Acknowledgments

Every book only comes to be because of hard work and help from many people, and that’s especially the case for this book.

I’m so grateful for my incredible agent, Holly Root, and my fantastic editor, Cindy Hwang, for their enthusiasm and support when I came to them with this idea. I’m thrilled and relieved every day that I’m going through this publishing journey with the two of you to guide me.

To everyone at Berkley, thank you for your hard work, energy, and ambition for me and my books, especially Jessica Brock, Fareeda Bullert, Angela Kim, Craig Burke, Erin Galloway, Kristine Swartz, Jin Yu, Megha Jain, and Vikki Chu. Thank you to Lauren Monaco, Jen Trzaska, and everyone on the incredible Penguin Random House sales team. And huge thanks to Kate Byrne and the entire Headline Eternal team for their guidance and enthusiasm.

I could never have done any of this without all the encouragement, support, and advice I’ve gotten from so many other writers. Amy Spalding and Akilah Brown, you’ve been there for me since the very beginning; I owe so much to both of you. Ruby Lang, thank you for everything. Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan, you are two of the most delightful, inspiring, and helpful writers out there, and I’ve learned so much from both of you. Sarah Mackey, thank you so much for both your enthusiastic cheerleading and your American to British translations. Lauren Kiehna, thank you for the incredible website TheCourtJeweller.com—it’s helped me more than you can know. Jami Attenberg, Melissa Baumgart, Robin Benway, Austin Channing Brown, Kayla Cagan, Alexis Coe, Nicole Chung, Roxane Gay, Tayari Jones, Lyz Lenz, Caille Millner, Daniel Ortberg, Doree Shafrir, Kate Spencer, Laura Turner, Esmé Weijun Wang, Sarah Weinman, and Sara Zarr, I am so grateful to have you all in my life.

Thank you so much to all of my friends who put up with me when I fell off the face of the earth to write this book, especially Jill Vizas, Nicole Clouse, Simi Patnaik, Janet Goode, Melissa Sladden, Jina Kim, Lisa McIntire, Ryan Gallagher, Sarah Tiedeman, Kyle Wong, Julian Davis Mortenson, Nanita Cranford, Joy Alferness, Alicia Harris, Toby Rugger, Rachel Fershleiser, Maret Orliss, Maggie Levine, Sara Kate Wilkinson, Kate Leos, and Lyette Mercier. And special thanks to Lindsey Kistler for literally putting me up in London while I did research, and for all of our discussions about the U.K. and the U.S.—this book is better because of you.

To my family, especially my parents and my sister, I love you so much. Thank you for always being in my corner and by my side.

Nicole Cliffe and Samantha Powell, our royals group chat has brought me so much joy in the past few years, and I’m not sure this book would have happened without the two of you.

Thanks to Meghan and Harry, just because.

And finally, Margaret H. Willison: You’re the real MVP. Thank you for giving me the idea for this book, for your all-caps enthusiasm when you found out I was actually going to write it, and for being the incredible person you are.

Chapter One

Vivian nudged her daughter as they walked out of the customs area at Heathrow Airport.

“Um, Maddie? Do you think Ms. M. Forest and Ms. V. Forest are us?”

Vivian gestured at the man in the suit, holding the sign with their names on it.

Maddie turned in the direction Vivian was looking and grinned at her mother.

“Let’s do this, Mom.”

Vivian looked around and laughed to herself before she grinned back at Maddie.

She still didn’t exactly know how she’d gotten here. It had all started with a call from Maddie a few weeks ago.

“Hey, Mom, I need an answer fast—do you want to spend Christmas with me in England?”

Vivian had laughed. What else was there to do when your thirty-four-year-old daughter asked something so ridiculous?

“Sure, I do. I also want to spend Thanksgiving with you in Hawaii, New Year’s Eve with you in Paris, and Easter with you in Rome.”

But Maddie didn’t laugh at that.

“No, really. I’m serious. You remember my old mentor, Amelia Samuels?”

Vivian looked away from her computer screen.

“The one who’s now the stylist for the princess?”

“Duchess, but yes. Well, Amelia was supposed to go to England at Christmas to help prepare the Duchess for all of the royal Christmas festivities—apparently, there are lots of them—but Amelia is pregnant with twins and just had to go on bed rest. Her doctor says she’s under too much stress and can’t work at all.”