Dear friends,

I started outlining this book in April of 2018. At the time, I was unemployed, battling some pretty severe anxiety (still working on that), and hadn't written anything in months. Writing terrified me. Starting a book post-graduation meant taking hours I could've spent on job applications and putting them towards something that might not turn into anything.

But I'm so glad I took that chance. And I'm so glad I picked this story.

It has been SO HARD keeping this a secret. Absolute torture. Like being given a handful of confetti and then told you've gotta wait half a year to throw it in the air. Or watching readers comment that they hope they see this book in stores one day and not being able to tell them to mark their calendars.

I love this book so deeply. I love Laurel and Bodie and Hanna and Andre and Ellison.

More than anything, I've loved sharing them with you.

I didn't realize how therapeutic and empowering it would be to write this story. College was a really great time for me. I got really good at making mixed drinks and doing my make-up and starting papers exactly 24 hours before they were due. I made friends. I kissed boys. I gave a speech in front of sixty people and nailed it, then cried in a public bathroom because I never thought I would be the kind of person who could stand up in front of an audience and talk. I graduated magna cum laude. I had a phenomenal time.

But I also have a lot of residual frustration and anger from college. There were times I felt invisible and voiceless. USC is a big, wealthy pond full of big, wealthy fish—and sometimes those fish are assholes with nice cars.

Money is power. But words are power, too.

This book means the world to me. Your support means the world to me. Thank you for reading my hot mess of a first draft. I hope you'll love my final draft just as much.

We're still a long way out from the release date (also known as the day everyone at my local Barnes & Noble gets to witness me ugly-cry as I cradle my book like a newborn child) but I'll be updating you all as I sail through the dark and treacherous seas of editing (shout out to Deanna, my editor, and Monica, my very patient talent manager) and do fun author-y things (like writing loglines and having your mom take your headshots in the backyard while your dumbass cat keeps walking across your ~natural~ backdrop).

Thank you. A million times over.

Your friendly author,

Kate