Ashley Beach-Author and Storyteller

Book Feature–Beauty Revealed: A Fall Equinox Chronicle (the 4th and final book in The Solstice Chronicles)

Beauty Revealed will be the fourth and final book in my fairytale series. I am in the midst of writing this one, so unfortunately it won’t be available at the book signing, but I am hoping to release it this fall!! I’ve had this story in my head for a while, and in the midst of another project, which I’ll share more about in a few days, I started working on this one and I have to say, this book is not going to be a picnic. When I started thinking about ideas for my fall book, the idea of fallen beauty kept coming to mind and I almost broke with the theme of “Beauty” and a R-word to call it Fallen Beauty. But, as I thought about it more, a better title came to mind and I’m so excited to keep working on Beauty Revealed. The Fall realm is kind of set up and introduced as the Fallen realm in my third book, Beauty Reborn. It was taken over by an evil lord who brought nothing but destruction and despair to the realm. The young prince of the realm recently discovered a power that will help him bring back the harvest to his realm. Early on in this fourth book, you will discover a secret about the prince’s past that will help him bring the harvest back and restore his kingdom to its former glory.

Some of the ideas that have floated around in my head about this story come from the verse in Genesis that talks about the 4 rivers of Eden. This verse has always intrigued me and this book is going to be kind of a “going back” to the beginning and weaving elements from the original garden and fall into it. Another element is the Greek myth about Pandora’s box. If you’ve ever been in a situation where it seems like all evil has been unleashed and your life is full of chaos and misfortune, you may have referred to it as Pandora’s box being opened. In the myth, Pandora was hand-crafted by one of the gods as the first woman on the earth (sound similar to the first woman, Eve?). She was given a box that contained all the evils of the world within it. Some even refer to them as the seven deadly sins(interesting). Pandora is tempted to open the box, convinced that there are great gifts hidden inside from the gods. She opens it and unknowingly unleashes all the evil into the world. Ironically, she closes hope inside because she closes the box too quickly to let it out. When I was researching stories to correlate into this book, I came across this one and thought it was a pretty good simulation to the true Creation story and an interesting way of explaining the fall. Adam and Eve were crafted by the hand of God and placed in the beautiful garden He had created for them. They had want for nothing and lived in perfect and beautiful harmony with God, each other, and the world around them. Eve was tempted to eat from the tree in the middle of the garden that was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Satan told her that God was keeping something from them by not allowing them to eat from the tree. He told them that they wouldn’t die, God just didn’t want them to eat it because He knew they would become like Him, all-knowing, if they ate of it. Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit, and sin enters the world. Fortunately for us, our story doesn’t end the way Pandora’s story ended with hope trapped inside the box. Our hope is found in Jesus Christ. God had always had a plan to save the world from our sin and the punishment of death and eternal separation from Him. He created us with a choice between good and evil and it was in that choice our world fell. He rescued us from our fallen state when He sent His one and only Son to die and rise again.

I’m looking forward to finishing this tale of fallen beauty and bringing that beauty back. My hopes in writing this one is that your own beauty may be revealed in the power of Christ’s love, and that His everlasting love will be revealed in your life and to the world around you as you read it.