The True Love Experiment

Thank you to our UK pre-readers for helping us with Connor’s voice and vocab: Lindsey Kelk, Katy Wendt, Lia Louis, and Paige Thompson. Hopefully he sounds like a good Northern lad, but if he doesn’t, blame us.

After publishing The Soulmate Equation, we were thrilled to hear from so many of you who deeply hoped Fizzy would get her own book, and at the same time, we are very conscious that a story of cultural identity or self-discovery for a character of color isn’t ours to tell. It is hugely important to us that our books look like the world around us, and we hope we have balanced these two priorities: telling a love story for Fizzy that feels authentic, but which doesn’t feel to our readers like a co-opted story of Chinese American identity. If you are part of this community, thank you for picking up our book and giving it a try. Our deepest debt of gratitude goes to our Chinese American pre-readers: Jennifer Yuen, Patty Lai, Eileen Ho, Kayla Lee, and Sandria Wong. These women answered every question we had and read through multiple versions of this book. They shared their time, their memories, and most importantly, themselves. Jen, Patty, Eileen, Kayla, and Sandria: We are forever thankful. We hope we made you proud. Anything that we got wrong is entirely on us.

By now, our families know almost as much about publishing as we do. They have seen us through the drafting, editing, and publishing of over two dozen books, hundreds of events, and countless flails and celebrations. We couldn’t do any of this without them. Thank you, K and R, for celebrating our victories with gusto, commiserating through the struggles, and being proud, feminist husbands to your exuberant, fangirl wives. And thank you, C, O, and V, for being truly the most amazing kids, but thank you most of all for knowing how to make your own dinners when required. We love you more than words.

In case you couldn’t tell, Fizzy is obsessed with her readers, and so are we. Our characters rarely speak for us, but when Fizzy talks about seeing her books impact people, watching their TikToks and Reels, and seeing all their beautiful photos? That’s straight from us. We are nothing without all of you, and whether you found us at book one or book twenty-nine, whether you’re a reader, a blogger, a BookTokker, a Bookstagrammer, or a podcaster, or you just love shouting into our DMs about our stories, we are so grateful.

If you are a bookseller or a librarian, we love the hell out of you. May your skin always look great, and may you always fly through the Ticketmaster queue. Thank you for all your work and for helping our books find new readers.

If you follow us, have met us, or attended one of our events, you know that we treat fangirling like a professional sport. It runs in our (purple) blood, and when we love something, we love it with every fiber of our being. Fizzy and Stevie’s favorite band isn’t officially BTS, but the euphoric joy they bring people was absolutely inspired by them. We’ve thanked BTS in four books now, but the happiness and inspiration they give us could fill every one of these pages. Kim Namjoon, Kim Seokjin, Min Yoongi, Jung Hoseok, Park Jimin, Kim Taehyung, and Jeon Jungkook, you inspire us to love better, to be kinder, to collaborate with passion, and to grow as individuals. Thank you for your hard work, for your dedication to each other, and for sharing your boundless talent with the world. BTS and ARMY may be apart for a little while, but we will always be here, ARMY bombs ready for whatever comes next.

Christina, sunshine in human form. You are the glaze to my doughnut, the dimple to my smile, the Namjoon to my Jungkook, the exclamation point at the end of every one of my fangirl screams. I love this life we have made together, and sometimes still can’t believe it. Thirty books and we just wrote one that fills our hearts to the brim. What a ride.

To my Lolo, I have been the proudest bestie this year. You put out your own book (Scandalized by Ivy Owens, available wherever books are sold) and were the best coauthor/mom/wife/daughter/BFF anyone could wish for. To say I love you isn’t enough, but I think you know. I hope we write thirty more books together, go to five hundred more concerts, and find zero headless squirrels. IYKYK. You are forever my left quote.