- it was an okay read. I didnt really stick with me.
- although it was a good audiobook to have in the background

Strong 3.5 stars. Let me preface this by saying I understand other reviewers who have said this is a women's fiction with a really annoying and unlikable main character. Personally, she didn't bother me too much. While I don't cosign all of her actions, I can empathize with the lost feeling of being in a marriage thats drifting apart on the verge of being empty nesters. Our main character, Maggie, has taken many years off of her publishing career to raise her daughter and now her daughter is 17 or so. Her husband is distant and going through his own mid life crisis. Her dad is struggling with dementia. Her mom is wrapped up in her dad's illness. Her brother is a jerk, etc. etc. She's really lost and trying to find her identity somewhere. She starts going to the gym and meets a younger guy there that is a good listener, until the siren song starts singing to her. Like I said, Maggie made some decisions that I really didn't agree with but I LOVE the exploration of what happens after the "happily ever after" we see so often in books. Real life can get mundane and lonely sometimes and how do we deal with that? I definitely don't think I'll remember this book forever, but it was really enjoyable at the time.

4⭐⭐⭐⭐




- first book read from this author and did not dissapoint . it gotten be hooked from the first chapter .
i think the ending was lacking and need more answer but probably best if there is a season 2 for this and it will be answered . well recommended thriller!

+thankyou netgalley for the opportunity

❤️shaye.read

I loved the sound of this book but unfortunately, it just fell flat for me.

At first, I felt sympathetic to the feelings of Maggie. I myself have a seventeen year old, so could relate to her emotional uncertainty around what to do when your child leaves home. However, i also found her to be quite unlikeable and whiny, and I really just couldn't find myself caring very much about what happens to her.

The ending was a bit to abrupt for my liking as well - I suppose I would have preferred a bit more closure.

Being neglected is all Maggie Dolan is feeling now, with a daughter going off to college and a husband who basically does not care about anything but his job, Maggie finds herself lonelier than ever. she decides that this is time for her to find who she really is and what she wants. by making SUPER annoying and immature choices!

She is an actual whiner! self pitting all the way to the end. everything is about her and how everything is unfair in her life when she sacrificed so much! it will literary set your teeth on edge.

though the topics mentioned on the book are important and it's good to be reminded of, the storyline makes you so annoyed that you just want to go do anything, and I mean anything else but reading.

I hate it, HATE it when I don't like a book but, here we are.
so, there it is.

Thanks to NetGallery for providing my copy of this book.

I tried getting through it, but it somehow just kept putting me in a slump. I can't put my finger over it, it was a little of the plot, a little of the narrator. A little of everything, all at once.

Stay at home mom, Maggie is unhappy with her marriage and when she tries to talk about it with her psychologist husband, Jim, he brushes her off. With their only child, Gia, off to college in a few months, Maggie feels unappreciated and bored. She considers going back to work, but instead heads to the gym, where she meets a under, attractive man, Michael, who she forms a friendship with.

After Happily Ever After is not a happy, feel good book. I found it very raw, realistic, and sad. I loved all the flawed characters trying to find their way after changes in their lives. I was brought to tears several times, perhaps because I could see my own life mirrored in Maggie’s. The ending was perfect and absolutely satisfying.

Lately, I've been craving books about women in their 40s and beyond. Show me the maturity and wisdom, the second chances at love, the special type of angst that only middle age can bring!

After Happily Ever After by Leslie A. Rasmussen definitely fits the bill. It's about a 45-year-old woman named Maggie who's in the "sandwich generation," caring for both her angsty teenage daughter and her aging parents - not to mention her moody husband! Where does she fit in?!? Given the chance for something exciting and new, should she blow up her world and do something adventurous for herself?

I found this book to be smart, charming, and fresh. It works really well on audio, too..

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the gifted ALC in exchange for my honest feedback.

This one gave me all the feels. I laughed, cried, cringed... All of the above and more. I loved the writing and how it was an easy read for me. I was immediately drawn into the story. Maggie was a great character filled with relatable flaws. One thing that bugged me was the ending. I feel like it ended very abruptly with no resolution. I needed more. Also, I was not comfortable with the "cheating" storyline (trigger warning). But otherwise, a wonderfully written story of finding oneself.

*Thank you @suzyapprovedbooktours for the copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.*

After Happily Ever After is a story about a woman going through a midlife crisis. It has all the fixins to become a wonderful story of redemption and triumph, but unfortunately falls completely flat. I will begin with exposing the characteristics of our main character, Maggie. She is, to put it nicely, a true pessimist. I tried looking at her from any angle that I could think of to make her actions and personality better or acceptable without success. The truth about Maggie: She is a liar, almost pathological it seems.

There was a strong plot line about Maggie’s relationship with her parent’s and all the heartache that comes with parents that are elderly. I found this to be extremely relatable and heartbreaking, the author did a wonderful job of helping you relate to the MC in these scenes. I wish there had been that much depth and feeling put into the rest of the book. Moving on to Maggie’s marital problems, I found her to be very justified in how she was feeling. Her and Jim needed counseling, just to start. They needed to have some very real conversations and to take a look at what they both wanted in their futures and to decide if their paths could go together. I understood Maggie’s frustration and resentment when it came to Jim and how their lives had turned out. Lastly, I found it refreshing that Maggie, our “older” heroine who was feeling lost within herself attracted the attention of a younger man that was genuinely interested in her. I do not think it was acceptable or “right” that they started a relationship, but I think it is so often thought that a woman of a certain age is unable to attract a man and that she should just give up and accept her frumpy fate.

Maggie has almost no relationship with her daughter. She is annoyed by most of what her daughter does, and yet makes no effort at all to change the behavior or show any kind of discipline. She did not seem maternal and the few lines about how much she would miss her daughter when she went to college were very disingenuous. Something that bothered me more than it probably should have, is that Maggie complained about having to go to the market every day, and how it was such a burden to her and blah, blah, blah. Girlfriend, you are a stay at home mom for 17 years and you haven’t figured out how to make a meal plan for the week and do a grocery order? Give me a break. She also stated many times how she had a “flabby stomach” or alluded to being overweight, yet was able to go wear her daughter's clothing when needed. Make it make sense.

The worst part of this book was the ending, and not because I didn’t want it to end. We follow Maggie on this journey of self discovery and growth, except there is none. Her husband leaves her when he learns of her affair, then she STILL goes out with Michael! Plans to have sex with him! If it were not for Michael making himself look like a complete ass, (which was completely out of character for him and was an obvious attempt to wrap up the storyline) then she would have absolutely continued her affair with him. I was blown away by the blatant lack of decency or common sense by Maggie. Our story ends with her and Jim reconciling, kind of? They admit they don’t want to get divorced and that they have a lot of work to do, but then they stay separated, so they can work on themselves. And that's it, that's the ending. No sense of redemption or closure. To be honest, I don’t even care what happens to any of the characters so I was glad it was over. ⅕ stars

I DID NOT like it.

I hated the MC, yes I'm being judgmental.
Maggie is having problems with her husband so she found attention somewhere else. She liked it, she wanted it.. And this guy was all sweet, listening to her, being their for her, ... Just so he can have her! She didn't even regret cheating on her husband until she found out that the guy is douchebag! Yeah convenient!

This was a cute, fast read that still dealt with some very dark stuff. I actually loved that it was the wife who was straying and the husband didn’t just immediately forgive and forget. I also loved the mother/teenage daughter relationship because it was so relatable!

Entertaining story, interesting characters, and kept me wanting to listen. Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this audio book

I like the narrator a lot. I struggled a little more with the story. It was well written, multi faceted, and the characters were like real people with deep flaws and emotional wounds. It was not necessarily a story for me, but I think that is did a great job depicting what life is really like in some marriages.

Maggie is having a mid-life crisis and I enjoyed how the author captured this experience from the side of a female. Thoughtful and balanced, as how so many things begin to emotionally change in those middle years.
A refreshing relatable read as a middle aged mom.

The narration definitely includes the high pitched vocals one expects from New Yorker. Well done.

What a fantastic debut, I loved this story so much, it gave me all the feels!
It was moving, fun, it made me laugh so much times, Maggie’s character was very relatable and likeable.
A great story about love, marriage, loss and life that will capture your heart.

Maggie is the main character in this story. She is 45 and she has been with her husband Jim for 20 years now, and their marriage has gone a bit stale, although they still love each other. They have a daughter called Gia, who is 17 Everyone around Maggie seems to be moving away from her, so she has to try and figure out what she wants from her life. She meets a man called Michael while he is exercising, and he seems to awaken something in her. Will she persue him, or will she stay with Jim?

I enjoyed this book, although I was a bit surprised about Michael near the end. Overall, it was an enjoyable story, which is perhaps more suited to middle aged/older readers.

The audiobook narrator was great, and she was perfect for the story.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This one was not my favorite. Maybe if I read it during a different time in my life, when my kids were younger and I felt...stuck. But I am not a passive person so I had a tough time relating to the main character as a victim of her circumstances.

Good life lessons learned from this book: If you are not happy, change it-if you do not do that in a healthy way, you will have to face those consequences. Your happiness/value should never be dependent on someone else to make you feel a certain way. That gives them way too much power. The writing was witty and had me laughing.

In After Happily Ever After, Leslie A. Reasmussen accurately portrays the realities of the sandwhich generation. Maggie, the main character, finds herself in the throws of rasing teenagers while taking care of her aging parents. Feeling caught in the middle and questioning her life choices, this book takes us on a hilarious adventure as Maggie tries to find her place in the world. Along the way, Maggie realizes she needs to look within herself to define who she is while grieving the losses of those she has relied on to give her life meaning. I loved the point at which Maggie realized that she is the one who gets to determine her value and that she chose to go for the unknown versus sink back into her previous predictable life.

The characters are well developed and engaging despite their individual flaws. The authors abilitiy to develop deep characters

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you, NetGalley.

In After Happily Ever After, Leslie A. Reasmussen accurately portrays the realities of the sandwhich generation. Maggie, the main character, finds herself in the throws of rasing teenagers while taking care of her aging parents. Feeling caught in the middle and questioning her life choices, this book takes us on a hilarious adventure as Maggie tries to find her place in the world. Along the way, Maggie realizes she needs to look within herself to define who she is while grieving the losses of those she has relied on to give her life meaning. I loved the point at which Maggie realized that she is the one who gets to determine her value and that she chose to go for the unknown versus sink back into her previous predictable life.

The characters are well developed and engaging despite their individual flaws. The authors abilitiy to develop deep characters

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you, NetGalley.