First and foremost, I thank God for guiding my direction and for protecting and blessing my family, friends, and me. Without You, absolutely nothing would be possible.
To my loving husband, Will. I love you from the bottom of my soul, and thank you for loving me to the fullest and for being my greatest support in all that I do.
To my loving brothers, Willie Jr. and Michael; my wonderful stepson and daughter-in-law, Trenod and LaTasha, and the boys, Lamont, Tre, and Troy; my beautiful nieces and nephews, from the oldest to the youngest-Jamaal, Malik, Ja’Mia, Ja’Mel, Shelia, William, and Nakya-and their wonderful mothers, Karen, Danetta, and April; my loving cousin, Patricia Haley (also a fellow writer); my aunts, Mary Lou, Fannie, Ada, and Vernell; my uncles, James, Cliff, Luther, Ben, Charlie, and Earl; and all of the rest of my cousins, in-laws, and other family members who I love so very much. And to my girls who have my back no matter what-Kelli, Lori, Janell, and Victoria (also a fellow writer).
To Eric Jerome Dickey, Trisha R. Thomas, Lolita Files, Mary B. Morrison, Trice Hickman, Eric Pete, Victor McGlothin, ReShonda Tate-Billingsley, and all my other writer friends. I also still have to acknowledge my friend who I miss dearly: the very kind and compassionate E. Lynn Harris. You will remain in my heart always.
To the best assistant in the world (and I sincerely mean that), Connie Dettman; to my very talented editor, Wendy Lee-thank you for just being you; to Richard Aquan, Tavia Kowalchuk, Ben Bruton, and Aurora Hughes, for putting forth so much effort when it comes to my books; to the entire sales and marketing teams and everyone else at HarperCollins/William Morrow/Avon for all that you do for me daily; to my wonderful agent, Elaine Koster, for absolutely everything; to my amazing freelance publicist, Shandra Hill Smith, for doing such a splendid job with getting my work noticed by the media and beyond and for being so kind; to Luke LeFevre, my fabulous and exceptionally talented website and e-blast designer for everything; to every bookstore and retail outlet that sells my books; to Patrik Henry Bass, senior editor, and everyone else at Essence magazine for the best support in the world (I am beyond grateful for all that you’ve done); to the wonderful and hugely syndicated Michael Baisden (thank you so much for having me on your fabulous show-I am so very proud of you); to my local media family in Rockford, Illinois, for promoting my work and events: Rockford Register Star (Georgette Braun and Jennie Pollock), WIFR-TV (Andy Gannon and Aaron Wilson), WXRX (Stone and Double T), WREX-TV (Laura Gibbs), WTVO-TV, Comcast Cable, WZOK/WROK, 106.3 FM, and all the other wonderful people in radio, TV, and print nationwide who publicize my work to the masses. Thank you for all that you’ve done for me over the last thirteen years.
Finally, to the people who make my writing career fun, enjoyable, and possible: my very caring and loyal readers-thank you for all the love and support you always give and know that I love each of you with everything in me.
Much love and God bless you always,
Kimberla Lawson Roby