I love having pets in my books and since I had gone without a fictional pet for a while, I couldn’t resist giving the hero a fun dog. Rex is my favorite fictional pet to date (aside from my real pet, Jessie, in The Sweetest Gift). I hope you fall in love with Rex as much as I did.

I’ve been told that reading this book can make a person hungry. Probably because while I was writing it, I had to keep buying cake decorating books and reading them. Did you know those books have gorgeous color pictures of beautiful cakes that look absolutely delicious? Probably—but it was news to me. I gained seven pounds writing Ava’s story. I kept taking cake breaks. It had to be done—for research purposes, of course!

Ava’s bakery reappears in several of the McKaslin Clan Series 3 books, and it’s where the twins Brianna and Brandilyn (from series 4) work. It was fun going back to visit the bakery and Ava’s monster muffins. I hope you have fun revisiting, too.