After I Do is a great book having all the ups and downs of a relationship. The story starts off with an argument and fights, unlike romance and love. I had least expected it to start like that and blow me off. I had a great time learning about the hardships and difficulties that come with marriage and love.
I like how After I Do vibes are similar to that of Malibu Rising. It focuses on family, relationships, and love which I find to be real and realistic like Malibu Rising.
Synopsis:
When Lauren and Ryan’s marriage reaches the breaking point, they come up with an unconventional plan. They decide to take a year off in the hopes of finding a way to fall in love again. One year apart, and only one rule: they cannot contact each other. Aside from that, anything goes.
Lauren embarks on a journey of self-discovery, quickly finding that her friends and family have their own ideas about the meaning of marriage. These influences, as well as her own healing process and the challenges of living apart from Ryan, begin to change Lauren’s ideas about monogamy and marriage. She starts to question: When you can have romance without loyalty and commitment without marriage, when love and lust are no longer tied together, what do you value? What are you willing to fight for?
The relationship is not always sunshine and rainbows:
Yes, love is great but it is not always sunshine and a smile. The relationship comes with lots of ups and downs. Not only between lovers, but also in other relationships with family members or friends, there may come problems along with disagreements and fights.
Emotionally, we may love them but sometimes it just isn’t right. We might feel frustrated with their habits, feel suffocated to be with them in the same room, and might not even consider their feelings while talking. And I think it’s totally okay to feel that way. With time, you might even fall out of love with whom you had fallen in love back then.
The same thing happens between Lauren and Ryan. They used to be so in love in their younger days but now they don’t even want to see the sight of each other let alone talk. Love is beautiful but one can’t feel the same excitement and butterflies as before when falling in love.
I like how After I Do focuses on that side of relationship when things are rocky and bitter. Honestly, some might even not read this book because it focuses on bad side of love but that is whole point of book. It makes you see things in bad light but also makes you enlighten about love.
Actual reason of fights and arguments
As I have already said, the couples in After I Do have a rocky relationship. Their relationship is on the verge of breaking off and they somewhat try to mend it through unconventional plan.
The main reason of their drift in their relationship is dishonesty. Literally, you just get the feeling while reading that they fight because they are so dishonest with each other. Due to dishonesty, they just keep on building up hatred for each other, and that ultimately leads to fights in the end.
They tend to agree with each other but only for the sake of peace. They don’t want to head on admit that they actually don’t like each other now. They hate each other’s guts, habits, talking, favorite’s, things and nevertheless, they don’t say anything too. They misunderstand each other and there is a lot of communication gap.
The long-term relationship lasts long through understanding, trust, and communication. The ultimate key to a long-lasting relationship is communication but that is the main thing their relationship has been missing now.
Their attempt to mend their relationship
After they both admit that they don’t love each other and actually hate to see each other’s faces. They realize that they have to mend their relationship one way or other. Both of them come up with lots of ideas and tick lists for solutions. They don’t give up on their relationship. And, I actually like this thing about them.
Whenever things get hard, people nowadays tend to break things off and give up because they don’t want to suffer. Seeing the opposite of what I had expected, I was extremely surprised. Also, what I like is they didn’t put the divorce on the tick list when coming up with the idea, that means there is still hope and they are willing to do anything to mend their relationship, right?
I love how this book focuses on broken marriage but also focuses on mending that broken marriage too.
Important lesson
The most important lesson reading After I Do is to never give up on anything. If it is worth it, give everything that matters.
We don’t need someone to survive or to live. We have come into this world alone and we can survive alone too. But, there is still a need for someone in our life. We just wish there was someone by our side when things get hard or when things are better.
Just like Lauren, she has a hard time dealing with her grandmother’s condition in the hospital, she just calls her husband Ryan to get her and be by her side. Even if their relationship is not on good terms, she wishes to see him and wishes that he was by her side just like in the past when things were better between them.
It simply shows the person whom with we have shared half of our life can’t be erased easily, they are deeply engraved in our hearts and we just love them, we remember their warmth and comfort. And, it is only fair that we give chances to such relationships and never give up on them.
My Thoughts
I am a romance book lover. I can’t love anything as much as I like reading romance books and wish for same kind of ‘love’ similar in the book. Reading this book, was a different experience. Usually, I read book that starts off with romance but this book starts off with broken marriage and relationship.
You just have to be patient while reading this book because it just makes you suffer and feel pain from the beginning so much that you don’t like to read further anymore. But, it is just the reality of life, there is happiness but also sadness in life. And, this book only shows the rock bottom side of life and relationship instead of other romance books that is focused on chemistry and butterflies.
Overall, I really liked this book. It has taught some good life lessons. I get to see things in different light and experience different perspective. I am not someone who has any experience in love but I will definitely remember not to give up on my relationship when things get hard.
Recommended For??
I think this book is readable to anyone. Anyone who loves to read is recommended this book. After I Do is not as mind-blowing as Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo but it is a good read. Maybe someone looking for love can read After I Do. Or, maybe someone who is already in a relationship or marriage is highly encouraged to read this.
After I Do is genuinely all about relationships, marriage, love, and family. So, it can be a good read for people who are in love or might not be in love but are in a relationship.
Let’s chat
What do you think of this if you have already read it? Did you feel frustrated with the characters? Did you learn about relationship like I did when reading it? How did you feel? Let me know in the comments!!
