Acknowledgements

Someone once told me that writing books gets easier the more you do it.

They lied.

So, I suppose, I should thank that person. Because if they had told me the truth – that every book you write, whether it’s your debut or your fourth or even your fourteenth, has the ability to turn you into a jittery, coffee-infused, insecure mess in the corner of the room – I might not have chosen this career path.

That being said, I have chosen it, and I have a few people I’d like to thank for helping me to keep going, despite aforementioned mess.

My agent. My wonderful, wonderful agent Emily Glenister. I can’t quite express the relief that comes from knowing you’re just on the other end of a phone call when I need you. You’re a beautiful person inside and out, and you share my love of Nashville which automatically makes you one of my favourite people.

I can’t not mention the incredible team at Embla Books. My editor, Martina Arzu, came into this book with such infectious enthusiasm, and together with Emily Thomas you helped me to turn a collection of incoherent ideas into a book that I’m actually pretty proud of. Let’s not forget my fantastic copy-editors Emma Wilson, Sandra Ferguson and Stephanie Carey, who not only dealt with my endless timeline mishaps (sorry!) but also pointed out when I had managed to change a main character’s name halfway through the novel. Of course, there are so many other people on the Embla team who work tirelessly to bring these books to fruition, and I can’t thank you all enough. Miracle workers, the lot of you.

A special shout-out to Crawley Waterstones. I don’t know if anyone realises this, but authors get bloody terrified walking into a bookshop and asking if they’ll stock their book. The team at Crawley Waterstones are so incredibly supportive to local authors and they all deserve a raise.

To the fantastic, wonderful people I work with at Jericho Writers. I still can’t quite believe I get to not only write books for a living, but that I also get to help other people write books for a living. The fact that I can go into my one-to-one with my boss and spend half an hour chatting about the pains of developmental edits means that, at the end of a long week, I’m left with some semblance of sanity. Not a lot, but enough to get me by.

To my family. I always worry I’m going to annoy you by listing you in a particular order, and I know you’ll wind me up whichever way I do it, so we’ll go for a brain dump: My husband Sam (I don’t actually hate men, despite what this book might lead you to think), my daughters Élise and Evie, Mum, Dad, Debs, Isaac, Molly, Grandad, Colette, Jonathan, Grace, Thalia, Elijah – also a special mention for my Grandma and dearly departed Grandad. I’m so glad I got to hold your hand one last time.

To Jasmine, Shelly, Ali, Pippa and Harry. It doesn’t matter how much time goes between us seeing each other, it always feels like yesterday. Who says you don’t get to keep the friends you had at school, eh?

To Sophie Flynn, Anna Burtt, Lauren North, Natali Simmonds, William Shaw, Jo Jakeman, Sarah Bonner, Eve Ainsworth, Philippa East, Nikki Smith, Talia Samuels and all the other authors I’m lucky enough to now call friends. You’re all incredible.

And, my dear reader, to you. If this is the first of my books you’ve read, I promise you I’m not this dark and twisted in real life. If you’ve been with me since the start, just know you mean the absolute world to me. DM me, tweet me, come and say hi at events. I’ll buy you a hot chocolate with extra marshmallows to say thank you.