Into the Tomorrows (Bleeding Hearts Book 1) (31 page)

W
elcome
to my longest acknowledgements ever.

First, I must thank my husband and kids. Writing always puts a certain kind of strain on a family, and this book was no exception. I’m glad cereal dinners are a thing.

I dedicated this book to Jade, Jena, Karla, and Whitney—because without these four women, this book wouldn’t have been published. Thank you, Jade, for believing in me and giving me the opportunity you did—rescuing me when I needed it the most. You’re my hero, baby. To Jena, for trying to guilt me into writing this book—and making me laugh in the process. You pushed me when I was stubborn and gave me faith when I didn’t have any. Karla, you read every draft of this book—all eighty of them—and talked me off the ledge more times than any normal person would have the patience for. Basically, you’re not normal, but I like you anyway. And Whitney, who practically gave birth to Tent Guy and who supported me in every way throughout the journey of writing this. Thank you for christening him.

To Wilma Bristol, who always supports me even when that support means leaving you in the dust. Not many people are as selfless and generous as you are.

Sona Babani, best friends for a billion years! I always feel home when I’m with you. Thank you for giving me bad book ideas, so I can recognize the good stuff.

I sprinkled a lot of people I knew into this book, including myself. But one person in particular inspired Colin, so I wanted to thank him. B—thanks for giving me bad inspiration. You were a real asshole.

To my trifecta, Lex Martin and KL Grayson—thank you both SO FREAKING MUCH for reading early drafts and giving me the feedback I desperately needed to hear. I’m so lucky to know both of you and even luckier that you like me enough to read my stuff! I love you! One day, we’ll all be in the same city—TOGETHER.

Nikki! Thank you for working with me on my edits and giving me great suggestions when I was stuck, and working with my wacky schedule. Thank you to Alexis Durbin with Indie Girl Proofs and Ginelle Blanch for my proofreading—you both made time for me at the last minute, and did such an incredible job catching my typos!

Thank you to Cassie Hanjian, my patient and supportive agent. Thank you for your guidance and everything you do to help me succeed. I can’t wait to see where we go this year and next.

Thank you to Briana Pacheco for giving me helpful feedback and being honest about your feels. Thank you, Kristen Johnson, for making time for Tent Guy and telling me your feelings when you left ITT. Amy Bosica—your email lit up my whole heart. Thank you so much, I hope to get to Colorado and hug you hard. Judi Lauren, thank you for squeezing it in when you didn’t have the time for it, and for giving me that lovely email.

Christina Harris and Tiffany Elain–thank you for giving me writing inspiration and laughs. I like your faces and your hearts.

Cynthia Aponte and Kat Zerko—I love both of you. Our chats are ridiculous. Thank you, Cynthia, for traveling from one coast to the other to meet me—I hope to do the same for you in 2017! Kat, get a visa and get your ass over here.

Thank you to my Barbetti Babes—I love each one of you so freaking much. You make me laugh, you touch my soul, and you’re so lovely, all of you. Thank you to Christy Wallingford, Christina, Karla, and Kat for posting when I’m MIA—which is often.

So many of my babes have traveled far to meet me at signings, spending all their time with me (!!!!) and made me feel cooler than I am. I’m so, so grateful to you all. Kimberly Dodd, Tina Lynne, Jenn Holter, Sampa Hanson, Christina, Cynthia, Kristen. From Dallas, to Pittsburgh, and Seattle—some of the best trips of my life—you’ve been there. Adore all of you.

To my local friends, Debbie Snyder for margaritas and movies and Samantha Gillihan for being the queen of lip balms and always there if I need you!

To Audra Atkins and Diane Hambric for giving me my first
Into the Tomorrows
gifts! I’m so, so touched by the work you poured into those beauties—and the fact that you did that for ME is just incredible. You don’t know how appreciative I am.

I have one million bloggers to thank, for going out of their way to pimp my books AND me! I value your support and your time, so I thank you for all the times you shared my books with your fans. I know many of you also gifted copies of my books to your friends and/or hosted sponsored giveaways for my books. I truly thank each of you from the bottom of my heart. Here’s a short list of the MANY who support me.

L
astly
, thank you to all my readers. I love getting to know you on my Facebook fan page, in my reader group, on Twitter or Instagram and even via email. You rock my world.