This book was a long time coming, and it had a lot riding on it. Yes, it’s the first book written under my real name, but my name shouldn’t be the only one on the cover. I want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who supported and encouraged me to follow my heart with my writing. This book is dedicated to all of you.
Thank you to Amy Gamet who first planted the idea in my head.
Massive undying thank yous and unlimited gift cards to Wendy’s go to Amelia Wilde, who took the time to hash this whole thing out with me, told me to do it, then kept me from losing my mind when doing it seemed way too hard. Thank you also for being such a kickass beta reader and my editing pinch hitter. You’re the coolest.
To Becca Hensley Mysoor - so much more than just an editor - who immediately understood what I was trying to do, gave me all my good ideas, and also protected me from all my bad ones.
To Ashley, my new goddess, who helped me be a much better version of myself. I don’t know how I got so lucky to find you. I must’ve been a saint in a past life.
To Arijana from Cover It Designs, who inspired me with her absolute gorgeous covers, and helped me see the full potential of the Crown Creek series.
To Fiona Cole, who took my scattered vision and direction, and created the most beautifully comprehensive set of graphics I’ve ever seen. Thank you so much for helping me figure out who the heck I am, and for making me look like I have really good taste.
To Sherri Slade, a truly awesome coach, who took my grandiose plan, and broke it down into an actionable list of steps to take to make it happen.
To Willow Winters, who created a community of indie authors that I am so proud and grateful to belong to.
To Tabatha Kiss, who not only makes me laugh on a near hourly basis and keeps me on track when I’m clearly procrastinating, but also has a killer eye for design.
To the lovely ladies of the re-booted Lounge. I write for you.
To my fellow CNYRW authors. You all inspire me to be both a better author, and to be proud of the books I write.
To Ellie McLove, who loves my books, and helps them be their best possible selves.
To Viv Wood. I give you all my Vivianness. It’s yours now.
To Cora who so enthusiastically took on the arduous task of rebuilding my website. One day I promise I’ll get you everything you need to finish it.
To Roxie Noir, for making me think it’s gonna all be okay.
To Jenny. A friend like you was what inspired me to write the friendship between Cooper and Liam. I hope I did it justice.
To the family and friends who were so happy to see my announcement that they rushed to go like my Facebook page and join my reader group. As Katie said, I’ve got my village behind me now, and that is so, so cool.
To my rockstar cousin Rod, who immediately shared my post, encouraging everyone to read his cousin’s book. That was pretty cool of you. Hope I see you at Thanksgiving this year.
To Mike who keeps messaging me on Facebook with story ideas. Now that the book is done, I can listen to you. I’m a little scared to hear what you have to say though.
To the Mercy girls I’m about to see at our 20th reunion. Yeah, I absolutely did all this just to impress you. You are all so impressive, I figured I needed to do something drastic to fit in.
To my mom, Karen, who was so delighted when I told her I would be writing under the name she’d given me when I was born. Thank you for listening to me as I ramble on and on about book ideas, and thank you also for watching the kids so I can write.
And most importantly, thank you to B., my man, the inspiration for every single romance I come up with. The fact that I’ve loved you over half my life just goes to show what impeccable taste I have. Thank you for supporting me, and for being proud of me. Real life romance is the sweetest.