Coming on Monday: Broken Halo (Saints & Sinners 1)
Hey guys,
I hope you’re adjusting to autumn/fall. Surprisingly, my corner of the UK hasn’t been as cold as it usually is at this time of year. It’s been a pretty mild week.
Anyhow, I’m super excited because on Monday (October 15th) I’m releasing book 1 in a brand new series.
(Coming soon to B&N)
I have wanted to tell this story for so long because it deals with a topic that has been swirling around in my mind for ages. In fact, I thought I’d address it in my Pure Passion series (and I still will, but from a different angle) but I’ll be addressing it first in this series. Okay, I’ll stop being all cryptic now and just say isn’t the book cover awesome? My husband just keeps knocking it out of the park with his designs.
So, here’s a quick rundown of everything you need to know about this series:
Series Title: Saints and Sinners
Book 1 Title: Broken Halo
Main Characters:
Colby Carter
He’s the middle Carter brother. His elder brother, Hudson Carter, has his own love story and journey to redemption told in my Paradise Lost serial. Colby made an appearance in the Paradise Lost series. They’re the sons of a famous mega preacher, but they’re messed up, tortured souls. Colby’s issues don’t really come to light until book 2, but books 1 hints at them.
Chloe Campbell
She’s a missionary kid. She was born in Botswana, moved to South Africa for elementary school, then moved home to America because her mom and nana wanted her to go to high school and college in the States.
Chloe is the total opposite of Colby. She’s the quintessential good girl who has always done what is expected of her and obeyed Mom and Nana, except in one area: acting. She’s paying her way through college by acting on the side, something Mom, Nana and her fiance, Timothy, believe is unsuitable for a Christian woman. Oh, did I mention that Timothy, her fiance, is a pastor?
Chloe is naive, innocent, and does what’s expected of her–until she meets Colby.
A preacher’s kid and a missionary kid. It sounds like the perfect setup for a beautiful romance. Right?
Serial Format
Saints and Sinners is another serial like the Paradise Lost series. Opinions were divided on the shorter length of the Paradise Lost books. Many of you liked the shorter installments but a lot of you didn’t. I’ve decided to make these books much longer. In fact they’re no longer serial length books, but I’m still calling it a serial anyway. There’ll be five books in total. I’m going to try and release them in quick succession like I did with Paradise Lost. But maybe not quite that fast. I was doing two installments a month with Paradise Lost. That pace was a little crazy 🙂
Genre
This book is going to have some spiritual warfare elements in it. Not like the Crystal series and the Lincolns. It’ll be very different to that. But it will show the power of prayer, deliverance from dark forces, freedom in Christ, and all that good stuff.
From the Back Cover
What do you call a knight in shining armor if the knight is a woman?
Colby:
I’m trying not to stare at this blonde knockout when I get robbed.
I don’t expect the blonde to chase the thief, blast him with pepper spray, and retrieve my money.
And that’s how I met Chloe Campbell.
The last thing I need is my lady knight thinking she can save me in other ways. I certainly don’t want to start believing that she can.
She’s everything I want in a woman, but she must be missing some vital self-preservation instincts because she thinks she’s in love with me.
I’m a stark sinner whose future is a big, fat black hole.
If she was like many girls her age, she would have heard of me. I’m pretty famous among that demographic.
But she has no idea who I am.
Chloe:
Colby is a bundle of secrets packaged as a drop-dead gorgeous, ‘he belongs on movie screens’ man.
I have every reason to walk away and forget that we ever met:
1. He’s out of my league.
2. He doesn’t seem to want anything to do with me.
3. I’m engaged. To a pastor, no less.
This feels like a disaster waiting to happen.
But it might be just what I need.
Falling from grace was never Chloe’s plan. Finding his way back to God was never Colby’s.
Could God be trying to get their attention?
A Shout out to the Lincolns
I love the Lincoln boys and I’m still writing their books. I want each Lincoln book to be better than the last, so I find I need to take breaks between each book so that I can get inspired, pray for ideas, etc. I already know what’s going to happen in each of the rest of the books, but taking a little step away gives me the opportunity to come up with a few fresh things to throw in that make the books that little bit better (in my humble opinion) or add a new character or new dimension that previous books in the series don’t have.
I like to make my breaks from the Lincolns productive and still write something, so that’s why I’ve been writing serials in between.
If there’s anything you would like to see happen in the Lincolns series email me (dayo@dayobenson.com) or let me know in the comments below.
God bless xx
Something I would like to see is one of the major characters grappling with their sexuality. This is a hot topic in our family at the moment, and it is something that has caused a lot of young Christians to leave the church.
Possibly a dangerous topic to broach in the current climate, but would love to see some Christian fiction that grapples with the seemingly more and more common issue.
Hey Carolyn. For some reason, I’m only just seeing your comment.
You’re right. This is a very controversial topic. It would have to be broached with compassion. But then there are people who would be annoyed by that and would rather see it handled in a more hard-line way. I have included gay characters (twice, I think) in my books, but only as minor, non-Christian characters.
I have read blogs by gay Christians and I’ve thought about going there in my books, but it’s something I would really need to pray about.
I pray God will guide you and your family as you deal with this topic.