Briar Queen

This book is dedicated to my friends and family.

T
hank you to my editors at Harper Voyager—Diana Gill, who gave me my first chance, and Katherine Nintzel, who adopted the children of nothing and night and made
Briar Queen
a beautiful story. Without your guidance, this book never would have existed for all to read.

Thanks also to agent Thao Le of the Sandra Dijkstra Agency, for her unending support and suggestions. And thanks to Jessie Edwards, my publicist at Harper Voyager, for her enthusiasm and hard work.

Thanks all around to the team at Harper Voyager: To David Pomerico for his encouraging words. And to Margaux Weisman and Dana Trombley for their prompt responses to my questions. And many thanks to my copy editor, Laurie McGee.

To my coworkers at the Sarasota Barnes & Noble, especially Roberta Wells. To my manager Dom Rosenbloom, to Donna DeTeresa, Lisa Carter, and Jason Aragona, who helped with my first book's launch night. And thanks to Mike Little for the soundtrack and Arianna Westerfield for the book trailer. Thanks to Ellen Snyder, Christy Renshaw, and Ruth Nikolic.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed and tweeted about my first book and those kind enough to interview me on their sites.

And thank you to those who bought the first part of Finn's and Jack's stories and continue to read about them. This book in your hands wouldn't have existed without you.