Wednesday, December 25, 2019

About the Book

Book: Daybreak

Author: Beckie Lindsey

Genre: YA Fiction

Release Date: July, 2019

Every girl has a secret she hopes the light will never find—

but the demons already have.

Krystal, Mackenzie, Tammi, and Sadie fight a spiritual battle between unseen forces of good and evil that reaches deadly proportions.

When Krystal’s relationship with lifelong friend, Bryce, turns romantic, she is faced with the most important decision of her life. No matter her choice—everything will change forever.

As the friends rally to help Krystal, they each face their own battles against the forces of darkness and within themselves.

When tension between the group and members of a rock band continue to escalate, only time will tell which bonds will grow stronger and which will break.

“The thief comes only to kill, steal, and destroy.”

About the Author

Beckie Lindsey is an award-winning author, poet, blogger, and the editor of Southern California Christian Voice, a division of One Christian Voice, a national news syndicating agency. She is a major coffeeholic and enjoys a good book with a cat on her lap. She also loves to hike and hang out with family and friends. Beckie and her husband, Scott have three adult children, two adorable cats and live in California.

More from Beckie

Why I write YA and the BFA series

I believe a teenager still exists inside each of us.

We hear a familiar tune from our “glory days” and are instantly tapping our toes. Mentally, we’re back in high school —poofy bangs, scrunchie, neon off-the-shoulder sweatshirt — and all. Oh, wait. That’s me back in the ‘80s!

Ah, yes. There is something wonderfully awful about those coming-of-age years.

From the first kiss to the first breakup, there are memories we cherish and some we don’t care to ever revisit. Being a teen can be exciting, confusing, painful, joyous, or even all of those things at once!

No matter how different your teenage experience was from mine, one thing is true for us all: these years have an enormous impact on who we become as adults. We can all sympathize with the plight of puberty and the longing for independence and acceptance. Yeah, there’s still a teenager in all of us!

These are the reasons I write YA.

My hope is to use the power of storytelling to move past barriers and open hearts to accept how much God loves and desires a personal relationship with us.

At every age, we all need the grace and love of Jesus.

In the Beauties from Ashes (BFA) series, I write about relatable characters with difficult issues and traumatic pasts to enlighten readers about the unseen spiritual battle referred to in Scripture. Each character has a secret that has left them vulnerable to the battle in an invisible realm where demonic creatures fight to keep them chained to their pasts and angels of light work to free them.

The characters and their issues are complex, just like real life. In fact, some of the topics are often considered too taboo to talk about openly. But what is left in the dark, festers and grows. It is only in the light that we can be free. In the BFA series, readers experience the character’s quest for truth, love, grace, and freedom while hopefully finding the same for themselves.

If you haven't read the first two books in the series, you should grab a copy of them. This book is one that I hope everyone will read. The author does an amazing job of writing directly to her target audience. The subject matters in the book are tough to read but realistic. I especially like the way she demonstrates darkness vs light.

The characters in the story are well written and I could feel their struggles as the enemy tries to find a way into their thoughts. The author does a great job of showing how young adults deal with issues that are hard to cope with. What would you do if you were still in high school and found out your were pregnant? There are several choices a character has and abortion does come up. The struggle is real as this character decides what to do.

The mention of incest is hard for me to read but I thought the author exceeded how she presented the topic. I understand how the character who faces this felt. She didn't care if that person died because of the pain she has endured by him. I really liked how the author uses scriptures in the story and how important forgiveness is. I loved when the pastor in the story tells Bryce, " We all make mistakes, Bryce. The important thing is what we do after."

Feelings of shame, guilt, lust, doubt, temptation, pride, suicide, anger and many other sins are the topics that the author tackles in this gripping story. The story is hard hitting and very much needed for our youth to read. They face these problems everyday and the author does an amazing job of showing how God is there fighting for you. I love how the characters each examine their heart and have friends that surround them speaking words of faith and encouragement. The youth pastors are excellent in the story and help the teens find their way to God.

The enemy loves chaos and confusion and it runs rampant throughout the story. I cried with the character whose mother was having a difficult time. It broke my heart to read someone had been dealing with incest and another one fighting off lust. The visual picture the author draws is priceless as we can see angels surrounding those in trouble. I loved how the author reminds us that God is always there with His arms wide open waiting to welcome us into His comfort and forgiveness. The author leaves the readers hanging at the end which sets up for another book in the series. This book is going on my top picks for 2019.

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.