After our Castle by author Kellyn Roth is a Christian historical novel. This is Book 6 in the Chronicles of Alice and Ivy Series. Even though it is Book 6, it could easily be read as a stand alone.

I have read the other books in this series and can say with certainty that each one only gets better. The author has a wonderful style of writing that touches me and has me invested easily in the characters and their stories. In my opinion this book is geared more toward mature and perhaps married readers due to subject matter.

Ivy seemed more confident than in the earlier books. Violet struggled with mental issues. Alice was wonderful, and Jordy was a mess. The characters are eccentric, quaint, and like old friends. The author writes them into readers’ hearts.

I was surprised by the subject matter and messages. The author did warn that the book had adult content concerning a married couple, a depressed woman, and babies. I thought it was all very well handled. Issues such as family planning and birth control were a surprise for me but handled nicely. Christian messages were sprinkled throughout the story. Hearing from God was one of my favorite parts of this book.

I highly recommend this book to mature readers. It would be great for a Women’s Reading Group. In fact, I recommend the entire series. This novel gets a 5 star rating from me. A copy was provided by Celebrate Lit, but these are my honest words.

About the Book

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 skepticism. 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 certainly areas of adjustment that she hadn’t expected.

Changes at 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 stronghold, finding a foothold proves to be more than a little difficult.

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About the Author

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!