The Wanted (42 page)
Authors: Lauren Nicolle Taylor
Can't get enough of The Woodlands Series? Don't forget to check out Lauren's newest novella,
The Willful
! This is the first of several novellas that are to be released over the next year.
This story is for the readers who have stood by the series and by me over the last two years. Without your encouragement and support I never would have got this far. You’ve been an inspiration and a comfort on those doubtful days. And lifted me higher on the joyful ones. Thank you.
I’d like to thank my family, Michael, Lennox, Rosalie and Emaline for cheering me on, for being patient when I vagued out in the middle of conversations because I had disappeared into the world of the Woodlands. For understanding my need to finish, my compulsion to write and my crankiness at being interrupted. You’ve made it all worth it with your pride and belief in me.
Chloe, my critique partner and dear friend, has been a constant source of help. She has worked through this manuscript and picked up all those little annoying things like punctuation and spelling that I’m terrible at (though I’m trying to learn). But mostly, I appreciate her for understanding my crazy.
Finally, thank you Clean Teen Publishing. Courtney, Rebecca, Marya, and Dyan, you have been amazing to work with, you have assuaged all my fears about publishing, and made it an enjoyable experience from the first word to the last.
Daughter of a Malaysian nuclear physicist father and an Australian doctor mother, Lauren Nicolle Taylor was expected to follow the science career path. And she did, for a while, completing a Health Science degree with Honors in obstetrics and gynecology. But there was always a niggling need to create which led to many artistic adventures.
When Lauren hit her thirties, she started throwing herself into artistic endeavors, but was not entirely satisfied. The solution: Complete a massive renovation and sell their house so they could buy their dream block of land and build. After selling the house, buying the block and getting the plans ready, the couple discovered they had been misled and the block was undevelopable. This left her family of five homeless.
Taken in by Lauren’s parents, with no home to renovate and faced with a stressful problem with no solution, Lauren found herself drawn to the computer. She sat down and poured all of her emotions and pent up creative energy into writing The Woodlands.
Family, a multicultural background and a dab of medical intrigue are all strong themes in her writing. Lauren took the advice of ‘write what you know’ and twisted it into a romantic, dystopian adventure! Visit Lauren at her website:
http://www.LaurenNicolleTaylor.com
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