Samantha Young - Before Jamaica Lane

When I first introduced Olivia and Nate into Joss and Braden’s makeshift tribe, I knew Olivia had to be a librarian. Not just because, during my pre-author years, I always imagined happily working in a library, but because Tammy Blackwell insisted upon it. Okay, so I know you were just cracking jokes, Tammy, but it got stuck in my head. So thank you for inspiring Olivia’s career choice, and for giving me insight into the world of librarianship.

Thank you to Paul Gorman at the University of Edinburgh main campus library for taking time out of your busy schedule to show me around the library from the point of view of a librarian. Not only did you provide me with all the invaluable technical info so Olivia would sound like she actually worked in a library, but also you gave me surprising insight into the brazenness of college students. I told you I’d put it in the book.

My deepest thanks to my agent extraordinaire, Lauren Abramo. You always give me genuine encouragement. Anytime I see an e-mail from you in my in-box, I grin huge. You work your butt off every day, and I appreciate it every day. You never fail to rock, my friend.

To my editor Kerry Donovan, a gazillion thank-yous. Your belief in these characters, this series, and me, is mind-blowing. You’ll never know how much it means to me. I love working on this world with you. I hope we get to work on many more in the future!

A massive thank-you to my publicist Erin Galloway, and every single person at NAL who has worked hard to see Before Jamaica Lane into print and into the hands of the readers.

Also thank you to my editors Claire Pelly and Hana Osman, and my publicist Katie Sheldrake, at Michael Joseph (Penguin UK), for all your hard work.

Moreover, I must say a huge thank-you to Nina Wegscheider and her team at Ullstein for their unbelievable enthusiasm for this series. It’s been absolutely amazing to watch German readers fall for these characters, and I thank you for keeping me updated on all the excitement.

As always (and forever), thank you to my family and friends for putting up with my absentmindedness, my disappearances into fictional worlds, and my inability to text back until a really awkward length of time has passed.

And finally, to my readers: Thank you for embracing this series. You make every day a good day.