by Jen Tirone
Uncle George, thank you for your enthusiasm and fun chats about all the conspiracies and dead-ends I met in search of more information, and for approving it as well. Thank you for being the first to think it could go to Hollywood! Uncle Tony, thank you for always keeping tabs on it since I told you about it. It means a lot you call me an author!
Vero, Vero, Vero. Look what your insistence on reading Fifty Shades spiraled into! I never imagined I was going to get seriously addicted to reading, and when I edited your essays and you always said I should write, I never imagined I actually would. Thank you, bf. I found my calling and your support has been unwavering!
Jacky, you are another one to thank for never shushing me when I gossiped about characters like they were real people. Our late 2 AM chats over wine, music and books were always my favorite moments. I have many more stories to write, so we have many more bottles to drink! Thank you for being my authorprenuer soundboard from the beginning!
Stephanie and Brianna, my book sisters, you both became SO much more to me than the betas you two started off as. Every single idea, and I mean every single idea, is run through the both of you. To keep things short and sweet because I’m sure I can make a novel out of how much I adore you two— T H A N K Y O U! From the bottom of my heart, thank you for treating this book like it was your baby too, for fan-girling over it like it was the shit, and most especially for giving me the all too often but necessary therapy to keep going, to climb back down from the ledge, and to sit the hell back down and shut up, (even though they were never in those words because you two are too sweet like that) but I understood and took heed. Honestly, you’re stuck with me for life and I don’t know if that’s a good thing for you—but I know it is for me! Again, thank you for taking on my WIP that wasn’t nearly completed, still full of notes and ideas and panic attacks! You girls are the bomb. You girls made me feel like a genuine author.
My other beta readers: Randy, Daisy, and Ivette. Your feedback was truly essential. Randy, thank you for reading a romance book when you’re not into the genre, but your excitement over the action scenes were contagious and your anger toward Gia in the first draft helped me add depth to her character. Daisy, thank you for finding me! I appreciated your morbid curiosity and excitement over wanting to share it with everyone! Ivette, thank you for reading as much as you could, and for reading out loud the sex scenes (even though you did it to make me blush, you little clown), you unknowingly gave me my excitement back when some days I wanted to quit or just delete it all!
To the Indie gogo contributors: The book cover, author logo, jentibooks website, proofreading, interior formatting and bookmarks, in other words, everything it took to take the story from a word document to an actual book is because you all spared what you could on an idea I had. You all collectively believed in me, even when many of you didn’t know if I was truly capable or not! You can’t imagine how humbled I am for it. I hadn’t even been a quarter done with the story when I campaigned, and many of you hadn’t seen or talked to me in such a long time, that it was honestly because of you guys, I kept at it. You all made me accountable, and because of it, I learned what it takes to be a writer, and that was to write every day. Even when I deleted pages upon pages and a good 40% of the initial story because I hated where it was going, I went back to the drawing board—and kept at it because you all invested in me and we made this happen. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
For the contributors in Indie gogo that went all out and paid for the Lasting Acknowledgement: Wow, thank you Jackie Adamo, Dad x3, Rafita, and Milvia.
Jackie, it amazed me you were so generous, when the last time we must’ve hung out was in elementary school! Karma is good, and if it hasn’t come back to you in your business endeavor already, then it will because your contribution to an old-school friend will have its rewards in life— I have no doubt. Thank you.
Dad, what more can I say? You are incredible. You are the seriously the best dad. You contributed under different names from different countries, so viewers could see activity on my campaign and see big contributions going to it! It brought a major smile to my face knowing you thought this was a great idea, and knowing you were in full support of it.
Rafita, thank you for not even hesitating to drop big bucks when you’ve probably been the only person in my life (outside of my family) to call me lazy to my face! (Don’t worry, it has never been taken in offense, but worn as a badge, haha!) But honestly, you’re one of the most hardworking people I know, and you contributed to this project probably thinking I was going to be too lazy to finish it! Your support meant so much to me. And not only did I finish, but I plan to write so many more.
Milvia, I remember interrupting you when you would read your YA books, and now I understand what a pain in the ass I was! How did we get here, from the days I didn’t read and watched you do it, to it being a yearly New Year’s resolution that never got checked off? And not only did I get back into reading and became utterly addicted, but now I added one to the book world, too! Life takes some crazy turns and it’s been a cool ride with you being part of the journey. Thank you for contributing, but not only that, for always offering your help in any capacity you could offer it. I know I can always count on you.
If there is anyone I may have missed, I am truly sorry. If this were the Oscars, the music would have come on a long ass time ago to kick me off! So please, know that I appreciate your help.
And last but certainly not least, my readers! Thank you for picking up this story and giving this debut author a chance. I hope you enjoyed the crazy ride it was. Don’t be sad for me about the true story background. It was so long ago, way way way before me, and I was far removed from the effects of it. It was a terribly sad story, both the novel and the real one, I know. And I don’t approve of the violence, affair, or the crime of passion committed. But just know, it was a story I wanted to tell, and then the characters took it on their own path as well. When I show excitement over it—it’s not because I don’t have a heart—I do. But it’s because the book community is my happy place, even if it’s about a sad story. You guys are so much fun to fan-girl with, fight over who book boyfriend rights belong to, and want to jump up and down or faint when a bomb ass story makes your head want to explode! I’m a bibliophile for life, too. Only now, I’ve decided to add to the TBR lists as well!
XOXO
