If it matters, life has been distracting. My mother died the month after my previous posting, at the age of 95. Along with everything else that meant, I had a good deal to do as the trustee of two family trusts. While grieving the loss of an amazing, inimitable woman, I am deeply grateful that she missed the horrors of being ill, hospitalized, and (briefly) in a nursing home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mom died last November, when I was already writing another rough draft by participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I managed to keep going and finish it on schedule. After much editing, beta reader feedback, and more editing, that book -- What Frees the Heart, Book 2 in the Cowbird Creek historical romance series -- is approaching its release date of July 15, 2020. I'll be posting excerpts once it's available for preorder (Kindle edition only, I'm afraid).
For now, here's the cover! Cover designer Kelly Martin of KAM Design is once again responsible. I may like this cover even more than the cover of Book 1 (What Heals the Heart) because its colors are brighter and lift my spirits.
Oh, and here are the tag line and book description, subject to my usual obsessive tweaking.
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Can
they set each other free?
Cowbird Creek has its share of
troubled souls. For Tom, a farmer’s son, losing his leg felt like losing his
future. Jenny, a young prostitute at Madam Mamie’s parlor house, has never
thought she had much future to lose.
But the job Tom is able to get leads
him to rediscover a long neglected talent. And both Tom and Jenny have a knack
for hitting on new possibilities. Can they, together, find a better path?
This novel, second in a series, returns to the small town of Cowbird
Creek, Nebraska, in early 1876, a few months after the conclusion of What
Heals the Heart. Several favorite characters from Book 1 make return
appearances.
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Early reviews are encouraging, always a boost to an author's morale. If anyone reading this post would like a review copy, please let me know ASAP -- after I hit "submit" on the preorder, late on June 21st or early on June 22nd, I'll no longer be allowed to distribute ebook ARCs. (I'll still be able to send out PDFs of the paperback edition.) If you want to get ready and haven't yet read Book 1, What Heals the Heart is available on Kindle Unlimited ($2.99 for the Kindle edition otherwise) and now includes a preview of the upcoming book.
Signing off for now. Happy weekend, everyone!
