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Dakota Johnson

Interview: Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of 'After I Do'

Joyce Lamb
Special for USA TODAY
"After I Do" by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of After I Do, chats with us about her latest release, movie news about her previous release, Forever, Interrupted, and what readers can expect to see from her next.

Joyce: Welcome to HEA, Taylor! Please tell us about your new release, After I Do.

Taylor:After I Do is the story of Lauren and Ryan Cooper, a couple that has been together for a long time and has fallen out of love. Instead of getting a divorce, they decide to take a year apart in the hopes that it might give them a better perspective.

Joyce: How did you get the idea for After I Do?

Taylor: I was really interested in exploring whether "Out of sight, out of mind" or "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" rings more true. So I came up with a way to split two people up and see how they fared. Everything else — the characters, setting, family dynamics — all grew from there.

Taylor Reid Jenkins, author of "After I Do."

Joyce: Romance readers have to know: Can they expect a happy ending in After I Do?

Taylor: I'll say this: if you don't close the book feeling satisfied that each character is where you want them to be at the end, I haven't done my job.

Joyce: You received some exciting news recently about your previous novel, Forever, Interrupted, being made into a movie. Please tell us about the story and how you found out about the movie news.

Taylor: Yes! So exciting! Forever, Interrupted is about a woman named Elsie Porter who meets the love of her life and elopes, only to be widowed days later. She meets her mother-in-law, Susan, for the first time in the hospital and the two of them struggle to develop a relationship.

Dakota Johnson will play the lead role in the movie adaptation of "Forever, Interrupted" by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Selling a film option and getting a studio on board can be a slow process, and until things are official, you never want to spill the beans. I'd known for a few months that there was some potentially great news brewing, but it didn't become real until the press release came out.

Joyce: Dakota Johnson has been cast to play Elsie in Forever, Interrupted. What would you tell her about Elsie to help her understand where Elsie is coming from?

Taylor: I doubt Dakota will need much help from me! She's a great actress with such innate likability. But I will say that what is so crucial to me about Elsie is that she's an everywoman. She's the kind of person that's had just as many heartbreaks as successes. So when she finds Ben, and he's as wonderful as he is, it means that much more.

Joyce: What can readers expect to see from you next?

Taylor: I have a book coming out next year called Maybe In Another Life. It's the story of Hannah Martin, a woman who moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles to get her life together after a string of mistakes. On her first night back, her best friend Gabby takes her to a bar, where Hannah runs into her ex-boyfriend, Ethan. At the end of the night, Gabby offers to take Hannah back home and Ethan offers to give her a ride back later if she wants to stay. The story then splits into two, and the reader gets to see what happens when she goes home with Gabby and what happens when she leaves with Ethan. It's about fate, chance, friendships, and soul mates.

Joyce: Is there anything you'd like to add?

Taylor: Just that I'm so thrilled to be speaking with you at USA TODAY — thank you!!

Joyce: Thank YOU, Taylor! Good luck with the books and the movie-making.

Find out more about Taylor and her books at www.taylorjenkinsreid.com. You can also connect with her on Facebook and Twitter (@tjenkinsreid).

HEA curator and contributor Joyce Lamb is a USA TODAY best-selling author of romantic suspense and three-time RITA finalist and has been a professional journalist for 25 years. You can reach her at jlamb@usatoday.com and follow her on Twitter (@JoyceLamb). You can also follow HEA on Twitter (@HEAusatoday).

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