AFTER I DO 💍 review 💍 I recently read a review by @texas.bookworm who described TJR’s later books as the “Rivaverse” and I was like why aren’t more people calling it that?! Or maybe they are and I’m just woefully behind. This is my first TJR backlist book and it feels so different from her other books about powerful, famous, and often misunderstood, women. This book almost felt more like a woman’s personal diary of the unraveling of her marriage. I’m not quite sure how to rate this one yet (I have to sit on it for a few days). I think it could have been a bit shorter; the middle started to drag a little for me. But I will say the insights about marriage are both terrifying and insightful. How two people, once so madly in love, can lose their passion. And it’s doesn’t have to be because of a big blowup like someone cheating. A marriage can be killed by a million little things. And resentment can fester like cancer. I appreciated how both Ryan and Lauren realize that they need to ask for what they want. That for so long they had both been simply agreeing with the other to prevent a fight. And that for a marriage to work, you can’t take your partner for granted. You need to be open and honest, even if it means occasionally hurting the others feelings. And most importantly, marriage is work. Sometimes it’s the hardest job of all, but the payoff is worth it. My favorite part had to be the email drafts ❤️ And Thumper was a close second. When reading this book I was constantly reminded of the quote by Louis de Bernières: “Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away.”