Thick Love (Thin Love, #2)(112)
You don’t walk away from your own heart and expect to keep living. And you don’t look at someone you’re not supposed to love like their smile, their eyes are the only thing in life that feeds you. That’s how Aly had looked at me. That’s how I know I’d looked at her for years.
That’s how I knew I was still her everything.
“I’m not an easy person to love,” I told my parents, walking away from our seats. I spared one more look at that stage, smiling when I noticed Aly still watching me. “But that woman does it anyway. She just needs reminding.”
To be continued…2016
Acknowledgments
I have no idea what it’s like to be JK Rowling. I’m nowhere near to her success, might never be, but I got a miniscule peek into what it’s like to write a book that many folks are anticipating. Bottom line: that experience sucks. As a writer you cannot hold out for or expect universal approval. Someone, somewhere is going to hate your work. Hell, one reviewer absolutely hated THIN LOVE because I didn’t reference the New Orleans Saints (who, let’s be honest, have sue-happy owners) and because I had the audacity to invent a make believe university capable of beating LSU. (Come on, lady, we exist in a make-believe world). The point is, no matter how eloquent your prose, how detailed your setting or how spicy your smoochy scenes, someone is going to hate your book. That was a huge worry for me after I’d completed the first draft of THICK LOVE. It is very different from THIN LOVE. But, I think it was supposed to be.
Ransom and Aly are still very, very young. They’ve yet to truly branch out into the real world and have both been protected in one form or another by the adults who love and worry about them. So, as I mentioned in my Author’s Notes, it was never going to be the same book. Still, I hope you found this book just as passionate, just as satisfying as its predecessor.
Immense gratitude goes out to my (sweet) street team Butler’s Bebes. They each held my hand a little. They each supported and cheered me on as I fretted over the quality of this book and the fear I had that you guys wouldn’t enjoy it. So thank you: Jazmine Ayala, LK Westhaver, Heather Weston-Confer, Trish Finley Leger, Judy Lovely, Allison Coburn, Kayla Jagneaux, Jennifer Jagneaux, Joy Chambers, Naarah Scheffler, Chanpreet Singh, Betsy Gehring, Melanie Brunsch, Allyson Lavigne Wilson, Carla Castro, Emily Lamphear, Heather McCorkle, Jessica D. Hollyfield, Laura Agra, Lorain Testaburger, Michelle Horstman Thompson, Sammy Jo Lle and Joanna Holland. LK Westhaver and Heather Weston-Confer especially helped me make some final decisions so thank you so much!
Thank you to my Ride-Or-Die, Chelle Bliss for the wonderful headers, for your friendships and support and Brian Morgan for working his magic. Thanks also to Alleskelle for the fabulous PhotoShop edits and to Steve Novack for the beautiful cover.
Sharon Browning, thank you for the fierce, fabulous edits and to Karen Chapman for the eagle eye copy editing and for talking sense to me when I thought I’d have to trunk this novel. Massive, appreciation to Kele Moon, Chelle Bliss and Trish Finley Leger for the first reads and to Lila Felix for all the marketing and PR advice and for being such a superwoman. Many thanks and my biggest hugs to my day-job cheerleaders Marie, Sherry, Barbara B., Sarah and Kalpana. You ladies are amazing. To Penelope Douglas, Ing Cruz and Danielle Bonaventure LeFave for all their support and encouragement. As always, to my CHPP, aka, my bints, I love you all and miss you like crazy.
Thank you to C.C. Wood, Brenda Rothert, Short and Sassy Book Blog, J.D. Hollyfield, S.J. McGran, Cheryl McIntyre, Mindy A. Carter, Katelyn Cantrell, J. Lea, Penelope Douglas, Amy Harmon, Chelle Bliss, Lori Leger, Trish Finely Leger, Karla Sorensen, KJ Coakley, Skye Turner and Confessions of a YA and NA Book Addict for the THICK LOVE release day support. Also thanks to Short and Sassy Book Blog, The Book Vigilante, Shh, Mom’s Reading and Totally Booked for the pre-release PR and to Michelle Monkou with USA Today for your continuous support!
To my wonderful, wonderful readers, thank you so much for your excitement, encouragement and love during this crazy publishing journey and to my beautiful, patient family, especially my Himself and my girls, for continuing to love and support me despite all that time I spend chained to my keyboard. I love you all!