What Comes After is truly a gift. Though I won it for free through GoodReads First-Reads, and though, by necessity I am a penny pincher, this is worth whatever price the author and publishers decide.

Steve Watkins wrote this with such skill that it grabbed me by heart and soul, right from the start. The story and characters are well developed over the course of the novel.

I had to keep looking at the cover to see who wrote this. It is very seldom that a male author can capture female thoughts and More...

I wouldn't have picked this book up on my own based on the blurb on the back cover. A girl who is attached to the goats on her aunt's farm? Yeah, not so much.

Fortunately a friend of mine passed along the audio book and I loaded it onto my phone to listen to during workouts and car rides. I really enjoyed it! It definitely tackles some heavy subjects. Iris' father dies, and because her mother walked away from the family years ago, Iris is left to live with a verbally and physically abusive aunt. More...

This one has a relatively happy ending, so if that's all you're looking for, I feel comfortable recommending this one. However, the middle bits can get hideously graphic. I had to stop listening at one point and get a hug from my mother. (view spoiler)[The author tries to make Book kind of sympathetic (or at least pitiful) towards the end of the book, but after what he did to Luey, I just can't not hate him. Now excuse me while I shudder with the horror. (hide spoiler)]

One positive thing that has come from all the awfulness i More...

Sixteen Iris Wight's father has just died. Her mother left her family when she was a toddler and the plans had been for her to move in with her best friend's family. Despite deathbed promises, that family is imploding with divorce on the horizon and she is told it won't work. She is shuttled to her only surviving relatives, her Aunt Sue and cousin Book in Craven County, NC. A strict vegetarian who grew up with a vet for a father, she now lives with an Aunt who uses her money on a new tv, new Tun More...

This one earns a strong 4.

High praise for a book: when I want to read it at non-reading times, such as when I get home from work or instead of working during lunch. This one was that way. In fact, I was multi-tasking at work when I read a scene that nearly brought me to tears. Since the episode is alluded to in the newspaper account that opens the novel, I'm not counting it as a spoiler.

Iris issent to live with her aunt and cousin in North Carolina when her vet father dies of a lung ailment and More...

After reading this novel, the first thought through my mind was how unusual it was to have a book about a female character that focused more on her growth as a character rather than a romance. Did I mind it? Absolutely not! It was a refreshing change of scenery. Scenery that included one incredibly written main character... and animals. Yes, animals! Do I have your attention yet, fellow animal lovers?

Iris is one of those characters that you cannot help but love. Her best character is that she is More...

What Comes After is a remarkable story about a remarkable young woman. Sixteen-year-old Iris becomes an orphan and goes to live with her abusive aunt after her father dies. She’s a vegetarian and a huge animal lover and hates that her aunt and cousin treat the animals so poorly. After her cousin Book kills one of the baby goats, she decides to set them free and in turn, she gets beaten so badly by her aunt and cousin that she ends up in a hospital and into another family’s hands.
I felt really ba More...

Iris Wight doesn't remember much about her mother, she left when Iris was five years old and never returned. Now Iris is sixteen and she has just buried her father. The friends who promised her father they would care for her are having marital issues and can no longer keep their promise. She is forced to leave Maine and move to a farm in North Carolina to live with her Aunt Sue who she met once 14 years earlier. It soon becomes clear that the only reason her aunt agreed to take her was the money More...

This book really should have come with a disclaimer: If you don't like goats, you probably won't like this book.

I'm just saying it was a very goat-focused book. That's not a bad thing, really, it's just... a lot of goat stuff.

Okay, perhaps I should get on with a more constructive review. The book follows the story of Iris whose father had just passed away. The story begins with her living with her best friend and her family but for whatever reason (we don't really find out, but in a way we do), More...

When fifteen-year-old Iris Wight’s veterinarian dad dies, she first lives with Beatrice, her best friend and softball teammate, and her family. When Beatrice’s parents begin to have marital problems, they tell Iris they can no longer care for her and she must go to live with her Aunt Sue and cousin Book in Craven County, NC. It does not go well from the moment her aunt picks her up at the airport. One bright spot in her new life is caring for the goats that she must milk and then make cheese, wh More...

When it started out, I knew this was gonna be one of the books that makes you fume. I was angry. Angry at the characters, angry at the plot, but in a good way. I was angry because I cared so much. The character development is fantastic, and even the evil characters have a touch of humanity. The animal subplot is fantastic, especially since it involves goats.(MAAAAA) I also liked how long the book felt. Not long as in it took forever for me to read, as in it felt like a long, winding, twisting, c More...

Steve Watkins was inspired for this book by a newspaper article he had read one day about a young girl that was attacked. He had thought abour all the others he had known of also and decided that their stories should be heard. This book is being released in April 2011.



The main character is Iris. After the passing of her father, she goes to live with her best friend's family until some marital issues become too complicated. She is then forced to go live with an aunt that she had only met a couple More...

Wow - what a powerful and poignant story. Watkins took a disturbing true story and gave the characters a life and dimension that was truly engaging. One wanted to cry with, protect and cheer for Iris as she struggled through the loss of everything she had ever known and entered a life of fear and struggle. Despite the hardships she encountered Iris developed into a strong, capable and influential character. She took horrible situations, and usually by following her heart, found the good and enco More...

I was trying to tell a friend what I loved about this book. There's so much, it's hard to list. I'm thinking I'll go for bullet points.

1) It's a difficult read in terms of subject matter, but it is so beautifully written you can make it through.

2) There's a romance, but it is not the central story line.

3) Really strong, smart teenage girl protagonist. You feel for her and understand her from page one.

4) the author manages to paint the "villains" of the book with broad brush strokes; you might no More...

Please do not look at this book and cast it off as depressing fare. What Comes After by Steve Watkins is a heart-warming book full of hope in the midst of a lot of sadness. There are moments reading it when you will want to cry but there are plenty of others that will make you laugh and cheer. Iris is a strong female character. Having gone through so much, the abandonment of her mother, the death of her father, the abandonment of family friends, the emotional and physical abuse by her Aunt Sue a More...

I liked this more than Down Sand Mountain; Iris didn't frustrate me with way Dewey did and this just felt stronger, more fleshed out perhaps.

Anyhoo, as per the story itself, it isn't easy to read or imagine at some points, violence can be graphic, but it makes you truly consider the extents of animal cruelty and the wayward family abuse that occurs without anyone batting an eyelash sometimes.

My one major complaint is the lawyer, mr. Trask. He felt like a caricature, his motivations were never c More...

I looked at the cover of this book and (judgemental person that I am) decided to pick it up from the library and get it out. I got home, and discovered it was about goats. Well, suffice to say I almost put it down right there.

Then I was like, well, I might as well give it a chance. It made it into my house...

So, I was very surprised.

I mean, who really wants to know about a girl who raises goats and was abused by her redneck extended family? It sounded very unreal and very theatrical and just o More...

When Iris' veterinarian father dies in Maine, she is sent to live with her Aunt Sue and her surly cousin Book in North Carolina. Her aunt has a farm, but both relatives are very cruel to the animals, and cruel to Iris as well. Iris is a vegetarian, but Sue doesn't care. School is difficult, Sue starts slapping Iris for small infractions, and she misses her father terribly. When two young goats are supposed to be slaughtered and Iris intervenes, the aunt becomes even more abusive.
Strengths: Inter More...

This is an amazing book about a 16-year-old girl who has to go and live with her mean aunt and cousin when her veterinarian father dies. Her aunt abuses her, spends her inheritance, and mistreats her own livestock. When Iris sets two goats free to save them from slaughter, her aunt orders the cousin to beat her. They are put in jail, and Iris is placed in a kooky foster home. Iris continues to care for the farm animals at great sacrifice and has to confront her aunt in order to save them. This i More...

Ehh. Honestly I don't even feel the need to write this review. It was okay...good enough for me to finish, I guess.

I also like animals and it seemed like a promising storyline. That being said, don't build up all this tension leading to the climax (including putting it in the summary and opening with what will happen later on the first page via newspaper article) and then SKIP THE ENTIRE FREAKING SCENE ALTOGETHER!

Honestly? ...Honestly....

That upset me and not only did he skip the scene but he sk More...

This book captivated me and kept me guessing until the end. I enjoyed the fact that although it was prectable, it was hard to tell if the prediction was really right until the very end...does that make sense? probably not. It's hard describe what i mean, but it makes sense in my head. :) Well there you have it, this book is indescribable! No but in all seriousness I really did enjoy this book, and I'm sure it will appeal to many others. (Escpecially the ones who love romances and animals...wink More...

Why I read this: I really thought this one sounded good, despite it not being my favorite genre and decided to give it a try.

Plot: This book is a mix of emotions. Iris goes through a lot, she loses her dad, the friend she was staying with forces her to leave because her parents were fighting, and then she has to deal with an abrasive aunt who turns out to be more abusive than Iris first thought. I have to say, the way she coped was very realistic, she turned to what she knew she loved - animals, More...

WHAT COMES AFTER is a heart-wrenching look into the the life of a young girl named Iris Wight who loses her father and must live with her mother’s aunt whom she barely knows in North Carolina. Iris’ mother left years ago and the only person Iris counts on to stay with is her best friend, Beatrice and her family. Beatrice’s parents promised Iris’ father they would look after her, but they are going through difficult marital problems and feel it would be best for Iris to live with her aunt. Iris l More...

To be honest, I hadn’t really read any reviews of What Comes After before picking it up. Even though it sounded like a gut-wrenching read, my interest was piqued when I saw it was partially about animals. I started and finished this book in the span of about 48 hours. Packed with emotion, What Comes After is a touching, page-turning read.

After her father dies, Irish Wight has to move in with relatives who are total opposites of her. Because Aunt Sue is Iris’s guardian, this book also deals with More...

What Comes After by Steve Watkins is a great novel, yet extremely sad. You’ll be heartbroken, but there is hope!

What Comes After tells a story of a girl named Iris, whose father passed away and her mother who left at a very young age. When Iris’ father has passed away, she had to go and live with her Aunt Sue and cousin Book.

This is where the story begins, when Iris has to live with her relatives, her remaining family. I really enjoy Iris’ character because I feel like many people are able to re More...

What Comes After by Steve Watkins begins following the death of sixteen-year-old Iris Wright's veterinarian father. Iris' mother abandoned the family a decade earlier, and so Iris has no choice but leave behind her native Maine and travel to a North Carolina farm to live with the aunt and cousin she hardly knows. Iris is hoping for the best, but as soon as she arrives she begins to clash with her Aunt Sue, who uses physical violence against both Iris and the livestock while spending away Iris's More...

Iris hardly lives the life that every teen wants to live. After a tremendous loss, she's thrust into a world completely foreign to her that turns abusive, painful and emotionally destructive. So when things finally turn around for Iris and she's sent to another place that's quirky, but instills a desire for her to care for those animals she's left behind, no matter what. Is she brave enough to face the horrors she left, and can she do it for more than the animals...can she do it for herself?

I'm More...

WHAT COMES AFTER is a powerful and heartwrenching YA contemporary read. Watkins slips effortlessly into Iris’ voice and gives us a gorgeously told story about both the extreme cruelty and the endurance of human nature.

It’s hard to believe that this book was written by a man, because Iris’ voice is so convincing. She is a bit on the quiet side, due to the upheavals she’s had to endure, but she is far from weak: from the start, I admired how Iris respected her aunt yet did not let Sue trod all ove More...

I was blown away by the fierceness of this novel. It's hard to find a book as cruel as it is hopeful, especially when reading realistic fiction. Watkins created a wonderfully intricate plot out of several relatively mundane issues. But putting them together worked wonders. I've been reading a lot of books set in farms lately, but the way Watkins made it all come to life, his portrayal of the goats and the routines, were absolutely amazing.

Iris's voice was beyond astonishing. I'm always delighted More...

Iris Wight's life is like a train wreck-- horrible, terribly depressing and so gripping the reader truly can't look away. Iris's strength is what makes this novel amazing and emotional. There were too many times when I wished I could pluck her out of the story and make her feel better. The ending and her growth is stasifying and realistic.

The law in Iris's life is that anything bad that can happen will happen. For most of the novel, Iris is rejoicing in the very small things in life because that More...