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Out Now: Sleeper (Crystal 7)

Dayo Benson

First of all, I have to mention what happened in Paris on Friday. It’s devastating, and I pray that God comforts all who are bereaved 🙁

On to some happier news, Sleeper (Crystal 7) is out! Get your copy at: Amazon UK, Amazon US & Smashwords (Coming soon to B&N, ITunes & Kobo).

sleeperBefore You Read Sleeper – You need to read Exposé. There was a link to it inside Secrets. If you didn’t download it you can do so here. Sleeper talks about an important list of names, but you won’t know anything about that unless you read Exposé.

Here’s the back cover blurb for Sleeper:

Have you ever loved a man who was bad for you?

Crystal knew all along that loving Juda was foolish. Something has to give. Either Juda changes or there is no hope.

The more Juda fights his father’s organization alongside Crystal, the more he’s drawn to her and the faith that he has seen defeat his father’s occultism. But he cannot change. He has done too much and gone too far.

When Crystal is in danger of being killed by an assassin that Luke has sent after all the notable Christians in the country, Juda is desperate to keep her safe. But he sinks into oblivion each night when the assassin strikes.

It soon becomes clear that Luke is pulling out all the stops to get Juda back. Juda’s options are limited. Either he goes deeper into the occult to save both himself and Crystal from Luke’s plans, or he loses everything.

Crystal thinks there is a third option, but becoming a Christian is not an option for Juda. God doesn’t want people like Juda. And when Crystal finds out his secret, she won’t either.

Juda has to make a choice.

The biggest choice of his life.

What will he do?

I have literally been getting bombarded for the release of Sleeper 🙂 It started almost as soon as I published Secrets (Crystal 6). I think I got the first few messages asking about Sleeper the day after Secrets was released. A few people had stayed up all night and read Secrets & Exposé and immediately wanted more. I’m loving how much people are enjoying this series. And it’s all kinds of people that are enjoying it, older people, young people, men, people from all over the world. The best thing about it is talking to readers from other countries e.g. South Africa, the Caribbean, America, India, and many more places. I’ve even had a Costa Rican lady get in touch to put me straight about some of the things Alejandro (our beloved womanizing Costa Rican fashion designer) says. The Crystal series is 9 books long, so I’m really glad we’ve gotten to book 7 and so many people are still invested in the story.

Sleeper is a make-or-break book for Juda. In Secrets, Luke and Abha did something to him, but he didn’t know what. He finds out in this book. But is it too late when he finds out? Also, he didn’t tell Crystal his secret in the last book. Will he have the courage to tell her in Sleeper? And then President Hounslow sent them that message at the end of Secrets, asking the team to do something shocking. Will they pull it off?

Get your copy today and find out: Amazon UK, Amazon US & Smashwords .

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Thank You/Kids Grow Up Too Fast

Dayo Benson

Thank You

Secrets no.1

So Secrets hung out at number 1 in its category for like five days, making this girl a very happy author. Then it started fluctuating between number 1 and number 3. I checked on it yesterday and it was back to number 1 again. But it dropped off after like an hour. By the way, I’m talking about Amazon UK. I’m actually selling a lot more books on Amazon US, but not hitting the number 1 spot because it’s just more competitive there. So thank you to both my UK and US readers (I still have a problem with the word ‘fans’ ha ha).

Kids Grow Up Too Fast

20150907_114910Last week was special for me for other reasons apart from stalking myself on Amazon 🙂 My daughter started school. I feel slightly tearful as I write this. (I was never an emotional person until I had kids. Now I cry over TV adverts and singers on Britain’s Got Talent, lol)

Rhema’s four (and, yes, she’s as cheeky as she looks). I remember the day she was born. It feels like yesterday, but it also does feel like a long time ago. Anyhow, I can’t believe she’s started school now. She was so excited. She felt so grown up in her school uniform. For some reason she was disappointed that her uniform doesn’t have wings (huh?) but I convinced her that although ‘uniform’ and ‘unicorn’ sound similar they have nothing in common. Uniforms most certainly don’t come with wings.

20150907_122242I was both excited and nervous. Tried not to look nervous so that I wouldn’t rub off on her. I was praying she’d be fine, praying she’d make good friends, praying she wouldn’t come home and tell me she didn’t like it and never wants to go back again. Of course, I was worrying for nothing because she was absolutely fine, and she even wanted to go to school on Saturday.

20150808_175957My other daughter, Esther, only turned two last month. But I’m already thinking about her first day of school now. They grow up too fast, don’t they?

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Big Sigh – Update on Secrets (Crystal 6)

Dayo Benson

sighYes, as I sat down to write this post I sighed heavily. Because I feel really bad. Secrets was supposed to be out in August. Today is August 31st. As at Friday I was still optimistic that it would be ready, but it’s not. I guess I could release it as it is, but I’m not happy to do that. I need to feel confident as I push the button on Amazon that I’m putting out the best product I can.

I feel really bad for the people who message me almost weekly asking when the next Crystal book will be out, so I’m going to add a little bonus to the book as a sort of ‘thank you for being so patient.’ You’ll find out what it is when I release the book. It’s just a little extra to say thank you.

Bear with me guys. Things happen. You go to the hospital for a routine check up and get told you’re not allowed to leave and need an urgent x-ray and then they make you stay overnight and stab you with needles (yes, that happened to me last week on the day I arranged to be off work so that I could focus on putting the finishing touches to Secrets. I’m fine though, thanks for asking 🙂 ), editors get busy moving house and can’t work on your book as fast as they usually do (yes, that happened this month too), beta readers hate elements of the story and you have to rethink everything (ha, ha, I love my beta readers. I used to be very thin-skinned but they’ve toughened me up).

Life is all fun and games isn’t it? How on earth do people do it without God? That’s what I was wondering as I sat grumpily on a hospital bed a few days ago. As soon as the doctors told me they weren’t letting me leave I just began to pray on all the scriptures I could find about health and healing. And then I wondered what people who don’t have God do. If they’re Juda I guess they try to heal themself, ha ha. If they’re Alejandro I guess they call up a woman. Can’t really think what Max would do.

secrets5So…it’ll be a few more days before Secrets hits the virtual shelves at all the online retailers. But I hope the bonus I’m going to slip into the book will make it easier for you to forgive that 🙂 Make sure you’re on my new release list so that you get an email alert as soon as it’s out. Join my list by Clicking Here.

By the way, some people have already pretty much guessed what Juda’s secret is. I didn’t approve their comments on this site so that they don’t ruin the story for those of you who haven’t guessed. What do you think Juda’s secret it?

God bless.

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Cover Reveal: Secrets (Crystal 6)

Dayo Benson

secrets5The cover for Secrets (Crystal 5) is finally ready!!

I’m so excited about this book because you get into Juda’s dark mind for the first time, and it was a challenge to write from his POV. He’s tortured, troubled and constantly second-guessing himself because he doesn’t know if he’s acting/thinking in a ‘normal’ acceptable way or not. Since meeting Crystal, he is desperately away of his abnormality and it’s a struggle for him.

It shouldn’t be too long now before the book is ready. Here’s the description:

Two unlikely people. An undeniable passion. A devastating secret.

Two passions consume Crystal: vengeance over the SOT, and love for Juda. Nothing may ever come of either.

Juda feels connected to Crystal in a way he has never felt with anyone before. But a devastating secret holds him back. Crystal may be the most forgiving person he’s ever known, but even she would never forgive him if she finds out what he did.

Some things are best kept secret.

But can he live with himself if he doesn’t tell her?

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Realistic Romance (Part 2)

Dayo Benson

man proposingPornography gives men an unrealistic view of women and objectifies us. Most women are not desperate for their man 24/7, don’t wait eagerly to rip of his clothes every evening when he gets home, and aren’t cool with swinging from the chandeliers every night (ha ha). Porn is simply fantasy. I guess that’s why it’s so addictive. And I’m in no way assuming that only men watch it. Seriously, both genders struggle.

On the flip side, romance books and movies often objectify men. Have you noticed that? The men that star in them are usually hot and hunky (it’s like a pre-requisite) and they are just there to adore the heroine, or love and support her while she takes out all her childhood issues on him and punishes him for every mistake that every other man before him made. Sometimes I think romance books are as unrealistic about men as porn is about women. I might have to write a book with a totally ‘unattractive’ (by Hollywood standards) love interest who doesn’t work out and might even be overweight. But I’ll might him sound really cool and romantic 🙂

As a writer, I constantly think about things like this. I tell myself, Dayo, you need to be proud of what you’ve written when you stand before God. You need to be able to present all your books to Him and tell Him you wrote them because you love Him and because you want other people to love Him more too. And God is the author of romance, right?

So…I strive for balance with the romance in my books, but I wonder if the romance I portray and the romance we all experience in real life is anywhere near as cool and pure and exhilarating as what God intended romance to be. So the dilemma is, should the romance I write be perfect and amazing and totally unrealistic since God probably intended romance to be better than what we experience anyway? Or should I write the reality of what most romance is like, easy and fun in the beginning, but in need of more effort to keep it going?

Just thinking out loud.

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Writing Update/What should I Write Next?

Dayo Benson

heroine silhouetteI haven’t given a writing update for a while because I was hoping to have a book cover first so that I can do a cover reveal, but I figured I might as well just go ahead without a book cover. (The picture to the left is just random. You can ignore it if you want).

I’m Currently Editing: Secrets (Crystal 6)

I sent it to my beta readers this morning so they should all get back to me within a week and then it can go for its final edit. It’s on schedule to release in August. But cover design is hard for this one. If anything is going to hold up publication it’ll be the cover design because we’re having a few issues with it.

You finally get Juda’s point of view in this book. You get into his head and see all his dark and confused thoughts. It’s not pretty. He’s tried to be a little sweet and romantic in previous books, but…well. Wait and see. I hope no one will be scared. Here’s the book description:

Two unlikely people. An undeniable passion. A devastating secret.

Two passions consume Crystal: vengeance over the SOT, and love for Juda. Nothing may ever come of either.

Juda feels connected to Crystal in a way he has never felt with anyone before. But a devastating secret holds him back. Crystal may be the most forgiving person he’s ever known, but even she would never forgive him if she finds out what he did.

Some things are best kept secret.

But can he live with himself if he doesn’t tell her?

I’m Currently writing: Nothing 🙁

I finished writing The Lincoln Manifesto on Tuesday, and I had so much fun writing it. But it’s been four days since then and I haven’t decided what to write next. Too many ideas, not enough time…

What is ‘The Lincoln Manifesto’ I hear you ask, lol. Well, it’s the first book in a new series that is set in the same world as the Crystal Series and the Beauty for Ashes series. In fact, I have ideas for three more series set in that world.

I’ve received a few messages from readers asking what’s next after the Crystal series. The Crystal series isn’t even all out yet? But it’s nice that people are already getting withdrawal symptoms at the prospect of it ending.

I have been thinking about what to release after it. All the Crystal series books have been written, so I’ve been brainstorming a couple of follow-on series.

Here’s the lowdown:

Idea 1 – A series of books about the Lincolns. The Lincoln Manifesto that I just finished writing is the prequel to that series. I can’t tell you who the Lincolns are because it’ll be a spoiler for something that is yet to be revealed in the Crystal series. But just think, Luke’s surname is Lincoln. So is Juda’s. (hint hint). This series will be standalone romance books, each with a bad boy main man. Think the current ‘billionaire bad boy’ trend in fiction.

Idea 2 – A team is set up by the FBI specifically to fight crime by craft practitioners. The team is headed up by a badass assassin lady who is in conflict with herself and as a result no guy who tries to get her attention gets very far. Naturally she will probably fall for a practitioner and have even more internal conflict over the fact that the nation is trusting her to protect them from dangerous practitioners, and she can’t get her mind off some practitioner guy with broody dark eyes. (Bear with me, I think I’m brainstorming live in this blog post). Insert evil super-powerful practitioners who do evil things and make badass lady realize she needs more than assassin expertise to overcome them; she needs Jesus too. And maybe she needs Jesus so that she can deal with her issues. And why on earth is she an assassin anyway? Does God want people to be assassins? Now that she’s saved does she need to give up her job and forget the practitioner guy who has pretty eyes, or does God have a purpose for her job, and can practitioner guy get saved? Insert handsome saved guy to cause love-triangle-type conflict. Assassin lady doesn’t know who to choose. She retires and moves away to get away from both guys and all the confusion. Insert big scary plot by practitioners which forces assassin lady to come out of retirement to fight again. Insert lots of explosions, car chases and broody guys and rival women.

Hmm…I’m thinking I’ll have to read some famous assassin books to see how a series like this would work.

Idea 3 – The Crystal saga continues. After the end of the Crystal series, there will be some closure about which guy she ends up with and about whether she succeeds in bringing down the SOT. But this new series will start a year after the final Crystal book and there will be a fresh challenge that is bigger than ever before. There will be angst, there will be craft magic thrown around, practitioners might succeed in ushering in ‘Neo Cosmos’, the rapture might even happen. Nah, I’m not having the rapture happen in a book.

Anyway, those are a few of my ideas. You can tell that my mind is a strange and wonderful place. To be honest I want to write all three of these series. But in what order? What do readers want most? I also want to write other things that are not set in the world of Crystal and Lexi, etc. Like normal books that don’t have any practitioners or supernatural things. I will have to send out a survey when the Crystal series ends and see what you all want. In the meantime you can email me or leave a comment below.

God bless.

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Out Now: Delirium (Crystal 5)

Dayo Benson

Hi Everyone,

Delirium (Crystal 5) is out now. Just in case you’ve missed my previous blog posts about it, here’s the book description.

A frantic race against time

A cocktail of dangerous SOT-made drugs has been released into the water supply, and everyone is going nuts…

The SOT’s plans seem to be coming together nicely; while nothing that Crystal’s team is doing seems to work. With the opening of new spirit centers all over the country to ‘combat’ the effect of the contaminated water supply, America is falling prey to the SOT’s agenda. Can Crystal and her team create an antidote before it’s too late?

***

It’s ten thirty p.m. in the UK, where I live, so although I’d like to say more, I’m just too tired and it’ll probably not make much sense 🙂

Buy the book and have fun reading it.

Have a lovely night (or day, if you live elsewhere).

God bless xx

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3 things I have learned from writing the Crystal Series

Dayo Benson

Crystal Box Set JPEGSo, all 9 books in the Crystal series are complete, and I’ve just finished doing my own edit of Delirium (book 5) in preparation for sending it to my editor, and I’ve realized that I have learned a lot of things from writing this series. I thought I’ll share with you 3 of the things I have learned.

1. Women (even Christian women) love bad boys

I envisioned Juda’s character before I started writing the series and I knew how weird I wanted him to be, but I wasn’t sure if readers would be able to handle him. In fact, I almost made him just some ‘normal’ guy; still Luke’s son but not a practitioner and not a killer. More like a son that Luke is disappointed in. But I thought there would be much more scope for conflict and moral dilemmas if I wrote him exactly as he looked in my imagination. I’m so glad I went with my gut. I thought everyone would hate him, but even at the end of Surrender (Crystal 2), before Juda had shown many redeeming qualities, readers were rooting for him. I knew I’d gotten the portrayal of his character right when my best friend who is a voracious reader, very serious about her walk with God and hates reading anything that isn’t ‘sound’ scripturally told me she likes Juda after reading Surrender. My jaw almost literally dropped. I thought she’d hate him and just not give any comment about the book so as not to hurt me. Her name is Sade, by the way. I usually write with her in mind as she represents my target audience. I thought she would either love or hate this series and that she might just about tolerate Juda. I’m so glad she, and most of you, get what I’m doing with Juda’s character.

2. Spanish words and phrases

As I edited Delirium, the next installment of the series, I realized that Alejandro wasn’t speaking enough Spanish, so I added some phrases and exclamations as I went, and for most of them I didn’t even have to use the online translation tool that I usually use. I just know so many Spanish words now as a result of writing his character. I love Alejandro. His silly, obnoxious, flirtatious and vain–but lovable. I enjoyed writing from his POV in Delirium.

3. Christians truly have nothing to fear

I recently tweeted this quote because it really resonated with me:

‘The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe’ – Gustave Flaubert.

This has been so true of me in writing this series. I come from a Christian background where I have seen a lot of things happen with regards to ‘deliverance’ and things like that. I have heard things that freaked me out but simultaneously gave me an awe for God. And I am a total wuss who was terrified when I watched Scary Movie 2 (lol, okay I’m actually not that bad), so I’ve always thought I need to deal with my borderline fear of the supernatural.

I believe in the power of God, I believe in His supremacy, I believe that at His Name every knee bows, and these beliefs guided this series. The whole series has taken me just under a year to write, which is a long time to spend thinking about how God is greater than anything/anyone else and how the occult is all just counterfeit. My mind has been immersed in thoughts about God’s nature, His power, His love and His supreme authority over everything, and I have found that the more focused I am on God and His attributes, the less afraid I am of anything else and the stronger my faith is.

There is a scene in Secrets (Crystal 6) that made me stop and think about just how matchless God’s power is. There is another scene in Powerful Enemies (Crystal 8) that moved me to tears because I tried to imagine myself in the situation I’d put my characters in and asked myself if I would have faith and trust God to deliver me. Lol, if people watched me as I wrote this series they’d think I’m nuts, ha ha.

Anyway, writing this series has made me a stronger and more confident Christian. Writing about Crystal’s defiance and refusal to submit to pressures that would estrange her from God has made me more resilient myself. I hope the series has this impact on everyone who reads it.

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Crystal Box Set on Sale/Writing Update

Dayo Benson

Crystal Box Set JPEGHi Guys,

The box set of the first three books in the Crystal Series just went on sale at 99 cents/pence. If you haven’t started the series yet this is your chance to try it at little cost to you.

By the way, I’m so grateful to all my readers because I released Allies (Crystal 4) last week and it hit number one in its category and stayed there for three days. I was over the moon. I felt like my name had changed to Karen Kingsbury or something. Right is the picture of when it had the cool bestseller tag on it on Amazon. It’s gone Allies no 1now, as it only says that while the book is number one. Not forever, sadly. The book needs reviews though so if you enjoyed it please do me a favour and review it. If you haven’t read it yet and would like a review copy email me at dayo.benson@ymail.com.

Anyway, I’m on a major high right now because I finished writing the final book of the Crystal Series, Legacy (Crystal 9), last week Wednesday. I’m so happy that the series is all written. Now, I have to do the hard work of editing, looking at structure, consistency of characterization throughout the series, etc. But I’m glad I decided to get all the books written before releasing them all, rather than writing them and releasing as I went along. Before I released Searchlight (Crystal 1) I had already written Surrender (Crystal 2) and Insurrection (Crystal 3). I would recommend this method to any writer. Get the whole series written before you publish the books. There were things I didn’t see coming, and because I have only published books 1-4 I can still go back and amend previous books. But if I had been publishing each book as I wrote them, it would have been almost disastrous. For a trilogy it won’t matter so much, but for a nine book series, it does matter.

cookiesI had white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies as a treat for finishing another book. Honestly, you need to get yourself down to Subway and try them. Life changing! They’re only nice if they’re fresh, though.

You can see that I am motivated by unhealthy goodies 🙂

I’m planning to write a few novellas to support the series and fill in some gaps, and I might also write a few books about Juda’s background, so when I finish those I will be well and truly done with Crystal and her comrades and I’ll get myself a nice big reward, like a meal out with my hubs or a spa day, or something. Maybe both 🙂

Anyway, for those of you who have already read Allies and are eagerly awaiting the next installment of the series, Delirium (Crystal 5) should be out in June. Sign up for my mailing list Here so that you’ll get an email as soon as it comes out. I’ll do a cover reveal soon.

Ciao for now x

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Book Update

Dayo Benson

Allies_500x750Hi Guys,

Further to my last blog post, I didn’t hear back from my editor so Allies (Crystal 4) is now being edited by another editor. I don’t want to give an exact release date, but I should still be able to publish it this month.

In the meantime, why don’t you check out an interview I did with a fellow author, Remi Roy: http://thelightedgirl.com/2015/dayo-benson-prolific/

I will be interviewing Remi on my own blog soon. She’s a fantastic author that I think you’ll love.

God bless.

Dayo x