After I Do A Novel

Third book of TJR! Cute book actually, it tells about the challenges of a couple who lost love and discovering love again and how they fixed it in a very unique way. It occurred to me that after marriage, it isn't about having perfect love life but truly understanding your other half. I loved the ending and it's a refreshing read.

A cute and more realistic love story - I enjoyed the way it was broken up into the different sections and how the plot moved forward with their email drafts. The beginning of part 1 made me nostalgic for the beginning parts of my own relationship 🥲

Read this because I've heard so much about this author. It was def a nice palette cleanser from the other romance books I've read lately. It basically follows a married couple on the verge of divorce who decide to take a break for a year to see if they want to stay married. Honestly a weird premise I think they could've learned what they learned by just going to marriage counseling and maybe living in separate quarters but pretending to be single is weird. I thought Lauren's family members were written really well and were quite loveable. The "lesson" of the book is a cute one–life doesn't have to be lived by a script and relationships are what you put into them. CLiche but cliche because its true and I think the book tries its best to give that platitude some weight. In general, though...I don't like the central couple. This book is nearly a decade old so I can forgive its lacking interpersonal gender politics but as a reader in 2023 with my beliefs I saw fundamental cracks in the relationship of the characters that i think the narrative didn't repair. From the beginning, Ryan is a little whiny and manipulative, and neither Lauren nor the book holds him to tasks for that. Like the weird thing with him always wanting her to say she wants to have sex or the way he blows up at her because he feels bad that he messed up their honeymoon...and Lauren coddles him...BIG NO from me. And it happened so early and often in their relationship that i honestly thought the book wasn't going to put them back together because their issues seemed structural. How they did come back together was pretty dramatic and a little cheesy but I'll allow it every romance book needs its cheesy run into each others arm moment. At least there was no 3rd act breakup! Could be a good book club book and couples co-read!

** spoiler alert ** This book made me feel human and made me look at love in a different light. I don’t know much about love myself but this book made me realize that I don’t have it all figured out. And that’s the beautiful thing about it. It taught me to never give up on anything, Rachel’s Bakery, Charlie’s kid, and Ryan and Lauren getting back together made me realize that maybe it’s okay to not have everything figured out. But we can try

took me a while to finish it because i didn‘t want to put up with all the drama at once but in the end it was actually okayish

dragging in the middle of the book. there are a few things quiet unnecessary to tell, but the ending was perfect. i love it.

the fact that this book has been exalted so much despite it romanticising misogyny and emotional abuse, baffles me. I went in thinking I would get some real good angst, pain, and groveling but what I actually got was most bland characters I've read in a book recently. If you're going to present us with a story about second chances then make sure your characters are not paper thin. It was disgusting to read Lauren being okay with her husband "smelling bad" and finding peace with it. Yuck. It's not even about her being okay about his body odor. I could have ignored that if she hadn't been lenient about all his other misdemeanors. Can't believe this is the same writer who wrote 'The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo'. So disappointed.

part 2 of "if this book ended with a polyamorous relationship, i wouldn't be mad"

I'm not a fan of happy endings

I loved this so much

I love Taylor Jenkins Reid and it does hurt me to give any of her books less then a stellar five star review but of the books I have read from her This is my least favorite. The ending is not the one I wanted to see for one, but it also feels rushed towards the end, maybe i’m missing something. In this case I just felt very unsatisfied by the outcome. It’s not an awful book but u would recommend every other TJR book i’ve read before this.

I was skeptical at first since the book is about a divorce and I didn’t see myself caring enough about the characters to stay hooked. But they really did convince me from the opposite. Besides the romance, Lauren also had quite the character development and it was nice to see how she found herself in her year apart from Ryan.

Taylor truly NEVER disappoints man. the angst was so on point. this book is all i needed in my life right now

Couldn’t read more than half of the book.

this book continues to impact me even over a month after reading it

Lauren and Ryan fell hopelessly and irrevocably in love with each other in college and got married soon after. Fast forward to like 10 years and they're still married but the spark is gone, they resent each other, they only ever seem to argue over everything from calling the landlord to picking what to eat they're both unhappy. Falling in love is the easy part. Committing to it? Working to maintain it? Not so much. Will Lauren and Ryan accept the cards they've been dealt with or will they stay and fight for their love? TJR's books for me are like strong perfume, better in small doses and at a distance. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore her books, but I don't particularly like the recurring dark themes, ya know- death, divorce etc etc. Idk I guess I normally prefer lighter reads so I read her books sparingly, if that makes sense. Regardless, this book was so heartwarming and messy and damaging and healing and so brutally honest. This book resonated with me because I think oftentimes I forget I have to put a conscious effort in maintaining my relationships.

Oh this book is such a compelling story. This story touches so many situations and moments that any person who has been in a relationship or married has gone through. I loved that the author made Lauren and her marriage so relatable. I found myself multiple times reading and saying to myself of "damn I have been there". I liked the fact that the book didn't sugar coated there issues or made them overly dramatic. Ryan and Lauren went through situations just as getting annoyed over what do you want for food or lack of intimacy. This is why I loved this book the fact that it doesn't portrait a perfect or fairy tale marriage. I felt her heartache as you see how her relationship deteriorates over time. Once Lauren and Ryan decided to take the year apart I couldn't stop saying oh no... Even though I knew it was going to happened since it's the premise of the book. I enjoyed seeing Lauren character developed through the book. The only thing I wish the book had was Ryan point of view, although we get a glimpse of it, I wanted more more more! Such an easy read. Definitely one of those books that makes you think about your relationship.

4.5 ⭐️

Bye forgot to review this book I finished it a week back. BUT IT WAS SO CUTE SND I LIVED THE ENDING AH ☹️

I love Taylor Jenkins Reid's books. This one was more difficult for me to get through. The writing and the story were still great, as with all of her books. I just wasn't the biggest fan of the agreement that Lauren and Ryan came up with. I love the relationships that Lauren had with her family. I really loved Lauren's grandmother. I also really enjoyed the advice that Allie gave as a reply to the "Ask Allie" column. I loved many characters in this book. The plot of this story wasn't really slow in the beginning, I just found myself not enjoying the arrangement they had made. So, I would find myself reading some and then closing the book. I would enjoy the book when I would pick it up and read it, but I didn't like their arrangement. However, the latter half of the book I found myself progressing through the story much faster. Overall, this was a really good book that I enjoyed reading. I'd recommend it, even if you're not a huge fan of stories about marriage or marital complications. I'd still recommend giving this one a try. This was definitely a story about relationships. Relationships with yourself, family, spouse, friends, etc. It is a love letter to one's self...to be true to yourself and give a relationship everything you have. There were parts of this book that really resonated with me and really stuck out that I will think about long after closing this book. As with all of Taylor Jenkins Reid's book, there were so many memorable quotes that I took note of.

4.5 ⭐️

Favorite book I’ve read

3.5/5 edit 3/5