Acknowledgments
To my God, who loves me wider and longer and higher and deeper than I deserve, more than I can even grasp. Who has given me this gift of writing so that I would know Him more, love Him deeper, trust Him for everything and fall on Him when I cannot stand.
To Zach, the instigator of self-publishing, the encourager of dangerous, out-of-my-comfort-zone, totally insane projects, the voice of reason, the bringer of calm, the depthless well of patience, the cheerleader in my panic, the biggest supporter of my dreams, the love of my life. Thank you for putting up with me. Thank you for being the man that you are.
To Stella, Scarlett, Stryker, Solo and Saxon, you are the joy of my life. I do this all for you. And I know that makes life chaos. And I know I forget all of the things. But to be fair, there are a lot of you and life would probably be chaos anyway. I love you, monsters.
To mom, I told you not to read this book!!! Also, thank you for all the babysitting. And for being the woman that inspired me to be hardworking and resilient and absolutely relentless. I’m just trying to be like you.
To Holly, without whom nothing would get done. And I mean nothing. You are the best assistant on the planet. Thank you for picking up all of my scattered pieces and organizing my mess and making me appear to be a functioning adult. Thank you for not only putting up with me, but for loving my characters as much as I do.
To Katie, Tiffany and Sarah Jo, thank you for three am business meetings and laughing until we cry. Thank you for speaking my language and loving me for who I am. Thank you for being friends I waited for all my life and aspiring to be old and wrinkled and in a commune with me some day. We make the best friends.
To Georgia, Shelly, Amy and Samantha, here we are almost seven years later and I can’t believe how far we’ve come! I knew nothing when I met you girls. And sometimes I still know nothing. But it helps to have you all to lean on. Thank you for holding my hand as I struggle through this life, thank you for offering advice and encouragement and consolation. Thank you for being incredible, beautiful, giving women that I am blessed to know. I would be lost without you all.
To Lenore, my favorite Canadian and the best beta reader ever to have lived. Thank you for getting my sense of humor and for loving the chapters of the past. Thank you for giving me reader updates so I don’t give myself an ulcer. And most of all thank you for anticipating the kind of human I am and always being ready for me. You are truly a blessing. I could not be the writer I am without you. One day, I will finally get to Canada and we will have our Lenore and Rachel’s Epic Canadian Adventure. #whycanteverybodybeLenore
To Amy Donnelly from Alchemy and Words. Your support and encouragement are just some of the reasons you are a phenomenal editor. I am so grateful for your editing eye and careful consideration of the entire story. You are gracious with me and forgiving and somehow put up with my hectic schedule and partial emails and chunks of books that never get finished on time. I am beyond honored to hand off something I care about so deeply to such a capable and established editor. Thank you for fixing my words, but for also keeping me sane.
To Caedus Design Co, thank you for this cover. Thank you for not listening to my opinions and doing whatever you want. You always know the best way to make a great cover. I trust you completely. And one day we might just get this whole release thing down! Although… I wouldn’t hold your breath.
To the Rebel Panel, thank you for your support and excitement. I just so appreciate all of your years of encouragement. Thank you for being ready for my ARCs whenever I can get them out. One day we will all get together and I know it will be the very best time.
To the bloggers and reviewers, your help and support means the world to me. I cannot thank you enough for spending your valuable time with my characters. To especially Natasha, Vilma and Maryse who have always gone above and beyond, who put up with my last minute emails and my totally scatterbrained mind, thank you for always being there, for always crafting the most thoughtful reviews and for being some of the best people I’ve had the pleasure to know.
To the reader, thank you for your time. It seems a simple enough thing to read a book, but for me, when you pick up one of mine and set aside time in your life to live in it, I am the receiver of an incredibly thoughtful, sacrificial gift. I could not do what I love if you did not read my books. I could not create these worlds and these characters and these stories if you did not choose my stories. I could not live out this dream job of mine without you. So I am forever and eternally grateful for the gift you give me every single day. I hope Constant was the book you were looking for. I hope Sayer and Caroline were the love story you wanted to read. And I so hope you will come back to experience their ending.