Lily Writes

Writing has been on an absolute tear lately.

Three rough drafts completed. Three. Which sounds wildly impressive until I confess that now comes the dangerous part: rewrites. The polishing. The weaving. The “wait… didn’t I already describe this kitchen twice?” phase.

Two of the books happen concurrently in the Pinkerton Falls timeline, while the third technically comes earlier in the series chronology. In my head, though, they all exist at once—one sprawling, interconnected world where firefighters fall in love, rockstars make terrible decisions, and matchmaking apps continue to create chaos for everyone involved.

Honestly? I love it there.

With Mother’s Day tomorrow, it’s fitting that two of these stories unexpectedly revolve around babies. Tiny fictional infants are currently running my creative life.

Love Pop: Fire Chief Meets Baby Disaster

First up: Love Pop.

Poor Roman Delaney.

The man is prepared for natural disasters, structure fires, multi-car pileups, and apparently the apocalypse. His house is filled with flats of bottled water, paper towels, dry goods, batteries, emergency supplies—you name it. CEO Rylan Ward walks into his home, sees enough bulk storage to survive a zombie outbreak, and immediately starts wondering if Pinkerton Falls’ fire chief is secretly a prepper.

Then a six-week-old baby gets dropped into his life.

And suddenly this hyper-competent man is completely outmatched by a newborn named Siena.

Naturally, the entire town assumes the baby belongs to Roman and Rylan.

Naturally, the gossip spreads like wildfire.

And naturally, Roman—who can command emergency scenes without blinking—has absolutely no idea how to handle rumors, baby bottles, or the terrifying possibility that he might actually love the chaos this child brings into his carefully controlled life.

This book has become one of my favorite kinds of romances to write: slow burn wrapped in humor and emotional mayhem.

There’s just something delightful about watching emotionally constipated men fall apart over tiny socks and midnight feedings.

Love Marks: Cotton Candy Meets a Loaded Weapon

Then there’s Love Marks.

This story runs alongside Roman’s timeline, but tonally? Completely different beast.

This is Tink Bell’s story.

Yes, that Tink Bell. The pink-haired whirlwind from Pink Matchmakers who operates on caffeine, glitter, optimism, and approximately four hours of sleep.

Her hero is Rodney Lawrence, owner of Dakota House North.

And Rodney?

Rodney is absolutely one of my favorite romance archetypes: older, dangerous, hyper-controlled, morally gray, terrifyingly competent men who fall hopelessly in love exactly once.

The man practically radiates “I could bury a body efficiently.”

Naturally, Tink thinks he’s fascinating.

Love Marks kicks off the new Pink Matchmakers: After Dark branch of the series, which means things get darker, hotter, messier, and significantly more emotionally dangerous.

Also: my first real attempt at using an unreliable narrator.

Which has been ridiculously fun.

There’s something delicious about letting readers question what’s real, what’s manipulation, and what the characters are refusing to admit to themselves.

I will absolutely be doing that again.

Love Song: Rockstars, Ghost Stories, and Unhinged Decisions

And then we have Love Song.

A rockstar romance because apparently I can’t stop writing musicians with emotional problems.

Readers of the Hamilton series might remember Buckle Jones from the band Destroyer. (Yes, Declan McWaite from The Rock Star makes appearances too.)

Buckle has spent over a year obsessed with the voice of podcaster Olivia Carver.

Not her face.

Not her body.

Her voice.

Unfortunately for him, Olivia avoids publicity, rejects invitations from fans, and has zero interest in meeting some overconfident rockstar.

So Buckle comes up with a brilliant plan.

A terrible, unhinged, absolutely romance-hero-level terrible plan.

He decides the only way to meet Olivia is to get booked on her paranormal podcast Haunted.

Which means he has to invent a ghost story.

Because clearly lying to the woman you’re obsessed with is an excellent foundation for true love.

Meanwhile Olivia is already dealing with:

• A high-risk pregnancy
• an ex demanding a paternity test (It’s not his!)
• emotional burnout
• and a random stranger in a clinic waiting room proposing marriage before they’ve exchanged names

So when Buckle storms into her life insisting they belong together?

Olivia is understandably not impressed.

This book is chaotic in the best possible way.

Why Romcoms Have Me in a Chokehold

I keep circling back to romantic comedies because I love the emotional balance they allow.

The banter.
The teasing.
The yearning.
The slow burn tension.
The moments where characters are one sarcastic comment away from kissing or committing homicide.

Pure magic.

Even now, buried in rewrites and continuity edits and typo hunting, I’m having fun.

That’s how I know the stories are working.

If the characters still make me laugh while I’m fixing sentence structure for the fifteenth time, I’m probably onto something good.

Watercolors by Penny S. Shanks Irish Countryside