Evelyn Tester is sleepwalking through her suburban life—until a late-night phone call startles her awake. Her husband, a prestigious psychiatrist, has been in an accident. And he isn’t alone.
Suddenly Evelyn’s world isn’t as tidy as she thought. And in the midst of it all is Juliette, not only her husband’s secret lover but also his patient. If news of the affair were to get out, it would ruin … would ruin more than just Evelyn’s marriage. Although it’s a bitter pill for Evelyn to swallow, protecting her family means staying silent—even if, as she begins to discover, the night of the accident has consequences far more dangerous than the unmasking of an affair.
But the more Evelyn learns about Juliette’s picture-perfect life—complete with a handsome, unsuspecting husband—the more she yearns for revenge…and satisfaction. Her growing obsession fuels her rage, burning away her complacency. What will be left of her after it flames out?
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Yup! This book was worth my time!!! Cheaters suck and karma always has a way if finding you. Evelyn went to bed on a “normal” day and before the sun could come up her entire world changed. Did she always make the right decisions?. No—-but no one really knows how they would act in these types of situations. I could totally sympathize with her fears and weaknesses……I think most of us can. While some things were a bit far fetched and a bit too coincidental- overall, I really enjoyed this one.
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Very interesting read which is not your typical affair scenario. This had lots of twist and turns.
Currently reading……..
This book’s characters were complex to say the least, which is a good thing. There were several twists and turns, but I was left wanting a few more, and I even had one in my head, but I cannot share as it would be a spoiler. However, I will say this book kept my attention and I finished it rather quickly. I found the main character, Evelyn, a bit self-absorbed and whiney, but she had some redeeming qualities. Noah seemed like a genuinely good egg. Was he? Were any of them? Read it and find out . . .
I would give this closer to a 3.5 but enjoyed it enough to mark it as a 4 here instead of a 3. I liked the story and the approach the author took in telling the story, but the biggest problem for me was that I didn’t really find any of the characters likable. I especially didn’t find Evelyn likable. I didn’t hate her but I didn’t feel any sympathy for her when I should have since she had been wronged. In the end I just really didn’t feel anything for her. Some nice surprises a long the way but when you don’t really care for the central character it wasn’t enough to make this a great novel.
Evelyn After, my first/fourth read/listen from author Victoria Helen Stone. A captivating, enjoyable read. I was impressed and enjoyed the vocal talents of narrator Tanya Eby. I highly recommend to buy the book, read the book & get into a good author and some good characters as I have. I was given an Audible copy of this book & am voluntarily reviewing it. As to kind of my first read. I started listening to Evelyn After and my wife enjoyed that book so much that I have to listen to it when she can listen to it with me. (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 – July 24, 2018).
I was very disappointed in this book. I found the back and forth (before and affer) of the chapters was very confusing. I never really knew what period of time I was reading about, especially after putting down the book and picking it up later. I would not recommend this book.
From the very beginning you knew Evelyn’s life was a train wreck waiting to happen.I felt like a voyeur stalking Juliette through her husband, facebook and real life. Somehow she manages to pull herself up, see things as they really were and brilliantly put her life back together and start over. The plot was very well put together with a surprise ending. I highly recommend this book.
This book was not exactly what I expected. The description had me thinking it was more of a physical revenge but it turned out to be emotional as well. There are definitely some adult moments in this book, but everything balances out nicely.
In this story, we are set into the shoes of a woman betrayed, but she is betrayed in a way that she doesn’t even realize at first. As her world crashes down around her, she has decisions to make. What will she do when somebody shows up dead? Will she protect her husband? Or does life have something else in store for her?
With devastating passion and emotional waves, this book is a fantastic portrayal of some of the more negative emotions that can overwhelm a person in moments of betrayal. Speaking from the soul of a woman who tries to rebuild her life after the disaster while learning more about herself along the way, this is a deep book that will grab you and pull you in.
Unique, and utterly compelling; a triumph!
After reading JANE DOE – my favourite book of 2018-, I immediately purchased Victoria Helen Stone’s two other books, while anxiously awaiting the next one. And again, Ms. Stone does not disappoint! Evelyn Tester is a forty-one year-old suburban housewife who does clerical work for a school, while her psychiatrist husband earns the big bucks. Her life is nondescript until the evening her husband phones and tells her he’s been in an accident. With his lover. And Evelyn’s life changes in the blink of an eye.
At first, EVELYN, AFTER seems like your typical Women’s Fiction, and then bam! Ms. Stone hits is with plot twist after plot twist! EVELYN, AFTER is told in past third person POV, we’re very much in Evelyn’s head, and the chapters alternate between AFTER and BEFORE, but BEFORE is actually after the accident that set the whole thing in motion; AFTER is, well, you’ll see, and there’s the glorious final NOW, the last chapter. It is a brilliant and unputdownable novel, which I have come to expect from this extraordinary author. The writing is seamless, crisp and sharp; the characters are exceptionally well defined; and the surprises never stop. Evelyn is obsessed with knowing everything about the other woman, and to put it mildly, the story takes wild, unpredictable turns. Moral ambiguity, ethical dilemmas, wrong and right; it’s all a viscous grey muddle. It makes us ask ourselves what we would do; should we be cheering her on or be revolted? I would not have made the choices Evelyn made, but I was thrilled and appalled and couldn’t stop reading. I wouldn’t have wanted to stop reading! And all this magnificence ends on a perfect note, and there is not a single typo! Victoria Helen Stone is a genius who writes the most enthralling, innovative, twisted stories, and I hope she never stops.
“She wasn’t nothing…And if she’d lost her mind, she could get it back. It was somewhere waiting. She’d find it.”
For me, this is a story…wrapped in an erotic and suspenseful framework… about how a woman finds growth and insight into her “self” and her worth after her neat construct of the world crumbles in the face of her finding out her husband has committed a crime.
Sometimes, we readers fall into a trap of our own design assuming that the writer is making yet another presentation of a cliché wife and mother who sacrificed her self-actualization to disastrous consequences in her future life…the cheating professional husband, the self-absorbed older children ready to flee the nest leaving the good mom and wife alone and with nothing…not even her own identity.
Yes, some of this story runs along this vein…but, it goes deeper if you pay attention. Additionally, there is added suspense and mystery that builds with the author employing a clever alternating time jump device of “Before” and “After”. Both time periods meeting at the present which is ultimately, Evelyn, After .
“She’d chosen a life she felt she didn’t belong to. A neat, wealthy world of country clubs and nuclear families. A life she’d only known from TV shows and movies. She’d thought she needed to earn her way in. So she’d worked hard at it.”
There are dramatic and well-done erotic moments that are lovely and bittersweet…and, they add a touch of hopefulness for our main character, Evelyn. Yet, is our hope well placed?
“Strange that something so animal could feel divine. His thrusts felt like worship.”
The entire story is narrated in the third person from Evelyn’s POV. This was an intricate story and my first actual intricate suspenseful story to which I listened. I was held captive by the writing and narration the entire time. I am just learning how to appreciate the audible format after shunning it for so long. Words still look so beautiful on paper to me and I suppose they always will, then again, audible has its charm. To whit, this book is narrated well.
I suppose this author is of some renown based on the large number of reviews the book has. I am surprised though by some of the sheer meanness of some of the reviews. When an author tells a story, characters often do bad things much like people. There are truths to be discovered and unearthed in our flaws and failings…in human drama, real or imagined.
Evelyn is also a plausible character of a certain age from a certain chapter of our social history. If understood as such, the last thing the author invokes in the reader is a feeling of “pity” for her. I personally have not traveled Evelyn’s path but I can say she is entirely understandable. I felt her confusion, her betrayal, her self-loathing and her reckoning. I saw some of my humanity in her and I learned from Evelyn, After.
“Because the truth was that she belonged anywhere she wanted to be, and she was beautiful just for being brave.”
Book was mediocre. Could have eliminated the steamy descriptions by 75%. I would not recommend reading.
I really liked this book, it kept me guessing, not sure how it would end.
Very intriguing
Didn’t like at all.
This book was different than I expected. It is centred almost entirely on Evelyn. The other characters are designed and fleshed out really only in relationship to her. But it works well. Her response to the incident in her life that tragically affects not just her life but others as well, is both fascinating and humbling human. I do feel the ending was a bit rushed, but all in all, this was a good book!
Deep. Thought provoking. Well written. I didn’t want to put it down. Not the fluff I was dreading at all.
LOVED IT! Kept me up until 2 a.m. to finish! Would love to read more by this author!
Still reading. Page turner.
Loved the unexpected twists