In the space of four months, the Yangebup local and soon-to-be published author will have two titles on bookshop shelves.
In addition, despite having to wait a decade for her chance, it always seemed the bookseller by day would achieve her dream.
‘It’s really exciting,’ Ms Garden said. ‘I never really thought about giving up. I always thought I would keep on going until I was published.’
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READ NOW‘Because I was enjoying it so much it wouldn’t have mattered if it took 20 years. Now to know that a second one will be published, it’s all just happened at once.’
Her first novel, Captivate, will be out on December 16. Targeted at young adults, the story follows a 17-year-old girl dragged underwater while out for a midnight swim at a secluded beach.
She awakens in a glittering underwater city where she is expected to marry a 19-year-old king whose throne is under threat.
The first draft took just three months to write, but roughly two years of editing were needed before it was pitched to publisher Harlequin Teen Australia.
‘The story is fast paced, full of love, danger and secrets, and is set in a glittering, doomed underwater city,’ she said.
‘There’s definitely the seduction for the girl to forget all her problems and live in the new world, but there are also other motivations fuelling her, like repairing relationships.’
Ms Garden’s second book, Carrier, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi, will be released in March.