Sadie said it would be okay to use her email as a post.

Mr. Crawford–

I just completed reading Fit to Curve I have never contacted an author before, but I was compelled to write you as soon as I finished the book. Two things—the first is that I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was well written, the plot was intricate but believable, and the characters came to life on the pages. I did wonder about the inclusion of the little side mystery of the twins who turned out to be triplets, but of course that is your prerogative as the author and did not make my enjoyment of the book any more or any less. There was something that bothered me throughout the book, though, and that is what prompted me to write to you. Before contacting you, I looked up your background to verify that you are not a native southerner. I see that you are presently living in North Carolina, but I have to tell you I was really put off throughout the book by your use of the term “you-all”. If you have lived in North Carolina any length of time, you have to have noticed that in that state as well as most, if not all, southeastern states, the form of address for a group of two or more people is “y’all”, pronounced “yawl”. While my home state is Alabama, I have lived in Georgia and Virginia and have spent considerable lengths of time in every other southeastern state over the last 65+ years. The only time I have heard the term “you-all” is from non-southerners who just do not hear the distinction between the two terms. I am aware that the contraction “y’all” is a shortening of the term “you-all”, but it is still a shortened version that is used extensively, and it just bothers me to see it written incorrectly. One other thing, there is also a colloquialism that I’m thinking is a southern thing. I really don’t know what the correct grammatical version is, but we generally speak of “two things” but a “couple of things” rather than a “couple things”. I only bring this up because there were a lot of “couple things” in the book.

Thank you for providing me with enjoyment and entertainment, sans an obvious agenda, political or otherwise, other than entertainment. I am assuming Fit to Curve was your first book, and I look forward to reading the remaining ones. When I read a new author who has more than one publication, I try to read the books in order of publication. Please think about a possible correction concerning the “you-all” term, though.

Sadie K. Osburn