5 QUESTIONS ABOUT THE WEDDING BOX

By Toni Blake

What inspired you to write The Wedding Box?

After the deaths of my parents in 2019 and 2020, I spent a year cleaning out their house and settling their affairs.  Add a pandemic into the mix, and by the time 2021 rolled around, I’d gone a long while without writing and the world suddenly looked a lot different to me.

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say to readers through my work at that point and felt a little stuck, until someone told me about an article she’d read, a true story of a couple who received a wedding gift with the stipulation that they were not to open it until their first big disagreement.  She thought it sounded like a good jumping-off point for a book, and while I agreed, it sounded tricky to me as a romance writer.  After all, our weddings usually happen at the end of the book, not the beginning.  But I was up for challenging myself, and though the book is indeed about this box and what’s inside it, the story grew beyond that into being about the ways it affected the marriage and lives of the couple who received it for years beyond their wedding.

How is The Wedding Box different than your previous books?

Since the book begins on the hero and heroine’s wedding day, the structure is very different than anything I’ve ever written, and I think it’s pretty unique.

Another difference:  My novels have long been known for being super-sexy, but that’s just not the tone of this book and adding sex scenes would have been needlessly gratuitous.

And lastly, for the first time in my career, this book is written in first person.  When I was young, first person felt so much more direct and immersive to me, but when I was trying to break into the romance biz twenty-five years ago, first-person romance novels just weren’t a thing and publishers weren’t open to it.  I worked hard to learn to write effectively in third person, and have done so ever since – until now.  And wow, I loved sinking back into that first person voice!  I’ve now written several books in first person since The Wedding Box, (not yet published, but they’re coming,) and it’s been very freeing to me.

How is The Wedding Box similar to your previous books?

My books are known for being heartwarming, uplifting, life-affirming, funny, relatable, and real, and if those aspects about my previous work have appealed to you, I think you’ll love The Wedding Box.

Readers often tell me my books give them something to think about or make them look at life in new ways, and I hope that’s true of this book as well.

If you wrote The Wedding Box in 2021, why is it just now being published?

After I wrote the book, I realized just how different it was from my previous work.  I worried that my longtime readers wouldn’t embrace a book that isn’t the same as what they’ve come to expect from me.  Romance authors have long been taught that loyal readers can feel cheated when an author changes course, and the last thing I’d ever want to do is alienate people who have supported me throughout my career.

But then I changed my mind – for three reasons.  One, I like to think I see signs in the industry that readers are becoming more open to authors spreading their wings in new directions.  Two, when I asked a few trusted colleagues to read it, they gave me overwhelmingly positive feedback and encouraged me to put it out there.  And three, The Wedding Box is one of the most uplifting stories I’ve ever written, and given the state of the world these days, I think maybe people need that right now.  So it took some time, but here it is.

What else would you like readers to know about The Wedding Box?

Writing this book was part of my healing process after losing my parents, and the story is, in part, about moving beyond our losses and finding our way back to joy. It’s about life and death; it’s about love and laughter; it’s about faith and miracles.  If that sounds like your cup of tea, I hope you’ll check it out!

Toni Blake’s love of writing began when she won an essay contest in the fifth grade. Soon after, she penned her first novel, nineteen notebook pages long. Since then, Toni has become a RITA™-nominated author of more than twenty-five contemporary romance novels, her books have received the National Readers’ Choice Award and Bookseller’s Best Award, and her work has been excerpted in Cosmo. Toni lives in the Midwest and enjoys traveling, crafts, and spending time outdoors.

You can find her on her website, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.