Famous in Love (20 page)

And then we are there. At the premiere. The three of us arrive at the same time, and when we step onto the carpet, the crowds go crazy. Screaming and chanting. They have signs and pictures and posters. All with our faces on them. Our names.

Just before we step up to take our first picture, I feel Jordan’s pinkie loop through mine. I curl my finger around his, and we stay that way for a moment that feels impossibly long and tragically short all at once, like the sunrise, the beginning of one thing and the end of another. Then I turn to Rainer, to the crowds, and let myself be pulled into the sea of light, his hand at my waist.

I don’t look back.

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A giant thanks…

To Farrin Jacobs, my insanely talented, brilliant editor. I will always be so unbelievably lucky (and beyond grateful) that you chose me. Thank you for challenging me, for being way smarter than I am, and for never giving me a compliment I don’t deserve. I promise to continue to do my best to make you proud.

To my fierce agent, Mollie Glick, who patiently listened to my one-track ramblings for well over two years when the only thing I could ask was “Is it time yet?” Thank you for agreeing to take this shot. And for being my partner, every single day, in all these books.

To Dan Farah, my manager, whose eyes lit up the moment I told him this was on deck. Thank you for loving this world, and fighting for it in all its various forms and incarnations.

To Leila Sales, who listened to the Lilith Fair Pandora station for a solid year while I wrote this—I don’t want to wait. I’m so glad we don’t have to anymore.

To my wonderful UK editor, Rachel Petty, for her incredible enthusiasm and vision.

To Pam Garfinkel, for her great, thoughtful notes, and to Liz Casal, for the world’s best YA cover.

To Jess Regel, my foreign agent, for sending (and supporting) Paige, Rainer, and Jordan out in the great, big world.

To Wendy Dopkin, copy editor extraordinaire, who made me think very, very hard about using the word
stet
(and who knew far more about my hometown of Maui than I did).

To my girls, who don’t always understand the ins and outs of what I do, but who are proud beyond measure even still. You fill all my worlds, fictional and otherwise, with joy.

To Katie Hanson, for saying, “Hey, you should write that book.”

To Lexa Hillyer, for continuing to challenge me with the greatest of kindness.

To Brad, Yfat, Guy, India, and Foxy Gendell, for their boundless support and love.

To Carina MacKenzie, for telling me I wasn’t too far off base, and for the vampires, always.

To everyone on Twitter, for obsessing as much as I do over behind-the-scenes young Hollywood.

To my parents, who continue to remind me that joy alone, apart from accomplishment or prize, has the greatest value.

And finally, to Katie and Josh—for falling in love all those years ago, and first making me wonder.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2014 by Rebecca Serle

Sparks © ElenaShow / Shutterstock

Cover design by Liz Casal

Cover © 2014 Hachette Book Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

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The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

First ebook edition: October 2014

ISBN 978-0-316-36634-2

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