Lisa Jewell's fans will be delighted with this long-awaited sequel to Ralph's Party, an engrossing novel in its own right even if you didn't read the previous work.
After the Party picks up where most romances leave off, delving into what happens after you finally find the one, cohabitate and have a few babies--showing us protagonists Jem and Ralph 11 years after the romantic payoff that ended Ralph's Party.
Gone are the dizzying smooches, long painting sessions and fun jalapeño-tasting contests. Jem is now obsessed with being a mom, while a rejected Ralph smokes his days away, pouting about his wife's transition from sexy goddess to nagging battleaxe. Jem, meanwhile, is resentful that the lazy Ralph doesn't seem to care about her career. They both start flirting with other people, and just when Jem escapes by crawling into a bottle, life-long atheist Ralph finds God. And that's when you'll really get interested in Jewell's tale.
Jem and Ralph's story is an exquisite conundrum that's uplifting, relatable and jarringly similar to many modern relationships. Jewell's account reminds us that love may begin with grand romantic gestures but only by putting effort into the unglamorous minutiae of everyday life can love survive, grow and last. --Natalie Papailiou, author of blog MILF: Mother I'd Like to Friend