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Out Now: Broken Halo (Saints & Sinners 1)

Dayo Benson

Morning lovelies,

I hope you had an awesome weekend?

I like to release new books on Mondays, when I can, as I want to brighten up your Monday morning 🙂

Broken Halo is out today!!!

Get your Copy @ Amazon, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, Smashwords

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?

Get your Copy @ Amazon, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, Smashwords

I hope you enjoy Broken Halo. The Saints and Sinners series is going to be another pretty epic ride. I hope you’ll jump on board for Chloe’s and Colby’s adventure.

God bless & have a fabulous week.

Dayo xx

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Pre-order ‘Hooked’/Easter Video

Dayo Benson

Happy Easter Everyone 🙂

Whatever you have planned I hope you’re having a blast. Me and my family have been attending an Easter retreat at my church. Two full days (10am to 6.30pm) on Friday and Saturday, and just a morning session today. It’s been a time of deep reflection for me. 1 cross + 3 nails = 4Given.

Just before I pop off to church, I figured I should send you guys a video (in which I reflect on some of the events in the Easter story), and also a book update I’ve been meaning to send all week (after church all I’ll want to do is have lunch and relax 🙂 )

Video

As I was reading the book of Matthew last month it hit me that:

  • Peter and Judas were both warned by Jesus, they both reacted to Jesus’ warning in the wrong way, and they both fell…but things ultimately turned out very differently for them. How do you react after an epic failure?
  • Jesus’ detractors said they would believe in Him if He would come down from the cross and save Himself. Well, He did more than come down from the cross. He resurrected. How about that!
  • The women of the Easter story are amazing. I give them a shout out near the end of the video.

https://youtu.be/eq57TLYDnk8

Subscribe to my YouTube channel HERE.

Book Update

Hooked is releasing on Monday 9 April (just a week away!!!). It’s available for preorder on Amazon. Click HERE to preorder. Like I said a few weeks back on Facebook, it’s a serial. I feel like I should stress that fact so that nobody is surprised when they read it, lol. I’ve wanted to write serial fiction for years. It’s basically a story told in ‘episodes’ like a TV drama, so they tend to be shorter than a full-length novel. The whole serial is called Paradise Lost, and Hooked is installment 1.

Paradise Lost is about two messed up preachers kids, and Hooked is basically the story of how they meet. I’m a preacher’s kid myself and had a time of being borderline messed up, ha ha, but no, Paradise Lost is not in anyway autobiographical. No, seriously, it isn’t, lol.

The series is very edgy. ‘Edgy’ is code for it goes where most Christian fiction doesn’t 🙂 I feel called to write for a particular kind of reader and I picture that reader when I write. This is ‘normal’ fiction though. Not my usual supernatural, spiritual warfare stuff. I find I need to write non-supernatural stuff alongside the heavy supernatural stuff, as I find it a welcome break.

Here’s the back cover blurb:

Two messed up preacher’s kids. One reckless decision. Zero chance of survival.

Katie Clarke has been disillusioned with God and religion for years—ever since her father, a small-town preacher, fell from grace. But meeting Hudson, the son of a famous mega preacher, makes her wonder whether Hudson will be the tool God uses to restore her faith. However, she soon discovers that he is even more messed up than she is.

A decision Katie should never have made lands her in a shocking situation with Hudson that gives her some insight into just how damaged he is. She can see the pain, but she doesn’t know what has caused it. More importantly, she doesn’t know whether, by sticking around, they will help to heal each other or just feed off each other’s pain.

Hudson is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Adonis but there is darkness beneath his beauty.

And his warning to her ‘get away from me before I taint you’ rings loudly in her ears.

Is she already too intrigued to save herself from him?

A story of brokenness, healing, and God’s mercy.

Preorder now on Amazon

So that’s my update. I might blog about the main characters of the series over the coming week. If not, you’ll just meet them in the book.

God bless & Happy Easter once again.

I’m off to my retreat 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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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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Books Similar to Lust (Pure Passion Series)

Dayo Benson

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to give me feedback on my latest book, Lust (Pure Passion Series). To be honest I wasn’t sure how it was going to be received as it’s very different to anything I’ve written so far. I’m so glad you guys are liking it.

I’m hard at work on the next book in the Pure Passion Series. At the moment it’s called ‘Bondage’ but that might change. I can tell you that the main character, Savannah McPherson, is on the run from the organisation she works for. While in hiding, she runs into her first (and only) love, Rhys Cannon. I have already fallen in love with their story and I hope you will too.

I’ve been asked about books that are similar to Lust, so here are few books that I think you might like to read while you wait for your next ‘fix’ of the Pure Passion series (:-)):

Product DetailsThe Jewel Series by Hallee Bridgeman

So far, I’m only about halfway through the first book of the series, Sapphire Ice. It’s quite good and features a deeply troubled protagonist who was abused as a child and finds healing through love. The romance in this book is beautiful. It’s a Cinderella story (poor hard working girl meets rich guy) and Hallee proves that clean romance can still have passion. The other books in the series are Greater than Rubies, Emerald Fire, and Topaz Heat.

The Atonement ChildAtonement Child by Francine Rivers

I’m in no way comparable to the great Francine Rivers, she’s amazing, but this book is about the tough decision a young woman faces about whether or not to have an abortion after she was raped. To be honest, I never did finish this book because a friend gave me a summary of what happens and totally ruined it for me. I was happy though because I needed to stop reading and get back to writing.

Product DetailsLetting Go by Michelle Sutton

I recently reviewed this book on my blog. Click Here to read my review. Again, the main character has lived a troubled life and it’s great to follow her journey to healing.

 

 

The Retreat

The Retreat by Dijorn Moss

I didn’t expect to like this book as much as I did. It was sooooo good. The four main characters are men, which is pretty different from the books I usually read. I had a lot of laugh out loud moments, especially about the super ‘holy’ character who just didn’t have a clue.

This book deals with purity, relationship issues, and being a man of God, but you won’t feel alienated reading it as a woman. In fact, it gives you some insight into how guys think. And while the retreat the men in this book go on is not a sexual healing retreat, like in my book, you’ll still get a few thoughts on purity, such as: ‘when the Scripture talks about putting on the whole armour of God, the first thing you are to put on is a belt to hold your pants up. Christian men should never be caught with their pants down. We have to cut off the door of infidelity and fornication.’ Ha ha, I think that is my favourite part of the whole book. I’d say give it a chance. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

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Upcoming Book

Dayo Benson

ImageI am very pleased to share the cover of my upcoming book with you. As usual, it was designed by my lovely husband and I absolutely love it. He really is a genius.

I’m currently editing the manuscript. My editor came back with lots of things for me to change or at least look closely at and I have to reduce the wordcount by 25%. This is so painful because I slaved over every word and now I have to remove chunks that I slaved over (arrgh!!!). But I know it’s for the best. I hate editing my work though. Writing is the fun part. Editing is too much like work.

The unedited synopsis of the book is:

David Steel is living the perfect life, now that he’s sworn off women. Hard work and long hours are all the companion he needs. Until Noémi comes crashing into his life and disturbs his steady equilibrium.

Noémi Casson has booked herself on a sexual healing retreat after struggling in silence for fifteen years. She’s done her best to contain herself, but it was just a matter of time before she gave in to her demons. Giving in was easy, and even felt right—at the time. It’s the aftermath that is painful.

David is convinced that his love is all the healing Noémi needs.

Noémi is convinced that David must be delusional.

As Noémi allows God to work on her, she begins to see herself and her problems in a new light. But just when all seems to be going well the unthinkable happens and Noémi’s private sin becomes public knowledge. Noémi doesn’t know whether to focus on saving her relationship with David or saving herself. It’s all she can do to stay sane!

Let me introduce you to some of the characters:

Noémi Casson – the main character of the novel is a child abuse survivor. She’s seeking healing as her scars run deep. She meets David and isn’t sure whether to take a chance on him since he’s so obviously out of her league.

David Steel – David tries to be patient and accommodating with Noémi, but how much can he take? He loves her but her self-hatred continually gets in the way.

Aaron Cass – Aaron is a temptation that Noémi has fallen for before and he’s out to floor her again.

Kadeigh Lovell – Kadeigh attends the same healing retreat that Noémi attends. She’s feisty and outspoken and she whips Noémi into shape near the end of the book.

Rita Moorcroft – Rita is Noémi’s best friend but Noémi is forced to reevaluate their friendship when she gets into trouble and Rita gives her some dubious advice.

On a completely different note, here’s a picture of the pretty little addition to our family, Esther Shola ImageBenson. She was born last week and she’s adorable. Me, my husband and our other daughter, Rhema, are absolutely smitten with her 🙂

Anyway, I better get back to editing xx

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Cravings & A Quote

Dayo Benson

plumsHi everyone,

I’ve been really busy the last few weeks with writing and preparing for our new baby which is due very soon (can’t wait!). I went for my graduation last week and it was fabulous apart from the fact that my daughter wouldn’t stop acting up and it was really embarrassing. It was a hot day and I think she was just sick of the heat. There was also the fact that my mum and dad came with us and she knows she can get away with anything around them. Oh, well. I really enjoyed the day, but it wasn’t easy with my huge bump. And my constant thirst for ice-cold water. And constant cravings for plums. Seriously, the picture above is making me hungry…

Anyway, the purpose of this post is to share a quote with you. I came across it when I was doing some research for the next book, which I actually finished writing last week (woohoo!!!). The book is about a woman who goes on a healing retreat to connect with God and learn how to overcome the things that have happened to her in the past. It’s tentatively titled ‘lust’ although that might change because it’s a bit ‘in your face,’ lol. I’ll do a post introducing the book and the main characters soon. Anyway, here’s the quote (it’s long but makes so much sense):

“Lust is not the result of an overactive sex drive; it is not a biological phenomenon or the by-product of our glands. If it were, then it could be satisfied with a sexual experience, like a glass of water quenches thirst or a good meal satisfies appetite. But the more we attempt to appease our lust, the more demanding it becomes. There is simply not enough erotica in the world to satisfy lust’s insatiable appetite. When we deny our lustful obsessions, we are not repressing a legitimate drive. We are putting to death an aberration. Lust is to the gift of sex what cancer is to a normal cell. Therefore, we deny it, not in order to become sexless saints, but in order to be fully alive to God, which includes the full and uninhibited expression of our sexual being within the God-given context of marriage.” – Richard Exley, quoted in Homemade, Vol. 13, No. 9, September, 1989.

He says it much better than I ever could so I might just pop this at the beginning of the book. I think the quote is spot on. What do you think?

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Moving on to New Books

Dayo Benson

ImageMay was a busy month!!! My brother got married (yay!) and I had to submit my Masters dissertation. I am so glad I have finally finished writing my dissertation. Now I can get back to the kind of writing that I really love!!!

Now that I’m done with Drew Ashley I am working on a new book about a girl who thinks she is a sex addict!!! She was abused as a child and engaged in all kinds of destructive behaviour as a coping mechanism, but even as an adult she is finding that she still struggles. The book starts with her as an adult and she has booked herself into a sexual healing retreat where she is hoping to find restoration. It sounds bizarre, I know. My husband just shakes his head when I tell him the plots for my books. Understandably so.

It’s also a love story, but I don’t want to give too much away. I love the hero in the this book. He’s understanding and accommodating, and all the things that a wounded woman needs. Obviously their relationship is not going to be all smooth sailing and there are a few twists.

My prayer right now is that I write this book in a way that does it justice, because I really do love the story. I guess that’s every writer’s concern. It’s one thing to have a good storyline, but how you deliver it is equally as important. I struggled with writing this one at first because I have only ever written in the first person, but this book is in the third person. Also, I have only ever written from one point of view, but this book is from two points of view so it’s been a bit tough getting to grips with writing differently. But I think I’m cool with it now. One good thing is that it’s set in England so I don’t have to research another culture.

I can’t wait to finish writing it and see what you all think.

God bless xx