Sunday, July 17, 2011

The Beginning of After by Jennifer Castle


My Summary:

Laurel’s life is about to coming crashing down on her. Her parents and her younger brother are about to die in a car accident where the only survivor is the driver. The comatose driver is the father of the bad boy down the street, David. But David life has also fallen apart as his mother was also in the crash and his father isn’t waking up. As Laurel travels through the process of grief, she struggles to stay friends with her BFF, Meg. She questions everyone’s actions as pity including the good looking Joe who asks her to prom. David deals with his grief differently, dropping in and out of Laurel’s life suddenly and unexpectedly. She wants to be mad at him. His father is alive, albeit not really there. But she can’t quit thinking about David. She can’t quite get her life going forward again. How does a sixteen-year old go on after?

My thoughts:

5 stars – a must read although it’s an emotional one

This book is a very emotional journey. Jennifer does an incredible job of building a situation where the grief process can be experienced by those not going through it. It felt real. I loved Laurel and how she tried so hard to be strong but often thing were just too much for her. I loved how David took a different journey trying to deal with his grief. I loved how together they seemed stronger and didn’t even realize it. I loved how other people tried so hard to be helpful but weren’t. I loved how it became clear that Laurel wanted and needed people to treat her like she wouldn’t break even though she might. I loved how only David and Laurel knew how to treat each other. The personal growth in this book is so overwhelming for both Laurel and David. I was very impressed with them. This book is 100 percent contemporary but any YA fan should read it.


I have declared for the Net Galley July challenge and this book is part of that.  Thanks to Net Galley for the early look at this book. Check out the challenge here.

5 comments:

  1. I'm looking forward to this one! Great Review!

    -Meredith

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the great review!! This is on my Nook, and now I can't wait to get to it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great review. Sounds like a good read.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This one sounds painful and wonderful at the same time. Ladybug from Escape In A Book

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for sharing. I added it to my wish list on Goodreads.

    ReplyDelete