Beautiful Creatures

Acknowledgments

IT ONLY TOOK THREE MONTHS to write the first draft of Beautiful Creatures. Turns out, the writing was the easy part. The getting it right part was harder, and took the help of a lot more people. Here is the Beautiful Creatures family tree:

RAPHAEL SIMON & HILARY REYL

Who saw it before there was anything to see

SARAH BURNES, OF THE GERNERT COMPANY,

AGENT EXTRAORDINAIRE

Who read it & got it from the start

COURTNEY GATEWOOD,

OF THE GERNERT COMPANY, AGENT 007

Who got it across the pond & beyond

JENNIFER HUNT & JULIE SCHEINA

LITTLE, BROWN’S MERCILESSLY GENIUS EDITORIAL TEAM

Who made us sweat & cry until we got it right

DAVE CAPLAN, OUR TALENTED AND PSYCHIC DESIGNER

Who created the road to Ravenwood just as we imagined it

MATTHEW CHUPACK

Who translated our Pig Latin into actual Latin

ALEX HOERNER, PHOTOGRAPHER TO THE STARS (AND US)

Who made us look good without any Casting

OUR NORTH CAROLINA RELATIVES, ESPECIALLY

HAYWOOD AINSLEY EARLY, GENEALOGIST

Who helped us plant our family trees

& ANNA GATLIN HARMON,

OUR FAVORITE DAUGHTER OF THE CONFEDERACY

Who lent us her maiden name & kept us talkin’ right

AND OUR READERS:

HANNAH, ALEX C, TORI, YVETTE, SAMANTHA, MARTINE, JOYCE,

OSCAR, DAVID, ASH, VIRGINIA, JEAN X 2, KERRI, DAVE,

MADELINE, PHILLIP, DEREK, ERIN, RUBY,

AMANDA, & MARCOS

Whose wanting to know what happened next

changed what happened next

ASHLY, AKA TEENAGE VAMPIRE QUEEN

SUSAN & JOHN, ROBERT & CELESTE, BURTON & MARE

Who listened & cheered us on, as they have our whole lives

MAY & EMMA

Who stayed home from school twice to edit out the cheese,

& who figured out the missing bit of the end,

as only a 13 & a 15 year old could

KATE P AND NICK & STELLA G

Who fell asleep every night to the sound of a laptop clicking

& OF COURSE,

ALEX & LEWIS

Who found all the holes

& made sure the universe didn’t fall through them,

who put up with all of the above

and then some.