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Out Now: Surrender (Crystal 2)

Dayo Benson

Surrender (Crystal 2)Hi everyone,

Surrender (Crystal 2) is out now: Amazon UK, Amazon US, Smashwords (it’ll be everywhere else soon). I love how the final cover turned out.

I’m feeling pretty festive, so if you post a book review for Searchlight (Crystal 1) on any of the online bookstores or review sites (Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, etc.) I’ll send you a free PDF of Surrender. Just email me and let me know that you’ve posted a review. My email address is dayo.benson@ymail.com.

(By the way the first book, Searchlight, is free in some places, like Smashwords).

People (readers) tell me I’m no good at writing book descriptions so I hope you guys have noticed that I’ve actually put in more effort with the book descriptions for this series, ha ha. I’ve read that the description should sound like a movie trailer (huh?). To be honest, I find writing these little descriptions harder than writing the actual book 🙂

Here it is:

Everyone has a limit…
…and Crystal is steadily getting closer to hers. She thought she could escape the SOT, but now they have her and there seems to be no way out. Some people think she has everything, but she knows she has nothing. Is she ever going to break free? And is the mysterious Juda a friend or foe?

Everyone is scared of something…
…and fear is the worst enemy of all. Crystal wants to hold on, but her fears enable the SOT to drag her to darker depths than she ever thought possible; depths from which she must claw her way back if she is ever going to regain her freedom.

The pressure is on, and Crystal must either fight or be broken. It all comes down to one question: Who will she surrender to?

Get your copy at Amazon UK, Amazon US & Smashwords.

Blessings,

Dayo.

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Cover Reveal: Surrender (Crystal 2)

Dayo Benson

Surrender2bI’m so excited today because I just received an ‘in progress’ version of my next book cover. I think it’s fab. It’s not the final version, as the designer is still working on it, but the final version won’t be hugely different. I think the model’s face might just be shadowed more as I like to leave how my character looks to the reader’s imagination.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to message me about ‘Searchlight’, I really appreciate it because Crystal’s series is a new direction for me. If you haven’t read it yet, what are you waiting for? It’s on Amazon UK, Amazon US and B&N (and lots of other places).

Surrender will be out once the designer finishes with the cover. Here’s the synopsis:

Everyone has a limit…

…and Crystal is steadily getting closer to hers. She thought she could escape the SOT, but now they have her and there seems to be no way out. Some people think she has everything, but she knows she has nothing. Is she ever going to break free? And is the mysterious Juda a friend or foe?

Everyone is scared of something…

…and fear is the worst enemy of all. Crystal wants to hold on, but her fears enable the SOT to drag her to darker depths than she ever thought possible; depths from which she must claw her way back if she is ever going to regain her freedom.

The pressure is on, and Crystal must either fight or be broken. It all comes down to one question: Who will she surrender to?

By the way it’s Christmas next week. Are you guys ready? I still have presents to buy; never organised, *sigh*.

Blessings.

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Out Now: Searchlight (Crystal 1)

Dayo Benson

searchlightHi Everyone,

Searchlight is out now. Get your copy at Amazon UK, AMAZON US or B&N. It’s on Itunes, Kobo, Smashwords and a host of other places too. I can’t wait to see what you guys think. If you would like a free review copy let me know.

Once again, the synopsis is:

A heart-rending tragedy. A passionate love. A firm resolution.

Ambition
For as long as Crystal remembers, she has wanted to be a singer.
For as long as she remembers, her parents have feared the SOT, a celebrity cult that will make you famous, but destroy you in the process.
When Luke, leader of the SOT, sets his sights on Crystal will she have the courage to stand her ground, or will she give in?

Destruction
After the SOT deals a deadly blow, Crystal has no choice but to obey their orders to sign up for Searchlight. Searchlight is the biggest talent show on TV. With the SOT’s backing, Crystal could win, but is she willing to pay the price? When she unexpectedly finds love, she is afraid to pursue it for fear that darkly handsome Juda could become an SOT target too.
At Searchlight, her dreams and nightmares collide. According to Juda, it’s the darkest places that need light the most, but the SOT is much darker than Crystal imagined.

Heartbreak
Not everything is what is seems to be, and not everyone is who they say they are. Crystal is tough, but she’s only human. There’s only so much heartache and betrayal one girl can take.
Then she is tested and forced to make a choice.
It’s a choice between light and darkness.
Good and evil.
Faith and despair.
But choosing God could mean choosing death.

The SOT is back, and this time they mean business! Lexi escaped. Will her daughter, Crystal?

Fans of the popular Beauty for Ashes Series, by the same author, will love this new novel, which focuses on Crystal, supermodel Lexi Washington’s daughter.

Get your copy at Amazon UK, AMAZON US or B&N.

Have a great evening,

Dayo.

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Cover Reveal: Searchlight (Crystal 1)

Dayo Benson

searchlightSo, I finally have cover for Searchlight (Crystal 1). I didn’t want a bright cover because that could cause people to think they’re getting a light ‘easy’ read when the book is actually pretty dark in places.

Searchlight should be out over the next few days. If you’re on my email list you’ll get an email alert. If you’re not on my email list Click Here and sign up so that you’ll get the alert.

I’m sending book 2 in the series to my editor tomorrow. I finished my own ‘self-edit’ of it yesterday and I asked myself: if someone else wrote this, what would my verdict be? And guess what, I really couldn’t answer. If I hadn’t written it, I would have been scared reading it because there are some intense scenes and I’m a bit of a wimp (seriously I can’t even watch anything above a 12a). So, I honestly don’t know how I can write dark stuff.

Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself talking about book 2 when I haven’t even published book 1 yet. Book 1 will be out this week.

What do you think of the cover?

Blessings xx

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Announcing…Searchlight

Dayo Benson

SearchlightGuys,

I’ll come to what the picture to the left represents in a minute. First a quick update: I haven’t been blogging much because I’ve been doing so much writing. I’ve noticed that when I’m writing a lot, I blog less. I guess the writing fulfills my need for creativity and I have nothing left to put into a blog. I’ve hit a few 10,000 word days over the past two and a half months. My record is 11,352 words in a day 🙂 I’m so loving it.

Anyway, I finished 4 books, and I started the fifth book, then stopped and thought, ‘I need to publish the first four’. My husband was like ‘yes, stop writing and start editing the books you’ve written and get them out there.’ So that’s what I’m doing.

I was editing Pressure (Book 4 of Pure Passion Series), but I’ve put it aside. Something is just not going well between me and that book. The last book I was like this with was Blurred Vision (Drew Ashley 2). I’m just not feeling Pressure. I think it’s a good book, and the message behind it is strong, and the character arc (the transformation the main character goes through) is heavy. And the male lead is lovely. But, I’ve set it aside for when I have the mental strength to face it.

So, I started editing ‘Searchlight’ which is book 1 of Crystal’s books. The image above is the image I think my husband is going to use for the books cover–I absolutely love it because it really represents the book. Remember Crystal? Lexi’s daughter? She was a child in the Beauty for Ashes series, but she’s grown up now. I have written the first three books of her series, and I’m 18,000 words into book 4. I’ve decided to stop and get books 1 to 3 out. I finished editing book 1 on Saturday and I’ve sent it to an editor, so it should be out in November.

Let me just warn you. Crystal’s series is dark. Searchlight (Book 1) is dark-ish. Surrender (Book 2) is extremely dark. I haven’t read Surrender yet, so I might change my opinion when I do that. But writing it was hard, and slightly painful. But I didn’t hold back because there are people out there who go through worse things that what Crystal went through. Don’t worry, it’s not domestic abuse like what Lexi went through. It’s SOT- related.

When I finished writing the Beauty for Ashes series, I got a number of emails from people wanting to know more about the SOT. Crystal’s series is all about the SOT. If you remember her as a toddler in Red Carpet and Refiner’s Fire, she liked to sing. Well, now she’s 18 and she’s in a band, and the SOT want her. Book one of the series is about the SOT forcing her to join them. Book two is about her trying to get out of the SOT. Books 3 – 7 are about her, and a bunch of ex-SOT members that leave with her, trying to bring down the SOT. The series is cross-genre: YA, NA, action/adventure, romance, suspense. It will be a gritty read.

If you’ve read Bondage (Pure Passion Series, Book 2), I kind of wrote that in preparation for writing this series. I wanted to see how people would respond to the cult and the dark themes. Crystal’s series is a bit similar to Bondage.

Anyway, I’ll stop going on about it. Here’s the synopsis for Searchlight (unedited):

A heart-rending tragedy. A passionate love. A firm resolution.

Ambition
For as long as Crystal remembers, she has wanted to be a singer.
For as long as she remembers, her parents have feared the SOT, a celebrity cult that will make you famous, but destroy you in the process.
When Luke, leader of the SOT, sets his sights on Crystal will Crystal have the courage to stand her ground, or will she give in?

Destruction
After the SOT deal a deadly blow, Crystal has no choice but to obey their orders to sign up for Searchlight. Searchlight is the biggest talent show on TV. With the SOT’s backing, Crystal could win, but is she willing to pay the price? When she unexpectedly finds love, she is afraid to pursue it for fear that darkly handsome Juda could become an SOT target, too.
At Searchlight, her dreams and nightmares collide. According to Juda, it’s the darkest places that need light the most, but the SOT is much darker than Crystal imagined.

Heartbreak
Not everything is what it seems to be, and not everyone is who they say they are. Crystal is tough, but she’s only human. There’s only so much heartache and betrayal one girl can take.
Then she is tested, and she is forced to make a choice.
It’s a choice between light and darkness.
Good and evil.
Faith and despair.
But choosing God, might mean choosing death.

The SOT is back, and this time they mean business! Lexi escaped. Will her daughter, Crystal?

***Fans of the popular Beauty for Ashes Series, by the same author, will love this new novel, which focuses on supermodel, Lexi Washington’s daughter.***

You will be shocked. You will be drawn in. You will be entertained. The only thing you won’t be is bored.

Let me know what you think guys. I get told that my book descriptions are boring, so we tried to switch things up a bit for this one. Tried to make it sound more like a movie trailer, lol. Does it work?

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Help! Stuck with Book Cover.

Dayo Benson

pressure coverSo, Pressure (Book 4 of my Pure Passion Series) has been sitting withing my laptop doing nothing for weeks, because for some reason we can’t get the book cover right.

I wrote a blog post at the beginning of June about how I was struggling with finishing the book. Well, like a week later, I finished it. And that was while also writing book 1 in another series that follows on from my Beauty for Ashes series. So The book has been finished for a while. But the book doesn’t ‘work’.

I suggested to my husband that he uses an image of an orange being squeezed, but he said that was too typical of ‘pressure’ and that we should think of something else. Well, we’ve been thinking for over a month now and can’t seem to come up with something. So guys, I need your help. Any ideas on an image to use?

By the way, I did a Guest Post on author Ava Bleu’s website today. Check it out.

Many Blessings xx

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Author Spotlight – Ava Bleu

Dayo Benson

Hi guys,

It’s been a while since I posted on my blog. Things have been so busy, but I will update you properly in a subsequent post in a few days. In the meantime, I have an awesome author to present to you. To date, my author spotlight feature has been an interview with the author, but this time, the author will be guest posting. She is truly inspirational, and her blog is a must-read. For those of you who read my blog all the way from Nigeria and other parts of West Africa, I think you’ll like her upcoming book 🙂
Ladies and Gents, without further ado, I present to you…Ava Bleu.

 

Why I Like Edgy Inspirational Romance – Ava Bleu

diva of peddler's creekSome time ago I was exploring my own faith and wondering how far on the spectrum I would travel. I am plenty flawed but imagined that someday I would become so wise and strong in my faith I would barely resemble the person I am today.

But then I asked myself, do I really dislike the person I am today? If a part of me cringes every time I think of becoming more immersed in faith, does that mean I’m going to hell or does it just mean the authentic me doesn’t want to be a hypocrite?

So the question became, do I want to travel further on the spectrum to become more Godly or am I just Godly enough for me?

I happen to pray quite a bit (yes, God knows all about me, thank you very much). I ask lots of questions and analyze a whole lot of things. I explain a lot (yes, I know it’s kind of pointless to explain yourself to God) and I ask forgiveness a lot. And when all is said and done, the more I think about changing me the less I want to. Yes, I will always try to be a better person, and I will pray for grace. But I will still be myself.

When people meet me they automatically assume I’m a church girl (I have a deceptively sweet face), but I didn’t grow up in the church. I learned my faith mostly through hard knocks and hard times. I don’t like to represent myself as something I’m not. Truth is, I am skirting the edge of faith: I am hopeful and aspirational, but I also dip my toe in the wild side from time to time.  My characters are just the same.

There is something to be said for admitting what you are and what you are not. Because I know what it is to feel awkward, misunderstood, self-conscious and to want the world to love you, I create characters who feel the same. You may not like my heroines, but you will darn sure identify with them. And there’s no telling, maybe the introduction to faith by my flawed characters will spur someone else to explore more of their own.

I like where I am right now and whether it’s contemporary romance or edgy inspirational romance (with or without fantasy), I am telling the stories that make me smile and bring a little light into my flawed life. I sincerely hope in my own way I am bringing just a little faith to the faithless and doing it in my own unique way.

~~

Ava’s upcoming book is called Glorious Sunset and will be released August 26, 2014 (Urban Christian/Kensington. ISBN: 978-1601626707)

Summary…

glorious sunsetAfrican King Taka Olufemi has traveled over four hundred years to find the woman who holds the soul of his murdered queen and he’s a little cranky.  With a ruby brooch as his vessel, the former king is forced to grant wishes to ungrateful mortals hoping to one day find, and win, the heart of his lost love.

But it will take more than good looks, superior intelligence and an impressive pedigree to earn the love of Violet Jackson.  The ambitious interior designer doesn’t remember Taka or their history.  Love—with its inevitable heartbreak chaser—has no place in Violet’s immediate life plan.  All the handsome “genie” can do for her is pony up on the three wishes he’s promised and try not to be a pain while he’s at it.

While the arrogant king is praying for his submissive queen and the faithless object of his affection isn’t praying at all, guardian angel, Aniweto, is praying for them both.  With Ani’s help, Taka and Violet’s epic love will be rekindled and this royal couple-behaving-badly will finally earn their happily-ever-after through the grace of the Almighty.

Excerpt…

1600 A.D., Jaha, West Africa

The acrid smell of a burning village brought King Taka Olufemi awake, sputtering, coughing and wincing in pain as he did so.  Slowly memory returned and with it the horror.  He cracked his eyelids open, his eyes immediately burning with the pebbly smoke that floated in a low hanging cloud.  Pushing himself upright from where he lay causing sharp pain to streak through his torso and the agony brought his gaze down as he sucked in his breath and jerked his hands to the source.  Seeing the jagged, torn flesh of the wound in his side, the rest of his memory came and with the memory…

“Oh no … no, no, no….”

He forgot his pain.  He fought off the sway of the world as he stood, struggling to focus and see through eyes watering with smoke and something else he didn’t dare identify.  He didn’t need to see when he could smell.  He was a king and warrior; battle was in his bones and death always a close companion.  He smelled both here.

He looked around.  Men, women, children; the massacre was complete.  Beyond the hall huts and houses of his village were blackened ash.  The air still burned with the stench of fire.  He couldn’t understand this.  In all his life he’d never seen such brutality; never known such dishonor.  Still, he firmed his jaw and kept looking, turning in a wide circle until his feet staggered to a stop before his brain could even register.

His body knew how to find its heart…

You can pre-order Glorious Sunset at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the Author…

croppedpicava[1]Ava Bleu lives and loves in the Midwest, countering bitter winters with smooth jazz and tasty edibles. Ava Bleu is the author of the contemporary romantic comedy, The Diva of Peddler’s Creek, and Glorious Sunset, an edgy inspirational romance with a time-traveling king, an angel and a love for the ages.

Ava can be found in bookstores and the public library camped next to the cookbooks and/or on the town keeping an eye out for hero-material.  She can also be found at her website.

Website: http://www.avableu.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ava.bleu

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AvaBleu1

Email: ava@avableu.com

 

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Stuck!

Dayo Benson

ImageI’ve been writing the next book in my Pure Passion series, Pressure, since March, which for me is pretty miserable. I can’t believe how long it’s taking me. Ever since I wrote one of my books, Refiner’s Fire, in three weeks, I find that I get impatient with myself if a book takes me longer than six weeks to write. I also get fed up of the book and it becomes a uphill task. Not that I don’t care about the characters in Pressure, or don’t find their story absorbing. I really do. I’m just stuck. There are people who don’t believe in writer’s block, they think it’s just an excuse for laziness. On the other hand there are people who blame writer’s block for every lapse in concentration that they have while writing a novel. I’m not really sure where I stand. I wouldn’t call what I’m going through now a ‘block’ as each time I sit down to write, the words do flow pretty easily; it’s just that I’m fed up with myself for not finishing this book sooner. I have definitely been blocked before though. When I was writing Lust I had about a three-week period where I really couldn’t write and I wasn’t sure why. That was pretty scary.

Anyway, I don’t have a cover for Pressure yet. Maybe that’s why it’s taking so long for me to write. Maybe I need something visual that represents the book and will inspire me to be passionate about it again. I don’t have a book description yet, either. But here’s a summary:

Pressure is the story of a young woman called Brooke who is controlled by her parents and is being made to marry some guy that she doesn’t want to marry. She runs away to Bridgefield the day before the wedding and her parents are furious, especially because the guys she’s jilted is the son of some big shot preacher. They want her to come back and marry the guy, but Brooke meets someone else in Bridgefield. His name is James Cassidy. And he’s been jilted before. A few years ago, his fiancé didn’t show up for their wedding and she ran off with his friend. So he likes Brooke, but will he still like her when he finds out that she jilted some guy, or will he think she’s just like his ex-fiancé, not to be trusted?

Pressure is all about a young woman getting to know God for herself, rather than just accepting what her parents have told her about God. There’s a lot of conflict around whether she has to obey her parents and break up with James, or disobey them and stay with him. Then, there’s also an element of faith vs. fear as Brooke has a lot of fears in her life that she has to deal with. Also, James is famous, but Brooke has no idea who he is until someone says words to the effect of ‘that’s James Cassidy. You don’t know who James Cassidy is?’ Oh, and the guy that Brooke jilted, his name is Darren by the way, tries to get revenge.

This is not really a good summary at all. There’s quite a lot that happens in the book. I think my problem is that I’m getting distracted by the next series I’m going to write (which is about Lexi’s daughter, Crystal, and is pretty exciting). I’ll share the cover for Pressure when it’s ready. I’m at 92,000 words. I guess all I need to write is another 10-15,000 words and I’ll be done. Pray for me 🙂

Blessings.

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FREE eBOOK: Lust (Pure Passion Series) Free @ Amazon

Dayo Benson

lustbookcoverYay!!! Further to my last blog post, Lust (Pure Passion Series Book 1) is now free on Amazon UK and Amazon US. Thank you to everyone who reported to Amazon that the book was free on Kobo. That made Amazon decide to price match. If you haven’t gotten into my Pure Passion Series yet, what are you waiting for? The first book is free now so dive in! And as always, let me know what you think when you’ve read it.

Blessings.

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New Book – Purity – Available Now

Dayo Benson

ImageWell, I was considering holding Purity book back until the next book in the Pure Passion Series is ready, so that I can publish them both at the same time. But Purity was just sitting there on my computer, ready, doing nothing, and I felt kinda sorry for it. So it’s out. Check it out on Amazon UK, Amazon US & Smashwords. It’ll be on Kobo soon. They take a bit longer to process things.

Anyway, guys I need a favour. I’m trying to get Lust to be free on Amazon. Which is impossible, unless it’s free elsewhere and then Amazon might decide to price match. So here’s where you come in. If you would kindly Click Here and go on the Amazon page for Lust, and click ‘Tell us about a lower price’ which is about halfway down the page. You want to select ‘website (online), paste the following url into the ‘url’ field:

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/lust-pure-passion-series-a-christian-novel

And report the price as 0.00.

I would be very grateful if you could do that. In fact, email me or leave a comment below to let me know. As anyone who has followed my blog for a while knows, I’m pretty openhanded with my books so you can have a free book in return.

Blessings xx