Acknowledgments

It was while catching up with high school friends at a Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, book signing that I came up with the idea for The Sleeping Beauty Proposal. A very pretty, very popular classmate of mine confessed that while she had enjoyed great success forming her small business, was blessed with many friends and close ties to her family, she felt, at age forty, something, as if she’d missed out on life by not getting married. I found this so sad.

I ran her tale of woe past my best friend since age four, Lisa, also unmarried, who told me that this was a bunch of hooey. Sure, there were disadvantages to not being married, but that didn’t mean her life was incomplete. Her only regret, she said, was not being able to pay back all those brides (including me) who made her dress up in ridiculous bridesmaid’s dresses. Also, not raking in the loot from showers.

Hence, the idea for the book. I’ve always felt that our tradition of not supplying women with the necessary kitchen gadgets, cutlery, dinnerware, etc., was outdated anyway.What’s a girl supposed to do? Live on paper plates until she becomes some man’s wife? No! Of course not.

To this end, we’ve started a “Sleeping Beauty Proposal” support group that’s accessible through my Web site—sarahstrohmeyer.com. Here you can find fun tips, stories, and pictures of how to throw a “Welcome to Real Life” shower for your unmarried friend, sister, or daughter. (Or maybe yourself!) Please don’t make her wait to get engaged. She needs that Cuisinart, recipe, and fabulous, glamorous party now.

Along with Lisa, I have to thank Anne Garbush, Debby Mundy, and Kathy Sweeney for their inspiring stories and words. Nor could I have survived without the moral support from my fabulous sisters and fellow authors on our blog, “The Lipstick Chronicles”: Harley Jane Kozak, Michele Martinez, Elaine Viets, Rebecca the Bookseller, Margie (oh, Margie!), and Nancy Martin, who, as always, steered, advised, encouraged, and consoled me. I hope you’ll check out her savvy and smart Blackbird Sisters Mysteries. They are a hoot.

My agent, Heather Schroder at ICM, pushed me to make this book as funny and real as it could be, and my editor at Dutton, Julie Doughty, was patient and thoughtful and so insightful in her editorial comments.Thanks also to Trena Keating for contributing valuable input, and to Brian Tart, the most supportive publisher ever. I’m really very lucky.

Finally, my family put up with all my late hours, grumpy moods, and cold dinners as I rewrote and rewrote. For that I owe them my undying gratitude. Thank you so much, Charlie, Anna, and Sam—especially Anna, who, as a devoted reader of women’s fiction, provided superb critiques of my rough drafts.

And thank you for reading The Sleeping Beauty Proposal. Please stop by my Web site and let me know what you thought of it. I love to hear from readers.