After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The first Taylor Jenkins Reid book I read was Daisy Jones and the Six. I fell in love with the characters. The story was so on point that I had to look the book up to make sure it was fiction. Then I read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I was engaged from the very first chapter to the very end. This remains one of my favorite books to date. Following that, I read Malibu Rising and Carrie Soto is Back. I enjoyed reconnecting with characters from The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but I didn't feel as much of a connection as I did in the first two books. I continued to love Reid's writing style, though. Lately, I have made it my mission to read everything she has written.

NOTE: I find that this is a great way to choose books. If I find an author whose writing I enjoy, I first look for more books by that author and I then look for author's who have a similar writing style.

That brings me to the novel After I Do. This book introduces us to Lauren and her husband Ryan in the middle of a spat at Dodger Stadium as they try to find their car in the parking lot. Reid then takes us through a series of flashbacks illustrating how this couple went from being inseparable to barely being able to coexist in the same room. They take an unconventional approach to fixing their marriage, deciding to take a year off in the hopes of finding their way back to each other. One year apart, and only one rule: they cannot contact each other. Aside from that, anything goes.

It is a story about two people who fate has thrown together who have to learn how to grow up, how to get older and how to be the best that they can be. It’s about the need to know who you are as a person, before you can think about the needs of another person no matter how much you might love them. It’s about the comprises you make in relationships and in life. We mostly follow Lauren in story as she heads out on a journey of self-discovery, quickly finding that her friends and family have their own ideas about the meaning of marriage, but she needs to determine where she stands in the scheme of love, marriage, and self worth.

This is a love story about what happens when the love fades. It’s about staying in love, seizing love, forsaking love, and committing to lovet. And above all, After I Do is the story of a couple caught up in an old game—and searching for a new road to happily ever after.

My Verdict: This book was published in 2014, three years before Evelyn Hugo and five years before Daisy. While I preferred those two books, I did enjoy this book. Having been through a divorce, it gave me the feels in several regards: The heart wrenching decision of who gets the dog, someone having to leave their home, and learning how to be one after so many years of being a couple. What did surprise me is the level at which I was able to connect with both characters. That's a tribute to Reid's writing. I also appreciated the creativity of showing us what both characters are thinking through the unsent emails they write to each other (during the separation). I enjoyed this book -- sometimes through tear -- but I enjoyed it.

A final note: sometimes romance novels are full of spicy scenes. This one is not. Reid does not rely on that to develop the relationships between characters. I give this novel 4 stars.