Book Review - After the Party by Lisa Jewell

After the Party

Author: Lisa Jewell

Publisher: Atria Books
Paperback: 464 pages
Published: August 16, 2011

Amazon Summary:
From the internationally bestselling author of Ralph’s Party comes a delightful new novel about the power of starting over.

Eleven years ago, Jem Catterick and Ralph McLeary fell deeply in love. They thought it would be forever, that they’d found their happy ending. As everyone agreed, they were the perfect couple. Then two became four, and an apartment became a house. Romantic nights out became sleepless nights in. And they soon found that life wasn’t quite so simple anymore. But through it all, Jem and Ralph still loved each other. Of course they did.
Now Jem is back at work part-time as a talent agent. Ralph, a successful painter, is struggling to come up with new, hopefully groundbreaking, work for his upcoming show. But the unimaginable has happened. Two people who were so right together are starting to drift apart And in the chaos of family life, Jem feels like she’s losing herself, while Ralph, stuck on the sidelines, feels like he’s lost his muse altogether. Something has to change. As they try to find a way back to each other, back to what they once had, they both become momentarily distracted—but maybe it’s not too late to recapture happily ever after…

My thoughts:
I really wish that I was able to read the first book in the series, Ralph's Party, first. I had no clue this was a sequel til a few days before I started After the Party. This sequel references Ralph's Party A LOT. (would love to see and eBook for Ralph's Party by the way!). The story was still understandable, but there was a lot of recurring characters from the first series, and just a whole huge back story that I didn't really understand. So if you get a chance, I'd suggest reading Ralph's Party (the story of Jem and Ralph's romance sounds super sweet and adorable) first.  I will definitely be picking up Ralph's Party.

This book was a huge roller coaster ride. I went from hating Ralph (he decided to take off on a solo vacation to Cali when his newborn son was only a few months old. Can you say JERK?) and loving Jem, to hating Jem and loving Ralph. Then I ended up not really liking either of them. I thought that they were both incredibly selfish and way too flirty. Although, I didn't agree with all their decisions they were extremely well-written characters.

This is kind of spoiler-ish, but this was a very pivotal moment in the book for me so I want to discuss it. Jem finds out she's pregnant again. They already have two children, plus Jem has had two previous miscarriages. She decides that in order to save her and her partner Ralph's relationship, she should have an abortion. There's a whole sequence before about how she's looking through pictures of herself when she was younger and how carefree she looked and how she wanted to find that woman again etc.... I just thought the reason behind it was so incredibly selfish. ESPECIALLY after she had gone through the heartbreak of her two miscarriages and on top of that she had two beautiful, healthy children.I just couldn't understand how she could be so.....cold. So, that kind of ended the enjoyment of Jem's character for me. I personally am not an advocate of abortion, but I usually can read about it and not have a problem, so I was just really surprised to see how strongly I reacted.

It sounds like I really didn't like this novel, but I DID, I DID!  It was completely character driven. Not a whole lot really happened. There was no dramatic or tragic illness or death, it was all about their emotional journey. It was very meaty, meaning I could really sink my teeth into the characters. By the end of the book I felt like I knew them incredibly well. The book is quite long for a chick-lit-ish novel. So yes, after spending 466 pages learning everything about the characters I felt that I knew them very well. I'm sure their characters will stick with me for a long time.

At the beginning I loved the book, in the middle I hated the book and by the end I loved the book again. The ending was just beautiful. It was the perfect ending! I am so glad I loved the ending, because I would have been very disappointed if I had read almost 500 pages to just not like the ending! This novel realistically describes the sometimes painful, yet beautiful highs and lows of a long-term relationship and parenthood.

Judge a Book By It's Cover: Absolutely love the cover. It's a great depiction of the story. The only thing I'm not crazy about is the clouds in the background (almost half the cover is clouds?). I'm excited to see this one on the shelves.

4 Stars!

Lisa Jewell - Twitter

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*Disclosure: I received a Galley courtesy of the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.