Friends, I’m working on the last mile self-editing of a new novel and I’m at the stage where I’m questioning if I’ve put in too much or not enough to make the story entertaining for readers. At some point, I will have to take my fingers off the keyboard and kiss the manuscript goodbye. It’s time for those with red pens to get to work on the next stage of editing. Comfort Songs is the second novel I’ve set in Comfort, Texas and will introduce readers to one of the hardest working women I’ve written–AJ Worthington, an entrepreneur and lavender farmer.

AJ runs a bustling garden center as well as the lavender farm and is reaching the apex of summer sales when her mother–a disgraced former music star and former partner of a popular singing duo with her ex-husband–descends on Comfort to regroup after retiring from her career. AJ has longed for a time to reconnect with her mother–outside of Nashville–and though the timing couldn’t be worse, she’s ready to put in the effort of helping her mother reinvent herself. When a marketing executive from a Nashville recording company tracks them to Lavender Hill, AJ’s defenses are armed. Compounding the problems, AJ’s grandmother’s erratic behavior becomes more dangerous. And AJ’s father arrives –the other half of the popular singing duo and dreaded ex-husband. His temperament and expectations are not conducive to the peaceful refresh AJ envisioned, and navigating all these complicated people and their motives proves to be the hardest work she’s ever  taken on. Will she be able to control them and grow them into the outcome she wants, or will she risk everything and let this unruly series of events bloom at will. A gardener’s worst nightmare might become the seed for a life and love AJ never thought possible.

With a cover already created, and an inspiration page on Pinterest, Comfort Songs is getting near it’s debut date. I’ll have all the details here and on my Kimberly Fish, author page on Facebook, and keep you updated for book events too.

Here’s a snap I took of beautiful flowers grown near Blanco, in the Texas Hill Country, and the kind of cut flowers you’d find at AJ’s garden store, Lavender Hill.