If you’ve picked up A Tear of Salt and Ash and pictured main characters Sorcha and Eric cozying up on a plush, fluffy bed of bear furs on a freezing night... stop right there and clear your mind.

Picture stiff wire. Imagine an industrial-grade broom. That is what a bear actually feels like.

I learned this harsh truth the hard way. My husband recently took our son and me up to one of his favorite spots for a family hunting day. He harvested a stunning black bear. While I respect the harvest, watching the loss of life was heavy—and honestly, something I will never willingly watch again. But in the quiet moments beforehand, my brain was full of classic historical romance tropes. I had visions of curling up on a cozy, soft bearskin rug by the crackling fire, wine in hand, husband by my side.

Then came the skinning process.

I got a close-up look and reached out to touch him. Reader, that bear was the physical opposite of everything I had imagined. It wasn’t fluffy. It wasn’t soft. It was coarse, hard, scratchy, and practically armored.

So here is my official authorial patch note for A Tear of Salt and Ash: anytime you read about characters lounging on luxurious bear pelts, just pretend I wrote wolf. ​(Though, knowing my luck, wolf fur is probably just as stiff and wild.)