The Hours We Have

Author's Note

Hi, your author here! 

I just want to thank all of you for reading and supporting this book, it truly means the world to me! Once upon a time, I was a little girl reading books in the dark, and now I have become the woman writing them. It's funny how we grow, isn't it? 

However, I also have a few things I would like to address. It came to my attention when the majority of the comments gravitated towards one topic. Even though this book turned out a lot more gentle and heartwarming than I had originally planned, please remember these characters are only based on real people. 

Naturally, as a writer, I made adjustments to the characters for character development and for the plot, but it doesn't necessarily mean everything I wrote is real. Yes, I wrote as closely to reality as I could, but some parts are slightly unrealistic when it comes to my real brothers.

For example, I took the best parts of my brothers and let them grow in this book. I took their gentle natures, their soft moments, their strength, and their comforting words... and wrote it all into their fictional characters in the event of a tragedy. In reality, these parts of them aren't always shown. Like all men, they hide their vulnerability. And we haven't experienced such a tragedy to provoke such emotional responses. 

Furthermore, my brothers and I still don't hug. Like, ever. We don't verbally express our love. None of us are cuddlers and would most likely be appalled to sleep even remotely close together. We still have fights, granted not as bad when we were younger, but it still happens.

This doesn't mean we love each other any less, we just have our own methods for communication for those purposes, and they aren't always as soft or gentle as I wrote within this book. They call it sibling love for a reason, you know?

Furthermore, all brothers and families are different. Nothing breaks my heart more than seeing people commenting that they wish their brothers were like mine. 

Why? 

First of all, these are their fictional selves. Second of all, your brothers are unique in their own way. I have realized that my brothers will never be like the brothers I read about or see in other families, and I love that because everyone is unique. So, enjoy your brothers for who they are.

(As for those of you without brothers, I'll gladly give you mine)

That being said, by writing this kind of book, my relationship with all of my brothers has grown because I stopped viewing them in a negative way. By paying attention to them and discerning their little displays of emotion...it has helped open my perspective. On brothers, on the meaning of family... it's really been incredible. 

And finally, I cannot even begin to express my humble gratitude to all of you. Every comment really brightened my whole day! Sometimes, I was laughing so hard. And other times, I was connecting with you. But, I never expected the recognition this book has received. I mean, it's truly shocking and humbling. 

Many of you might not know but I've been writing for almost nine years. I have an ongoing book series, and many other stand-alone novels (with a few short stories). This book just ended up being a whim of me trying to adventure into a new genre, and I'd say it was successful. 

Thank you so much for coming along on this journey! 

Much love to all of you. 

♥️