My mom, Linda Isaacs, who cheerfully read, loved and critiqued every draft. Well, except that first draft, which no one but me and my computer will ever see. She bugged me about when the next one would be ready, and said the story never grew boring. Hard to believe, but she sounded sincere, even if she is my mom.
My dad, Bill Lyons, who read and re-read and told me how awesome I am (I think he might be biased, though). I might never be the crazy human that I am had he not camped with us in a lean-to for a month, or handed me Malevil the summer going into fifth grade.
Thanks to my early readers:
Rachel Greer, my first non-family reader, who gave me tons of encouragement in a long email I must have read ten times.
Jamie Arest McReynolds, who sat at her computer and read it in three days, ignoring children and everything else, and then told me what she loved and what could be changed. Jamie’s husband, Shawn, a guy I hope I get to meet before our post-zombie apocalypse meet up, gave great mechanical advice. A bucket and a screwdriver, duh!
Allie Birchler and Danielle Gustafson, whose advice on a few key parts made the book all the better. Paulette Letson, my mother-in-law, who read and added her voice to the ones who loved it. Larry “Big La” Isaacs, my step-dad and all around good guy.
Will Fleming, the King of Grammar (a.k.a. my husband). His observations, suggestions and grammatical corrections are always thoughtful, honest and astute. Believe me, if you find a grammatical or stylistic error the fault is all mine. And, as someone who knows writing, his encouragement and kind words made me believe that maybe I really did have something here. Thank you, Ruggles! (It deserves more exclamation points, but I know better). I don’t think it’s possible to express how much I value your opinion and advice.
And to Sadie and Silas, the children who would only nap with their feet in Mama’s lap. If I hadn’t been trapped under y’all for all those years I might never have decided to see if I could write a book. So, thanks, you goobers. But sleeping through the night would be cool. Just sayin’.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 46
CHAPTER 47
CHAPTER 48
CHAPTER 49
CHAPTER 50
CHAPTER 51
CHAPTER 52
CHAPTER 53
CHAPTER 54
CHAPTER 55
CHAPTER 56
CHAPTER 57
CHAPTER 58
CHAPTER 59
CHAPTER 60
CHAPTER 62
CHAPTER 63
CHAPTER 64
CHAPTER 65
CHAPTER 66
CHAPTER 67
CHAPTER 68
CHAPTER 69
CHAPTER 70
CHAPTER 71
CHAPTER 72
CHAPTER 73
CHAPTER 74
CHAPTER 75
CHAPTER 76
CHAPTER 77
CHAPTER 78
CHAPTER 79
CHAPTER 80
CHAPTER 81
CHAPTER 82
CHAPTER 83
CHAPTER 84
CHAPTER 85
CHAPTER 86
CHAPTER 87
CHAPTER 88
CHAPTER 89
CHAPTER 90
CHAPTER 91
CHAPTER 92
CHAPTER 93
CHAPTER 94
CHAPTER 95
CHAPTER 96
CHAPTER 97
CHAPTER 98
CHAPTER 99
CHAPTER 100
CHAPTER 101
CHAPTER 102
CHAPTER 103
CHAPTER 104
CHAPTER 105
CHAPTER 106
CHAPTER 107
CHAPTER 108
CHAPTER 109
CHAPTER 110
CHAPTER 111
CHAPTER 112
CHAPTER 113
CHAPTER 114
CHAPTER 115
CHAPTER 116
CHAPTER 117
CHAPTER 118
CHAPTER 119
CHAPTER 120
CHAPTER 121
EPILOGUE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS