The Aftermath by Amy Matayo – Review

About the Book

According to Riley Mae Floss, life is a ten-page menu of possibilities. As the owner of a cupcake shop in small-town Missouri, she thrives on candies and rainbows and spreading joy every chance she gets. Even her hair is the color of bubble gum. Life is just the way she likes it, so why would she want anything to change now?

But when a tornado rips into Riley Mae’s southern town and destroys nearly everything in its path, her happy little life changes in less than forty-two seconds. Buildings gone. Homes carried away. People missing or even dead. Her bakery a shell of what it once was; also her life. Riley Mae’s picture-perfect world is shattered, and everyone she cares about has been hurt in the process.

According to insurance adjuster Chad Gamble, life always works out exactly the way it’s supposed to…for other people. As for him, life is a bit of a crapfest—one where he never wins the prize, makes the starting team, or gets the girl. He’s straight-laced, suit-and-tie, all-business, and sees the world for the color it is: muted gray with a little black around the edges.

So when Chad Gamble walks into Riley Mae’s ruined bakery to “assess the damages”—his words, not hers—he has no intention of getting bogged down by sentimental nonsense. Sparks immediately start to fly, and not the good kind. Who does this pushy, pink-haired chick think she is, treating him like an outsider when all he came to do was help? He can’t figure out why the locals like her so much. Or worse, why he can’t stop thinking about her.

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Other Books in the Series

In My Opinion

Have you ever read a book that both wrings you out emotionally? From tragedy with touches of humor and the glimpses of hope amid despair, The Aftermath was that book for me.

Riley Mae is so likable from the first pages of the book. She’s friendly, good-naturedly teasing her customers, employees, and grandmother. I just wanted to be her friend. Then, in an instant, her world comes crumbling down.

Readers met Chad Gamble in The Waves but get to delve deeper into what he hides from the world behind is adoration of Dillon. He wants to make a different choice than he has in the past. He wants to matter.

Amy Matayo wraps truths within these pages. While our devastation may not be a blatant as Riley Mae’s, kindness and generosity matter. No matter what we are going through, someone else has lost more than me, is grieving deeper than me, or has fallen on harder times. There are moments of hope and light in the darkest of times. It’s up to us to grab onto them until the hard season passes.

Disclosure statement:
I receive complimentary books from publishers, publicists, and/or authors, including NetGalley. I am not required to write positive reviews. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.