It would be amiss to not start my acknowledgments by thanking the two tiny terrors in my life for making me a mom and giving me the fuel for Birthquake fire. Then again, maybe I should lead off by thanking my better half for being a stallion and knocking me up so I was capable of having all the glorious and heinous pregnancy experiences depicted in this novel? But if we’re going there, I may as well thank myself and my whorish tendencies. So thank you, Barb, for being the master of seduction and fertility. Your scandalous ways earned you some badass tiger stripes on your body and more pairs of mom jeans than you’ll willingly admit. But in all seriousness, my family rocks. You three are the source of love and humor in my life which means you are my everything. I’d be nothing without you. Where you walk, I walk … always.
To those whose real life incidents inspired many a scene in this story … from breaking childhood bedframes to babymooning at their in-laws house to murdering a teddy bear to coping with postpartum depression … thank you for being so real and candid with me so I could create such a real and candid story.
If you ever need to incessantly nag someone for eighteen months to make sure what you’re writing is actually funny and something worth reading, you’re not allowed to bother Tracey Murphy. I’ve called dibs on her from now until the end of time. Tracey, thank you will never suffice. So instead, I hope you know how much I love you.
Alpha Angie. There’s a special place in heaven for anyone who can wade through the drege of a first draft and actually give good advice to shape the story. Thank you for not giving up on me after all these years and for always being my first eyes. And tell that hubby of yours, thanks for letting me steal his name.
To my league of extraordinary beta readers — Angie, Tracey, Jenn, Kaitie and Heidi — thank you for giving your all to make Jeff and Henley so fantastic and gloriously awkward.
To the greatest humans I know—and you three know exactly who you are—thank you for being a constant support system and open exchange of ideas to make us all better in the long run. I adore our friendship.
Margaret Neal … I don’t know who you are or where you came from or how you came into my life, but I want to hop on a plane and fly to Australia just to hug you. You know what you did and I am forever in your debt.
Jenny … I’m so glad you’re far better at math than I am. Thank you for finding “the weird things.”
Jenn, your ability to meticulously craft the perfect sentence as you make sense of my messy manuscript amazes me. We share a brain and you truly get me in ways I don’t even get myself. Thank you for making my words look so damn good. I’m serious about taking my dual citizenship and coming to crash your couch and eat poutine while drinking pure maple syrup out of the bottle and watching hockey and doing all things cliche! I just can’t quit you (nor do I want to).
Linda, Linda, Linda … thank you for being my never-ending source of sanity in this crazy book world. You’re the best publicist a girl could ask for and I’m so grateful to be on the Foreword Author team.
Virginia, you're a miracle worker who proofreads faster than the speed of light. Thank you for giving BIrthquake your sweet, sweet lovin’!
NAJLA QAMBER!!! You, my dear, a freakin’ design unicorn. You’re one in a million. Somehow I can give you a small idea and you turn it into pure magic. Thank you for understanding my vision more clearly than I do.
Jade Eby of The Write Assistants … I bow down to your formatting glory. Thank you for making the final stretch of publishing such a seamless process. I am so lucky to have you in my tribe.
To my author friends, each and every one of you manage to make me a better writer. May we all continue to write all the stories we harbor within and build one another up in this industry.
To all the bloggers in the our little bibliophile universe … thank you for supporting us authors selflessly. We can’t do this without you.
And finally, thank you to you, for reading this book and making it to the very last page. I hope you found these characters as charming and delightful and fun to read as they were for me to write. I love that you were open to take this journey with me.
I love you for it.