Acknowledgments

Thank you to my friends and family who never stopped believing in me, especially my parents, for always encouraging me toward the next conference; Carli, Stacy, Mere, Erin, Caroline, Katie, Michelle, and Lauren for listening, loving, and knowing how to have a damn good time; and Chrissy, for willingly joining me in over a decade of book talk. Thank you for listening through my earliest attempts at writing about damsels and dragons in high school writing workshop and for sharing the excitement of my romance novel addiction during hundreds of coffee dates. You are my partner in fiction.

Thank you to my teachers and professors who encouraged my progress, especially Miss Doyle and Ms. Ippolito, for igniting an inextinguishable fire inside me; Dr. Beery, Dr. Moses, and Dr. Ciabattari, for the support and immeasurable feedback on my first complete manuscript; and Hawkes, for ripping in when my writing was crap, highlighting when my writing was golden, and most especially, for believing in my vision.

Thank you to everyone I met along my writing journey, especially Jane Friedman, for recommending the most wonderful freelance editor in the world; Nicole Klungle, for being the most wonderful freelance editor in the world; Rita, for gabbing about our work, and more often than not, our hopes and dreams for our work; McCall, for sharing the experience; and thank you to the countless individuals, workshops, and speeches offered by New Jersey and Georgia RWA Conferences. You have immeasurably enriched both my work and my life.

Last, but certainly not least, thank you to the best boyfriend EVER, Derek Bradley, for loving me, and to Esi Sogah, for loving this book.