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Life After Yes by Aidan Donnelley Rowley

Rarely do I read a book that is so powerful, so moving, and so thought-provoking, that the characters and plot invade my thoughts for weeks after finishing. Debut author Aidan Donnelly Rowley does exactly that in the SheKnows Book Club final pick of the year, Life After Yes. The story follows Prudence Quinn O’Malley, a born and bred New Yorker, after she accepts a marriage proposal from her supportive and loving boyfriend, Sage. The proposal, which takes place in Paris, is beyond beautiful and romantic, and Quinn accepts without a second thought. But just a day later, Quinn’s thoughts and emotions begin to spin out of control. Is it because her father won’t be able to walk her down the aisle, as he perished on that fateful 9/11 day? Is it because she still thinks about her first love, and wonders if she is making the right choice in committing her life with Sage?
I think one reason I found a common ground with Quinn is because of the numerous mistakes she makes. Quinn is a highly successful young lawyer and is set to marry Sage, who is an equally successful investment banker. But even with her success and her supporting friends and family, Quinn still almost seems like a misfit, determined to be selfish and indulge in binge drinking, and upset those she’s loves the most. At first, I was angry with the book. I hated Quinn! The way she treated people, especially her fiancée, the way she seemed to care so little for anyone else but herself, made me disgusted with her character. But as the story moved along, I started to understand. I began to feel for Quinn. The more dilemmas’ she faced, the more the deeper meaning of the story became obvious to me. By the time I reached the last few chapters, I had started crying, thinking about my own life and the mistakes I made, the ones I haven’t owned up to and probably never will, and how I can strive to be the best I can with what I have. It was almost like therapy!
Life After Yes was one of my favorite reads of 2010. I commend Aidan Donnelly Rowley for writing such a truthful story, with real characters and real problems. I almost feel this novel should come with a warning label: Will you risk asking yourself the questions Quinn is asking of herself? Are you brave enough to face the answers? I recommend everyone to read this book, chick lit fan or not. I think we can all identify with a piece of Quinn, and take away a lesson on true happiness.
Rating: 5/5

In My Mailbox- Week of February 14

I have seen the “In My Mailbox” feature from quite a few other book sites, so I decided to try it out for myself! Each week, I will list what books I have either bought, got from the library, borrowed from friends, received from authors, etc. Enjoy!

Title: Second Time Around
Author: Beth Kendrick
Received: From Beth Kendrick for Review
Synopsis:
Thanks to an unexpected inheritance, four college friends get an opportunity to start over and pursue their dream jobs. But the road not taken has a few speed bumps…

Every summer, a group of former English majors hold a mini-reunion. They laugh, reminisce, and commiserate about their soul-sucking jobs. Maybe they should have listened to everyone who warned them to study something “practical.”

Then an unexpected windfall arrives—one million dollars, to be exact—with the stipulation that they use it to jump-start their new careers. Almost overnight, a professor, a bartender, a copywriter, and an administrative assistant reinvent themselves as a bed-and-breakfast owner, a pastry chef, a novelist, and an event planner. But the changes in their professional roles create unexpected turbulence in their personal lives, and soon the secrets and scandals from their past resurface.

For anyone who has ever wondered
“What if?”, this engaging novel provides a sweet, funny look at friendship, romance, and second chances.

Title: Pieces of Happily Ever After
Author: Irene Zutell
Received: From SheKnows.com for Review
Synopsis:
What happens after “happily ever after”? Alice Hirsh is about to find out…
Alice, a former New Yorker who thought she’d never feel at home in the bizarre world of the San Fernando Valley, was adapting, raising her 5-year-old daughter while trying to keep her job and make her new house a home. When her attorney husband lands a trophy client – box-office queen Rose Maris – things begin to look up. Then Alex starts working late – a lot. He crunches his paunch into a six-pack and trades his Gap ensembles for Armani everything.
Soon, Rose and Alex’s affair blazes in the tabloids and Alice is plunged into trash-gossip hell. Her life crumbles around her as she navigates her newly single self through suburban LA –a place rife with porn stars, psycho soccer moms and nutty neighbors.
Is there a chance to wrest Alex from the Sexiest Woman Alive? And if so… would Alice want him back? And what about George–her college sweatheart? Or Johnny, a walking charm-bomb paparazzo? As Alice inventories the rubble of her life, she desperately searches for her bearings and is forced to ask herself what she really wants from life, love and herself.

Title: Bergdorf Blondes
Author: Plum Sykes
Received: Public Library
Synopsis: Plum Sykes’s beguiling debut welcomes readers to the glamorous world of Park Avenue Princesses, the girls who careen through Manhattan in search of the perfect Fake Bake (tan acquired from Portofino Tanning Salon), a ride on a PJ (private jet) with the ATM (rich boyfriend), and the ever-elusive fiancé.
With invitations to high-profile baby showers and benefits, more Marc Jacobs clothes than is decent, and a department store heiress for a best friend, our heroine known only as Moi is living at the peak of New York society. But what is Moi to do when her engagement falls apart? Can she ever find happiness in a city filled with the distractions of Front Row Girls, dermatologists, premieres, and eyebrow waxes? Is it possible to find love in a town where her friends think that the secret to happiness is getting invited to the Van Cleef and Arpels über-private sample sale? And how is she going to deal with the endless phone calls from her mother in England demanding that she get married to the Earl next door?
With enormous wit and an insider’s eye, Sykes captures the nuances of the rich and spoiled in a heartwarming social satire, featuring a loveable “champagne bubble of a girl” who’s just looking for love (and maybe the perfect pair of Chloé jeans).

Title: The Debutante Divorcee
Author: Plum Sykes
Received: Public Library
Synopsis: A major national media event when published in hardcover, this delicious follow-up to Bergdorf Blondes was an immediate New York Times bestseller and confirmed Plum Sykes’ status as a literary superstar.
Sylvie Mortimer has just married and is blissfully happy with The Divine New Husband, Hunter. Sylvie’s new friend, Lauren Blount, is very rich, very young, very thin, very pretty — and very, very divorced. The most reckless and glamorous of Manhattan’s Debutante Divorcée set, Lauren captivates Sylvie, the group’s token newlywed. But while Lauren sets out on a morality-lite, orgasm-heavy “Make Out Challenge,” Sylvie discovers her marriage isn’t exactly an Eternity ad — especially when the city’s most notorious Husband Huntress zeros in on her spouse.