Dear Patch,

I know, pink is not your thing. Probably not cupcakes, either. You're more a brown paper bag and vending machine kind of guy. Too bad. Because today is launch day for FINALE, Becca Fitzpatrick's wrap-up of yours and Nora's story and I'm writing this post in honor of it and I happen to love pink. Deal with it.

I remember the first time I met you, lo these many years ago. (Eight? Nine? Suffice it to say that my age at the time had a 3 in front of it. Becca's age only had a 2 in front of it, but that's neither here nor there.) In any case, we were all younger. Except you, of course. You were the same age the first time you swaggered across a page I read. You were not, however, an angel at that time. You were just a boy with a lot of attitude and a mouth that made me laugh out loud every time you opened it and wish, just for a minute, that I was seventeen again.

In the midst of this busy day, I hope you take a minute to appreciate the writer who launched you. No one could have done you and Nora and Vee justice like Becca. You fought her on it. For years you and the others twisted and turned through every variation possible of your story. The one thing that stayed the same was your dark appeal and Nora's stubborn refusal to let you turn her away. And the dialogue: that crackling, sparking, quotable and fabulous dialogue that marks everything Becca writes.

Through rewrites and complete reversals and no after no after no after no . . . Becca never gave up on you. And look at her now--NYT bestseller, tour dates all over the U.S. and Europe, a book trailer release on USA Today's website . . . Did I mention I knew her when?

So, Patch and Nora, enjoy your day.

And Becca--we love you :)