The Book:
Everything After by Jill Santopolo
Published March 9th 2021 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Date read: December 17, 2021
The Characters:
Emily
Rob
Ezra
Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon
The Plot (from Goodreads):
The Light We Lost mixes with a touch of Daisy Jones and the Six in this novel of first love, passion, and the power of choice–and how we cannot escape the people we are meant to be.
Two loves. Two choices. One chance to follow her dreams.
Emily has come a long way since she lost her two passions fifteen years ago: music, and Rob. She’s a psychologist at NYU who helps troubled college students like the one she once was. Together with her caring doctor husband, Ezra, she has a beautiful life. They’re happy. They hope to start a family. But when a tragic event in Emily’s present too closely echoes her past, and parts of her story that she’d hoped never to share come to light, her perfect life is suddenly upturned. Then Emily hears a song on the radio about the woman who got away. The melody and voice are hauntingly familiar. Could it be? As Emily’s past passions come roaring back into her life, she’ll find herself asking: Who is she meant to be? Who is she meant to love?
The Review:
Thank you to Putnam Books for a gifted copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Is there an event in your past where a different decision would have completely changed your life?
This book was great, but make sure you read it when you’re good and ready for all kinds of emotions. I wasn’t expecting it to make me as emotional as it did! Everything After is about love, marriage, and the what-ifs of the past. TW: infertility and miscarriages
This is my first book by this author, but I really enjoyed her simple-but-elegant writing style. The short chapters made the book a quick read, despite material that is heavy at times.
Emily’s mother had taught her to live by the saying “everything happens for a reason”. At some points, Emily seemed to be using this as a bit of an excuse for bad behavior. Cheating just isn’t something I can condone, even in reading! I got a little bit frustrated with her in these passages, but in the end I liked her character overall. She was sweet and in love, and I wanted the best for her. I’m rarely a fan of the love triangle trope, and for this reason I found it hard to like Rob.
If you’ve ever wondered “what if”, this book will definitely make you think about your past, for better or worse. I really enjoyed watching Emily find herself and find peace with her relationships.
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