to take a Cajun dance class at Glide Studios last fall when my school hosted a group of French exchange students. It was a lot of fun, and I highly recommend it. That’s also probably why Beau is a French teacher by day. It just fit.
Speaking of French teachers, I’d like to thank Madame Marianne Cheramie for her help with Beau’s French. Merci, Madame.
To Bria Lozada Wolf, thank you for the third time. I hope you’ll keep alpha-reading for me through many more books! Thank you to Jen Halligan and her beta-reading enthusiasm. As always, thanks to Kathleen Payne. You are never too picky! You save me again and again. Thanks again to Cayla Mattea Zeek for a cover I love so much I could squeal each time I see it! Thank you, Jena Brignola, for all of your graphic design help once again. To Jessica Estep and everyone at InkSlinger PR, thank you for all of your marketing support. You’d think after ten books I wouldn’t need so much hand-holding, but I still do! I’m grateful to you. Thanks also to Marie Force’s Formatting Fairies for their excellent and speedy work. Thanks to Nathan Van Dyken and everyone at Blue Tulip Publishing for allowing me to include a sample of You First here.
To my Vault Vixens, I love you with my whole heart. You keep me sane. To my 1989 Happy Hour krewe, you keep me young, and I love you for life.
On a much more serious note, we lost my mother-in-law to Alzheimer’s in April. The last few years of her life and the awful decline she endured directly influenced my writing of Gina Hebert Landry, Beau’s mother. While Mrs. Amy wasn’t a ballet teacher, she was an educator who made such a difference in the lives of so many. She was a wonderful mother-in-law to me and the perfect grandmother to my daughter. She fed me countless meals throughout college and grad school, and she turned every sleepover for my daughter into a wonderland of creativity, storytelling, and magic. Christmas Eve breakfasts at her house were my favorite. We all really miss her. When it was time to write the Epilogue, I gave Beau’s mother a more hopeful ending because I couldn’t bear for him to lose her just yet.
As I write this, it is exactly three days since Hurricane Delta walloped South Louisiana. Lots of people I know still don’t have power today. This was the second hurricane we’ve had in six weeks. Hurricane Laura decimated communities to our west, like Lake Charles, and recovery is going to take years. Of course, I wrote the Hurricane Addie chapters months before these storms hit, but as we huddled at home Friday night while winds reached ninety miles an hour, I had a surreal sense of life imitating art in a most unwelcome way. As the planet and our oceans heat up, more and more of these megastorms will strip away at the Gulf Coast. Just like more and more fires will consume our western states, claiming property, lives, and species. Pay attention. Demand change. Do your part. It doesn’t have to be like this.
Finally, to all of my readers, most especially those who have been along for the ride since Fall Semester, thank you so much for reading this book. I’m grateful for you every day. I hope you’ve enjoyed Iris and Beau’s love story. Please post a review wherever you bought your copy or any social media platform. Reviews matter. They really do. Until next time, Happy Reading!
About the Author
Stephanie Fournet, author of ten novels including Leave a Mark, Someone Like Me, Kind of Cursed, and Two-Step, lives in Lafayette, Louisiana—not far from the Saint Streets where her novels are set. She shares her home with her husband and daughter, their needy dogs Mabel and Finnegan, and the ghosts of dogs past. When she isn’t writing romance novels, Stephanie is usually helping students get into college, camping, or curled up with a good book. She loves hearing from fans, so look for her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Goodreads, and stephaniefournet.com.
Other Books By Stephanie Fournet
Fall Semester
Legacy
Butterfly Ginger
Leave a Mark
You First
Drive
Shelter
Someone Like Me
Kind of Cursed
Anthology
Block & Tackle
Turn the page to read a sample of Stephanie Fournet’s novel
YOU FIRST
You First
Chapter One
“You’re fired.”
The words landed like a fist in Meredith’s stomach. She stared at her boss, her mouth hanging open. “B-but, Mr. Simmons, I tried to find someone to cover my shift. I told you that yesterday.”