
Finalist in the 2021 Book Excellence Awards for the category of Marriage.
2021 award winner for the Next Generation Indie Book Awards.
Release Date: April 6, 2021
About The Book:
Maggie Dolin is forty-five and isn’t dealing with getting older very well. Seventeen years ago, she gave up her job in publishing to raise her daughter, Gia—but now her only child is about to leave for college, and Maggie isn’t sure what her new purpose will be. She’s been the caretaker and nurturer for so long that she can’t even remember the last time someone took care of her. She wishes Jim, her husband of nineteen years, would take that role on—but he’s been distracted and disconnected, and she’s convinced he’s hiding something from her. Her self-involved, judgmental mother and resentful brother, meanwhile, are certainly no help, and her father—the only person in her life who’s always been there for her and asked nothing in return—is dealing with increasingly serious health issues, leaving Maggie without her rock.
As all these stressors pile on, a chance meeting with a younger man causes Maggie to act in a way that is completely out of character for her. As she gets deeper in, she’s forced to make some big decisions about what she wants and deserves—decisions that could change her life forever.
After Happily Ever After deals with love, marriage, family, the empty nest, aging parents and what happens when they all come crashing down at the same time.
About The Author:
Leslie A. Rasmussen is the author of After Happily Ever After: A Novel. She graduated with a bachelor’s in communications from UCLA and went on to write television comedies and is a member of Writers’ Guild of America, West. She wrote for Gerald McRaney, Burt Reynolds, Roseanne Barr, Norm McDonald, Drew Carey, and Ralph Macchio as well as The Wild Thornberrys and Sweet Valley High. Later, she earned a master’s degree in nutrition and ran her own business for ten years. Most recently, Leslie has written personal essays for online magazines such as Huffington Post, MariaShriver, and SheKnows. She loves dogs and besides having two adorable Labradors, she is a member of The Alliance of Therapy Dogs and has volunteered at The Burbank Animal Shelter. Leslie lives in Los Angeles and has two sons, and a husband she has been with since college. This is her debut novel.
Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AfterHappilyEverAfterNovel/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/leslierauthor
Twitter – @leslierauthor
Book Blurbs:
Rasmussen is a freelance journalist and former TV sitcom writer, and the latter is evident in the novel’s sharp, funny dialogue and Maggie’s wry, observational narration.” —Kirkus Reviews
“In Leslie A. Rasmussen’s debut novel, a woman finds herself reanalyzing her life and her marriage when her daughter is heading off to college. Smart and funny, After Happily Ever After is an exciting debut.” –Laura Dave, international best-selling author of Eight Hundred Grapes
“About a soon-to-be empty nester learning to love herself one blunder at a time. After Happily Ever After is a delightful and probing novel.” — Forward Review
“Leslie A. Rasmussen’s After Happily Ever After Gives voice to many women in the ‘sandwich generation’ – and the voice is a funny one.” –Leslie Lehr, prize-winning author of A Boob’s Life
With warm tenderness, peppered with humor throughout, Leslie A. Rasmussen has written a novel of fresh, relatable characters, easy to root for and easy to know. Anyone juggling the lives of loved ones while navigating their own will recognize the protagonist as she struggles to find the missing parts of a so-called life that turns out to be…herself.”–Sande Boritz Berger, author of Split Level and The Sweetness
After Happily Ever After is a road map for every empty nester whose marriage has lost its spark. You can’t help but see yourself on these pages.”–Adrienne Barbeau, actress and author of There are Worse Things I could Do and the Vampyres of Hollywood series
“This book takes a very real look at the complex lives of forty-something women who are torn between their duties to all family members while still trying to fulfill their own desires. The characters ring true, and although there are heavy themes, the book manages to be very funny at times and also a fast, easy, read. Many women will see a lot of themselves in Maggie and will enjoy seeing how her circumstances and decisions will play out.” –Seattle Book Review
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