Thank you to my family. Yes, ALL of you seven siblings, way more than seven sibling in-laws, parents-in-law, Mom, over twenty nieces and nephews (sorry, I’ve lost count exactly how many nieces and nephews there are now!!), aunts, uncles, cousins, and whatever!!! And a special thank you to my husband and kids: Kurt, Lydia, and soon-to-be Sadie, since you actually have to live with me! Another thank you to Shi Ann and Alaina for your eternal willingness to read my rough drafts...at any point in the story!
Thanks to my British half, Ada Frost. There aren’t enough kind words to list everything you’ve done for me! And I do apologize for mentioning you in the six-years-ago portion of the story when you wouldn’t have had any stories published yet; I figured since this is fiction, it was okay to stretch the truth a little. And hey, it was just too fun to resist the shout-out since this story is pretty much a tribute to Ryan...whose book I’m still waiting on (no pressure)!!
Thanks to beta reader, Amanda at Beta Reading Bookshelf, my editor, the always brilliant Stephanie Parent, and proofreaders, Autumn at The Autumn Review plus Shelley at 2 Book Lovers Reviews. And thank you to the ladies at E. M. Tippetts Book Designs for slotting me in and making some awesome formatting for my stories.
Here are a couple more shout-outs to some awesome peeps I’ve met just because I write books. Thanks for inspiring me to write more!
Lindsay Brooks – For being you!
Adrienne Ambrose – Reigning queen of the Facebook tag!!
Michelle Chen – For that amazing letter you wrote in support of Zoey and Quinn.
Sarah Turner – For being so darn sweet and for the Forbidden Men tip jar. Genius idea!
Carol Sales – Because you truly GET Harry Potter mania!
Brynne Hounsell – Mostly because I want to suck up to you in the hopes you’ll hook a girl up with some Packers tickets one day!! Just kidding, but seriously... I do envy your Green Bay connections!!
Wild Banana women like Lydia, Adrienne, Katie, Laura, and Tabitha who never fail to entertain me with your dibs wars.
All fellow Olicity Fans (Like Menna) – Because you have such great taste in television couples!!! And yes, if anyone was curious: my Felicity Bainbridge WAS named after Felicity Smoak off Arrow!
And to that woman who messaged me after she read Be My Hero (It’s bugging me to death because, for the life of me, I can’t remember who it was) and assumed Pick and Asher were brothers because Pick thought Asher looked familiar the first moment they met. I only intended for Asher to look familiar because Pick had seen him in one of his glimpses, but your insight planted a seed!
Thanks to Ada Frost, Amisha Patel, Ana Kristina Rabacca, Elisa Castro, Mary Rose Bermundo, Karen Ferry, Sarah Symonds, Amanda Sheila, Lindsay Brooks, Jennifer Fosorile Skewes, and Nehamiah Harper for your pen pal friendships! If any of you ever need me to vouch for you and say I was with you after you had to sneak off to meet a special someone, I totally will, but only in the name of forbidden love, and if that other person is totally worth it, and treats you right, and won’t ever hurt you, and makes you insanely happy, and respects you and your wishes, and neither of you are already involved with someone else, and...well, they just better be worth it, okay!! Hugs.
Thank you to Sejla Ibrahimpasic in Vienna, American Sarah Turner, Audrey Thunder from Down Under, British Lindsay Brooks, and Ana Kristina Rabacca in the Philippines for the lovely gifts from all over the world! I totally didn’t deserve them, but I cherish them anyway!
And thanks to God for making me me! Sometimes, I wish I could be someone else, who was just really awesome, but when it comes down to it, I truly am most grateful for the life You gave me!
Thank you, all. You’ve made my journey into storytelling...worth it! <3