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Chapters (60)
  1. Cover
  2. About Zero Regret
  3. Acknowledgments
  4. Social Media
  5. Zero Hour
  6. Also By Autumn Jones Lake
  7. Dedication
  8. Chapter One
  9. Chapter Two
  10. Chapter Three
  11. Chapter Four
  12. Chapter Five
  13. Chapter Six
  14. Chapter Seven
  15. Chapter Eight
  16. Chapter Nine
  17. Chapter Ten
  18. Chapter Eleven
  19. Chapter Twelve
  20. Chapter Thirteen
  21. Chapter Fourteen
  22. Chapter Fifteen
  23. Chapter Sixteen
  24. Chapter Seventeen
  25. Chapter Eighteen
  26. Chapter Nineteen
  27. Chapter Twenty
  28. Chapter Twenty-One
  29. Chapter Twenty-Two
  30. Chapter Twenty-Three
  31. Chapter Twenty-Four
  32. Chapter Twenty-Five
  33. Chapter Twenty-Six
  34. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  35. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  36. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  37. Chapter Thirty
  38. Chapter Thirty-One
  39. Chapter Thirty-Two
  40. Chapter Thirty-Three
  41. Chapter Thirty-Four
  42. Chapter Thirty-Five
  43. Chapter Thirty-Six
  44. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  45. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  46. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  47. Chapter Forty
  48. Chapter Forty-One
  49. Chapter Forty-Two
  50. Chapter Forty-Three
  51. Chapter Forty-Four
  52. Chapter Forty-Five
  53. Chapter Forty-Six
  54. Chapter Forty-Seven
  55. Chapter Forty-Eight
  56. Chapter Forty-Nine
  57. Author Notes
  58. Also by Autumn Jones Lake
  59. Request from Autumn
  60. The End

This one, I felt would stand out. A year, two years, ten years from now, I knew I’d be upset and feel that I had shortchanged Z’s story because it was the easier thing to do.

Back to the conference. The last class I went to had a list of huge author no-nos or sins not to commit, something like that. And number one on that list was NO SURPRISE CLIFFHANGERS.

Oh, shit.

Would this be a surprise, though? I mean, we’re at book #13. You know me a little bit by now. Then again, until #9 I don’t feel like any of them were true cliffhangers. Even #10 wasn’t a cliffhanger as far as I was concerned, because Rock and Hope are 100% together. So maybe this would be a surprise.

Should I warn people? This trend of posting guarantees at the end of every blurb, you know the ones I’m talking about, “Guaranteed Happily Ever After, no cheating, and no cliffhangers!” annoys the shit out of me? Whatever happened to just enjoying a book and seeing where it takes you?

I remember favorite series ending with a WTF!? hook and having to wait a year (or more!) for the next book in the series. TV shows used to make you wait an entire summer to find out answers. I don’t remember Friends having a “warning” when Ross had to decide between Rachel and the bald chick. (Yes, I’m old enough that I waited all damn summer to find out which room he went into and taped the episode on our VCR.)

Plus, I’ve noticed authors can put a thousand warnings on their books. “Book one of a duet!” “First book in the series!” “Ends with a happy for now ending!” “Start the X trilogy today!” and someone is always going to complain about something no matter what.

I mentioned my dilemma to an author friend at the conference (who to my surprise and delight had actually read the first few books of the series) and she was like, “Doesn’t Rock have six and a half books? Why wouldn’t Z, the Vice President, have at least three books?”

Right. Of course, he should!

I steadily worked through my edits making notes of what would need to change or be moved along the way. I came home and nudged the most patient photographer in the world with a quick message, “Hey, you got any more pictures of Justin and Meghan for me?”

He did. And it was perfect.

I tossed out the idea in my newsletter with the next episode of Kickstart My Heart and immediately the girls in my Facebook group reacted very positively to the idea of a third Z book. There was no whingeing.

Hallelujah!