Acknowledgments

Firstly, I want to thank my amazing editor Robin Haseltine for picking up this sprawling, convoluted, murder-map of a novel draft and helping me turn it into a real book. The world of The Aisling Chronicles is big, and sometimes I didn’t even know where the boundaries ended, but she dove in undaunted. She helped me get to the heart of Elizabeth’s journey, and I appreciate her painstaking feedback more than words can say.

I am also grateful to everyone at Entangled for not giving up on these characters and this story. I’m so grateful to Liz Pelletier for picking up this manuscript and ensuring readers get this final installment. Thank you to the Entangled marketing team, especially Riki Cleveland, for making sure this book gets in the hands of eager readers.

Thank you to Suzanne Evans for picking up this manuscript in the first place. You have been an incredible friend and confidante over the years.

I am grateful to my agent Rachel Brooks for supporting me through this process and for all her encouragement along the way. Her commitment and attention to detail are unparalleled, and I’m so happy to have her in my corner.

To my kind and patient readers, thank you for all the support, the words of encouragement, the kind comments, the reviews, and the recommendations to friends. I hope this book was worth the wait. Thank you for coming on this journey with me.

It’s been several years now since I sat down and drummed out the first words of what would later become The Aisling Chronicles, and in that time, so many people have supported me and cheered me on along the way. I must thank my original writing workshop crew, the BBC Feb. 2010 mamas, especially Lashana Jefferson, Rachel Caine, and Jenna Goldstein. I am also grateful to Jessica Bloczynski and Barney Gedero for plowing through those first few drafts. Michael Mammay—thank you so much for your dedication, friendship, guidance, and alllllll the tough critique-partner love. You’re always there for me, and it has meant everything. Thank you to Kim Cohen, especially for that one “wild night” in Vegas where we stayed up with a box of rosé and a stack of Post-it notes and replotted this novel together. I wanted to give up so many times, but you always had a plan to get me back on track.

I am so thankful for my family. To my parents, you have been unwavering in your support and have been my biggest fans. I love you so much, and I am so grateful for all of your help. Thank you to my in-laws for all the babysitting and words of encouragement. It has taken a village to raise these children while their mother was off in her own little writing world, and I’m so grateful for all that you have done to help raise these kids while mom was trying to make deadlines.

To Skye and Colin—I love you with all my heart. I know you have had to sometimes live adjacent to this world inside my head, and it has come with sacrifice. Your smiles, hugs, imagination, and wonder have been the inspiration that has kept me going through many hard times along this journey.

Finally, to Aaron—the love of my life. You made a secret garden for me to escape to, a place of quiet and peace where I could finally thrive. You have given me the greatest gift of all—the gift of myself. Thank you for taking me for who I am, every day and always. I love you.