It has been a busy start to the year with book/author stuff! I was working hard to finish up The Alabaster Jar-Book 2 in the Heart of God series- at the beginning of the year and got the final proofs back Friday so just need to do one more sweep through the manuscript and get it sent back for my publisher to get it printed and up in e-book format! My mom has also been working extremely hard to get Beauty Redeemed-Book 2 in The Solstice Chronicles- recorded into audiobook and we got it submitted to ACX for review last week as well! It is crazy ironic (fully God’s timing) that the 2nd books in both of my series are reaching similar milestones alongside each other. The first books in both my series released 3 years practically to the date apart so I have those similar milestones too. I am super excited for the initial release of The Alabaster Jar as well as the release of the audiobook of Beauty Redeemed! Both stories are such beautiful looks at what redemption and surrender to God truly look like.
Beauty Redeemed: A Spring Equinox Chronicle is a very special story to me. As some of you know, I wrote these books from a deeply personal place in my life. Much the main characters storylines reflect my own struggles or things I’ve faced in this life. I NEVER thought I would share such personal things with the world. I am by nature a pretty introverted person, but God decided to give me a platform to share my story with the world, so here I am, bumbling and fumbling along trying to follow His will and praying He gets the glory for all of it. As I mentioned, Beauty Redeemed is a very special story to me. Not to discount the messages shared in the other stories, because every God-message shared in the other Solstice Chronicles are just as vital and important, but I feel like Beauty Redeemed is kind of the crux of the overall storyline. This story really brings the spiritual battles we face to light in an epic and relatable way. The Dark Lord, Luscian, who was introduced in the Prologue of book 1, comes to the forefront of the story in Beauty Redeemed and really shows how Satan knows us well enough to know our weaknesses and areas we struggle with so he can tempt us and lure us into his realm of darkness. I reference the books Sacred Romance and Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge often in relation to my fairytale series because they were so instrumental in forming this world and the premise for these books. In these books they both talk about the Great Love Story God is writing between us and Him and His constant desire to be our valiant prince and rescue His bride from the death and destruction we are fated for as well as Satan’s fall from beauty and how his desire ever since has been to destroy our beauty as human beings. Satan was the most beautiful creature before his pride made him want to elevate himself above God. He fell in his beauty and unlike us who have a chance to have our beauty Restored, he will never get his beauty back. You really see the Dark Lord’s desire for beauty come out in Beauty Redeemed as he wants nothing more than to have Princess Julianna in his realm of darkness because he sees the light and beauty within her that he wants so desperately for himself. I based this book off of the stories Hades and Persephone and Swan Lake because both fit the storyline perfectly. Both stories show a beautiful maiden being lured into the realm of darkness and the struggle to break free of those realms. One story, the girl is cursed to stay in the realm of death for most of the year, only to return to the land of light for a few months, bringing the Spring season to life around the world. The other, the girl is cursed and turned into a swan and the only way to break the curse and set her free is by the sacrificial love of a prince. This story relates a lot to many personal demons and struggles I have faced in my life and the story shows how even though the main character, Julianna, is a princess of light, she has uncontrollable ties to darkness that make her feel unworthy and afraid of what the people in the kingdom of light would think if they ever found out about her deeper, darker desires within. On the flip side, a prince of darkness has a chance to dwell in the kingdom of light for a time, and he discovers that he has an undeniable draw to the light, but he also feels unworthy and like he will never be able to fully live in this land of light and freedom. This story is such a beautiful picture of redemption and how nobody is too lost to be saved. Everyone has a chance to live in the land of light. Everyone has a chance to be redeemed. We have already been Bought back from the land of death and darkness and been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, shed on a cross, so we could all live with God in Heaven someday. We only need to accept that gift of redemption and step across the line into the Light.
The Alabaster Jar is also a very powerful storyline. This story is the second one in the Heart of God series and it is a beautiful story of what it looks like to find what faith in God truly looks like. The main male character, Dylan Kinkaide, was assigned to protect the main female character, Selah Cross, in book 1. Through some harrowing circumstances that put them on the run and forced them into close proximity, Selah’s faith is tested to the extreme and she has to figure out how strong her faith in God really is. because of her genuine connection and relationship with God, Dylan begins to question his own lack of belief in God. In this second book, Dylan must find what his own personal faith in God really looks like for himself, and he must do it without Selah’s influence in his life. Re-reading this book over and over again in the last several months to do final edits, I have been reminded time and time again the powerful depths God allowed me to write through the pages of the story. The focus is on the alabaster jar that was poured out at the feet of Jesus, showing the beautiful picture of redemption and surrender to God. This story ends up aligning with Dylan’s journey to finding his own faith in God and there is an absolutely beautiful chapter towards the end that brings the story of surrender and pouring oneself out to God to life in such a magnificent way. I’ll share more about this chapter and another impactful chapter in the coming weeks, but just know, this is a truly wonderful story of faith and becoming a part of the family of God. Like book 1, on top of the deep stories of faith that the characters go through, there is lots of mystery and suspense and adventure. Parts of Selah’s past come up unexpectedly when she takes a trip with her guardian to see an exciting artifact connected to the Gospel of Luke (can you guess what the artifact is? 🙂 ) and put questions in her mind about what she thought she knew about her past, but also puts doubts in her mind about any potential future she may have with Dylan. Dylan is forced to figure out what his faith looks like without Selah and see if this is really what he wants for his life. We discover more about Peters’ story and the work he and Dr. Judah do and get to see different cities and countries around the world in this heart-racing adventure that pairs with deep Biblical truths.
Both stories are full of adventure and spiritual truths, and both are stories you won’t want to miss. I am putting together launch teams for both books right now and am looking for 20-30 people for each team to get these books visible and out there. Reviews are such a critical part of a books visibility online and one of the biggest ways people can help boost visibility and in turn getting the books into more hands is by leaving a review online. The launch for Beauty Redeemed Audiobook is active right now. I am giving away 20 free copies of the audiobook for book 1-Beauty Restored, to those willing to listen and leave a review before Beauty Redeemed releases. Along with that, those who are willing to review book 1, will be asked to listen to Beauty Redeemed when it releases and leave a review for that one as well. Both books are full of page-turning adventure and moments of reflection and tugging on emotional heart strings. If you are willing/interested in being a part of the launch team for Beauty Redeemed: A Spring Equinox Chronicle audiobook, please fill out this form. Links for audio samples for both books are in the form, so check it out and hopefully you’ll be intrigued enough to listen to the full books and leave a review for both! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd5VGlbDW3SR9ezPTaI3Y51jSQ0yqiu_iAY_XKi6_PzOdmCkg/viewform?usp=header
Since The Alabaster Jar is still with my publisher, I will be starting the launch team for that one in a couple of weeks, so if you want to do the audiobook launch first, that would be great!! I will be working with a launch team manager for this launch and will send out the interest form once I receive it from her. For now, if you or a family member or friends, strangers at the library, your book club– pretty much anyone willing to read a book lol — is interested in being a part of the launch team for The Alabaster Jar, fill out the contact form on my website (Click on CONTACT at the top of the page) and let Ashley know you are interested in being a part of this team and she will reach out when the launch is ready to go live. If you already have a copy of book 1, Heart of God, please consider joining the team and leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads. If you don’t have a copy of Heart of God, you will be given a free e-book copy of Heart of God so you can read it and leave a review before The Alabaster Jar releases.
Like I said, reviews are so, so, so critical to authors and helps their books become more visible to readers and lets more readers know that these books are worth reading. I am asking you to please consider taking time to listen AND/or read these books and post a review. I hear from people who have read my books all the time that they loved my books, but unless people leave a review online, my books visibility and ability to be seen and read by other people who will love these books is extremely limited. If 5-10 people have 2-3 friends/family members each they can pass this along to, we end up with 15-30 people already for these teams. And imagine if the 2-3 people we invite know 2-3 more people? It is a very short time commitment. Beauty Restored is 8 hrs and 46 min and Beauty Redeemed is at about 11 hours. If you listen 1 hour a day in the car or while your working out or taking a walk or doing laundry, you can listen to the whole book in a little over a week. And believe me, listening to my mom do the narration, you will likely want to keep listening for longer than an hour a day :). Heart of God and Alabaster Jar might take a little bit longer to read through, but they are also full of page-turning adventure and everyone who has read them has not been able to put them down. The actual timeline for the launch of The Alabaster Jar is about 3 weeks, so it’s not a huge time commitment for that one either. We have a 12 year old boy in our church who is not a reader and he started reading Heart of God and could not put it down. He is even re-reading it as he waits for The Alabaster Jar to come out, so that gives an idea of how easy it is to read these books. Even if you have read the actual books for my fairytale series, give the audiobooks a try. My mom brings the stories to life in a whole new level and it’s like listening to a fully dramatized story that keeps your attention the entire time you are listening to it.
I can only beg so much, so I’ll leave it alone (for now 🙂 ), but I hope whoever reads this sees the importance and value of leaving a review for my books and if you have read any of my books, I ask you leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Just say what you thought about the story, or the world or characters, or how the book made you feel. It is also so important to have the much needed support in launching these 2 books getting ready to release, and I hope you consider being a part of one or both teams!
As always, prayers are more than appreciated for these books. Both me and my mom have felt the spiritual attacks on getting these books written and recorded into audio. These stories peel back the curtain and give a real look into what our relationships with Christ look like and what Satan looks like and how he operates in this world and we truly believe he doesn’t want these stories to go anywhere. He will, and has done, whatever it takes to prevent these stories from getting out into the world, and we could always use prayers for God to bind up Satan’s efforts and take these stories where they need to go. We believe these stories are what the world needs to hear and read right now. The world needs good, clean stories that show the hope of what believing in God looks like and the hope we have in Him. Your support and prayers are what will make the difference in making sure these stories are seen and read in the world.
Ashley Beach-Author and Storyteller 