Is this the part where I get to practice my Academy Award acceptance speech? I have so many people to thank!
Thank you to Erik—my soulmate, my partner, the Han to my Leia—for being endlessly supportive. When I stop believing in myself, you tell me I can do it. When I stumble, you give me strength. Writing with a wee one is no easy feat, and there have been many moments when I’ve been full of doubt, creatively blocked, or just plain exhausted. You always give me the space and the encouragement to keep going, even when you’re plain exhausted, so thank you for that. Plus, you take half of the mornings so Mama can regularly sleep in—if that’s not true love, I don’t know what is.
Thanks to Aurelia, for being the world’s best inspiration and motivation (when you’re not making me chase you around the living room with a comb). You are perfect.
Big thanks to my dream editor, Alex Arnold, whose patience and guidance resulted in me having way too much fun writing this book. You never made me feel silly for really, really, really caring about the details of life as a royally adjacent person, and for that I am endlessly grateful.
To everybody at Katherine Tegen Books and HarperCollins who worked on Romancing the Throne, a GIGANTIC THANK-YOU! I heart you all!
A huge thank-you to my patient readers (and wonderful friends) Dara Smith, Jerramy Fine, and Katherine Longhi, who never once were anything less than supportive (even during those scary early drafts).
Special thanks to Anica Rissi, Mollie Glick, my awesome agent, Jess Regel, and Melissa Harris.
To my friends and family, who lived through the years of ups and downs on the way to publication, thank you, and I love you. Thanks especially to my dad for teaching me to be brave, and to my mom for teaching me to be kind. I wish you could have read this book, Mama. I inherited my love of all things royal from you, and I think you would have gotten a kick out of it. I miss you.