To the readers who rolled with me the first time around, you have my eternal gratitude! I hope this iteration of Jasminda and Jack’s story makes the waiting more bearable.
This book was conceived after a weeklong writing workshop where my creative mind was torn apart and put back together again. The next year I went back with the opening chapter to have the process repeated. Huge thanks to Junot Díaz, Marjorie Liu, and both my VONA crews—your voices made me a better writer.
Thank you to my editor, Monique Patterson, for bringing me on this amazing journey. You offered me an unexpected detour that terrified me, but you have been the best possible guide. And immense thanks to everyone at St. Martin’s Press for all the hard work that made this possible.
To the BCALA and the librarians who saw something relevant in my fantastical love story, I’m forever grateful.
Thanks to Danielle Poiesz, who first polished my words, and James T. Egan, who designed an amazing package for them to live in. To Quinn Heraty, my fabulous lawyer, thank you for shepherding me through unfamiliar terrain. To Kaia Danielle, the best signal booster ever, and Kara Stevens, who helped keep me accountable: y’all rock. And to everyone at the Muse Writers Center, thank you for lighting the match.
To Ines Johnson for being my favorite human, and Cerece Rennie Murphy for being relentlessly reliable.
To Paul, who’s made of the same star stuff as me, only upside down and backward, thank you for carrying me across the finish line and supplying the missing pieces. To my father, who won’t see this but I know is someplace where he can feel it, and my mother, who sees everything, thank you for always supporting my dreams.
And to Jared, thank you for believing in me and for lifting the heavy stuff to make space for me to write. I love you.