After the Bridge

The Infernal Devices #3.5

by Cassandra Clare

Short Story about Tessa, Jem and what happened after that meeting at Blackfriar's Bridge at the Epilogue of Clockwork Princess.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Short Stories, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Novella

32 pages, ebook

First published June 1, 2013

About the author

Cassandra Clare was born to American parents in Tehran, Iran and spent much of her childhood travelling the world with her family, including one trek through the Himalayas as a toddler where she spent a month living in her father’s backpack. She lived in France, England and Switzerland before she was ten years old.

Since her family moved around so much she found familiarity in books and went everywhere with a book under her arm. She spent her high school years in Los Angeles where she used to write stories to amuse her classmates, including an epic novel called “The Beautiful Cassandra” based on a Jane Austen short story of the same name (and which later inspired her current pen name).

After college, Cassie lived in Los Angeles and New York where she worked at various entertainment magazines and even some rather suspect tabloids where she reported on Brad and Angelina’s world travels and Britney Spears’ wardrobe malfunctions. She started working on her YA novel, City of Bones, in 2004, inspired by the urban landscape of Manhattan, her favourite city. She turned to writing fantasy fiction full time in 2006 and hopes never to have to write about Paris Hilton again.
Cassie’s first professional writing sale was a short story called “The Girl’s Guide to Defeating the Dark Lord” in a Baen anthology of humor fantasy. Cassie hates working at home alone because she always gets distracted by reality TV shows and the antics of her cats, so she usually sets out to write in local coffee shops and restaurants. She likes to work in the company of her friends, who see that she sticks to her deadlines.

City of Bones was her first novel. Sword Catcher is her most recent novel.

Reviews

[Virginia Ronan ♥ Herondale ♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

BY THE ANGEL!!!

WHY THE FREAKIN HELL DIDN’T I KNOW THIS EXISTS!!??

Because I’m living right behind the moon!
Or even more likely in an entirely different universe!
Like seriously: What’s wrong with me?! XD

ARGH!!! Gosh, thank you Janett for sending me the link!! <333

I LOVED THIS!
I loved this sooooo damn much!!! I can’t even!!!
ARGH! JEM!!!
My adorable boy finally got his chance to be happy! <3
Which makes me so damn happy I can’t even breathe anymore!!

Oh, yeah!
Btw, this is actually my ghost typing!

I LOVED IT,
I ADORED IT,
I WANT MORE!!!!

The end!
(Of me AND the story!) ;-P

P.S.: Here is the link: http://cassandraclare.tumblr.com/post...

When I was a Silent Brother, I did not feel as an ordinary man does,” he said. “Not the wind on my face or the sun on my skin or the touch of another’s hand. But now I feel it all. I feel — too much. The wind is like thunder, the sun scorches, and your touch makes me forget my own name.”

“Forty-nine thousand, two hundred and seventy-five days since I last kissed you,” he said. “And I thought of you every single one of them.

“What you said before,” she asked. “That Jace Herondale loves Clarissa Fairchild more than anyone you’ve ever known except someone — you never finished the sentence. Who was it?”
“I was going to say you and me and Will,” he said. “But — that’s rather a strange thing to say, isn’t it?”
“Not strange at all.” She cuddled in close against his side. “Exactly right. Ever and always, exactly right.”

[Aj the Ravenous Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seriously, please don't read this if you're planning on reading the Infernal Devices.^^

Two beautiful people in love who lost each other for more than a century finally meet again, so what’s the first thing they do? No need to spell it out. Jem, a Silent Brother no more! Tessa made sure of it. Awww! I thought it was sweet but honestly…

♩ It’s all about the smut, ‘bout the smut, not the story. (Repeat three times)
It’s all about the smut, smut, smut, smut (repeat to fade) ♫

Also, I just have to put it out there. Jem is a sweetheart but I’m still a solid, loyalist of team Will. <3 One thing is crystal clear. I really shouldn’t be reading anything else while reading the Harry Potter series.^^

Happy Birthday, Awesome Melissa (Ever So Mela). I know this is lame but I’m sure it still made you smile. Lol. Have the best day, Master M! Miss you much, girl! <3

[Marga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obviously, you need to finish Infernal Devices first before reading this. Spoiler-y stuff ahead.

---

HOW ON EARTH WAS IT POSSIBLE THAT I DIDN'T KNOW OF THIS UNTIL FREAKING NOW?

OH MY GOD THAT WAS FANTASTIC.



Infernal Devices was one of the series that I will forever treasure in my heart. I love Tessa with Jem. I love Tessa with Will. It's not possible to choose between those guys because one cannot exist without the other. But if I have to. If I really have to, like the safety of the world hang around my choice, I'll choose JEM.

So I saw a friend added this book to her tbr-list and I was like: "WHAT IS THAT?!!" And so I click the link. You know, I was just here, reading a book quietly and surfing Goodreads and then suddenly... BAAAAAAAAM!

"Those who do not like Tessa&Jem together or Jessa sexytimes probably should skip this."

“Forty-nine thousand, two hundred and seventy-five days since I last kissed you,” he said. “And I thought of you every single one of them. You do not have to remind me of the Tessa I loved. You were my first love and you will be my last one. I have never forgotten you. I have never not thought of you.” He was close enough now to see the pulse pounding in her throat. To reach out and lift up a curl of her hair. “Never.”

He turned his head to the side and she saw him swallow. “For all my life,” he said, “when someone has said the word ‘beautiful’, it is your face I have seen. You are my own very definition of beautiful, Tessa Gray.”

He expelled his breath in a rush of relief. “So it was — that was all right? I could get better, we could practice —“
He realized what he’d just said, and clamped his mouth shut.
A wicked grin spread over her face. “Oh, we will practice,” she said. “As soon as you’re ready.”
“I have no other appointments this evening,” he said gravely.

“We have time to do everything,” he said, tracing one of his fingers down the side of her face. “We have forever.”
Not forever, Tessa thought. They had a long, long time. A lifetime. His lifetime. And she would lose him one day, as she had lost Will, and her heart would break, as it had broken before. And she would put herself back together and go on, because the memory of having had Jem would be better than never having had him at all.

TOO MUCH FOR A NOVELLA? #sorrynotsorry

*Making this have a 4-star rating because a novella being rated higher than a full length amazing novel (aka Steelheart)? how weird is that? ;)

[Athena ღ · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I love you, i always have and i always will.”

[Zoë · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so jealous that Jem Carstairs does not exist

[Andre · Rating 1 out of 5]

Talk about badly written fan-fiction… this here is so predictable that I don't bother to put a spoiler alert on it, because I find it hard to believe you would not see most of this here coming a mile away.

When you did not read this, you did not actually miss anything plot wise from either The Mortal Instruments or The Infernal Devices, or the Bane Chronicles for that matter.
However what you would have missed is another round of the same recycled characters and badly written stereotypes without any actual character development.
And I mean that. The Tessa and Jem you see in this "short story" are basically just horny teenagers; no way would I believe these are about 130 years old each. Not to mention that of course the sex between the two works perfectly, just like that, despite both of them being totally nervous (see my previous comment on their age) and Jem having zero sexual experience. Too nervous in fact; think about it, what sort of adult acts that way?
And this is not only idiotic when it comes to Tessa but even more so when it comes to Jem. You know for him we get stuff like this:
He had thought about making love to her before; of course he had. He had thought about sex when he was a teenaged boy because that was what teenaged boys thought about, and when he had fallen in love with Tessa, he had thought about it with her. Vague inchoate thoughts of doing things, though he wasn’t sure what — images of pale arms and legs, the imaginary feel of soft skin under his hands.
But he had not imagined this: that there might be laughter, that it might be affectionate and warm as well as passionate. The reality of it, of her, stunned him breathless.
…
He watched her with his heart stuttering. Any moment now she would stand up and pull on her clothes, would tell him that she loved him, loved him always but not that way. That theirs was not a passion, but a friendship.
Which is completely moronic and just screams of "I don't know what I introduced myself." Jem became a Silent Brother (or partially one, it would be nice if this franchise could decide on that) in 1878 or 1879 and this here plays in 2007/8, aka Jem was a "Silent Brother" for at least 128 years. And Silent Brothers are telepaths!!!
They would have seen all sorts of memories and fantasies from all sorts of Shadowhunters and possibly others. Do they have some sort of mental barrier against scanning thoughts and memories related to sex? Did Jem never work as a mind-reader and never read any documents on sex or what? How can he be so ignorant when it comes to sex?
And why on earth does he fear Tessa sees him just as a friend? Does he know her so little? Well considered his relationship with Will, if you would ask the author she would probably say "no" but considered what was written then and is written here the answer is a clear "yes."
These are not people who know each other for more than 120 years; these are teenagers who at best spend a few months with each other!

Also the way Jem is described with his more muscular shape, his dark hair (no longer referred to as curled here for some reason), and his cheekbones and how everyone stares at him. Also with the gold in his brown eyes (apparently someone told the author that there is no such thing as black eyes; plus where does that color come from suddenly?), the gold in his hair even (yes, she went there) and his golden skin he is basically like any other of the highly desirable males in Clare's world: he is a combination of Will and Jace, with the brown eyes thrown in probably for the same reason as his "birth name" Ke Jian Ming.
You know the name you never saw in any book before (and that possibly would not have been chosen by any loving mother of that time as the Romanized word "jian" stands for debased, mean, treason and especially illicit sexual intercourse in Qing dynasty law) and that is here claimed to be oh so intimate and important. The name that was probably made up later to claim "look people, and especially Asians, he is Chinese, I care about you."
Yeah, save that for someone who believes everything these books tell you instead of what they actually show.
Basically physically Jem now has dark hair, with gold in it, dark eyes with gold in it and golden skin that was laid over his ribs and chest in a layer of smooth muscle. Furthermore his chest was broad, tapering down to a slim waist. And when Tessa put her hands our Jem was warm and hard under her touch. She could feel the faint scars of ancient runes, pale against his golden skin. Which is basically what we got for Will and Jace all the time.

And if you do not believe me about Jem just being Will/Jace again or simply being more like these two now, think not only about how he was described physically but also that he has a dark and troubled past and about what Jem here actually wants to do with Tessa while he is horny for her. It is the typical cliché violence-romance mixture you get in all cheesy novels down to ripping clothes off, but of course he has control over himself because the Silent Brothers taught him (and where was the difference to before?). And that is how all these Herondales we saw so far acted.
And it comes even "better" since the story tells us how special Tessa's, Jem's and Will's love was and how Clary and Jace have the same deep love. Yeah, even this here could not actually have these characters be on their own, no we have to throw these to dimwits into the equation. And to make it even worse, we not only get how special Clary's and Jace's love is and how good Clary is for him (overused and troubling cliché) but we also get the same whiny "he will die one day and break my heart" from Tessa for Jem that we got for Will. And of course the book claims that Tessa will pick herself up and be stronger for it. Yeah as if we ever saw anything of that, neither in story nor in Tessa's behavior. This is not how these stories by this author work. This here is so cliché we even get the "he is beautiful but I am not" from Tessa. Aka it was all exactly how it was with her and Will. So where exactly is the fundamental difference between Will/Tessa and Jem/Tessa?

And speaking of the "triangle:" The story practically goes out of its way to assure you that while Will was still alive there was no danger by Jem anywhere. You see due to becoming a Silent Brother he only loved her spiritually, not sexually anymore, totally platonic. Aka he was no threat to Will whatsoever as Silent Brothers do not feel the way normal humans do. Not that the way Jem acted in the Bane Chronicles actually reflected him having less feelings than before, but in this universe that was probably supposed to be due to the influence of Tessa and Will. And typical for these stories Jem got magically cured and there are no side-effects whatsoever.

And naturally a true deep relationship is only through romantic love. Jem could not stay a Silent Brother (btw. wasn't it stated that he wasn't truly one so why does this here act as if he was?) and both of them have a platonic relationship that lasts through the ages, no, he needs to be mortal again so that Tessa can have romance and whine again in the end. For something she saw coming. Just like with Jem's first "death." Seriously I fail to see the difference to their younger selves.

Furthermore the way the whole "not a Silent Brother anymore" is handled is as dumb as you would expect. E.g. We are told Jem forgets sometimes he has to rely on food and drink again like when he was mortal, of course he is now also. Which really makes you wonder why on earth the Brothers don't share that secret with other Hunters. But anyway, when you have to eat and drink, it's impossible to actually forget it, since your body will make itself known. There is more regarding feelings and their aging and all, it is the typical clumsy and plothole ridden world-building of this franchise.
However speaking of plotholes, I wonder why he refers to himself as mortal when according to The Bane Chronicles the Silent Brothers were not immortal but aged incredibly slowly. Of course in that story alone it was stated how it was human to age and die, and Jem stood outside that humanity now, outside the light that burned so brightly and so briefly. Which is at odds with the previous statement in my eyes. Like I said: a plothole ridden world-building.

And at last with how inhuman he was stated to have been as a Silent Brother I do wonder whether Jem having become a Silent Brother and all the change in emotion that came with it were really such a big change for him as "character."
It apparently dehumanized him significantly, likening him more to a ghost or statue than a human being and apparently being totally shut off from the world, kind of odd considered how dedicated the Brothers are to knowledge, you would think they would copy at least a few things from the mundanes. But anyway, for me it was pretty clear that he was already dehumanized before in The Infernal Devices when it was being stated that he could have been a vampire with his pallor, and his looks, or how it seemed hard to imagine that anyone quite so ethereal-looking could possibly eat toast. In both cases putting him outside the realm of humans. There was of course his strange beauty in the moonlight, how he referred to himself as looking so ghostly and how Sophie stated him to have the ethereal look of angels in paintings. And in a deleted scene for Clockwork Prince it was unambiguously stated by the narration how the moonlight spilling through the high ceilings turned him almost transparent, an ethereal angel. He was stated to have an unearthly, unusual beauty and of course there was his general behavior and that Will had always thought of him as a calm and peaceful presence, always thought that joy, like anger, was too extreme and human an emotion to him. All things that already made him look more like a ghostly version of Mr. Spock than a human being.
In fact when he was a Silent Brother it was stated that being with Tessa and Will was as if being close to the people whom he loved made him feel made of flesh and racing blood once more. Which truly looks as if he was a ghost or something, or a statue, which as a Silent Brother he was constantly referred to be looking like.
Not to mention that becoming a Silent Brother not only saved his live but put him out of the competition for Will so he and Tessa could have their life, aka he did exactly what was suitable for the planned plot, just like he did at the time of The Mortal Instruments. And despite what this short story here says I don't think it's really about him, but rather about Tessa and what she wants and what the plot wants for her. In short, like in The Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments, Jem is not an actual character but rather a plot device to support the real "heroes" (a term I use very, very loosely here).
So you could argue him becoming a Silent Brother and then ceasing to be one was the whole time basically just a continuation of what he already was.

Typical is of course also how these stories cannot do any different than glorify the Herondales, this here even states how they were everything that Shadowhunters had to offer, all in one family: both the best, and the worst. Which in my eyes is not saying much, since Shadowhunters seem to be incompetent assholes at worst or well meaning idiots at best most of the time.

The only thing "positive" I can say is that at least I did not have to read these many awful metaphors and similes that the Clarebooks are known for. Maybe a competent editor was finally here. Or maybe she did not actually write this story.

So yeah, unless you are crazy Jem/Tessa shipper you can skip this and probably be better off for it.

[Carol [Goodreads Addict] · Rating 5 out of 5]

After The Bridge by Cassandra Clare is book #3.1 in the Infernal Devices series.



Are you in love with Tessa and Jem? Did you ever wonder what happened that day at the end of Clockwork Princess when they met at Blackfriars Bridge and Jem was no longer a Silent Brother? Well, you are in luck.



The ending of Clockwork Princess left me swooning for days. When I learned of the existence of this short story I was beside myself. And after I read it, the fluttery stomach started up all over again.

“Forty-nine thousand, two hundred and seventy-five days since I last kissed you,” he said. “And I thought of you every single one of them. You do not have to remind me of the Tessa I loved. You were my first love and you will be my last one. I have never forgotten you. I have never not thought of you.”



This is very short but it describes the rest of the day after Jem showed up at the bridge to meet Tessa. The love is still there between them, strong as ever. Jem is so worried that the silent brothers may have permanently affected his ability to love but Tessa shows him otherwise. I am so thankful for this. Tessa and Jem finally get their chance for their own happy ever after.

“My Jem,” she whispered as he kissed her. “James Carstairs. Ke Jian Ming.”

“We have time to do everything,” he said, tracing one of his fingers down the side of her face. “We have forever.”

[Avery · Rating 2 out of 5]

my initial review for this got deleted ugh.

but anyways, yeah as a hardcore Wessa shipper, I shouldn't have read this.

I marked it under horror for a reason

[ily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tessa Herondale Carstairs

I loved it! It was romantic, cute and heart-breaking; perfection. Reading this short story brought a lot of tears. No other ship has meant so much to me like Jessa. I'm glad they finally had their "happily ever after". After all they've gone through, they get to be together. I love this couple so much it hurts.

[katia · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love when goodreads deletes my reviews 💀

[Deborah Obida · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spoilers from the initial trilogy

As much as Iove this I have to admit that it was kind of weird. This took place after blackfriars bridge. The union was amazing and I love that Jem got the ending I've always wanted for him and Tessa.

On the other hand its weird that she get to be with Jem after Will died, so basically she had the both guys, I just can't get over it. I know its not cheating cause Will has been dead for like a century or so, and I know he'll be totally okay with it, but I still find it extremely weird.

Moving on, if you live Jessa like me then this is just for you, you'll love it. Here is the link to the novella
http://cassandraclare.tumblr.com/post...

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfection! Gave me goosebumps!

[Dianna ☾midnight reads☽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Forty-nine thousand, two hundred and seventy-five days since I last kissed you,” he said. “And I thought of you every single one of them. You do not have to remind me of the Tessa I loved. You were my first love and you will be my last one. I have never forgotten you. I have never not thought of you.” He was close enough now to see the pulse pounding in her throat. To reach out and lift up a curl of her hair. “Never.”

Oh my god. I just broke down. This is so beautiful. Thank you, Cassandra Clare.



I'm speechless.



It's been years since I've read The Infernal Devices and I am yet to find another book series that will totally consume me the way TID did. Now after reading this I'm reminded of how much I loved the series, the characters, the writing, that world. Everything about it really.

Now excuse me while I cry myself to sleep.

[Frannie Pan · Rating 5 out of 5]

As if the epilogue of Clockwork Princess wasn't enough, now this. My heart can't handle it anymore, too many feels and too many tears and happiness and I'm speechless and breathless and my heart is pounding so hard and fast and I can't even form coherent sentences!

I know she loves both and Cassandra Clare was the only one who could pull this off. And I'll always prefer Tessa with Will but I've loved Jem since the first book. I love his smiles and the way he plays and his kindness and shyness and I just love him so much. This was the best short story ever. Thank you Cassandra Clare for making my heart go crazy once again.

[Beenish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn this was beautiful!!
It wasn't just #jessa , it was #herongraystairs ❤️ omg!! I just want more of them... I love these characters. I love Tessa and Jem and Will and knowing that Tessa will one day lose Jem too is so heart breaking.
But their love, oh the love of them both and of Will Herondale, it just fills me with bliss and joy 💫

[Katerina Kondrenko · Rating 2 out of 5]

5 out of 10

It was nice and hot, but what the hell, team-Will has no such a thing about our favorite paring! What do we have? A few kisses and one sex without any descriptions. Plus Will's death. How sexy is it? I'm angry.

The Infernal Devices (Адские механизмы):

— On the Bridge (На мосту) #0.5/3
— Clockwork Angel (Механический ангел) #1/3
— Clockwork Prince (Механический принц) #2/3
— Clockwork Princess (Механический принцесса) #3/3
—After the Bridge (После моста) #3.1/3

[Jen (Nesta's versión) · Rating 5 out of 5]

AHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHHA
Jem y Tessa 💝 los amo y se merecen todo lo bueno de este mundo, después de todo el tiempo que a pasado se siguen amando.
El mejor amor que existe es entre ✨WILL, TESSA y JEM✨

Lo pueden leer aquí: https://cassandraclare.tumblr.com/pos...

-Eres hermoso, James Carstairs.🌷

💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛
“Por favor, no me digas que te estás riendo porque beso tan mal que es gracioso”, dijo con una sonrisa torcida. Podía sentir su preocupación real. "Puede que esté algo fuera de práctica".

"¿Los Hermanos Silenciosos no besan mucho?" bromeó, alisando la parte delantera de su suéter.

"No, a menos que haya orgías secretas a las que no me hayan invitado", dijo Jem. "Siempre me preocupé de no haber sido popular".
💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛

“Durante toda mi vida”, dijo, “cuando alguien ha dicho la palabra 'hermosa', es tu rostro lo que he visto. Eres mi propia definición de belleza, Tessa Gray ".💓🌹

💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚

-James Carstairs. Ke Jian Ming 😶🦋

💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚

Miró la escritura del piso en Queen's Gate. Estaba hecho a nombre de Tessa, o algo parecido. Sin embargo, no Tessa Gray, ni siquiera Tessa Herondale. Estaba hecho a nombre de Tessa Herondale Carstairs.💞

🌷🔥🦋🌷🔥🦋🌷🔥🦋🌷🔥🦋🌷🔥🦋🌷
"Usted está más experimentada que yo "

"Me gusta." Tessa le besó los dedos. “Me divertiré mucho presentándote todo. No puedo esperar a que escuches música rock and roll, Jem Carstairs. Y quiero verte usar un iPhone. Y una computadora. Y monta el metro. ¿Has estado en un avión? Quiero estar en un avión contigo ".

[✨faith✨trust✨pixiedust✨ Dead Account; Not Coming Back · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well that was...interesting. Not at all what I was expecting. It read like a fanfiction, and I think you know the kind I'm talking about.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

*This review may contain spoilers so if you have not read this series, you might want to step away now...

WOOHOO! Jem is finally getting some lovin' (after being a virgin for literally...more than a hundred years)!

That's too long a wait I think (well, I can only guess, because I haven't lived that long), so imagine how ecstatic I was to read this book intended for Jem and Tessa fans.

Because let's face it, this short story is nothing but a fan fiction created for fans who, like me, can't get enough of them, and couldn't still move on from THE Epilogue - the most epic and most satisfying epilogue I've ever read! After the Bridge is an extra scene that occurs after that, so naturally, I can't help but worship this as well.

For once, I didn't feel icky about a sex scene - because to me, this was not about sex. No, it's definitely more than that, something deeper. It's about Jem and Tessa finding their way back to each other after being parted for a long time. It's them being intimate again and making love in a way that is warm and sweet and passionate but also has teasing and laughter in it.

Jem is so sweet and knows when to say all the right words...

For all my life, when someone has said the word 'beautiful', it is your face I have seen. You are my own very definition of beautiful, Tessa Gray.

Really Jem, stop it. I'm melting...

Forty-nine thousand, two hundred and seventy-five days since I last kissed you, and I thought of you every single one of them. You do not have to remind me of the Tessa I loved. You were my first love and you will be my last one. I have never forgotten you. I have never not thought of you. Never.

I love Jem when he's innocent and unsure of himself. I love the fact that he's not aware of how attractive and charming he is. But I love him even more when he's being a bit smug (in an un-Jem like manner), after finally "doing it" with Tessa...

Jem: So it was - that was all right? I could get better, we could practice -
Tessa: Oh, we will practice. As soon as you're ready.
Jem: I have no other appointments this evening.
Tessa: Your body may need time to - to recover.
Jem (smugly): No. No, I don't think so.
Tessa: Well, I need five minutes, at least!

I got to admit, this short story might be a bit smutty, and the lines were quite cheesy and shallow. But whatever, they still worked, right? Well, at least they did, for me.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMG thank the lord that Virginia Ronan posted her review on this short story, otherwise i wouldn't have found out that it existed!!!

I just loved. I was always team Jem and was really happy that in the end Tessa ends up with him, but this detailed get together was everything. And the references to Jace and Clary were just an added bonus.

I have to admit that everything that Cassandra Clare writes about this world just puts a smile on my face every time :)

[sam]

I'm not a Jem and Tessa fan so this one was...uhhh...bleh i guess. Thats the only excuse I have for not liking this otherwise it was fine.

[Sandee is Reading · Rating 5 out of 5]

I missed you James!





So sorry to disappoint you but that's not from Tessa, that was from me... :) I missed Jem... okay... and Tessa too..

But this... is from Tessa

She’d felt like Pygmalion, yearning for the touch of a marble statue.

Oh the feeeeelllsss... click here to read this cute novella after Clockwork Princess

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

IT'S OKAY I'M NOT CRYING, I JUST HAVE A TESSA HERONDALE CARSTAIRS IN MY EYE, BYE.

[Lucy Qhuay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jem! My Jem! My beautiful Jem! I have always loved you and I always will! I just want to scream I LOVE YOU!!!! at the top of my lungs, the world be damned!

I knew you had it in you, darling! I always knew you had a sex god hidden inside that goody two-shoes exterior. MWAHAHAHAHAH! :D

STEP ASIDE, BITCHES, 'cause JEM EFFIN' CARSTAIRS be like:

And TESSA GRAY, THIS FRIEND OF YOURS and ALL SANE WOMEN be like...

...and...


I say BRING IT ON!!

[jessica ☾ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not even that big of a Jem and Tessa shipper, but oh my gosh this pulled at my heartstrings so bad!

[☆ Annie ☆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some stories are meant to be loved. This is one of those stories. And it's not that I had forgotten, all these months since I finished The Clockwork Angel, all my feelings for Tessa and Jem and Will- or for Tessa and Will and Jem, as is their order in my heart. But time passes and love deepens and you don't experience the rush of freshly felt emotions and the tears don't come as often and your heart only beats faster for them every now and then.
But then, stories like After The Bridge get written or, to be exact, get found and that's all. That's all cause your feelings have come to life and you meet those familiar tears again and you're there with Jem and Tessa, so many years ago and so many years after, being together, being in love. And things become softer, and that light you'd found appears again and your heart is warm and that's just all.
There isn't a piece, corner, part, crevice of my heart that didn't love this extra chapter with all its might. None. But there is a difference... now my heart is fuller and my mind lighter. That's all! That's all indeed!

"We have time to do everything," he said, tracing one of his fingers down the side of her face. "We have forever."
Not forever, Tessa thought. They had a long, long time. A lifetime. His lifetime. And she would lose him one day, as she had lost Will, and her heart would break, as it had broken before. And she would put herself back together and go on, because the memory of having had Jem would be better than never having had him at all.

She was wise enough to know that, now.



(p.s Ehmm... you know... if Cassie decided to publish the book with those short stories about Jem TOMORROW that would be fine.You know. Just saying... or if she wrote one just for those two. I won't raise an argument. NAH AH hehehehe ❤️)

[catherine ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clockwork Princess destroyed me. And then I saw that there was this story, so I started preparing myself.

Well, evidently, it wasn't enough.


This was such a beautiful ending - even though it killed me.
And the Infernal Devices series will be one of the only books where I ship the MC with multiple characters.
Both Will and Jem are perfect.

[annie ❦ · Rating 5 out of 5]

i read this at least 3 times a month because JEM "CORSET-RIPPER" CARSTAIRS THE MAN THAT YOU ARE

[Lucie V. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I expected... I understand that they've changed in the last 130 years or so, but this is so not Jem... I miss his character from TID.

This short story is sweet, but it is basically just Jem and Tessa's first time. Nothing more.

1. Clockwork Angel ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
2. Clockwork Prince ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. Clockwork Princess ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not crying! You're crying!

Oh Jem, my sweet sweet child. How I missed you so!

Beautiful addition to Tessa and Jem's story!