Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Blog Tour: The Beginning of After

Hey guys! Today we have a special guest on the blog! Please join me in welcoming Jennifer Castle, debut author of The Beginning of After, released on September 6th, 2011. Today Jennifer will be talking with us about Before and After: Marriage. Enjoy!

(Check out my review for The Beginning of After HERE.)

When my husband and I got married, it was a little, well, anticlimactic. We had been a couple for seven years; we had shared an apartment and even bought a house together. People kept asking, “What’s taking you guys so long?” and we had no freaking idea. Wasn’t there supposed to be some aha moment where one of us suddenly knew we had to be married to the other? We were writing screenplays together and working so hard to make our creative dreams come true, we didn’t feel like grown-ups yet. And you have to be a grown-up (or at least be able to fake it) if you’re going to be married, right?

The screenplay dreams stayed dreams, the aha moment a no-show. But we were best friends and didn’t want to live apart, so we went for it. We had the fun, beautiful, slightly offbeat wedding that we’d always wanted and that I’m sure people expected of us. We went to Hawaii where everyone else was sporting shiny new rings too, and we came home and opened a ton of gifts, and then it was like, “Well, okay then. We’re married.”

So what had changed? I wasn’t sure, at first. The biggest difference was just trying to wrap my tongue around the terminology. It had started to feel silly to say “my boyfriend,” but now when I said “my husband,” I felt like I was lying. It felt like something you say when you’re 10 and playing Which Tiger Beat Hottie Am I Married To?

But then I realized the difference: Before we tied the knot, I kept thinking that something big had to happen before the next stage of our lives could start. It wasn’t until after we took the leap anyway that the big things did happen -- exciting work projects, two gorgeous babies, a book deal, a move cross-country. I realize now that we made those Afters ourselves. What’s the next After? I don’t know, but it’s not something we’re sitting around waiting for. When we see it up ahead, we’ll be sure to grab it.

Thanks for stopping by the blog today, Jennifer!

Check out the next stop on the Beginning of After Blog Tour:
Thursday, September 8th @ YA Bliss!


Laurel’s world changes instantly when her parents and brother are killed in a terrible car accident. Behind the wheel is the father of her bad-boy neighbor, David Kaufman, whose mother is also killed. Now, Laurel must navigate a new world in which she and her best friend grow apart, boys may or may not be approaching her out of pity, overpowering memories lurk everywhere, and Mr. Kaufman is comatose but still very much alive. Through it all, there is David, who swoops in and out of Laurel’s life and to whom she finds herself attracted against her better judgment. She will forever be connected to him by their mutual loss, a connection that will change them both in unexpected ways.


Jennifer Castle graduated from Brown University and worked as a celebrity publicist's assistant, an advertising copywriter, and a struggling screenwriter (yes, that's an actual job) before falling into a niche producing websites for kids and teens. The Beginning of After is her first novel. She lives with her husband and two young daughters in New York's Hudson Valley. Visit her at http://www.jennifercastle.com

10 comments:

  1. Awwww that's such a cute wedding photo! My husband and I were much the same way, we were together for years, bought a house together and then finally got married:) I love guest posts like this, it's so much fun to get little glimpses of the authors life outside of writing.

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  2. Awe! Lovely guest post. Yay for the big things in life. :)

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  3. Cute guest post! I always love learning more about authors.

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  4. Yes, I love the wedding photo and of course the post. Good job:)

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  5. That was a super-sweet before-and-after story! Great guest post. :)
    Mary @ BookSwarm

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  6. This is a great book!! And I cannot wait to get married someday. =)

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  7. Awww, cute. I love author posts. It's always fun to see a little about the people that write the stories we love.

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  8. This was such a sweet before-and-after story. I hope that one day I'll get to marry someone who is my best friend, too<3

    This book sounds great and I think my sister mentioned it to me before. *Another book to my never-ending TBR list!*

    Great post and thanks for stopping by our blog:)
    -leslie

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  9. I'm loving these Before & After posts, they're great! I loved the book too. If you're a fan, you'll love the discussion I had with Jennifer Castle about her book, what's coming next, and more :). ~ Jen @ A Book and a Latte

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  10. Aww, this was a really great Before & After posts, I'll have to go check out more. I haven't read the book yet, but it has been on my tbr wish list.

    Thanks for sharing!

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Thanks for stopping by! :)