Life After Yes

April 26, 2010
Lawyer turned author and blogger Rowley spins a heartfelt, earnest, if uneven, tale of post-9/11 New York City. It’s January 2002, and corporate lawyer and lifelong New Yorker Prudence Quinn O’Malley has just accepted a “wonderful, majestic, classic” marriage proposal in Paris. But an unsettling dream the next night featuring three grooms and her father, who died on September 11, makes her rethink her plans. Still reeling from her father’s death, Quinn might not be ready for marriage. Her fiancé, Sage, tries to be supportive and patient, but a family tragedy in his own past and his overbearing mother complicate the situation. Quinn tailspins into binge-drinking and impulsive decisions, trying to reconcile her past self with a future that might seem perfect on the outside, but may not be what she really wants. Sage, her two best girlfriends, and her personal trainer are on board to help her move forward. Although Rowley’s quirky characters and lavish descriptions of New York show promise, the blend of dark self-discovery and frothy, party-driven chick lit doesn’t quite jell, while cutesy metaphors and stilted double entendres further disturb the pace.

May 15, 2010
What could have been a ho-hum story of a golden girls engagement to an equally golden boy is tempered and hardened by the specter of 9/11. Quinn is the beautiful, smart, successful young lawyer; daughter of smart, successful, wealthy parents; living a fiction-perfect life as a junior partner in a major law firm; and engaged to Sage, an equally blessed investment banker. All is according to plan until a September morning when her father meets his broker for breakfast at the top of the World Trade Center. Life shatters, but of course life goes on. In her grief, Quinn questions and tests the love and loyalty of everyone, and acts out in ways that others are willing to tolerate, for a while. Finally, she becomes aware of the grief and burdens that others bear, and finds and accepts the flaws in herself and others that her previous self would not have. First-novelist Rowley creates credible characters and situations with sharp dialogue and apt descriptions, and wisely lets a personal perspective embody the story of a national disaster.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)