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Out Now: Pressure/Pure Passion Boxed-Set

Dayo Benson

PRESSURE COMPLETEHowdy all,

How are you enjoying your summer? We’ve had a lovely heatwave here in the UK, which is great. Even better, it’s wedding season 🙂 There are five Saturdays this month, and on each one of them someone I know is getting married. My husband and I decided to only attend two of the weddings. As much as I would like to go to all five weddings, I just can’t go to a wedding every Saturday for a month :-S

Speaking of weddings and romance, if you read my last blog post you’ll know that I’ve been cleansing my palate from all the high-octane stuff of the Crystal series with some sweet romance. It’s been so much fun for me to work on Pressure (Pure Passion 4). If you enjoyed Lust, Bondage and Purity, you’ll love this new installment of the Pure Passion series.

Brooke, a preacher’s kid, is a crushed young woman who runs away the night before her wedding. James, a Formula One driver, has been burned in the past, literally left waiting at the altar on his wedding day. Can he love a woman who has jilted someone else the way he was jilted? If he can, will his love cause her to rethink her decision to turn her back on God? Throw in some lessons about overcoming fear through faith and you have a sweet romantic read perfect for the long summer evenings 🙂

Get your copy of Pressure: Amazon UK, Amazon US, B&N, Kobo, Smashwords.

 

Pure Passion Series Boxed Set
box set pps.pngIf you haven’t started the Pure Passion series, or you’ve only read one or two of the books, I’ve compiled a boxed-set of all four books in the series. You can get the boxed-set for a special launch price of $5.49 (or £4.99) which is a saving of over 50%.
Instead of getting Pressure alone, why not load all four books onto your e-reader for a hefty discount, and enjoy a romance binge. Everyone loves a romance binge 🙂

Get your copy of the Pure Passion Boxed-Set: Amazon UK, Amazon US, Kobo, Smashwords.

 

Enjoy your weekend 🙂

Dayo.

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Cleansing my Palate – Pressure (Pure Passion 4)

Dayo Benson

PRESSURE COMPLETE.jpgHowdy guys,

I’m in that funny little place where I’m between writing projects and I don’t quite know what to do with myself. Well, actually I do know what I should be doing. I should be editing the four books that are sitting on my laptop waiting to be released. But I don’t like editing. Writing is much more fun.

I have done some editing, though. I finished editing Pressure (Pure Passion 4) last week, and even sent it on to an editor, which is pretty exciting. The Crystal series was quite intense, so it was nice to work on something a little milder. It totally cleansed my palate. I think I’ll release that next so that you all can cleanse your palates too.

I have lots of thrillers lined up to write, and also lots of sweet romances. It’s hard to decide what to write next. Today, I asked myself ‘What kind of writer do you want to be remembered as?’ Someone who wrote sweet, run of the mill Christian romance, or someone who wrote books that were deep and thought provoking and made people pause to think. I do like writing sweet romance, and romance can be powerful and meaningful. But thrillers are really growing on me. The best is when both genres are combined as romantic thrillers. I think that adding some romance into a thriller (especially if it’s an agonizing romance, like Juda’s and Crystal’s was to begin with) makes for addictive reading. And it means I don’t get bored with writing 🙂

Do you ever feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day for all the things you want to do? My best friend asked me last week if I have any more books planned. I was like, “girl I have 175 books on my ‘to be written’ spreadsheet.” She probably thought I was joking. I wasn’t. And I feel a sense of urgency about writing them, because I don’t want to spend the rest of my life looking at that spreadsheet. I want to write all those books by the time I’m 40. My husband just shook his head at me when I told him that. To be honest, I know it’s crazy, but there’s no harm in trying. If I miss my goal, I’ll settle for 45. Or 50. Nah, 40 would be ideal. (No questions about my age please :-))

Anyway, so I’m taking a break from practitioners and craft and light vs. darkness (:-) ). Pressure, a contemporary Christian romance that I wrote back in 2013, will be next. I’ll release once I get it back from the editor and I’ve had a quick look over his amendments. (Yes, my editor is a dude this time. I just hope reading all the romantic elements of Pressure isn’t too torturous for him, ha ha).

Here’s the back cover blurb for Pressure:

A woman in despair.

Brooke Chandler has lived with the guilt of her brother’s death for nine years. Despite her efforts to put the loss behind her, it still haunts her. It doesn’t help that her parents blame her, or that they see her guilt as an excuse to control her.

On the eve of her wedding to a man selected by her parents, Brooke runs away. Never mind that her fiancé is the son of the biggest preacher in the city, or the fact that as a preacher’s kid herself, she is supposed to follow the rules.

James Cassidy knows a thing or two about pain, having been jilted by the love of his life two years ago. He didn’t think he was ready for love again, but there’s something about Brooke that stirs him the way no other woman ever has. But can he love a woman who has jilted another man, just as he was jilted?

Even if he can, Brooke’s heart is surrounded with seemingly insurmountable walls.

When Brooke decided to leave, she didn’t expect to run straight into the hands of a new man. And she didn’t expect to fall in love.

Can James’ faith cause Brooke to rethink her decision to turn her back on God? And can his love bring her healing?

Pressure is a compelling love story of faith overcoming fear, and freedom from guilt.

***

I’m terrible at writing book descriptions. Some of you have told me that in the past (thanks for that feedback, ha ha). I really tried hard with this one. It might change. I’ll see if my editor has anything to say about it.

Ciao xx

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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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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

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Upcoming Book: Purity

Dayo Benson

ImageThis book announcement is so overdue, especially since I finished writing this book in February. I was dying to tell you all about it back then (It’s called Purity, by the way), but since Bondage was the next book in line, it seemed like a good idea to just stick with talking about that.

Purity is the third book in my Pure Passion Series. It took me twenty-three days to write, a writing record for me. Hopefully I’ll be able to write future books that fast. The cover was originally meant for Bondage, but it suits Purity much better. I’m so glad I switched them around.

Purity is basically an interracial love story about a girl who has stayed pure and a guy who hasn’t and how they work out their relationship. I had so much fun writing it. It’s a lot simpler than Lust and Bondage, but it’s very close to my heart as I got to write some things that I’m very passionate about personally.

I’m a youth leader/mentor at my church (although I did take a break for a few months because I had a baby—incidentally I resume my duties today), and I try my best to encourage young people to stay pure. Not just because it’s one of those things we have to believe in as Christians, but because I personally believe in it. It’s God’s best for us. Sex is a gift. It binds you to another person. Which is a good thing if you’re married and not so good if you’re not, as when you eventually do get married, you’ll need God to unbind you from previous lovers so that you can bind to your husband/wife (and that’s just one of the reasons!). But the emphasis of the book is more on heart purity than whether you have an intact hymen or not.

Anyway, before I start preaching (lol), here’s the unofficial synopsis:

Harper has always believed that love is worth waiting for. Can Caleb show her that it is also worth fighting for?

Harper’s reputation is cleaner than a whistle, and she always wondered why people couldn’t just say no to temptation until she met big, brooding Caleb.

Caleb paints all women with the same brush he paints his cheating mother who had an affair and left, devastating his father and meaning Caleb had to grow up too quickly. Surely Harper is the same.

After a disastrous first date, Harper is angry—mainly at herself for breaking her no dating rule, especially for a guy like Caleb. She’d like to just avoid him for the rest of her life, but they are signed up for the same summer mission which means six weeks of fake smiles.

Regardless of the awful date, something keeps drawing them together, and neither of them have the strength to fight it.

But, four years ago, Harper had an experience that changed her perspective on life and rocked the foundation of her faith—something she is keeping from Caleb. And then a shocking revelation about Caleb shows that their pasts are entwined in the most devastating manner, and Harper isn’t sure she can overlook it.

As they were both raised by single fathers, compatibility is something they have strong opinions about. It’s what ensures a great marriage, right? Same faith, same world-view. Same race?

As they battle these tough questions, Harper decides that maybe they’re better off apart.

And Caleb decides that she’s wrong.

Purity is a story of love and acceptance that will go straight to your heart.

I’m not sure whether I’m going to release Purity over the next couple of weeks, or whether I’ll hold back and release it alongside the next book in the series which is tentatively titled ‘Pressure’. I’ve almost finished writing Pressure so I think it’d be good to release them together. What do you think?

Have a fab Sunday xx

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The Wait is Over!!!

Dayo Benson

bondage cover 1First of all, I need to apologise because Bondage was supposed to be out in March. But everything took longer than usual. I was back and forth with my editor, then I realised that the book cover didn’t suit the book and had to get my husband to design a new one. It was so funny because I loved the original cover, but the more I looked at it, the more I realised that it wasn’t the right cover for Bondage. Rather, it belonged to Purity (Book 3 in the Pure Passion Series, which I will do a blog post about soon). So anyway, that’s fixed now and I’m so pleased with the new cover.

So guys, check Bondage out. It’s on Amazon. It’ll get on Smashwords and Kobo over the next week. I’m willing to give out free copies in exchange for reviews so if you’re interested in that, email me (dayo.benson@ymail.com).

Bondage is quite different to my previous books, so as you read give it a chance. It takes some time to warm up, but I think you’ll enjoy it. Also, I’ve added something at the back of the book where you can submit your email address and sign up to get updates about my forthcoming books the day they get released, so make sure to sign-up.

Blessings xx

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Is Poetry a Dying Art?

Dayo Benson

Poetry is like…almost non-existent these days. Most poetry that gets any publicity was written hundreds of years ago. New poetry gets little publicity. And it’s pretty sad. I like poetry. I enjoy nicely rhyming verses and have even contributed poems to a Mother’s day anthology (I don’t know what became of the anthology so don’t ask). Yet, I wouldn’t personally buy a poetry book unless it was a gift for someone else or a friend wrote it and I wanted to support them. For me, poetry is more effective alongside something else like music, or a novel e.g. I included poems at the end of each beauty for ashes novel that summarised Lexi’s journey/growth in that novel, and I think it was pretty effective. It gave those books some added uniqueness.

However, poetry doesn’t come all that natural to me. It’s usually pretty painful for me to write them because each word needs squeezing out, whereas with writing fiction they just flow freely.

Anyway, I said no more tidbits about my next book, Bondage, but maybe I’ll give one more tidbit. Bondage is about a poet and a songwriter, so naturally I had to write poems and songs to accompany the book. I could have just been lazy and said ‘he wrote a poem’ and ‘she wrote a song’ but I wanted to push myself so I actually wrote the stuff and inserted them into the book. And I’m gonna treat you to a sneak preview of one of the poems. In the book, Savannah is training for a freestyle poetry competition and here is her shot at freestyle poetry (which is just standing up and saying whatever comes to mind and hoping it rhymes):

poem2

Not very uplifting, I know, but it summarises Savannah’s outlook. And I think more people should write poetry so that it doesn’t die out. Seriously, I actually sit and ponder things like ‘what if poetry dies out.’ And the thought sucks. So I plan to write more poetry, and put them in my books.

God bless x

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Cover for my Upcoming Book

Dayo Benson

ImageHappy New Year Guys,

I can’t believe this is my first post of 2014. I’ve been so busy with our new baby who is not so new anymore as she’s now five months old (it’s going too quickly!). My mother in law came to stay with us for a while and she was such a dream, helping out with the kids. We only have two but I sometimes feel like we have ten. They’re that energetic.

Anyway, I’ve been working on the next book in the pure passion series, which is called ‘Bondage’. I’m all done with writing, but now the real work starts: Editing (which I hate!). My husband has done his thing and just now designed a cover for the book. Isn’t it just fab?

The unedited synopsis is:

Orphaned at a young age, Savannah McPherson is just the kind of person that Delta Music Group is looking for: talented and vulnerable. Savannah, a thirteen year old with stars in her eyes signs her contract and the nightmare begins. Her only ray of light is the Christian guy at school, Rhys, who for some reason seems to care about this forgotten child. When their friendship is threatened, a fellow musician at DMG offers to cast a love spell, and when it kicks in a little too strong Savannah decides she has no option but to leave their school.

Fast forward ten years and Savannah is a modern day slave to DMG. Escaping is out of the question until a gruesome incident forces Savannah to find a way out.

Rhys Cannon loved Savannah when they were young, but she disappeared into thin air. Now, ten years later she has moved to the small town where he lives. Her new look and the fear that seems to emanate from her are all the evidence he needs to work out that she’s hiding, but from whom? And for what reason? His suspicion that something is wrong is heightened when Savannah enters the town’s poetry contest to try and make some money and her performances border on chilling.

Savannah does her best to deflect Rhys’ questions. She can’t let him get too close. How can she ever trust a guy after all that she suffered at the hands of the DMG executives? How can she tell him why she’s hiding when DMG employees are sworn to secrecy? Most of all, how can she tell him that the only reason he loves her is because of a spell?

As danger closes in, fear drives Savannah to faith, but she faces the ultimate test when she is required to testify against DMG. Will she speak out or let fear silence her?

This synopsis will change. I just know that my editor will make me change it. But it’s just to give you some idea of what the book is about (and the name of the music group will probably change too). The main message is that God’s power is above every other power.

I don’t have a release date yet but it should be out around March. In the meantime, why don’t you read book 1 of the pure passion series if you haven’t already. It’s called Lust and can be purchased here.

Blessings xx