Writing is a solitary profession; this year, that solitude was taken up a notch. I am grateful for all the writing friends who made this process less lonely along the way. Thank you to Ally Carter, Rachel Vincent, Emily Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski, and all of BOB for the tremendous amounts of writerly support, and to the fellow authors who have been incredibly supportive of this series, including Katharine McGee, Karen McManus, Kat Ellis, Dahlia Adler, and so many more.
As is probably obvious by this point, the writing and publishing of a book is a true team effort. For this book, written in one of the hardest and most chaotic periods of my life, I am also hugely indebted to my team at home. Thank you to Avery Eshelman and Ruth Davis, for helping take care of my kids while I wrote, and thank you to my family, for EVERYTHING. Anthony, I could not ask for a better partner. Thank you for all you do; I could not do this without you. To my mom and dad, thank you for always being just a phone call away and for all you have done to help us through this difficult time. And to my children, thank you for the snuggles and fun, but also for understanding that sometimes Mommy has to write!
Finally, thank YOU, dear reader! After all these years and twenty-two books, I am still in awe that the stories I write are read by people like you.