After You Left

by Carol Mason, Elizabeth Knowelden (Narrator)

You want to know what the worst thing is? It's not the embarrassment, or the looks on people's faces when I tell them what happened. It isn't the pain of him not being there - loneliness is manageable.

The worst thing is not knowing why.

When Justin walks out on Alice on their honeymoon, with no explanation apart from a cryptic note, Alice is left alone and bewildered, her life in pieces.

Then she meets Evelyn, a visitor to the gallery where she works. It's a seemingly chance encounter, but Alice gradually learns that Evelyn has motives, and a heartbreaking story, of her own. And that story has haunting parallels with Alice's life.

As Alice delves into the mystery of why Justin left her, the questions are obvious. But the answers may lie in the most unlikely of places...

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Chick Lit, Contemporary, Womens Fiction, Audiobook, Mystery

Audible Audio

First published April 1, 2017

About the author

I am the Kindle #1 and Amazon Charts bestselling author of After You left, The Secrets of Married Women, The Last Time We Met, Send Me A Lover. and The Shadow Between Us. My brand new novel, LITTLE WHITE SECRETS, publishes May 1, 2020 but for the month of April it's an Amazon First Reads pick, so if you have Amazon Prime you can download it free! (if not, it's still on sale for $1.99 through April).

Please feel free to follow me on Amazon to be notified when I have a new release. https://amzn.to/2QrkK4W

Come friend me on Facebook or like my author page as I love interacting on there! https://www.facebook.com/CarolMasonAu...

I always enjoy getting comments about my books (especially lovely ones!), and am always willing to attend your book club or do a phone conference if you'd like to have me.

If you read my books and enjoy them, do consider taking a moment to leave a review on Amazon too. It can be very short if you want, but I cannot stress how important reviews are for authors.. If you have left a review already, then thanks so much!

Wishing you many happy hours of reading! Best wishes, from Carol.

Reviews

[Megan Gattone · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was very strange and hard to read. There was a husband that walked out on his new wife on their hunnymoon. Then the now Ex-Wife met a new man who fell in love with her. Problem was, he was married too and willing to leave his wife and children! Too Jerry Springer for me.

On to the next book, and to be honest, it couldn't have came fast enough!

[Malia · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This book was more or less what I expected given the reviews. It was well written, but the story was a little flat and predictable. Still, this was an easy and ultimately satisfying read. I think what made it fall a little short of great for me was simply that it reminded me so much of many other books of a similar ilk like Before I Met You or The House at Riverton and I think they will probably live longer in my memory than After You Left. That being said, I would read books by this author again, because she does have a very nice way with language and her characters were likable.

Find more reviews and bookish fun at http://www.princessandpen.com

[Nancy Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite line: "a person often meets his destiny on the road he took avoiding it."

This was such a heart-wrenching story about finding love, losing love and following your heart's desires. It surrounds two women with much more in common than the surface shows.

Evelyn is an aged woman who met the "love of her life" at a wedding of a friend. A chance encounter left such an impression on her soul that the image stays with her through her adult life. Years after the encounter, and with her current husband, she catches a glimpse of him again and a flood of emotions and feelings envelope her heart. Are her feelings a reflection of what she gave up or hopes of what she might have had?

Alice is in her mid-thirties and has had several relationships. A man in a bar capturers her attention and boldly asks her for a date. A relationship begins, a life of wanting ends and a marriage is on the horizon. Alice awakens one morning while on her honeymoon to a note from her husband stating that he is sorry but he can't take this anymore. Like a thief in the night, he is gone and she is left to deal with the aftermath of not knowing why or where.

Two women -- two lost loves but more than four hearts get broken. Told from two perspectives and two time tables, the stories mesh and blend the pain that only a broken heart can endure. This author has a great talent for placing you front and center in the lives of her characters. The use of art and visual effects from paintings made me have to stop and call up the respective paintings to see if I could see and feel what they were feeling.

The raw, human emotion portrayed on the pages of this book only emphasize that all the people, circumstances, loves and relationships we encounter in our lifetime are like a single drop of blood in our veins -- by itself nothing more than a grain of sand, but added together, it defines who we are.

[Sawsan · Rating 1 out of 5]

plain story with poor characterization

[Emmy B. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Goodreads forces me to give stars to books, but in this instance I'd like to award five poop emojis.



Most of the time when a book fails, it is too tedious to read and I DNF it at once. My patience, I admit, is thin. But once in a while, a book fails in a way that is so fascinating, I read it to just watch the failure explode and spread and infect every word on every page. This, my friends, is that kind of a book.

Major spoilers ahead.

The secret to a book that is fascinatingly bad is that, in some way, it started off as something that had the potential to be good. So it is with After You Left, in which we have an intriguing concept: a bride is suddenly and mysteriously abandoned by her husband, a few days into their honeymoon. And at first Mason explores this mystery, this strange, unusual, remarkable situation, as any author with any sense for the mysterious and the intriguing would. So far, so good.

Then, however, everything collapses under the weight of the trivial, the banal, the stilted, the unbelievable.

1. The writing

First, the language, the dialogue the writing is just... just bad. It may seem that this is a cosmetic thing, a criticism that perhaps ought to come last rather than first in a list of what is wrong with a text, but actually all problems in this novel start precisely here.

"Justin," he addressed himself after a good pause. "Is Alice a bit pissed off with you for some reason?"

When a character talks like that (this is Justin talking of himself in the third person on a date, btw) and he's not a psychopath who is going to eat you after he's done speaking, you, the author, leave the reader confused. Because nobody in the world speak that way. The only way I was tipped off to this not being part of the characterisation of an insane person was that everybody in this novel spoke like someone from My Immortal.

"Everything happens for a reason. It's not a cliche. I can promise."

The writing is bad in a way that extends beyond mere style. At one point, Alice goes to spy on her disappeared husband and she narrates:

I waited around sitting slumped in the seat of my car with a silly hat on. I must have looked ridiculous, like a female Columbo.

And later

I am grating Parmesan for my pasta [...] distantly thinking of Evelyn spying on Eddy's wife, like Columbo, when the phone rings

So... Columbo, eh? That guy famous for wearing silly hats and spying on cheating spouses from his car... I guess?



Later

I missed him as though he had been the left ventricle of my heart

So... does your heart actually miss a piece? If not then... you don't miss him at all? Like... what the hell is going on here, Mason? Are you all right?

2. The characters

The story here divides into two plots that sort of merge and interject. The first is the story of Alice and Justin, and Justin's disappearance. The second is the story of Evelyn and her love triangle: her love affair with poor local boy Eddy and her marriage to the wealthy and steady but boring Mark. So far, so cliche. The thing with cliches is, though, that these stories can transcend the obvious and the trite by good characterisation. In both instances, it fails.

In the first instance, the author does in fact have an intriguing mystery with a complex resolution. See, it turns out that Justin left Alice because he found out that he has a son (with his ex) who has inherited his heart condition, which will make life difficult for him. Justin faces a big moral dilemma: give up on his new wife whom he loves for the sake of the son he feels he has harmed (even if unintentionally); or be there for his son only part of the time but pursue his personal happiness by staying with the wife he loves. If you ask me, this is an actually interesting question, a problem with 0 easy solutions, and a very good conflict to insert into a story of a relationship.

But Mason opts to instead focus on Alice who, for half the book, is just there being miserable, devoting most of her attention to the Evelyn and Eddie story-line for no apparent reason. We don't learn of Justin's problem until well into the second half of the book, and by then he presents Alice with a fait accompli. He decided to stay with the son. Why did he disappear during their honeymoon without telling her? Well, because if he had told her then Mason wouldn't have the elevator pitch for her story that managed to sell it to unsuspecting readers. There is literally no other reason.

This comes down to characterisation, because Justin's is completely absent. By twisting the story to make it about the unremarkable and uninteresting Alice, who faces no complicated decisions and choices, who has to actively do absolutely nothing but receive information when the author decides it is time for her to get it, Mason prevents an interesting problem from appearing plausible, and the tragedy of the actual situation from hitting home.

Justin's lack of characterisation is also why the reader feels cheated in the end, because it becomes truly annoying to the point of wanting to throw the book out of a window, when you realise that there is no reason why he shouldn't have discussed his difficulty with Alice. The author tells you that he's the sort of guy who, when faced with difficulty, runs off to be by himself, but what she shows you is that his wife (a person who presumably knows Justin very well) doesn't think that's something he'd actually do.

But the failure of characterisation is worse, way worse, in the secondary plot to this book: the story of Evelyn and her husband and lover. You see, it is absurdly clear what the author wants you to think. She wants you to think that Romeo and Juliet, or Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic, or Tristan and Isolde are nothing, NOTHING I tell you, to Evelyn and Eddie. Their passion is so grand, so overwhelming, so magnificent, so luminous, so all encompassing, that you are supposed to bawl your eyes out at the tragedy of them never finding their happy ending.



Here's the actual, I shit you not, story of Evelyn and Eddie: she is a vapid non-character, who leaves her boring small town and marries a rich dude because he's rich. Just before she leaves she attends a wedding, where a creep (Eddie) pursues her, dances with her, and extracts a promise of a date from her. She leaves before they go on that date. YEARS LATER (!!) he tends her deceased mother's garden and she comes back to see to the house and he pursues her again, relentlessly romancing her, while he is MARRIED AND HAS A CHILD. Yeah... Eddy?



The thing about characterisation is that, when it's done well, you can feel conflict and motivation and all sorts of things pulling on a character, and you can sympathise with them even if they are absolute evil. The problem with bad characterisation is that the author can pelt you with narrated reasons why you should like a character, and it all falls flat because you the reader are not an idiot and you can sell this bullshit to some other chump, Mason.

The whole story is such a magnificent mess, that by the end I could only marvel at how comprehensively it has failed: every time Mason focuses on one of the characters in the triangle, you can watch her stretch and twist to try and make them sympathetic only to make you hate them more. First, she tries to make you understand that Eddie is in an unhappy, stale marriage and that he is so overwhelmingly in love with another woman that it would be cruel for him not to look for happiness with her. But then you learn that he's only met Evelyn once, at a wedding, and that he has a wife and child who love him and depend on him and you wish diseases on Eddie.

Then comes Evelyn's turn and Mason tells you how she is unhappy in her own marriage, but she cannot settle on why she is unhappy or why she would be happier with Eddie since all you ever see between her and Eddie is them just awkwardly talking about what might have been (again, they'd met ONCE). The author doesn't want to make Mark into an outright villain, because of course then Evelyn would have to leave and then the whole tragedy would never happen, and Mason is convinced that this is the thing that will make your heart soft for the ending. At the same time she can't make Mark actually good because then, again, Evelyn ceases to be sympathetic. So she is left with this conundrum of making Mark nonsensical: at once in love with Evelyn to the point of not being able to imagine life without her, and at the same time not really noticing her, not expressing any emotion towards her and being altogether weird.



This inability of Mason's to understand what her characters ended up being (different from what she intended them to be) translates into a whole, unbelievable mess of an ending, which makes every single character in the book into a monumental dipshit (except for Michael who is uninteresting and unexciting and see point 3). Evelyn spends her old age hoping that Eddie remembers an affair which cost him his family, his livelihood and his memory. Meanwhile, we learn that she's led a life of success and wealth and comfort, after fucking up a whole family because she was a bit bored. Alice is already in love with another guy, even though she's just learned about her husband's tragic story and she's not even divorced yet. She also blames her mother for everything and is enamoured of her father and the woman he left her family for. Somehow this makes sense in Mason's world. Eddie royally fucked up his life and Alice's life and his wife's life, and this is somehow a reason we should be sad for him.



3. The romance and this book's philosophy on love

This book features five love stories founded on an understanding of what love is and how people fall into it so profoundly warped, if I were Mason's partner, I'd be seriously worried.

First: the way people fall in love. In all the cases in this book, attraction is the work of an instant. Evelyn and Eddie see each other at the wedding and that's it. Lives are changed. Alice and Justin look at each other across the bar, and then immediately he asks her out to dinner. They had not spoken and he doesn't even know her name. He just immediately asks her out. Just like that. And she agrees!! Alice and Michael meet at the gallery and he starts giving her puppy eyes and she starts talking about how cute he is IMMEDIATELY, even though HER HUSBAND HAD JUST MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARED.

Can you see a theme here?

The problem with love at first sight is always the same: it gives the author no space at all to work up any kind of chemistry on which to build a relationship we would root for. By telling me that Woman is pretty and Man is handsome, and they are in bed together before either batted an eye, you are robbing me of the joy of suspense, of tension, of all the things that make a romance at all worthwhile. Worse, it is also absolutely unbelievable. People just don't act that way. Sure, it's possible that you can see someone across a room and be interested. But then comes the heavy work of combating your nerves and your shyness to approach them, to find out if they're single, of getting to know them well enough to see if you could meet again... This takes time, and effort, and it's the thing that makes good romances good.

Second, the way marriage and relationships work. So, the difference between a fresh new love and a long, established relationship is that while the first is exciting and full of leaping hearts and firsts, the second is made up of comfort and habits. Sure, it's less exciting, but there's the support you have in times of trouble, and the tragedies big and small that you've survived together that make you one in a way that nothing else can. Here, bad relationships (Eddie's with his wife, Evelyn's with Mark I guess, Sally's with John) are never really bad, they've just slowed down from the peak of first love. And the characters in this book (with the full approbation of the author, apparently) see this as the natural end of the relationship. There is no attempt at spicing things up, re-awaking what was lost, of getting some external help (therapy? holiday?). No, if something doesn't work, give up on it!

Lastly, it becomes clear as you read it, Mason thinks that cheating is romantic. She doesn't think you will see Eddie's abandonment of his wife and neglect of his child for what it is, but view it the way Evelyn views it: as profoundly flattering to her. And here Mason and I diverge most in our view of morality and romance. To her, what Eddie does is grandly romantic, and how Evelyn perceives it is natural and just. To me, what Eddie does is a sign of weak moral character and as far away from the acts of a romantic hero as I can imagine, and the way Evelyn perceives it is emblematic of her having some sort of psychopathic/narcissistic disorder.

This could have been improved by having Evelyn and Eddie be each others exes, but of course that clashes with everything Mason believes in when it comes to romance: if Evelyn and Eddie had dated and then broken up and then reunited, it would ruin her "it's all or nothing" philosophy of love. It would also mean that good relationships aren't immediately and forever doomed if they are not 100% perfect from the moment the two lovers look at each other. It would mean that Evelyn would have to make some difficult choices and take responsibility for them. It would have required actual characterisation, a sensible attitude to love and romance, and a realistic view of people. This is all Mason's against.

4. The mystery

The main selling point of this book is the mystery of what actually happened. First, we have Justin, who leaves Alice without explanation in the middle of their apparently blissful honeymoon. And second there's Evelyn who leaves the exact same note Justin leaves Alice to some man.

Good mysteries will slowly unfold before you. With each chapter you will have new information which at once illuminate the mystery a little, while also changing what you thought was real into a new intriguing picture of reality.

Bad mysteries dump a whole lot of questions at you, tell you that the people who know the answers are right here in front of you but refuse to talk and then tell you everything at some random pace determined arbitrarily by the people who have the information.

After You Left, my friends, is a bad fucking mystery.

In summary

With bad writing, all that was original and interesting in this book is turned into a monumental turd. You feel no sympathy for characters who are, objectively, abhorrent. Their love stories aren't even superficially charming, since Mason is a bad writer devoid of wit. It is badly researched, so the time periods she tries to set her historical parts in don't feel like those time periods, which is not nearly as bad as the characters who never feel like real people. It relies on a philosophy of love that is poisonous and robbed me of whatever charity and good will I had for this book to begin with.

[TheFormerAstronomer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kindle first pick from March (I think)

Honestly if I wanted to read about tedious relationship faux-dramas that could be solved if people would just use their words like adults I'd spend more time on Facebook.

most boring book I've had the misfortune to read in a while

[Therese Gillies · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tedious

I'm sorry but this is the worst book I've read in a long time. I should've go entering up a chapter or so in but trudged through to the e d feeling a absolutely nothing for any of the characters.

[Bookread2day · Rating 4 out of 5]

As all my Goodreads followers know I love reading about husband and wife fictional drama. This is my first book by Carol Mason who I am now following. Take a deep breath. Whose husband walks out on his wife on their honeymoon? Justin leaves after writing a note to Alice saying I've made a terrible mistake. I can't go on. Did Alice really know Justin that well after meeting him a year ago then marrying him? Why did Justin leave his wife after just marrying her? I recommend reading After You Left as its one of those stories that you don't know who you feel the most sorry for. I felt sorry for Alice being left by her husband on their honeymoon and then I felt sorry for Justin for heart break issues that he has found himself in.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Girl meets boy. They fall in love. She moves away and they find their own paths in life. They meet many years later but know they cannot pursue their love. With a present day story intertwined, this plot follows two female protagonists who have been disappointed in love. And the end result? A read that isn’t too original.

Surprisingly, I found it difficult to emotionally connect with Alice and Evelyn. The plot was a struggle to get into and I found it fell a little flat. I could see where the story was going and whilst there were a few surprises, I don’t think the whole “parallel story” was well executed. Alice’s story originally had me transfixed – her husband suddenly leaves her just after their wedding day – but Mason was unable to continue the pace and anticipation. At times, the plot felt muddled and as if Mason was trying too hard.

Evelyn’s story progresses over several decades but she appears to be a timeless character. Mason makes many references to the night Evelyn and Eddy first met – so much so, that I thought I had slept through reading this part! Instead, Mason provides this romantic yet, fateful episode at the closing of the novel. Whilst I did answer many questions, I believe it would have added more intrigue if this had been part of the prologue.

There are some sad scenes in this novel, particularly those set in present day. Eddy’s dementia and his lack of memory regarding his life with Evelyn was particularly poignant. It is one I’m sure many readers will be able to relate to and it was this aspect that made me the story so emotional. Otherwise, it all fell a bit flat with me.

Despite struggling to get into this narrative, it was pleasant and easy to read. Not the most enjoyable, it is probably best suited to someone in a “reading slump” who needs a gradual reading “pick me up”. If you have just finished a five star, banging read, then come back to this later down the line.

[Demelza · Rating 2 out of 5]

Took me while to read as I kept getting bored, then something would happen and I'd read some more, then I got bored again. A bit of a see-saw read. I found most of the characters unbelievable. Would anybody in Alice's position really react like that? Would Justin?

The parts of the book about Evelyn's life could, I feel, have been turned into a novel on it's own. For me, the two stories did not gel.

[Jax · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started this on Kindle on 5th March 2017. Strangely intriguing story of woman abandoned on her honeymoon & she has no idea why. Quite a gripping read as she tries to discover why and then she also meets an older woman who too has a complex tale to tell. Add into the mix the potential effect of great art on those with dementia. A fascinating read

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every line of this long, well thought out novel is perfectly written. Two storylines fill its pages, storylines which are connected in ways that becomes clear late in the novel, and which I did not anticipate. The ability to keep me from correctly guessing the relationships between the characters is, to me, a sign of really good writing. Alice is in her thirties, and has been abandoned by her husband, Jason, on their honeymoon. She knows he loves her, and that there is no one else, so what could have made him leave her? Evelyn is an older woman, caring for a man with dementia. She is a widow of means, and has sought out Alice, though the fact that this was deliberate is not apparent to Alice early on. There is a connection between the women, between their stories and heartaches. Evelyn's story was the one that truly captivated my attention and heart. Anyone who lives long enough, and who did not marry young, probably has a true love who was lost, for any number of reasons, and who, from time to time, comes alive again in their heart and memory, yielding thoughts of "what if," or "why didn't I?" Living with regret is a life sentence for some, while others try to do something good with that regret, as does Evelyn. There were references to Lady Chatterly's Lover, which was welcome to me, as I studied all of DH Lawrence's novels in high school and in college. Lady Chatterly was really nothing like Evelyn, but both novels included a gardener and a great passion. "After You Left" is well worth the time invested in its more than three hundred pages! British writer, Carol Mason, deserves kudos for creating such a well thought out, well paced and plotted mystery, not of a criminal nature, but of love and loss and redemption and hope.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alice is living her life as a fairy-tale, leading up the matrimony to Justin. Taken back by his importune meeting, she is smitten that he is attracted to her from the first sight. Even though that Alice has her reservations about taking his offer to date, she gives in to the stirring temptation. Whirlwind of passion causes them to fall in love quickly, but things changes drastically when Justin leaves without notice on their honeymoon. Now she must trace back what attracted her to him in the first place? The more curious she becomes about his backstory, the less likely she believes that he will leave her hang and dry. Yet Justin will always have a special place in her heart, but she wonders if she should move on.

Evelyn one of Alice closest confidants is there for her in the midst of her crisis. However, she has her own life to worry about, infidelity and chaos entwined with both of their life hanging on by a sheer thread. Told with clarity and ease, the story unfolds to a beautiful dramatic story that would have you rereading pages to consume all the beauty!

I have to say this book took me by a huge surprise, not only was there great characterization but the story was so compelling! At first I was only immersed in Justin and Alice's story but Evelyn story was just as intriguing and interesting! So many pivotal scenes, I related to so many characters, I deeply sympathized with their personality.

By far the best book I read so far, HIGHLY recommended..Plan to read more books by Mason!

[Zohre · Rating 4 out of 5]

دلتنگی به معنای تمنای بازگشت است. دلتنگی، درد و حسرت است. برخی دکترها می گویند دلتنگ گذشته بودن نوعی بیماری روانی است. می دانی چرا ؟ چون آرزوی بازگشت به زمانی را داری که دیگر رفته است. خودت می دانی که نیست اما امان از خاطراتِ خوش گذشته که دو دستی به آنها می چسبی و رهایشان نمی کنی. نمی دانم چرا وقتی از گذشته حرف می زنیم ، تجربه های دردناک را فراموش می کنیم یا ترجیح می دهیم از آ��ها چشم پوشی کنیم ؟

[Shawn Bird · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read a few Carol Mason books (Lives of Married Women, The Love Market) and enjoyed them, so I was settling in for a pleasant read. Instead, I found myself on the edge of my seat, fully engaged with Alice's predicament. Abandoned by her new husband on their honeymoon, as the story unfolds, she has to figure out why he left and determine what she is going to do with the rest of her life. Interactions with an elderly lady whom she meets in an art gallery, and who has her own fascinating romantic tale to tell, adds an interesting contrast to Alice's own issues.

I couldn't put this one down. I think it's Carol's best work yet. I spent a restless night after I finished it, imagining how I would have dealt with the challenges. I think it just begs to be a movie!

Disclaimer:
I received an advance copy of this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Em · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't like it. It was long and tedious. I didn't like the cheating aspect. Evelyn was so wishy washy, I wanted to just shake her and tell to to make a damn decision already. She makes a promise to leave her husband, then doesn't. None of her reasoning made sense to me. Justin's reason for leaving Alice wasn't justified (imo). Not telling his new wife anything and just running away...really? I just hated the story and it didn't help that it was extremely long.

[~ Cariad ~ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, that was about as boring an audiobook as I've ever listened to and I'm easily over the 200 mark.

Luckily, or perhaps, no wonder, it was one of the new 'KU with free narration' books, as I'd have been gutted if I'd wasted a credit on it.

Authors please note and trust me on this, the narrator can make or break your book. Choosing a fairly posh/well spoken, one dimensional voice, with no ability to bring characters to life? ...yeah, not your best move.

[Nicola · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very repetitive. Couldn't care less my Justin left. And gave up on Eddy and Evelyn halfway through. Guessed the ending.

[Renita D'Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful and sensitively written. Loved it.

[Reading · Rating 1 out of 5]

Great cover

[Elsa Carrion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slow start but wow, ending was unexpected! Blew my mind and loved the "what could have been if only....." Evelyn was either really brave or really stupid for the decision she made when she was young. I don't think I would have done it the way she did. Who doesn't plan or wish for themselves some type of future. Communication would have been nice on her part. Things would have been soooooo different.

The writing was exceptional, the author words makes you feel like you are looking at these beautiful work of art she mentions in the story, not only the paintings but how she describes Evelyn's feelings and even how she describes Evelyn. I loved Eddy. I learned a little on Dementia. I loved how this story mentions a little of first love and the one.

[Vikki Vaught · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Musings

Interesting story. I don't normally read women's fiction, but I enjoyed this one. The characters had a great deal of depth and the plot was good. I did get confused when the story switched to Evelyn so abruptly, but then I figured out that there must be something that would the it together, and I was right. While this book did not have a HEA, it does have a satisfying conclusion.Happy ☺reading 📚!

[Nirit · Rating 3 out of 5]

ג'סטין עוזב את אליס באמצע ירח הדבש שלהם. זו נקודת הפתיחה של הספר. זה שבר כל כך גדול, אבל משום מה ההתנהגות של אליס אחרי השבר הזה היא סוג של אדישות אטומה. הסופרת אמנם מכניסה לפה של אליס את כל המילים הנכונות, אבל התחושה שלי כקוראת היא שאליס מקבלת את המצב במין שיוויון נפש. גם אחרי שאליס מגלה למה ג'סטין עזב (לא אעשה ספויילר) היא מגיבה בהבנה מעצבנת. אני הייתי מגיבה אחרת לגמרי, צורחת את הכאב שלי לכל עבר. אולי בגלל זה התקשיתי להזדהות עם אליס ולהתחבר לדמות שלה.
בכל מקרה, מדובר בספר קליל לקריאה שזורם במהירות.

[Preet · Rating 3 out of 5]

The books about a story of two women. In one relationship a women left and the other the man. It's telling the story from each of the women and how they felt and the circumstances of which difficult decisions are made. Evelyn's story I find very interesting because it's about trying to do the right thing but there's clearly regret like what if she was with Eddy. Sometimes on life we can't be with the one we love because life makes that decision for us via circumstances.

[The Barefoot Crafter · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting, enjoyable read with an intriguing concept. The "twist" felt a bit forced and the premise to uphold it as possible was just a shade unrealistic for my liking. And a minor nitpick was the formatting where age was mentioned and the second half was capitalised - i.e. Seventy-ONE - I found jarring and pulled me from the story. It was still a good read and one I would recommend to friends.

[M E Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a dynamically riveting book

A story of love found and lost in the past and the present. Although the concept was interesting I found myself skipping pages to hurry it along. Evelyn and Eddy and Alice and Justin both stories intertwine with a surprising outcome.

[Laura..devouring books like crumpets · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read another book by this author the secrets of married women, which was the first time i fell in love with the beautiful way she writes.

To be completely honest this kind of romance/drama isnt my usual Genre but i cant help going back to this author. This book was just as spellbinding heartbreaking and real as the first book of hers i read.

Alice gets left by Justin on their honeymoon this book is her self discovery and healing along with a past epic love story filled with wishes and loss.

Evelyn.... I could understand her reluctance to leave a good man she loved, i think some people may find her wishy washy but faced with the circumstances could you do anything for love?

Alice, as the story progresses we see that the partnership between her and Justin is more mechanical than one that rocks the ages and watch as Alice slowly comes to the same realization.

Again this lets me reflect on my own marriage and how the epic love evolves into something else, looking back at the past and wondering what if isn't the answer, more to focus on the small things about my relationship i love and the little quirks i wouldn't change for the world.

Was Evelyn and Marks initial love Epic??? After a few arguments and real life wouldn't anyone pine after the one who could have been? No relationship is perfect but we have to remember the memories that made it into the marriage or partnership it is today.... Another amazingly moving story that stops and makes you think......

[Alsanea · Rating 3 out of 5]

رواية مرهفة مليئة بالمشاعر من سطورها الأولى وفقيرة نسبياً بالحبكة التي تسحرك لإكمال متعة قراءتها، سمعت عنها قبل ثلاث سنوات تقريباً ولم أرى لها انتشاراً واسعاً كحال روايات كثيرة وطبعاً ظلت حبيسة أرفف مكتبتي منذ ذلك الوقت.

تدور أحداث الرواية حول أليس التي يتركها زوجها في صبيحة يومهم الخامس من شهر العسل بكل هدوء ودون سابق انذار فقط رسالة قصيرة جداً تركها لها ليخبرها إنه لا يستطيع المواصلة ودون أي تفسير مقنع، تركها حزينة وفي حيرة من أمرها ما الذي حدث🤷🏻‍♀️، تبحث عنه لتكتشف أنه على خير ما يرام ولكن!! لا يريد التواصل معها🙍🏻‍♀️، ما الذي حدث لهم لا تعلم🤷🏻‍♀️. المهم💁🏻‍♀️ تلتقي صدفةً أثناء عملها في المعرض الفني بـ إيفلين وهي امرأة مسنّة أنيقة بدت خبيرة بالفقد والخسارة (مليون خط تحت كلمة صدفة🙅🏻‍♀️)، حكاية تلو الأخرى لامست إيفلين وجع أليس وقلبها بطريقة لم يفهمها الآخرون ، مع مرور الوقت تسرد إيفلين قصتها الشخصية التي حملت أصداء قوية من تجربة أليس نفسها وعبر حواراتهما تكتشف أليس ما مرت به إيفلين من خيانة وفقد وانتظار طويل وبالرغم من ذلك تمكنت بالنهاية من إعادة بناء حياتها من جديد بعيداً عن الفقد والمرارة واكتشفت أن القوة تأتي من تقبّل الخسارة بدل محاربتها لتكون الدافع لـ أليس لمراجعة زواجها واختياراتها في الحياة وصورتها عن نفسها وعن الحب. العديد العديد من الأحداث والمفاجآت التي قد تروق لمحبي هذا النوع من الروايات كثيراً.

الرواية لا تقدم لنا الهجر على أنه خيانة عاطفية تقليدية بل هو جبن عاطفي وافتقاد للنضج عند جاستين (زوج أليس) حيث لم يستطع أن يكون صريحاً مع أليس أو حتى مع نفسه.


ثلاث نجوم ونص هو تقييمي للرواية والحمدلله إني قرأتها أخيراً😎🙏🏻.
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21-09-2025

[Melinda Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an audiobook I have been listening to, and oftentimes I'm listening to audiobooks in transit, whilst I'm driving and so I'm looking for something to relieve the boredom of being stuck in traffic. After you Left had the misfortune of being so boring, I turned it off a few times and preferred to sit in the traffic sans distraction, than listen to another chapter of this book.

Alice gets married and her new husband leaves her shortly after. No reason, no communication, nada. So of course you're sitting there, rubbing your hands together thinking "excellent, there's some major, dramatic, juicy story here and it's going to be amazing". Unfortunately that's not the case. Justin is such a weasel of a character, and Alice so banal, that by the time the big mystery is revealed you're relieved to think that you're surely close to the end of the book. But no, not even close.

Running parallel to this pained story, is Evelyn and Eddie. Evelyn meets a man who fulfils what she was missing, but when he makes a choice to spend his life with her she changes her mind thinking him 'less of a man' for making that decision. Excuse me?! What did you want?!

I would recommend against this one, especially if you want something even halfway interesting to listen to.