Wow, it has been a long time guys.

Let me just start by saying that I am eternally grateful for all of you, new or old. This book has grown to places I never could have imagined and is still one of my greatest accomplishments after all this time. 

That being said, I'd love to update y'all on where I am now.

Since the last update of this book, I have started and complete high school, ending up in the top 3% of my class. I will be attending the University of my dreams in the fall to study journalism and I could not be more blessed or excited about that opportunity. I have made so many friends and had so many experiences since I was the 13-year-old girl writing about the boys of Narnia.

Now I'd like to tell you about my biggest accomplishment.

I won't tell you his name, just like you don't really know mine (sorry lol) but on August 15th of 2017, I met the love of my life.

He is good. If forced to use only one word in the English language to describe him, that is the one I would choose. Good. I have never met a better person in my time on this earth. He is my light, my sunshine, my best friend, my role model, my competition, and my partner. He is everything to me, everything I never even knew I needed when I wrote these stories. He has shown me what love truly is, as cheesy as it sounds. I love him with all of my heart, and I know you all would too. 

(Side note: He feels it is important to note that this book was the first thing he ever learned about me. We were in class sharing fun facts about ourselves and, as I mentioned, this is one of my biggest accomplishments to this day lol so of course I told the entire class how my writing on *cough cough* an internet site had around 800k views. He still remembers that me as if it were yesterday, which I find unimaginably sweet.)

Recently, I read my entire book, start to finish, in one sitting. While it may have taken over a year to write, it takes about an afternoon to read through. I was floored at how much I have grown since I wrote 191 stories in a little over 14 months that were my whole life at the time. When I wrote these stories, I was so young and in such a weird place. I wrote them for the same reason all of us read any fiction; I wanted to feel something, and these characters and simulating relationships with them for myself and others made me feel wanted, made me feel those butterflies I was missing from my life (or thought I was missing, I was like 12 I needed to calm down). I had a very vague understanding of relationships in hindsight and a lot of my writing makes me cringe now, but I still love it. 

I read the comments on these stories and simply cannot comprehend that this many people have read them, have felt them like I did. I read the comments on the last preference and people were asking for updates and talking about how long it had been since I posted, which spurred me into writing this. I will never be able to put into words how much every one of you readers means to me.

That being said, I am so much happier now than when I wrote these stories. I would love to be able to meet every one of you in person and talk to you about your struggles, your worries, insecurities, everything I went through with you during this book, and how I came out on the other side of it. Believe me when I tell you that for a time, I didn't think I would. 

But I did. 

4 years later, I am the person my 13-year-old self dreamed to be, I think. I have what I really always wanted, an amazing partner to go through life with, to laugh with, to cry with, to hug and to hold, and to never let go. I am in control of my own demons and insecurities, and while I will continue to face them, I now do so with confidence that that version of me couldn't have had. I know a lot of you have grown up since this book ended, or maybe you just finished reading it (that freakin blows my mind) but know that it will get better and that I am so freaking proud of every one of you.

I hope that these stories made you feel; not always happy, because that isn't always what we need. Sometimes we need to cry, we need to feel sadness. We need to experience these emotions through the safety of these characters we love so much. It is a method of catharsis that I hope is never taken for granted. If I could, I might go back and write some of these stories differently. But looking at the comments, the votes, the success this book had long after I believed it to be over, I know that it was all worth every moment I spent in the dark, writing to people on the internet who felt everything that I felt, who became my friends when I truly had none, and who, in many ways, have shaped who I am today.

I may come back to writing. I may not. I can't be sure. What I am sure of is that I appreciate this experience more than I can ever describe. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart to each and every one of you. I hope you see this and reach some kind of closure with this story, which I'm sorry has taken so long. Hopefully, it was worth the wait. I know it was for me. 

Sincerely,

Samantha Lendo