my abilities to pivot to this new genre.
To THE Bree Archer (now that my nickname for you is in print, it will be memorialized forever), the cover. THE COVER. There is a girl who lives inside my heart, locked forever in her adolescence, who was made to believe that she was ugly because of her race. For her, and for all the other girls who might feel this same way, you have my everlasting gratitude.
Thank you to the wonderful team at Entangled, especially Heather Riccio, Stacy Abrams, Curtis Svehlak, Jessica Turner, and Madison Pelletier. I am so grateful that Dating Makes Perfect is in such capable hands. Thank you, as well, to my publicist, Nicole Banholzer, for helping Winnie’s story reach my readers, new and old.
My gratitude to my lovely agent, Kate Testerman. I so appreciate your support and enthusiasm for this story.
Thank you to the phenomenal authors who took the time out of their busy lives to read and blurb Dating Makes Perfect: Vanessa Barneveld, Kate Brauning, Piper J. Drake, Lydia Kang, Jodi Meadows, Farrah Rochon, Nisha Sharma, Christina Soontornvat, Becky Wallace, Abigail Hing Wen, Tracy Wolff, and Darcy Woods. Your kind words mean the world to me.
Every day, I am cognizant of my luck in the friend lottery. From high school to college to law school, from my author friends to my mom friends to my lawyer friends, I am so blessed to have each of you in my life. Special thanks to Vanessa Barneveld for your insights and to Brenda Drake for the sprints. Denny S. Bryce has the most gorgeous apartment for writing retreats, and Meg Kassel has the highest stamina for lengthy phone calls. To Darcy Woods: I might be able to do this publishing thing without you—but I’m not sure how. Thank you for being so solidly on my side.
A special shout-out to my best friends from high school, Anita Kishore and Sheila Pai (whom the jazz-hearted Kavya Pai, incidentally, was inspired by). This story made me think of a certain night at the end of a long driveway, where we swore that we would remain best friends for the rest of our lives. I am so happy, over two decades later, that we’ve kept that promise.
My family. Ah, my family. I’m not going to reveal which parts of this book were inspired by which members of my family. But suffice it to say, all the warmth in this story stems directly from my personal experience. I love you all. I hope you can see from this novel exactly how much. Your support for me is immeasurable, and I appreciate all of you every single day.
I would be remiss, however, if I didn’t give a special thanks to my dad for double-checking my Thai facts. To my sister, Lana: you are, without doubt, my biggest fan. It goes without saying that I am also yours.
A big thank you to Lowcountry. Yes, this restaurant is real, and yes, my brother Pan and my sister-in-law Dana are the owners. Yes, the Ridiculously Hot Everthang sauce will blow your mind, and yes, the food there is just as delicious as it sounds!
The four A’s of my heart—Antoine, Aksara, Atikan, and Adisai. You are my breath, my joy. You are the center of my real life and every single one of my made-up worlds.
Last, but definitely not least, to my beautiful readers. Thank you for reading my books. You make this publishing ride worth every steep climb and stomach-dropping descent. And I don’t even like roller coasters.
About the Author
A first-generation Thai American, Pintip Dunn grew up in a tiny town in Kansas. She went on to graduate from Harvard University, magna cum laude, with an A.B. and to receive her J.D. at Yale Law School.
Pintip is a two-time RITA® award winner and a New York Times bestselling author of young adult fiction. Her books have been translated into four languages, and they have been nominated for numerous awards, including the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award and a Kirkus Best Book of the Year.
She’s obsessed with penguins, and her childhood dream was to marry someone whose last name was “Gwynn”—so that her name could be “Pin Gwynn.” Alas, she got stuck with Dunn instead, but her husband and three children are worth the sacrifice. They all visit Thailand yearly in order to stay connected with her family.
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Chapter One
My mother thought I was a