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After the Party: The page-turning sequel to Ralph’s Party from the bestselling author

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I was down with the main theme of fleeting youth and the changing of personalities based on having kids, becoming a stereotype, etc. I accept that this book is probably very realistic, but being newly married myself, I'm not ready to accept that happily ever after comes to an end.

Before she leaves she turns to her assistant, Mariel, who is making tea in the kitchenette, and says, “Off to see the recluse. His ambivalence towards his children manifests in a lack of participation in the everyday routines and responsibilities of family life. The narrative structure is also impressive as we have both Jem and Ralph's perspectives on their situation. Jem is Karl’s agent, and Karl’s joke (this is not the first time he has made it) is not funny anymore. She thinks again about the way she’d felt when Ralph had proclaimed his love for her, when she realized that she loved him too, when the gates to the Rest of Her Life had swung open and she’d taken her first tentative steps onto the open road.Will they make it through or will they be like the thousands of others that have tried and failed to make a marriage work. Jem and Ralph are the only recurring characters in the book – the rest seem to flit in and out at will: Lulu, Jem’s sister, Joel, the single dad Jem befriends, Smith and Rosey, Ralph’s best friend and Smith’s girlfriend, a few of the characters from Ralph’s Party appear but not in any real way and only fleetingly. Did you feel the same or differently about the kiss between Ralph and Rosey during their night of Christian rock music and drinking?

Since then she has published another twenty-one novels, most lately a number of dark psychological thrillers, including Then She Was Gone, The Family Upstairs and None of This is True. It’s been eleven years since Ralph McLeary and Jem Catterick first got together and everyone, including themselves, thought their relationship would last forever. Ralph can be exasperating but grows as a person and Jem is like a little saint, always marching on and doing her best for the children, but then she also has flaws and makes many mistakes that snowball. I think Jewell has provided readers with an interesting look at the struggles of maintaining a healthy relationship and the ebb and flow of love. It’s helped that she appears to have a new friend in single dad Joel – but is that all there is to it?Yes, we all like a drink to cope with the trials of small children but Jem seems drunk much of the time. These are littered throughout and are an amusing way of providing insight into her characters, their thoughts and feelings, without spelling them out to the reader. 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. After The Party is an incredibly emotional read because it’s clear that Ralph and Jem belong together no matter what so to see their relationship self-destruct is horrible to read. With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.

Yeah,” he agrees, “she always wanted a baby and life didn’t give her one so she’s gone out and made it happen. It felt like I was following the characters around their home watching them act out the story which is when I know the author has grabbed me.Right,” says Jem, staring at the photo, at the little soul somewhere on the other side of the world, a tiny person without a family, whose whole destiny is about to turn on its axis. She sighs again, feeling the weight of things she needs to do now that she has the children for the next few days: baths to run, stories to read, clean clothes to sort out. It was well written as are all of Lisa Jewels books but I just found it a little bit boring compared to some of her other books.

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