ARC REVIEW: What Happens After by Portia Moore
"It was never supposed to happen.
'We' never should have happened.
Him and me...
Our constantly crossing paths changed the unthinkable to the inevitable.
It was magical, exhilarating, and life defining... despicable, and it ruined everything.
It destroyed me.
It destroyed us.
He and I are what happened before.
And everything else is what happened after…
~If you are turned off from themes dealing with infidelity this book is not for you. This book features flawed people that make imperfect decisions.~
~This is a Stand Alone full-length novel that does not contain a cliffhanger."
Now, I've read the books in the If I Break series so I'm reading this fully aware of what happened to Gwen, Lisa and Will and how they go to that point, I'm not sure how it reads if you aren't aware of the previous books and I would recommend reading them anyway because they are incredibly good!
To sum up, this book is about infidelity and some people might not be okay with that, I personally enjoy the challenge of seeing if I can still be won over by a character who essentially does a terrible thing. I think it's a huge credit to the author if they can achieve that. I feel like I should hate Will and Lisa and at the end of the If I Break series I probably did.
This book goes back in to time to when Lisa and Gwen were both 17 years old and alternates between their stories. I think this serves the point that they were both similar at that age, perhaps a hint of karma in there. You even get to hear Will's viewpoint sometimes, apart from what he does, he never seems like an evil person, he seems incredibly lovely and sweet. There was a twist in there I hadn't expected which I won't give away as I enjoyed the 'oooh!!' moment and I think you should too.
I don't think any of the characters are bad people, I was actually really rooting for Will once I heard more about him. You don't hear much about him in the If I Break series, in fact he seems like an arse. But I actually found myself really fond of him. Not so much when the fling with Lisa starts but I think everything must have a moment in their lives when they feel empty or dead inside and Lisa picks the worst time, when he's at his weakest, to try it on with him. I really think he could have resisted if she hadn't tried so hard.
Some people may say there is absolutely no way you can justify it or excuse it but what can I say, I still like Will?! I think that's the mark of great writing, an author who can make you love a character to the point of forgiving their mistakes and even understanding their side of things. This situation was more unsual that normal because of what the infidelity does to Chris, that's the hard thing to get over, but then without that happening Lauren and Chris wouldn't have met. So in the end, everything actually ends up making something good happen.
I absolutely loved this book. It was SO worth the wait. The If I Break series is still the best twist I've ever read and this book is great follow up. It was a brave thing to attempt getting the readers to understand and forgive Lisa and Will but if anyone can do it, it's Portia.
