The Sweetest Devotion

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐄𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐬

𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞

This isn't perfect, and very much a first draft, but I'm happy to have finished! This was experimental, and like all my experimental projects, I so grew to love writing this. I plan to self-publish this in 2023 after I edit and hire a professional editor, and I will say there's going to be two print editions, a main cover, and a discreet cover, and I love both so much! The interior formatting for the print editions I designed I adore as well. Obsessing over book designs and details is one of my favorite things to do now.

As I said on the summary page, this book was inspired by another book of mine, The Gilded, where I imagined a character who's engaged running into a moody mechanic and sparks flying. I was playing with the follow-up titles The Bronzed and The Platinum, and I sorta liked the idea, but then as I wrote more of TG I realllllly loved Keaton's fiancé, thus Kennedy and Keith were born.

   The first thing I really want to get off my tits is the comments, chile. Some of the comments I got on my end as the writer were wild. Like, from the summary alone, it was established that this was Kennedy & Keith's story, but folks started wanting a Cain POV—which EYE love Cain, so I can see the want for more. But some people really tried to villainize Kennedy they liked Cain so much, and that's when I paused and became concerned.

   This was a young woman minding her business when two men, her father and a man she rejected TWICE, came and told her she was being used as a means to do business. Yeah, Cain never forced himself on her, but he never respected her blatantly telling him she didn't want to be with him either.

   In a lot of arranged marriage books, it seems to be that the female lead would fall for the fiancé, but I just never saw Kennedy giving in and allowing herself to just go with it. Maybe someday I'll write an arranged pairing where they do grow to be a coupling, but this wasn't that. This was more of a forbidden love story than anything. All in all, I wrote this story my way and the way I wanted it to go.

   I do want to go back and write more romantic things for Keith and Kennedy when I edit. And I gotta say, this is the first Black couple I've ever written where so many Taylor Swift songs resonate with the story. I may gotta make Kennedy a Swiftie. "illicit affairs," "Paper Rings," "Cornelia Street," "Lover," "After Glow," —Lover is my fav Taylor album—and the list goes on. So, I kinda wanna go back and write more swoon moments for K&K. They talked and got to know each other, but we can always squeeze in more cute content. I loved that Kennedy makes Keith smile and relax, which was fun to write and read.

   I also plan to study more cases of ALS, because I think when I edit and make Kennedy's father more controlling, I just want him to lose his mobility, and I don't want to misrepresent this illness, so I definitely want to read more on it. Every case is different, and because I'm not sure I want to kill off Damon any time soon, I want to explore those who have managed to really live with ALS.

   One big thing that some didn't get was Kennedy's means to go with the arranged marriage, and I want to go back and write about her always going along with her father's order and emphasizing the threat of losing her family. It was more than the inheritance, because it really was a lose the only family you've ever known or marry this man.

   One of the things I really loved about writing Kennedy was that she was a little bougie in the beginning ideally, but she never looked at Keith as less than or judged him for being working class. There was an admiration and respect there, so this never turned into a humbling, which I think was amazing for his character because his ex left him to date more wealthy prospects.

   The intentions between both leads were always pure and genuine. Kennedy only wanted sex, but then she wanted to get to know Keith too and she gradually grew to fall for him. Keith was curious from the beginning and fell hard during their fling, and I loved the selflessness in wanting better for her rather than them just being together.