Without the three of you, I would have never written the first draft of this book.
To three women who have been in Penelope’s corner through this whole process. Jaime Arnold, my publicist, who read Salt and insisted that I sub to Entangled, and then fought for me in every single way. I hope you know how much you matter. Cindy Thomas, my crit partner, for being there the day I had this idea and spending a whole lunch developing it with me—and then reading, talking, and brainstorming with me over and over for months. This sort of feels like yours, too. And my friend, Amalie Howard, who after reading a single page of this story said it was something special and believed in it even when I didn’t. Glad you were right.
To my editors: Guillian Helm and Laura Anne Gilman for helping me shape this story and make it stronger. Liz and Stacy for letting me be part of what you are doing, and to all the other people at Entangled who give their time and energy to my little book: Thank you.
My other amazing critique partners: Christina Ferko and Patricia Riley for EVERYTHING and ALWAYS. Crystal Harris for the necklaces, the support, the laughter, the new ending, and the fangirling. Traci Inzitari for the enthusiasm and willingness to always help out. My amazing agent, Nicole Resciniti, for jumping in and taking charge and making me smile. Jennifer L. Armentrout for being so supportive and for the lovely blurb!
The HB&K Society for smiles and laughter and support. My, what a year! (Let’s repeat it.) All my friends in the DC MafYA, the Boston Gang, and the YADC group (you know who you are) for the adventures, friendship, and cocktails! Especially Jenny Adams-Perinovic for the amazing, amazing cover that I love so much!
My longtime friend Elizabeth Brown, who handed me a YA book before I knew what YA was, told me to read it, and subsequently helped me find my calling. Without your guidance through pages of stories, I don’t know where I’d be.
I have to thank some other friends and family in my life who get it and never questioned me or let me quit: Mom, Cierra, Papaw, Grandma Carrie and Grandpa Ed, Aunt Barb and Uncle Mike, Ashley Carmichael, Billy Eisnaugle, Hannah Hanrion, Tricia Howell, Meagan Pack, Andye Eppes, Katie Black, Kim Harrington, Victoria Schwab, Jennifer Rush, and other people I can’t list because that would take years. Thank you.
To my coworkers at One More Page Books for dealing with all my anxiety, tears and random ideas, and the revision brain.
To the (online and offline) YA community—all the fantastic authors, aspiring writers, bloggers, beta readers—for your support, tweets, pictures of cats and hot boys, and other randomness. All of you are the biggest group of enablers I’ve ever met. It’s pretty awesome.
To you—the amazing, beautiful person reading this book. I’m really thrilled to share this. I hope you love it! (And then you want more because there is more coming!)
And lastly, to my Nanan, who influenced this book in so many ways that aren’t even a fraction of how she influenced everyone around her. I miss her every day—especially the way she told us exactly what we didn’t want to hear but needed to hear anyway (and was always right about it). All you wanted for us was to find our dreams and live life the way you had: with joy and passion and love. This is my dream, and even though you aren’t here to read this book, I know you’re proud. Thank you for your love, unwanted lessons, and fire for living. You will always be my moral compass, my foundation, and my biggest inspiration.
About the Author
Danielle Ellison is from West Virginia, where she spent her childhood pretending to fly, talking to imaginary friends, and telling stories. She hasn’t changed much since then. When she’s not writing, Danielle is probably drinking coffee while fighting her nomadic urges, watching too much TV, or dreaming of the day when she can be British. You can find her on twitter @DanielleEWrites.