I AM SO FORTUNATE to have worked with a wonderful team to turn this book into a finished product. I owe a big thanks to my incredible editor, Kristin Daly Rens, and the rest of the Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins team, including assistant editor Sara Sargent, designers Alison Klapthor and Alison Donalty for the beautiful design, Renée Cafiero for an amazing copyedit, Emilie Polster and Stephanie Hoffman in marketing, and Caroline Sun, Olivia DeLeon, and Alison Lisnow in publicity. Any author would be thrilled to have you all on her team, and I am glad I get to be one of the lucky ones.
I also owe an enormous thanks to the amazing literary/black belt ninja agent team: Josh, Tracey, and Quinlan at Adams Literary. Plain and simple, you made a writer’s dream come true, and that has changed my life forever.
Thanks also to my critique group, the Secret Gardeners, as well as my beta readers, Constance, Lauren, Kim, Ameliann, and especially Melissa, who has been reading my work and giving me insightful feedback since that first awful picture book ages ago. I’d also like to acknowledge the Lucky 13s and Friday the Thirteeners for moral support, and to congratulate them on their debuts. It’s been a heck of a year!
Of course, my parents, Peggy and Tim, played a big role giving me my love of literature. You and the whole Highland Books family make up my favorite home away from home and the best place for a child to grow up. Thanks also to all my friends and family who offered support through frantic phone calls, photography sessions, playlists, and book-shaped cakes. And to my husband, Jesse, who gave me the courage to believe in myself. You make each day better than the last. And lastly, I want to acknowledge my admiration for H. G. Wells, whose book The Island of Doctor Moreau inspired me to create this story. I’ll never forget reading Wells’s works when I was a teenager myself, and being exposed to such compelling and insightful ideas about the world we inhabit.
This list could take up so many pages, because I have so many more people to thank for their very generous support along the way. Holding this book in my hands is an incomparable feeling, and I will never be able to find the words to express to each and every one of you how thankful I am for your encouragement.