by Amy Spalding
I like how being happy looks on me. (Way more than I like the pajamas.)
“I, um, I have something to show you, too,” I say to her, and race to my room to retrieve my notebook before I can stop myself. My mother sits down on my bed with it. Probably I should be terrified or embarrassed or some kind of hybrid combo but I just sit down right next to her.
“I’m impressed,” she says. “I’m hard to Google.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Next time you want to know something,” she says, leaning over to my desk and grabbing a pen, “just ask. I promise I’ll tell you, whatever it is. Deal?”
“Deal.” I laugh as she starts scribbling onto the list. “What are you doing?”
“Don’t worry,” she says with a grin. “I’m making it better.”
Things I know about Reece Malcolm
A list originally by Devan Malcolm, updated by Reece Malcolm
1. She graduated from New York University ten years ago with a GPA marred only by a B in Algebra. Who expects writers to take math anyway?
2. She lives in or near Los Angeles (even the Internet can’t confirm) Studio City, California, with her vaguely irritating boyfriend and hardly irritating at all excepting the amount of time it takes her to get ready to go anywhere daughter.
3. Since her first novel (Destruction) was released nine years ago she’s always had at least one book on the New York Times bestseller list. Her latest book will be dedicated to the same person as her first. And this time, that person will get to see it right away.
4. She likes strong coffee and bourbon, the only personal details she gave in a rare interview with The Daily Beast. A fact that will make the next several months excruciating for her and all around her.
5. She’s my mother. And one day will even be amazing at it.
Acknowledgments
My editor, Stacy Cantor Abrams, understood the book I was trying to write better than I thought another person could. Thank you for your hard work helping me get it to where it needed to be.
Thanks also to amazing assistant editor Alycia Tornetta for your insight and enthusiasm, publicity dream team Heather Riccio and Misa Ramirez for your tireless work, and everyone at Entangled.
Thank you to my agent, Kate Schafer Testerman, for believing in this story for a very, very long time.
A huge and hearty thank you to Meghan Deans, friend and critique partner extraordinaire. This book couldn’t have become what it is without your support.
Thank you times one billion to early early readers: Sharon Gorman, Chelsea Jupin, Liz Kies, and Christie Baugher. Remember when we discussed this book on LiveJournal? (No, me neither. Never.)
Thank you to Rochelle Hartson for distracting me with America’s Next Top Model, to Sarah Skilton for unstoppable optimism, to Courtney Summers for the best use of Twitter DMs, to Brandy Colbert for keeping me sane, to Sara Zarr for your infinite wisdom, to Stephanie Perkins for the phone pep talks, and to Nick Weber for knowing—when I was at my lowest—to ask me What Would Leslie Knope Do?
Thank you to Hope Larson for general awesomeness, for ice cream, and especially for hosting Writing Night, which kept me on track on a weekly basis (even when I didn’t think I could be).
Thank you to cheerleaders and note-givers and support squad: Kristen Kittscher, Trish Doller, Kayla Cagan, Carrie Harris, Jasmine Guillory, Kevin Fanning, Siobhan Vivian, Lindsay Ribar, Andrea Robinson, Sara Beitia.
Despite my geekiness where it’s concerned, I needed help with some Merrily We Roll Along specifics, so thank you: Sylvia Stoddard for infinite knowledge and opinions; the cast and crew of The Chance Theater’s production, especially director Oanh Nguyen and killer Mary Flynn, Amie Bjorklund; and the person who taped the 2002 Kennedy Center production—you are a true hero.
Thank you to my cover team: photographer Jessie Weinberg, model Cassandra Morris, P.A. Connie Shin, and designer Emmett Kenny.
And, lastly, thank you to my parents for never discouraging me from being weird.
Get tangled up in our Entangled Teen titles…
My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris
The last thing Cat Crawford wants for her sixteenth birthday is an extravagant trip to Florence, Italy. But when her curiosity leads her to a gypsy tent, she exits . . . right into Renaissance Firenze. Cat joins up with her ancestors and soon falls for the gorgeous Lorenzo. Can she find her way back to modern times before her Italian adventure turns into an Italian forever?
Conjure by Lea Nolan
Sixteen-year-old twins Emma and Jack Guthrie hope for a little summer adventure when they find an eighteenth-century message in a bottle revealing a hidden pirate treasure. Will they be able to set things right before it’s too late?
Pretty Amy by Lisa Burstein
When their dates stand them up for prom, Amy, along with the beautiful Lila and uber-cool Cassie, take matters into their own hands—earning them a night in jail. With Lila and Cassie parentally banned, Amy feels like she has nothing—like she is nothing. Navigating unlikely alliances and two very different boys, Amy finds that maybe getting a life only happens once you think your life is over.
All the Broken Pieces by Cindi Madsen
Liv comes out of a coma with no memory of her past, and not even her reflection seems familiar. But when Liv starts hanging around with Spencer, life feels complete for the first time. Can Liv rebuild the pieces of her broken past, when it means questioning not just who she is, but what she is?
Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. Against all common sense, I’m falling for Daemon. Hard. No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies…
Gravity by Melissa West
In the future, only one rule will matter: Don’t. Ever. Peek. Ari Alexander just broke that rule and saw the last person she expected hovering above her bed—arrogant Jackson Locke. Jackson issues a challenge: help him, or everyone on Earth will die. Giving Jackson the information he needs will betray her father and her country, but keeping silent will start a war.
Table of Contents
PRAISE
Title Page
Copyright
Dedicaiton
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Acknowledgments
Get tangled up in our Entangled Teen titles