My take on: Life After Yes

After years together, he surprises you with a romantic getaway!! What are his intentions? Could this be the moment? Yes it is!! While in Paris he melts your heart with a romantic proposal!! You scream out "Yes!!" You're living in the moment. You are filled with euphoria!! Now what do you do? That's question haunting Prudence "Quinn" O'Malley in Life After Yes by Aidan Donnelley Rowley.

Quinn is a young, modern Manhattan attorney struggling in the aftermath of the death of her father on Sept. 11. We never meet her father, but he plays a pivotal role throughout the book. She seems to have it all. A fiance, her own apartment and what a lot of us long for -- NO STUDENT LOAN DEBT. After that romantic Paris proposal from her fiance Sage McIntyre, Quinn has a rather strange dream. A dream that she will constantly analyze. The dream takes place in a courtroom with white handcuffs, three grooms, including a former boyfriend, her deceased father, her mother and brother Michael, Britney Spears and Nietzsche. Is this dream an omen? Is happiness attainable for Quinn when her mind is full of doubts?

Is Sage the one? Or was it her former boyfriend Phelps? Perhaps Quinn is taking it too seriously like her friend Kayla said, "All of a sudden you're a believer? You think psychic powers are tingled during REM?" Quinn finds many ways to drown out her thoughts and grief, mostly with alcohol. Alcohol is the one vice Sage wishes Quinn could give up. No chance of that happening as long as he continues to be a 'Mama's Boy.' As a lawyer she is constantly analyzing everything, making Quinn question if that's the way she will be forever. Alcohol isn't Quinn's only crutch, there is also a flirtation with another man, a betrayal and ...... bacon! Yes bacon cooked by Sage seems to cure all ills.

Quinn's love of bacon is one of the many moments of levity in the book. A little salty snack to forget the day's troubles. What's wrong with that? Her friend Kayla, also a lawyer, never met a drink she didn't like. One minute Kayla is the life of the party and the next she is passed out drunk. From the subject matter, one might think that Life After Yes is just another chick lit novel. I don't think it is. Not everyone can relate to Quinn's character. Right off the bat I can tell she is in a different tax bracket than most people, including me. But Rowley has created a character that is very relatable. Quinn, like everyone in life, is flawed. She doubts her decisions, and then wonders if it was a mistake. Quinn also wonders if she even has the right to be happy. Does she deserve Sage? All questions that we ask in our own lives.

Rating: Superb

Notes: I received a copy of Life After Yes from the publisher at the request of the author's publicist. To learn more about Aidan Donnelley Rowley visit her blog: http://www.ivyleagueinsecurities.com/