Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas
First and always, to the readers—so many of you have been there, sharing your excitement and showing your support, day in and day out, and I am so grateful for your continued excitement and trust. Thank you.
Birthday Girl occurred to me while I was writing Hideaway, and I simply couldn’t forget about it. I became obsessed with Pike and Jordan, so I actually started writing it before Hideaway was even finished. To me, it’s my most “love story-ish” love story, and I really needed the change of pace. Thank you for indulging me this break between series installments.
I am back to work on Kill Switch and do plan on releasing that book next, but I hope you’ll also be happy to hear that Danni, Jordan’s pal from The Blue Palms Motel, will also be getting a loosely related stand-alone novel. Her story will be titled…wait for it…Motel, and you can look for it in 2019.
Add it to Goodreads - https://bit.ly/2q50qc6
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Now on to the rest…
To my family—my husband and daughter put up with my crazy schedule, my candy wrappers, and my spacing off every time I think of a conversation, plot twist, or scene that just jumped into my head at the dinner table. You both really do put up with a lot, so thank you for your patience.
To Jane Dystel, my agent at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret LLC—there is absolutely no way I could ever give you up, so you’re stuck with me.
To the PenDragons—you’re my happy place on Facebook. Thanks for being the support system I need and for always being positive. Especially to the hard-working admins: Adrienne Ambrose, Tabitha Russell, Tiffany Rhyne, Katie Anderson, and Lydia Cothran.
To Vibeke Courtney—my indie editor who goes over every move I make with a fine-toothed comb. Thank you for teaching me how to write and laying it down straight.
To Kivrin Wilson—long live the quiet girls! We have the loudest minds.
To Milasy Mugnolo—who reads, always giving me that vote of confidence I need, and makes sure I have at least one person to talk to at a signing.
To Lisa Pantano Kane—you challenge me with the hard questions.
To Jodi Bibliophile—No cowboys. Got it. No pubic hair. Never. No condoms. Eh, sometimes. Eye rolling—welllllll, I tried. Thanks for reading and supporting, and thank you for your witty sense of humor and for always making me smile.
To Lee Tenaglia—who makes such great art for the books and whose Pinterest boards are my crack! Thank you. Really, you need to go into business. We should talk.
To all of the bloggers—there are too many to name, but I know who you are. I see the posts and the tags, and all the hard work you do. You spend your free time reading, reviewing, and promoting, and you do it for free. You are the life’s blood of the book world, and who knows what we would do without you. Thank you for your tireless efforts. You do it out of passion, which makes it all the more incredible.
To Jay Crownover, who always comes up to me at a signing and makes me talk. Thank you for reading my books and being one of my biggest peer supporters.
To Tabatha Vargo and Komal Petersen, who were the first authors to message me after my first release to tell me how much they loved Bully. I’ll never forget.
To T. Gephart, who takes the time to check on me and see if I need a shipment of “real” Aussie Tim Tams. (Always!)
And to B.B. Reid for reading, sharing the ladies with me, and being my bouncing board. Can’t wait to climb inside your head. Wink-wink.
It’s validating to be recognized by your peers. Positivity is contagious, so thank you to my fellow authors for spreading the love.
To every author and aspiring author—thank you for the stories you’ve shared, many of which have made me a happy reader in search of a wonderful escape and a better writer, trying to live up to your standards. Write and create, and don’t ever stop. Your voice is important, and as long as it comes from your heart, it is right and good.
