Kaitlin López’s assisting was TOO helpful! Kaitlin is the one who realized that this prequel couldn’t take place on New Year’s Eve/Day because of two random details in They Both Die at the End that next to no one would’ve noticed. And as badly as I wanted to shrug off that continuity because switching seasons—especially a holiday season!—was no easy task, I would’ve been haunted by not doing the work. Props to Kaitlin’s editorial eagle eye for making this book make sense. (Don’t even get me started on the time zones.)

My publisher aka HarperCollins! Shoutout to Rosemary Brosnan, Suzanne Murphy, Michael D’Angelo (especially for the brilliant title that improved the course of this story!), Audrey Diestelkamp, Cindy Hamilton, Jennifer Corcoran, Allison Weintraub, Laura Harshberger, Mark Rifkin, Josh Weiss, Allison Brown, Caitlin Garing, Andrea Pappenheimer and the sales team, and Patty Rosati and her team for being the absolute best. And cover designer Erin Fitzsimmons and artist Simon Prades for teaming up again to create this romantic, haunting cover of my dreams.

My agency aka Writers House! Shoutout to Cecilia de la Campa, Alessandra Birch, and Rey Lalaoui for all they do to get my books across the world. I’m blown away by their reach.