This was a reasonable book, easy to listen to and easy to follow. A little bit predictable hence only giving it a 3.

I’ve gotten most of my reading done by listening to audio books while driving.
I recently had the pleasure of listening to After Happily Ever After by @LeslieRAuthor wonderfully narrated by Tiffany Phillips.
I love books about characters closer to my age and real life situations. Maggie is in her mid forties, something is going on in her marriage and she’s suspicious of her husband, her parents are aging and it’s not so easy to manage that phase of their lives, she’s also about to be an empty-nester.
This was fun to listen to with a few fun but everyday situations I’m sure most of us face.

EXCERPT: A half hour later, I was turning down my block when I realised I didn't want to go home. I didn't want to do any more laundry. I didn't want to wash any more dishes. Or walk the dog. Or cook dinner. Since Gia started her senior year, and would be leaving for college soon, I'd been struggling with how I was going to find a new purpose to my life. There were plenty of people who would have been happy to not have to go to a job every day, but right now I wasn't one of them. If I had a job, after she left, I'd have a place where I could still feel important. At forty-five, I was insecure, and I worried whether I'd ever get back into the workforce, and at the same time, wondered if I really wanted to. My mixed-up thoughts depressed me. And then I remembered something that made my day even worse. I'd offered to volunteer at Gia's school to set up for Winter Carnival. Oh yay! I'd get to be with Mom's who loved to boss people around.

ABOUT 'AFTER HAPPILY EVER AFTER': Maggie Dolan finds herself at forty-five at a crossroads in her life. Once a high-level executive, she’s chosen to be a stay-at-home mom for the last seventeen years. But now with her daughter, Gia, soon leaving for college, and her husband, disconnected and with secrets he hasn’t shared, Maggie decides it’s time to figure out what she wants for the rest of her life. As she begins her journey, she has to deal with a narcissistic mother, a brother who doesn’t like her and most damaging of all, the news that her father, her rock, has medical issues that may take him from her. Overwhelmed by all these issues, she’s led in a direction that could destroy what she’s built and make her question the choices she’s made. She’s torn between the life she’s always known and something more exciting that she never expected.

MY THOUGHTS: If you're looking for a character to despise, you've found her. Meet Maggie Dolan. The book synopsis calls Maggie's mom narcissistic, but Maggie wins that contest hands down.

In Maggie's world, everything is about Maggie. 'Oh, poor me! My daughter's leaving home, I won't know what to do with myself. My psychologist husband seems withdrawn and depressed, he should be paying me more attention. My mom is having to cope with my dad, the love of her life, living in a care facility, but she annoys me and I can't be bothered to give her the time of day except when I want something from her, and anyway, my mom likes my brother more than me, what's wrong with her?'

Maggie set my teeth on edge.

The story is told almost entirely from Maggie's point of view, with just the occasional and mostly irrelevant chapter from the point of view of Maggie's husband, and her father.

I liked Maggie's dad, and his story is the only reason I continued with this read.

I enjoyed Tiffany Phillips narration of the audiobook.

⭐⭐

#AfterHappilyEverAfter #NetGalley

I: @leslierauthor @blackstonepublishing

T: @LeslieRAuthor @BlackstonePub1

#audiobook #chiclit #contemporaryfiction #domesticdrama

THE AUTHOR: Leslie has written personal essays for online magazines such as Huffington Post, MariaShriver, and SheKnows. She loves dogs and besides having two adorable Labradors, she is a member of The Alliance of Therapy Dogs and has volunteered at her local animal shelter. Leslie lives in Los Angeles and has two sons, and a husband she has been with since college.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Blackstone Publishing via Netgalley for providing an audio ARC of After Happily Ever After written by Leslie Rasmussen and narrated by Tiffany Phillips for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

This is one I was interested in, as I am close in age to the protagonist Maggie, but it just didn’t deliver. Maggie is at a crossroads in her life with her daughter getting closer to leaving the nest for college and issues with her parents and brother. Maggie has a sort of mid life crisis with the ‘hot guy’ from the gym she befriends. This is where I had all my issues: OMG stop it! You are having an affair! It may not be a physical one, but it was definitely a mental affair. What made it worse is that she knew it, but just kept going on with it.

Her husband isn’t really around for her and her daughter is having her own issues with school life. Maggie also has mom issues and loves her dad, but is slowly losing him to de-mentia. The dementia story line is what kept me going with this novel. There is a twist that happens that you are not expecting.

The audiobook was almost 8 hours long and I also had some issues with the narrator. She didn’t change her voice any when the narrated pov switched characters: So if you are not paying close attention at the beginning of the chapter you could get confused as to which character was narrating. This could also get complicated since one character has dementia.

After Happily Ever After has been out for just over a year and was just recently released in audiobook form, which I was given a copy from the publisher via NetGalley. Many thanks for the copy, I just wish I had enjoyed it more.

I can’t recommend this novel, but would give the author another try in a future novel.

Thank you to Net Galley for the advance copy audiobook. Maggie has a tense relationship with her mother, her daughter is leaving for college, and her beloved father is rapidly declining mentally. She feels adrift, and a chance encounter with a younger man makes her forget who she is. She suffers a loss that propels her further down a path that may ultimately destroy her.

After Happily Ever After by Leslie A. Rasumssen is the story of what happens after twenty years of marriage. Maggie's only child is a senior in high school and about to leave home. Her father is in a nursing home with health problems. Her mother and she are not close. Her marriage is struggling. This is the story of what happens when all of those converge. I am giving it four stars because the ending was just kind of meh for me. I enjoyed the story. It actually fits with a lot of things in my own world right now, grown children, aging parents, etc. The narrator did a great job too. I did enjoy it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

Maggie is in her mid-forties and is soon to be an empty-nester. There is so much on her plate right now: her aging father's medical diagnosis, her strained relationship with her mother and younger brother, teenage daughter woes, becoming more and more distant from her husband, contemplating getting back into her career after years of being a stay at home mom. And to add to that, she meets a younger guy at the gym who becomes her shoulder to cry on, and did I mention he is super cute?

I was curious to find out if the MC will reconnect with her husband after their anniversary trip, what would become of her friendship with the guy from the gym, will she get back into her publishing career? Without giving too much away, I would just say that the book had a perfect ending for me. But there were also some twists and turns that kept me guessing how it will all play out. There were a couple of surprises proving to me that you can't trust some people, even the fictional ones! There were some sad parts, and some anguish, and overall Maggie was so relatable and so human that you couldn't help but love her. I could see myself being friends with her!

I really enjoyed this book! It has a perfect title. What happens a decade or two into marriage, after the happily ever after? It was not all rainbows and butterflies, it touched on some serious and heartbreaking topics, but that's what made the story so real. This book would be perfect for the book clubs, for moms and anyone who enjoys romcoms! 4/5 stars from me.

An emotional, funny, truthful honest look at Maggie Dolans life when it skids of the rails. At 45 she is feeling invisible, unnecessary, unheard, unloved and rudderless and no one seems to notice or care. Her husband stopped noticing her a long time ago, her daughter, well if she isn’t looking through her, looks at her with contempt. Her beloved dad is in a care facility suffering from dementia and her mother doesn’t understand the concept of boundaries. She was a high level executive who had it all under control until she didn’t. Its a rocky, difficult, road in to finding out who she really is, wants to be warts and all. She makes some major mistakes, but in life we all do. Its how we get up and go forward that makes us who we are.

I was so excited about this audiobook, but sadly I just couldn't get into it. It wasn't the story, I think the story was entertaining and fun, but the narrator just didn't do it for me.
I want to give this one another try. I want to read it instead of listen and see if that makes a difference.

Thanks you netgalley and @katierocktours for my gifted copy

I truly enjoyed following along on Maggie's journey and empathized with her self-doubts and to some extent what she was going through with her father as my grandmother had similar problems. I listened to this book in under 24 hours and absolutely loved it!

Maggie has been with Jim for 20 years and has lost herself mothering Gia for 17 of those. When her father moves in to assisted living and college for Gia on the horizon, Maggie must figure out who and what she wants to be moving forward. When she meets Michael, a hot younger man, at the gym she begins to think about what is missing in her life and how she can fill those gaps...maybe with this new man. Will she or won't she?

This story is told in alternating POVs from Maggie, Jim, and her father. I feel like each character had relatable issues. The book title and cover were a bit misleading. The book mentions Maggie's previous life/job in publishing but when that doesn't pan out it gets dropped like it wasn't important. The cover of the book led me to believe it would be more about that and less on her infatuation with a new man. The characters were problematic and I feel like there was only resolution in one of the relationships, and even that felt a bit icky. Gia featured in conversations with her own issues but they were glossed over for the other things going on and didn't really serve a point to moving the story along. The storyline was interesting enough to keep my attention but not addicting where I had to know what was happening next. I spent most of the book just feeling bad for all the characters.

Not an uplifting story, but a very real one of what happens in a lot of marriages nowadays.

The audiobook was well done and easy to follow at 1.25 speed. The only issue I had was the narrator's accents for a few side characters felt forced and a bit annoying. Dialogue was easy to follow and chapters/sections were clear.

I usually read mostly English writers, but thought I would give this a go. I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish, although I was slightly disappointed with the abrupt end. An entertaining and poignant read of a woman and her husband and daughter and how you need to keep working to keep a marriage alive. Funny in places too, as well as sad moments, this book has it all.

Well... unfortunately this book was a miss for me and will be a DNF at 42%. This is a story about a woman who gave up her career to raise her now 17 year old and ungrateful daughter, whose marriage is in a slump, father is dealing medical decline, and has strained relationships with her mother and brother. I found the main character to be a whiny, down-on-herself doormat that did everything for everyone, but couldn't speak up for herself or any of her needs with anyone and I didn't like the direction the story was taking. I assume there will be personal growth later, but at 40% she was still on the downslope. I did not like the decisions she was making and wasn't interested in taking that journey with her. In addition, part of the story is told from the husband's perspective and his part is just as dreary, unhappy in his job and pretty uninterested in his flat marriage.

I don't want to put everyone off this book. I'm sure it will work for a lot of people. I would be interested in reading something else by this author in the future; this particular story just wasn't a fit for me. However, if you are interested in a story where the MC is in a life slump and assumably fixes their life late in the story after making some mistakes, then go ahead and give this one a try.

I thought the narrator did a decent job. Her tone fit the main characters. Unfortunately, I didn't like our MCs and wasn't invested in them.

I was interested in reading this book because of the age and circumstances of the main character. Maggie finds herself at a transitioning time in her life. As a stay at home mom for 17 years, her daughter is now in her senior year of high school and doesn't need her as much. Additionally, her husband has been disconnected recently which leaves her feeling lonely. I understand that Maggie is struggling to figure out her life and what she needs to be happy. However, I don't like what she chose to occupy her time. She started out trying to improve herself but the attention of a younger guy is what gives her life and pushes her to make changes. I had really hard time liking Maggie in this book.

Narrator 3 stars
Didn't love this narrator. I don't feel like she did a good job portraying the different characters

Story 2 stars
I could not get into the story. I didn't particularly like any of the characters or the secret keeping that really wasn't necessary. Also the daughter is a brat.

Unfortunately I could only give this book 2 stars. I really wanted to enjoy it, but there were just too many things that I didn’t love.
I did like the writing style, however I didn’t like the narrator, and for an audiobook that makes a huge difference to me.
I found most of the characters fairly unlikable and I just couldn’t root for them.

After Happily Ever Afterwas just released in audiobook this month. This debut novel was named a best book of 2021 by PopSugar and is now available audiobook as well!

Maggie has been a stay at home mom for 17 years but as her daughter is in her senior year of high school and her husband has been disconnected recently she's struggling to figure out her life and what she needs to be happy....

While I'm maybe not the key demographic for this book as mid-30s DINK, I think a lot of women will at some point be in Maggie's shoes. I do like books with older main characters and the everyday realities of life so I enjoyed that aspect of the book.

This was a quick audiobook at just under 8 hours. The narrator was good though I wish she would have had a little more voice change for the different characters.

If you're a stay at home mom to older kids, a mom struggling to figure out what you want in life or in the sandwich generation I think this book would appeal to you!

I listened to the audiobook of this one- the audio was just recently released and I sure enjoyed it! I appreciated the fact that the main character Maggie was in my age group (mid-40's) and that the plot was so realistic and life-like. I laughed out loud several times, so much so that I got a few looks when I was out in public places :) This book is recommended for anyone in their mid-40's who wants to escape the dregs of their everyday struggles and frustrations!

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read After Happily Ever After By Leslie Rasmussen in exchange for my honest feedback.
Maggie is a stay at home mom that is looking for a change, her husband is always working and her daughter is a teenager that no longer wants to talk to her mom. Maggie was used to her family depending on her big what happens when everyone shuts her out and she starts getting attention form a hottie at the gym?

Thank you to Netgally and the publisher for providing me with an audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
This was an interesting one for me mostly because I absolutely despise cheating, including emotional cheating. From the first inkling of that story line, I was already screaming internally at the MC to just not go there and to freaking have a conversation with her husband for goodness sakes. However I cannot deny that this type of thing really does happen and therefore it is totally legitimate to write a story about it. I really liked that her friend was telling her the entire time what stupid mistake she is making and how she has to stop instead of helping her rationalize. There were definitely parts of this book that felt a bit weaker to me in terms of the writing and story telling and I am definitely questioning the decision to have random chapters being told from the husband's and father's POV- I get why the author did it, but it also felt super random and almost like it was done because the author did not see another way to get the information to the reader.
There are parts about the ending I thought were done super well but also parts that felt a bit rushed or lazy so on that front I felt a bit so-so about the ending.
I really appreciated the Dementia storyline. This is a relationship that is almost never found in fiction, though there is a lot of non fiction out there on the subject. Having a loved one going through that type of deterioration is so complex and heartbreaking, and frankly frustrating at times- it was great to see this explored in this book.
I don't know if I would recommend the audiobook- there were a few words that the narrator pronounced in a way that kind of drove me a bit crazy (including Dementia).