The Lovely Reckless (36 page)

I was wrong about something else, too.

Before I crashed the stolen car, I thought saving Marco was the most important thing I would ever have to do.

One thing was even more important.…

Saving myself.

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book would not exist without the support and hard work of these Lovely people.

Jodi Reamer, my amazing agent—for listening to my crazy ideas and encouraging me to see where they lead, and shepherding my books into the world as if they were your own. Your insight, passion, and faith in this story allowed me to take a risk and tackle a new genre. I'm so lucky you took a chance on me.

Erin Stein, my publisher and editor at Imprint—for your creativity, insight, and never-ending patience. Writing this book was a challenge, but you never doubted the story or my ability to tell it, even when I did. Collaborating with you has made me a better writer.

The “Lovely” Team at Imprint and Macmillan: Natalie Sousa, creative director at Imprint, for her work on the breathtaking cover; John Nora, senior production manager, and Christine Ma, senior production editor, for their attention to detail and diligence; Allison Verost, vice president, marketing and publicity, and Brittany Pearlman, associate publicist, for your excitement about
The Lovely Reckless
and for creating PR opportunities to spread that excitement; Lucy Del Priore, director school and library marketing, Kathryn Little, associate director marketing, Ashley Woodfolk, marketing manager, and Mariel Dawson, director of advertising and promotion, for thinking outside the box and telling the world about
The Lovely Reckless
; Caitlin Sweeny, digital marketing manager, for the gorgeous digital content; Jennifer Gonzalez and her incredible sales team, for convincing booksellers and retailers to take a chance on the book; and Nicole Otto, editorial assistant, for all her help.

Angus Killick, vice president and associate publisher at Macmillan—for your enthusiasm for
The Lovely Reckless
and your innovative ideas. Thank you for making me feel welcome at my new publishing house. I'll hang out with you at Comic-Con anytime.

Jon Yaged, president of Macmillan—for inviting me to join Imprint/Macmillan, assembling and leading such a gifted group of people, and for sharing your creative vision.

Artist Loui Jover—for creating the gorgeous illustration for the cover.

Elizabeth Casal—for capturing the essence of
The Lovely Reckless
in a book cover that takes my breath away every time I look at it.

Barbara Bakowski, my copyeditor—for catching all of my mistakes and fixing them.

Writers House, my literary agency—for representing me and
The Lovely Reckless
. Special thanks to: Cecilia de la Campa, my foreign rights agent, for sharing her excitement about this book with sub-agents and publishers all over the world; and Alec Shane, for answering the same questions over and over and pretending I didn't ask them before.

Kassie Evashevski, my rock star film agent at UTA—for your intelligence, passion, and innovative thinking. But most of all, for championing this book and everything I write.

My foreign publishers—for sharing
The Lovely Reckless
with readers in other countries.
Merci. Grazie. Danke. Obrigado …

Margaret Stohl and Holly Black, my friends and extraordinary YA authors—for talking me into taking a leap of faith to write the contemporary book I kept telling you about. Margie, thanks for always knowing when to push and for believing I could do this before I believed it myself. Holly, thank you for sitting in my living room late one night and making me write down my ideas for this book, and for reading the draft and giving me notes after I did.

Carrie Ryan and Rachel Caine, my friends, writing gurus, and two of the most talented authors writing today—for reading and re-reading my draft and giving me revision notes that made a huge difference. Thanks for always taking my calls.

Lauren Billings and Christina Hobbs, my friends and superstar romance writers—for the constant encouragement and the early read to make sure there was enough kissing.

Erin Gross and Yvette Vasquez, my “think tank”—for always having the answers, cheering me on, and yelling at me when cheering doesn't work. You are two of my best friends.

Chloe Palka, my social media assistant—for your social media expertise and creativity and for typing my messy handwritten chapters. You are the Mother of Dragons (and books).

Vilma Gonzalez, my friend, for your advice and enthusiasm. You rock.

Jennifer L. Armentrout, Holly Black, Cora Carmack, Kresley Cole, Abbi Glines, Colleen Hoover, Marie Lu, Tahereh Mafi, Richelle Mead, Katie McGarry, Jamie McGuire, Alyson Noël, Carrie Ryan, Anna Todd, my friends and a group of authors whose novels I adore—for offering quotes for
The Lovely Reckless
. I cannot thank you enough.

John Racca, my stepfather and a retired police officer from the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department—for teaching me “critical life skills” that I ended up needing, and for the years you spent as a plainclothes police officer chasing down real car thieves in Auto Squad.

David Stein, automotive aficionado—for sharing your knowledge of auto mechanics, muscle cars, and fast driving to correct my mistakes. You are the real “Chief.”

Bobby Duncan—for answering my questions about street racing and RPMs.

Vania Stoyanova, my friend and photographer—for making me look cool in all my author photos, especially the one for this book.

Lorissa Shepstone of Being Wicked, my graphic designer—for designing my amazing new author website, along with postcards, bookmarks, business cards, and swag.

Eric Harbert and Nick Montano, my attorney and brand manager—for being the guys who watch my back and protect me. You are brilliant and badass, my favorite combination.

Alan Weinberger, my rheumatologist—for making sure that my knees survive tours and events.

Librarians, teachers, booksellers, bloggers, bookstgrammers, booktubers, and everyone who helped spread the word—your passion for reading and love of books is an inspiration. You work, often for little or no money, to inspire a love of reading in others and you have been so kind to me over the years. Thank you for reading my books and sharing this ride with me.

My readers—for supporting me, following me when I write a new book or series, encouraging me on social media, forcing your friends to read my books, sending me letters and fan art, and sharing your stories with me. You bring my books to life.

Mom, Dad, Celeste, John, Derek, Hannah, Alex, Hans, Sara, and Erin, my parents, step-parents, siblings, and sister-in-laws—for your love, encouragement, and excitement. Thank you for always being there.

Alex, Nick, and Stella—for giving me stories to tell and the time it takes to write them. You give up so much for me to do this. I hope you know how much I love you.

 

ALSO BY
KAMI GARCIA

Unbreakable

Unmarked

“Red Run”: A Short Story

“Improbable Futures”: A Short Story

BY
KAMI GARCIA
AND MARGARET STOHL

Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Darkness

Beautiful Chaos

Beautiful Redemption

Dangerous Creatures

Dangerous Deception

Dream Dark: A Beautiful Creatures Story

Dangerous Dream: A Beautiful Creatures Story

Beautiful Creatures: The Untold Stories

The Mortal Heart

The Seer's Spread

Before the Claiming

A Gatlin Wedding

 

PRAISE FOR

THE LOVELY RECKLESS

“
The Lovely Reckless
has everything I hope for in a book. Packed with the perfect blend of suspense, drama, romance, and heart,
KAMI GARCIA
HAS TRULY TOPPED HERSELF
.”

—COLLEEN HOOVER, #1
New York Times
bestselling author of
Hopeless

“Kami Garcia has moved into
BOLD, NEW TERRITORY
, and the results are spectacular. I was hooked from the first chapter!”

—RICHELLE MEAD, #1 international bestselling author of the Vampire Academy series

“
EDGE-OF-YOUR-SEAT SUSPENSE, LOVE, AND HEARTBREAK
.”

—JAMIE M
C
GUIRE, #1
New York Times
bestselling author of
Beautiful Disaster

“
MEET YOUR NEXT BOOK BOYFRIEND
Marco Leone. You'll fall in love with him just like I did!”

—ABBI GLINES,
New York Times
bestselling author of The Field Party series and the Rosemary Beach novels

“A
PITCH-PERFECT STORY
of surviving loss, finding love, and saving oneself—all set in a world of fast cars and smooth criminals.
The Lovely Reckless
thrills from beginning to end.”

—MARIE LU, #1
New York Times
bestselling author of
Legend

“
The Lovely Reckless
is a
FAST-PACED, FRESH READ
that you'll want to devour in one sitting.
I'M OBSESSED
!”

—ANNA TODD, internet sensation and bestselling author of the After series

“
The Lovely Reckless
is Garcia's superb, roaring entrance into the world of young adult contemporary fiction—full of
FIRST LOVE JITTERS
and
HEART-STOPPING ACTION
.”

—CHRISTINA LAUREN,
New York Times
bestselling author of
The House

“
RIP-ROARING
AND HYPER-REAL
, Kami outdoes herself.”

—HOLLY BLACK,
New York Times
bestselling author of
The Darkest Part of the Forest

“
WANT AN ADRENALINE RUSH WITH YOUR SWOON?
Kami Garcia delivers an action-packed and addicting romance with complex characters, high stakes, and enough angst to keep you turning page after page. Once I started, it was impossible to stop!”

—CORA CARMACK,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Losing It

“
SEXY, FAST-PACED,
and
ACTION-PACKED
— this is Kami Garcia like you've never seen her before.”

—TAHEREH MAFI,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Shatter Me

“A perfect blend of electrifying romance, pulse-pounding street racing, and
PAGE-TURNING SUSPENSE
.”

—JENNIFER L. ARMENTROUT, #1
New York Times
bestselling author of
The Problem with Forever

“With a feisty heroine, an irresistible bad boy, and an attraction so sizzling the words practically burn up the page,
The Lovely Reckless
is an
INSANELY ADDICTIVE
, sexy, rush of a read you'll return to again and again!”

—ALYSON NOËL, #1
New York Times
bestselling author of The Immortals series

“Kami Garcia turns up the heat with
The Lovely Reckless
!
The Fast and the Furious
meets
Romeo and Juliet
, with a
ROMANCE GUARANTEED TO GET YOUR PULSE RACING
.”

—CARRIE RYAN,
New York Times
bestselling author of
The Forest of Hands and Teeth

“As exciting as a high-stakes drag race with a hero hotter than a red-lined engine,
The Lovely Reckless
is a
THRILL RIDE
without compare! You'll fall in love with sexy bad boy Marco and root for the daring heroine Frankie as they fight to be together against all odds.

The Lovely Reckless
is a bold and
ORIGINAL LOVE STORY
sure to delight readers everywhere.”

—KRESLEY COLE, #1
New York Times
bestselling author of The Arcana Chronicles

“
The Lovely Reckless
is a thrilling ride full of twists and turns and a love story that will
MELT YOUR HEART
!”

—KATIE M
C
GARRY, award-winning author of
Nowhere but Here

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kami Garcia
is a #1
New York Times
bestselling and Bram Stoker–nominated author and the coauthor of the Beautiful Creatures and Dangerous Creatures novels. Her solo series, The Legion, includes the instant
New York Times
bestseller
Unbreakable
and its sequel,
Unmarked.

Kami was a teacher for seventeen years and coauthored her first novel on a dare from seven of her students. If she isn't busy watching
Supernatural
, Kami can teach you how to escape from a pair of handcuffs or bake a Coca-Cola cake. She has never raced a car, but there is still time. Kami lives in Maryland with her family and their dogs, Spike and Oz. Visit Kami at
kamigarcia.com
, or sign up for email updates
here
.