coming back to, though, is how carefully all of it is handled. The hardest moments are written briefly and purposefully, to make a point that matters and to let survivors feel seen, and not once did any of it feel excessive or there for shock value - which is something I really admire! Just had to put that out there.

[Toby Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful, Painful and Incredibly Real.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I don't quite know how to review this book without reviewing a piece of my own life alongside it.

There were parts of this story that felt uncomfortably familiar. I saw so much of my younger self in the FMC that, at times, reading her story felt like looking backwards through a window at a version of myself I haven't visited in a very long time.

Because relationships like this aren't made only of the terrible moments.

They're made of the highest highs. Of being loved so intensely that you cannot imagine seeing beyond that person. Of the beautiful days, the promises, the affection and the moments that make you believe this is who they really are.

And then come the lowest lows.
The moments that leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about the person you love. The trauma. The confusion. The love bombing that follows. The return of those incredible highs. And slowly, almost imperceptibly, the cycle begins again.
Until love and pain become so tangled together that separating one from the other feels almost impossible.

That is what this book captured so incredibly well.

The MMC is written with such confronting authenticity that there were moments I wasn't simply reading about the cycle—I remembered what it felt like to be inside it. To love someone deeply while also being hurt by them. To hold onto the beautiful parts because they made the terrible ones easier to explain away. To question yourself. To hope. To forgive. To become bound to the very person causing the pain.
And then, eventually, to understand that loving someone does not mean you have to remain trapped inside the cycle.

Watching the FMC begin to recognise what is happening to her, and what it takes to finally escape that trauma bond, affected me more deeply than I was prepared for.

This wasn't an easy book for me to read.
But it was an incredibly important one.
Because I know that younger version of her.
I was her.
And perhaps that's why closing this book felt different. I wasn't only thinking about the woman on the page.
I was thinking about the younger version of myself who couldn't yet see a way out - and the woman I became who eventually did.

[Sobiah Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was such a beautiful yet heartbreaking piece of work I have read in a long time. It made me appreciate the beauty of art and how it helps us get through difficult times. It was an incredible read making me feel a rollercoaster of emotions. Being empathic and non-judgmental is an incredible gift to have and it doesn’t make you any less of a person. I got through the book in the space of a couple of days and became drawn to the characters, the story and the twists were very unpredictable. I recommend everyone to read this book xx

[Missi · Rating 5 out of 5]

🥀 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 🥀
✍🏼 𝙰. 𝙽𝚘𝚒𝚛𝚎 | @a.noire0
♾️⭐️

“𝙄𝙛 𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙤 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝, 𝙬𝙝𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙄 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝?

𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞. 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞. 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦. 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚. 𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞.
𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚. 𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗟 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚. 𝗕𝗘𝗔𝗨𝗧𝗜𝗙𝗨𝗟. 𝗠𝗔𝗗𝗘 𝗠𝗘 𝗖𝗥𝗬. 𝗔𝗟𝗟. 𝗧𝗛𝗘. 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗦.

𝗗𝗘𝗕𝗨𝗧 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧!?

This is going to be another soul book for me. The way I went through every emotion possible in the course of 593 pages. What I loved is that this book showcased from start to finish just how a toxic relationship can bloom. It didn’t sugarcoat anything and really took its time developing not only the situation, but the characters too. Your feelings are going to be up and down because there are so many complex issues at hand and you’re MEANT to feel this way. This is such an important story, especially for anyone who has ever been in or known someone in a relationship like this.

The found friendships in this…some of the best I’ve ever seen written. EVERYONE needs a Brooklyn and Jackson in their life. I LOVED them so much.

Just when you think you’ve gone through enough…you haven’t. You get to the author’s note and that actually took me the F OUT. And seriously, don’t skip it because it makes this entire story hit even harder.

A. Noire, I’m so proud of you for having the courage to write this story. You are one of the bravest people out there and this story, although difficult, is SO important and is going to help so many people. Thank you.

“𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨 𝙝𝙪𝙧𝙩, 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙛𝙛𝙤𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙨.“


“𝙔𝙤𝙪’𝙫𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙫𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛.”


𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩? 𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙙𝙤 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙛, 𝙤𝙛 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙤𝙣? 𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙡 𝙢𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩?

🥀 ʟᴏꜱꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ɢʀɪᴇꜰ
🥀 ꜱᴜʙꜱᴛᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴀʙ*ꜱᴇ
🥀 ɢʀᴀᴘʜɪᴄ
🥀 ᴛᴏxɪᴄ ʟᴏᴠᴇ/ᴅᴠ
🥀 ꜱᴀ (ɴᴏᴛ ʙ/ᴡ ᴍᴄꜱ)
🥀 ʜʏᴘᴇʀꜱ*xᴜᴀʟɪᴛʏ ᴀꜱ ᴀ ᴛʀᴀᴜᴍᴀ ʀᴇꜱᴘᴏɴꜱᴇ


⚠️ 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘴𝘰 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯.