What?” I said as I pulled out the menu. I don’t know why I even bothered to look at the menu. I ate eggs Benedict every Saturday morning. In The Year of Magical Thinking (the book Ana buys for Elsie), Joan Didion writes: “Marriage is memory, marriage is time. Marriage is not only time: it is also, paradoxically, the denial of time.” What do you think she means by this? I start running. By the time I get to the end of my street, I can feel just how cold the concrete is on the balls of my feet. My light sweatpants are no match for the wind, but I keep going until I find the source.

Daphne.” This waitress wasn’t nearly as interested in being friends with us as Ana might have hoped. Taylor Jenkins Reid delivers a seductive twist on the timeless tale of a couple trying to rediscover love in a marriage brought low by the challenges of domestic togetherness. I fell in love with Ryan and Lauren from their passionate beginning, and I couldn’t stop reading as they followed their unlikely road to redemption. Touching, perceptive, funny, and achingly honest, After I Do will keep you hooked to the end, rooting for husbands and wives and the strength of true love. Beatriz WilliamsThat’s when I fall to the ground. Everything starts spinning. I can hear my pulse, but I can’t focus on what the policeman is saying. I really didn’t think this was going to happen. I thought bad things only happened to people with hubris. They don’t happen to people like me, people that know how fragile life is, people that respect the authority of a higher power. But it has. It has happened to me.

Ben Ross!” the cashier called out, and he jumped up. He looked right at me and said, “Hold that thought.” Walking into Georgie’s Pizza, I felt nothing. No part of my brain or my body knew what was about to happen. I felt no premonition. I was wearing bright yellow galoshes and what can only be described as fat jeans. The rain had matted my hair to my face and I’d given up pushing it away.

He laughed. He wasn’t overly interested or desperate. He wasn’t aloof or cool either, he just . . . was. I don’t know whether he was this way with all women, whether he was able to talk to any woman as if he’d known her for years, or whether it was just me. But it didn’t matter. It was working. “Oh, it’s fine,” he said. “But I’m not even going to try for your number. Girl compliments your eyes, your hair, your beard, your arms, your name, that means she’s open to a date. Girl compliments your shirt? You’re getting shot down.” That particular morning, she was wearing big sweatpants and she had her hair pulled up into a ponytail, a zip-up sweatshirt covering her torso. You could barely tell she wasn’t wearing a shirt underneath her sweatshirt, and it occurred to me that this is how Ana does it. This is how she drives men crazy. She looks naked while being entirely covered. And you would have absolutely no indication she does this on purpose. Ben and Elsie’s relationship is twice likened to a “supernova.” Discuss the two different contexts that this comparison appears in. Ultimately, do you think it is an applicable analogy for their love?

I've been asked several times if this book has a happy ending... well, I feel like it had the happiest possible ending given the situation. Ben is really dead and tha D o you understand why Ben never told his mother about his relationship with Elsie? Why do you think Elsie didn’t push him harder on this? Instead, Ana got too drunk at the party, started making out with the guy from the gym, and disappeared for a few hours. This was fairly typical of Ana and something that I had come to love about her, namely that nothing ever went as planned. Something always happened. She was a nice reprieve from my own personality. A personality for whom everything went as planned and nothing ever happened. So when I was stranded at the party waiting for Ana to pop out of wherever she’d been hiding, I wasn’t angry or surprised. I had assumed things might take this turn. I was only slightly annoyed as I rang in the new year with a group of strangers. I stood there awkwardly, as friends kissed each other, and I just stared into my champagne glass. I didn’t let it ruin my evening. I talked to some cool people that night. I made the best of it. From newlywed to widower in the space of nine days, Elsie Porter must face her grieving mother-in-law, who was unaware of Elsie’s existence…I honestly don’t think Taylor Jenkins Reid could write a book I don’t like! I just love how she writes. There’s always such tenderness in her writing and her books never fail to move me. Elsie is consumed with grief. How could she have known Ben for such a short time yet felt so completely known and loved? To complicate matters, Ben never told his mother, despite their closeness, that Elsie existed, let alone became his wife. You loved him. He loved you. You believed in each other. That is what you lost. It doesn’t matter whether it’s labeled a husband or a boyfriend. You lost the person you love. You lost the future you thought you had.” Taylor Jenkins Reid

Ah,” I said. “Well, it doesn’t really tell you much if I compliment you now, does it? I mean, you know that I’m complimenting you because you’ve asked . . . ” TJR wastes no time ripping out your heart. I appreciated this versus building up to it. Dual timelines always stress me out because I know they’re going to be traumatic. Knowing what happens and how it happens upfront let me enjoy the timeline of their journey more and on the flip side I was able absorb the pain of the second timeline a little easier without being blindsided. Moving, gorgeous and, at times, heart-wrenching. Taylor Jenkins Reid writes with wit and true emotion that you can feel. Read it, savor it, share it." Touching and powerful...Reid masterfully grabs hold of the heartstrings and doesn't let go. A stunning first novel." Publishers WeeklyI'm going to share the blurb with you because I actually feel its a beautiful and very accurate depiction of the story. God, even reading the blurb makes my heart hurt. But this is exactly what this book is about: