ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I remember thinking—back in my saner days—how much fun it would be to write books. What could be easier than sitting down and allowing the words to go directly from my brain, through my fingers, to the page, just the way my favorite authors did?

Little did I know how many hours of work went into their books—the books I devoured over the course of an evening. My sincere thanks go to the wonderful people who take my stories and make the books happen—to my fantastic agent, Jessica Faust of BookEnds LLC, my wonderful editor, Audrey LaFehr, her ever-patient and multiskilled assistant, Martin Biro, Kensington’s truly talented art department, the publicists, sales personnel and production people…all of them so good at what they do, and so patient with those of us who love to write the stories but haven’t got a clue how the rest of the process really works.

Thanks also to my great beta-readers—the ones who take my flawed first drafts, tell me what needs fixin’, and do it without making me feel like a complete idiot. On this project, those intrepid souls were Rose Toubbeh, Karen Woods, Rhonda Wilson, Jan Takane, Treva Harte, Amanda Haffrey, and my agent, Jessica Faust. It really does take a village to create a book, and I’m blessed to exist in one of the very best villages around. Thank you, all of you.

I want to add a special thanks to reviewer Suzie Housley, who, way back when, read one of my very first e-published romances and said she just knew I’d make it. Suzie, I may not “be there” yet, but I’m working on it!