It came up on my Scribd recommendations and I was like oh I love marriage in peril books, with no cheating, and this sounded like nothing happened, except lustful thoughts and Bam halfway into the book the wife sleeps with a younger man. I was quickly absorbed in the story of After The Party and it’s realistic and confronting examination of a long term relationship. As Ralph tries to get over his feelings of helplessness and Jem tries to remember who she was before the children came along, they both try to figure out how to recapture their love for each other. At first, I was a little disappointed to read that Ralph and Jem, who seemed like the perfect couple, were heading towards break up, but at the same time, I wasn't surprised to read that life had presented them with real challenges that I'm sure most readers can identify with. You’re welcome,” says Jem, lowering herself onto the very farthest edge of a grubby yellow armchair.

There are many great things about this book—one of them is its constant stream of memorably formulated insights about Alaska. If you are looking for a looking for a psychological thriller that will unfold secrets and truths in a shocking manner, this book is for you.

Despite all this, its not a pessimistic book but so very real, you could be reading about your friends or yourself. This was different, but in a vapid, self-loathing way where I actually found myself in a horrible mood after reading because it was so depressing - yet the obstacles put in the way of the characters were just stupid.

she says, waving the loaf of Warbutons Malted she took for him from her own kitchen cupboard that very morning. And before the scruffy woman with the fat cats, a young couple with matching bikes and raincoats had lived here.

I don't want to include spoilers here but I will say this novel took me for an emotional roller coaster ride!

There are several more incidents of this sort of selfish behaviour that made me thoroughly dislike them both. She lives in north London with her husband, two teenage daughters, one cat, one guinea pig and the best dog in the world. It is a beautiful mirror, pockmarked and musty and still holding the scent of the distempered walls of whichever lost French palace it was rescued from. After the Party handelt 11 Jahre später, Ralph und Jem sind noch immer ein Paar, mittlerweile wohnen sie in einem Häuschen und haben zwei Kinder.Parenthood changes a relationship irrevocably and you either grow together as you adjust to the new demands or drift apart. They have two children – the ever lovely Scarlett and Blake – and the change in dynamics that came with having children weren’t what Jem or Ralph expected.

Although this is a sequel, don't be put off if you haven't read Ralph's Party, as After the Party can easily be read on its own. I can also recommend Vince and Joy, 31 Dream Street, and of course, Ralph's Party which I can't wait to read again with fresh eyes. He didn’t show up at six so I phoned and left messages on his voice mail—nothing—then I got through to him just now, literally about three minutes before you walked in.It tells the story of Ralph and Jem and how their relationship develops 'after the party', how they are both struggling to adapt to their new roles as parents and how they start to suffer with self doubt about how much the other one still loves them. Lisa Jewell tackles all of the gritty real life issues that couple who are married and with a family may encounter. It’s helped that she appears to have a new friend in single dad Joel – but is that all there is to it? Not a line on his face, not for a man of forty-seven, but his face looks dead, as if someone has taken a sheet of sandpaper to him and scoured away all the gloss, all the glitter.