Winner of the very first signed ARC contest!

I am stunned. Gobsmacked. Bowled over by the entries that you sent me for the ARC contest.

I knew you guys were smart. I’ve talked to enough of you online and in person to know that. But I had no idea how creative and talented my readers are. Holy cow, I hope you all grow up to be artists, writers, songwriters, filmmakers, poets, graphic artists, actors, and photographers. Because you guys ROCK!!!

And I’m not just saying that. I was astounded when I opened each of your emails.

Which made it really hard to choose just one of you to win the ARC. Some of the entries took a lot of time and effort. Some were brief flashes of brilliance. Which made it impossible to judge because—what am I judging here? Talent? Dedication? Creativity? Originality?

So I finally just chose the one that touched me the most. It was a testimonial, written beautifully against a backdrop of IF I SHOULD DIE covers. And the writer was Anne Flegel of Germany.

But I can’t forget all of the rest of you who poured your time and effort into your entries. So everyone’s going to win something. I will be contacting you each individually to find out what you want. But to you as a group, I have to say…

Thank you. Thank you for making me realize how much my stories mean to you. Thank you for sharing a piece of yourself with me. And thank you for being the best kind of people…my favorite kind of people…those who love books passionately.

Now everyone crowd in for a group hug. *hugs everyone* *pats backs* *maybe, just maybe, sheds a tear of gratefulness because you make me smile*