Love, in English

Acknowledgements

After so many books it’s hard to know what to say other than thank you and it’s hard to know who to thank, other than…everyone.

But Love, in English (LIE) was different. This book had me pulling from personal experiences in foreign lands. No, Las Palabras does not exist but there is a program just like it out there that I was once a part of. No, Mateo and Claudia don’t exist but there are Spaniards out there who inspired me to capture their essence in these pages. No, I am not Vera (though I kind of wish I was) but I did suffer from her lust for new experiences, that feeling that life would be better off somewhere else.

This book had me throwing out all my horror and suspense and action scenes out the window and made me dive deep into the world of Vera and Mateo. It was scary, to be honest, writing a romance with no crazy plot attached to it. But being scared is a good thing. “It scares me, so I should do it” is what Mateo said and I couldn’t agree more. Love, in English ended up being one of the best writing experiences of my life.

Of course, it wasn’t always rainbows and butterflies for this author. I cried a lot, suffering with my characters, finding myself thrown into fits of despair and afraid to continue on. I also freaked out a lot, lamenting to my tireless beta readers that I didn’t know what I was doing, that my first romance would be a failure, that it was boring, or people wouldn’t connect to the characters the way I had.

Time and time again they talked me off the ledge. And they weren’t the only ones. So really, for this book I have to thank all the people who assured me I was doing okay, that encouraged me to keep going, that believed in the book and in me and loved the both of us.

In no particular order: My LIE support group – Kayla, Laura, Ali, Nina, Lucia, Shawna. My LIE betas – Barbie Bohrman, Claribel Contreras, Megan Simpson, Hang Le, Christine Estevez, Lisa Chamberlin, Sandra Cortez. All them whores (you know who you are). My Awesome Authors for their invaluable feedback: K. A. Tucker, Nicole Jacqueline, Kathryn Perez, SL Scott, Elle Chardou, Lauren Blakely, Renee Carlino. Gif-making genius – Dorota Wrobel. My amazing cover designer – Najla Qamber. My maid of honor – Kelly St-Laurent. My Gal Fridays – Stephanie Brown and Chasity Jenkins. My editor extraordinaire – Kara Malinczak. My biggest fan – Scott MacKenzie. And my second biggest fan – Bruce.

Thank you for the encouragement!