I first published The Caretakers in May 2011, and though I was pleased with the overall theme I realized (albeit years later) that the uploaded manuscript had not been fully edited and needed polishing. Admittedly, I rushed to publish—like many first-time authors do. And, I didn’t take the time to fully understand all the behind-the-scenes work involved with publishing. Hence, the product I released was not nearly as polished as it could have been, or as it should have been.

Over the years I debated removing it all together, but, I also wrote the sequel as I believe in the characters and their journey. It’s difficult, I think, for a writer to go back and reexamine their work. It can be a daunting task. Because we all evolve. We change from experiences here and there, and when we look back at older writing, sometimes we wonder why we didn’t say something differently … end a scene, begin a scene differently.

But that doesn’t mean we should discard what we created in the past.

Alas, I’ve reworked the original story a bit to address some inconsistencies and lay the groundwork for the sequels. Though a large percentage of the original content has been repurposed, there are significant enough changes and new material added to call for a republish … hence the new title, Everybody Has a Summer That Sucks which is now available (October 15, 2025), in both print and Kindle versions.

I hope you’ll consider reading the revised edition. The sequel is due out summer 2026. Thank you.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE The Caretakers, originally published in 2011 (ISBN: 9781463567583) has been reformatted under the title Everyone Has a Summer That Sucks (ISBN: 9798264027710). The new title captures the essence of The Caretakers and repurposes a majority of the content but also includes additional material that gives the reader a broader understanding of the storyline. The new title is also fully edited to address inconsistencies and first-draft errors. The publisher understands The Caretakers may still have some used copies available for sale, but it is noted that the author has requested no additional print copies are made available for sale. As for the new title, again, while some content is repurposed, there are significant enough updates to the story that called for a republish, under a new title.