A quick note about the situation with Jo—holy moly, legal situations are a hot mess to write. It’s incredibly convoluted. Laws vary by state, and there are so many contingencies and factors that may weigh in. After talking to lawyers, researching, and speaking with moms who have been through custody situations and hearings, I did my best to write a realistic situation that worked for the story. A big thanks to Lorie for talking to me about your family story! So glad we’re neighbors.
I really want to create books with depth, quirky characters, witty banter, and some over-the-top humor. That’s what I want to bring. As I was editing, I felt like I needed one more funny scene. I originally thought this book would be like Money Pit, but thinking about it being Lindy’s childhood home and about safety, I just couldn’t make the bathtub fall through the floor or the oven explode.
I told my husband, Rob, I needed a funny grill incident. He said: squirrels. And off we went. （I love the flaming squirrels. So much.） While these humorous scenes may seem TOTALLY ridiculous （and they are）， the squirrel part had real-life inspiration.
My friend, Eric, unknowingly had a squirrel build a nest in his car engine. When they opened the hood to see why it wouldn’t run, a squirrel leaped out onto the mechanic. And Rob’s friend Thomas had a squirrel get electrocuted in a transformer, jump （while flaming） into Thomas’s shed, and burn the whole shed down.
So, yeah, my stories sometimes have wild humor … but it’s not THAT far off from real life.
The name Lindy comes from Bookstagrammer @ReadingLindy, who has been so supportive and happened to message me the day I needed a name. Ashlee’s name comes from @bookswithnopictures, a fellow friend in snark and great supporter. You just never know when you might have a character named after you …
Thanks so much for waiting so long for this story! I’ve got more books to come in this series, and I can’t wait to give you more of Sheet Cake and the Grahams.
Emma St. Clair is a USA Today bestselling author of over twenty books. She loves sweet love stories and characters with a lot of sass. Her stories range from rom-com to women’s fiction and all will have humor, heart, and nothing that’s going to make you need to hide your Kindle from the kids. ;）
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Acknowledgments
Thanks to Jenny Proctor for talking me down off the ledge and for all the feedback on the first draft. Love you! A big thanks to reader Krista White for coming up with the name Sheet Cake for this town.
I want to give a giant thank you to all of the early readers and also to the Bookstagrammers who support me. You guys and your shares and kind words make my job even more of a joy. THANK YOU!!!
Thanks also to Amy L, Jody, Devon, Jill, Marsha, Sunny, Lindsay, Nicole, Catherine, Makayla, and anyone else I missed who helped with missed things and typos!