Celebrate Lit / October 22, 2022

After Our Castle

About the Book After Our Castle

Book: After Our Castle

Author: Kellyn Roth

Genre: Historical Women’s Fiction

Release date: October 2022

A year into a blissfully happy marriage, Violet Angel admits to a dose of scepticism. She’s not married, granted—but as the closest friend of the bride and groom, she feels she has a perspective no one but the people directly involved could have. There’s no such thing as a happy ending, and it’s only a matter of time before the castle in the sky plummets to earth.

If only Violet were always wrong instead of just mostly wrong. Ivy McAllen doesn’t believe she and her new husband are out of the honeymoon period—if they are, she isn’t going to admit it to herself—but there are certain areas of adjustment that she hadn’t expected.

Changes in the village of Keefmore and in Ivy’s life lead to complications, and Violet spirals further and further from reality. When a castle in the sky turns to be more cloud than a stronghold, finding a foothold proves to be more than a little difficult.

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My Thoughts on After Our Castle

This is an Alice and Ivy novel. I read and adored the first book in this series. Now having read this sixth book I need to go back and read the rest of the books between the two as I’ve missed out on so much! Because I feel I’ve missed so much and I had read book one I highly recommend you read this series in order.

Ivy had been one of my favorite characters. Book one was amazing and I loved learning about Ivy and getting to know her. And now I’m back in her world as she’s an adult. Stepping back into her world felt like chatting with an old friend and trying to catch up on all that I had missed. I missed a lot skipping all the books in between.

Ivy is now married and Violet is a new character that I’ve enjoyed getting to know. She’s quite different. As we journey along know that this book chats about whether certain people should have children or not. I found this an interesting concept within the novel. I can’t really say more about it without giving away too much.

Communication is key in a marriage and you’ll see some of that within the marriage of Ivy and Jordy.

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from Celebrate Lit. All views expressed are only my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC regulations.

About the Author of After Our Castle

Kellyn Roth is a historical romance & women’s fiction author who writes about the empty places where hope has the most room to grow. Her novels include the inspirational Victorian family saga, The Chronicles of Alice and Ivy, and the Kees & Colliers series, which follows a broken family in the tumultuous years of the first half of the 20th century.

Kellyn is a student of the Author Conservatory and a writing coach. When not building her author career, she is likely getting lost somewhere in the Pacific Northwest with her friends, watching period dramas and facetious comedies, or spending time with her husband.

More from Kellyn

After Our Castle was a book I didn’t think I would ever write. Oh, I considered writing a short story or two about the early years of Ivy and Jordy’s marriage, yes, but it wasn’t until last year that I decided that I would write a full-length novel.

Why did I hesitate?

I’m writing a family saga, after all, and I plan on covering every stage of my characters’ lives in the 10+ books I’m planning (this being book 6). Well, I didn’t think there was anything to be discussed about Ivy and Jordy’s early married days, as there was with my other book couple, Alice and Peter. Nothing interesting, I thought, happens until 1890, eight years into their union. So why write about anything before then?

Then I realized just how much backstory I was packing into that book. And I realized that, for my writing style, there are so many little things that can add up into a book. And that became the story that is After Our Castle.

The novel wasn’t an easy one to write. It required a lot of subtlety and doesn’t precisely have the most perfect ending. But I knew, if I wanted to set up book 8, I would have to write the novel this way.

So here we go. Another book I wasn’t sure about–but that careful writing and even more careful editing, along with a lot of prayer, have turned into a story I’m actually rather proud of.

I hope you enjoy After Our Castle!