I’m excited to bring you a guest post from Kate Hart, the author of AFTER THE FALL.
About the Book:
Title: AFTER THE FALL
Author: Kate Hart
Pub. Date: January 24, 2017
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Pages: 336
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
Find it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Goodreads
Seventeen-year-old Raychel is sleeping with two boys: her overachieving best friend 
Matt…and his slacker brother, Andrew. Raychel sneaks into Matt’s bed after nightmares, but nothing ever happens. He doesn’t even seem to realize she’s a girl, except when he decides she needs rescuing. But Raychel doesn’t want to be his girl anyway. She just needs his support as she deals with the classmate who assaulted her, the constant threat of her family’s eviction, and the dream of college slipping quickly out of reach. Matt tries to help, but he doesn’t really get it… and he’d never understand why she’s fallen into a secret relationship with his brother. The friendships are a precarious balance, and when tragedy strikes, everything falls apart. Raychel has to decide which pieces she can pick up – and which ones are worth putting back together.
About Kate:
After studying Spanish and history at a small liberal arts school, Kate Hart taught young people their ABCs, wrote grants for grownups with disabilities, and now builds treehouses for people of all ages. Her debut YA novel, AFTER THE FALL, is coming January 2017 from FSG. She also contributes to YA Highway, hosts the Badass Ladies You Should Know series, and will soon sell inappropriate handicrafts at The Badasserie.
Kate is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, and owns a treehouse-building business in northwest Arkansas, where she resides with her family.
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Giveaway Details:
3 winners will receive a finished copy of AFTER THE FALL, US Only. CLICK HERE TO ENTER.
Tour Schedule—Check out these other stops on the AFTER THE FALL blog tour!
Week One
1/16/2017- addicted2books– Review
1/17/2017- BookHounds YA– Interview
1/18/2017- Wandering Bark Books– Guest Post
1/19/2017- Here’s to Happy Endings– Review
1/20/2017- Curling Up With A Good Book– Interview
Week Two
1/23/2017- Pretty Deadly Reviews– Review
1/24/2017- Brittany’s Book Rambles– Guest Post
1/25/2017- Arctic Books– Review
1/26/2017- Owl Always Be Reading– Interview
1/27/2017- Mary Had a Little Book Blog– Review
Q&A with author Kate Hart
Question: There have been many critics of the “YA love triangle” lately, but the complicated relationships in the novel seem to transcend that criticism. How did you make that work?
To be honest, I’m hesitant to use the term “love triangle” with this book at all. The cover copy does lead that way, and in fact, earlier versions book had a more traditional triangle setup: Raychel’s complex feelings for Matt were mixed up with the possibility of attraction and love, and it wasn’t until later in the story that she realized how much she wanted him to value her as just a friend.
However, my editor felt like that was one too many arcs in an already complicated character. So in revisions, I let Raychel enter the story with that realization already in place, which did make the narrative easier to follow. In this version, she’s very clear that she’s not interested in Matt, which also helps highlight the egregiousness of his assumptions that they’ll be together someday.
Ultimately, I don’t think I transcended the criticism so much as I tried to subvert the concept. “Love triangle” implies that Raychel is a willing participant. But in a book about consent, it’s important to recognize that she doesn’t want to be in that position, yet finds herself there anyway, along with all the usual criticism that a female character gets for “juggling” two boys.
Of course, if we really want to get technical, a *true* love triangle would have reciprocal interest between all three parties. But that’s a different book for a different day (and one I dearly hope someone is writing).
Wandering Bark Books 