Tag: Children of the Light

EXCERPT from Crimson Arches by Rebecca Carey Lyles: What was going on?

Crimson Arches CoverAs we continue to celebrate the Publication Day of Crimson Arches, here’s a little sample to whet your appetite, and a quick reminder that both books (so far) in this series are available for a great price.


from Crimson Arches by Rebecca Carey Lyles

What was going on?

Far ahead on the two-lane highway that divided the flat desert like an endless gray ribbon, a light flashed. Kasenia Clarke squinted but saw nothing unusual, not even a dust devil twirling across the arid plain. Had to be sunlight reflected off a car window or a bumper. She lowered the sun visor to block the bright orb’s merciless glare, and a flicker in the rearview mirror caught her eye.

What was going on?

A siren sounded behind her. This time, she couldn’t miss the frenetic red-and-blue beams coming closer by the second. Heart in her throat, she glanced at the speedometer and steered to the side. She wasn’t speeding, and the kidnapping charges had been dropped a year ago. Even so, her stomach clenched at the reminder of her arrest and incarceration, experiences she hoped to never repeat.

A State Trooper’s SUV screamed past, buffeting her car. Kasenia cringed. The ear-piercing sound shook her to her core. The trooper wasn’t after her, thank God, but someone up ahead was injured or in trouble. After a quick check for other cars, she drove onto the blacktop, only to hear another siren. This time, she swerved off the highway mere moments before an ambulance wailed by her window.

When no more emergency vehicles followed, Kasenia checked one more time. With deep breaths to slow her racing pulse, she pulled onto the road again, grateful the sirens hadn’t triggered a panic attack.

She’d traveled several more miles when she topped a rise and saw a string of cars that appeared to be at a standstill several miles ahead. Black smoke billowed in the distance.

More sirens. More lights. Again, she reduced speed and maneuvered out of the way. A second ambulance passed, this one trailed by a firetruck, then a tow truck, and another firetruck.

“Jesus,” she whispered, “please help those who’ve been injured and give the first responders wisdom.” Almost every time she rode with her grandpa, someone would speed past on a straightaway. And every time, he’d grouse, “What does that bloomin’ blockhead think this is, a racetrack?” Sadly, sometimes those drivers caused horrible accidents.

She rolled onto the road, this time to slowly approach the last vehicle in the queue. Braking to a stop, she sat for a moment, taking in the situation. Despite the heat, people stood outside their cars, gaping at the enormous black smoke cloud.

Before she switched off the AC, Kasenia twisted her hair to fit it into the crown of her wide-brimmed straw sunhat and adjusted her sunglasses, which usually prevented recognition. But not always. The hat was an extra precaution to hide her copper-colored hair, which tended to attract attention.

Modeling required her to be in the spotlight during photo shoots—she was used to that. But since the Shadow Ranch debacle, almost every time she left home, curious people gathered around her like mice to cheese. They bombarded her with questions about the ranch, Brewster, the sister wives, running away. They took cell phone pictures without her permission and begged for autographs. Yet in a year’s time, not a single person had asked how she and Sam and the others were coping with the trauma since their perilous escape.

Her lawyer advised her to say she wasn’t allowed to answer questions or give autographs, and to keep walking, so that’s what she did.

In addition to local notoriety, her photo had been plastered on the front cover of nearly every magazine on the grocery-store racks. All because she’d stupidly fallen for Brewster’s lies and allowed him to trick her into a fake marriage. Then there was the meddling media, as Grandpa Gordon called reporters who appeared from nowhere, snapping pictures and sticking microphones in her face. All these months later, they still clamored for interviews about her Shadow Ranch experience.

Kasenia switched off the ignition and reached for the door handle. The silver SUV she’d parked behind had a Montana license plate. Good. People from up north wouldn’t know anything about her or Shadow Ranch.


Read the rest in Crimson Arches by Rebecca Carey Lyles to see what happens from here in this follow-up to Shadow Ranch.

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PUB DAY SPOTLIGHT: Crimson Arches by Rebecca Carey Lyles

I’m very pleased today to share this spotlight for the second book in Rebecca Carey Lyles’ Children of the Light series, Crimson Arches! Lyles has become a solid friend of the blog over the last year, and I’m glad to get the chance to share this look at her new book. A little later this morning, I’ll be posting an excerpt, too.

Book Details:

Title: Crimson Arches
Series: Children of the Light, Book Two
Genre: Christian Mystery & Suspense Romance
Format: Ebook
Length: 423 pages
Publication Date: April 30, 2024
Crimson Arches Cover

About the Book:

Kasenia Clarke escaped Shadow Ranch months ago, but when Trent Duran asks her to visit Crimson Arches, his neighboring ranch, she hesitates. She adores Trent and wants to see where he “hangs his hat,” yet she dreads going anywhere near the abusive polygamous cult. Then an unexpected connection with another “plyg” community changes everything, and she jumps in with both feet, unaware of the peril that awaits her down by the border.

Book Links:

Amazon ~ Goodreads

Buy the Series

Both books together are set at a great price!Shadow Ranch and Crimson Arches Covers

About the Author:

Rebecca Carey LylesRebecca Carey Lyles lives with her husband, Steve, in Boise, Idaho, where she serves as an editor and as a mentor for aspiring authors. In addition to the Children of the Light Series, she’s written the Kate Neilson Series and the Prisoners of Hope Series plus a short story collection and a couple nonfiction books. Her tagline for her fiction is “Contemporary Christian romance set in the West and salted with suspense,” although some might describe her stories as “suspense salted with romance.” She also hosts a podcast with Steve called “Let Me Tell You a Story.” Learn about Becky, her books and the podcast at beckylyles.com.

Author Links:

Twitter/X ~ Facebook ~ BookBub

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Shadow Ranch by Rebecca Carey Lyles: One of the Vilest Villains You’ll Find This Year

Be sure to check back a little later this morning for a Q&A with the author about this book and her writing in general.


Shadow RanchShadow Ranch

by Rebecca Carey Lyles

DETAILS:
Series: Children of the Light, Book One
Publication Date: April 24, 2022
Format: eBook
Length: 380 pg.
Read Date: August 4-8, 2023
Buy from Bookshop.org Support Indie Bookstores

What’s Shadow Ranch About?

So, I knew going in that this book was about a woman who ended up as part of a polygamous cult—so there’s no way that things are going to go well for Kasenia as we meet her. But even if I didn’t know that, after half of a page of dialogue between her and her romantic interest—you know that this guy is a creep. He might as well be named Redd Flagg, the heir of the vast Crimson Banner Estate (actually, I’m going to call him that for the rest of the post, just because).

Quite possibly because Kasenia has no girlfriends or confidantes to help her see how creepy Redd is, she falls for him. And almost instantly, things get worse—he’s a horrible, controlling husband, but she’s trying to make things worse. Then Redd turns on the charm—why don’t Kasenia and her brother come out to his family’s ranch for the weekend? Kasenia drags her younger brother along (he’s on to Redd—at least to a degree) and they head out for a chance to rekindle their marriage.

Of course, his family consists of multiple other wives (none of whom are happy to see her), enough kids to fill a schoolroom, and a few foster kids (there’s an ethnic and language difference between the foster children and Redd’s own). Between a combination of threats, guards, isolation (geographic and technological), and psychological manipulation, Redd has created a family full of people that are (almost entirely) devoted to him, and work themselves constantly to earn money for him and to earn approval from him.

Kasenia is determined to find a way out for herself and her brother—when she discovers that there’s more to Redd’s debauchery and devilry than she’d realized. The stakes are higher than ever—will she be able to find freedom for those he’s a threat to?

A Little More about Redd Flagg

Now I fully realize that when you’ve got someone with megalomaniacal tendencies like Redd, you’re going to find someone with a lot of messed up qualities. No one who deceives and manipulates a young woman into joining his group of wives—and keeps her as one through threat of violence (that he does follow through with to some extent) is in any sense a good guy. Moreover, I know that Lyles did some research and that there are more people like this in the U.S. than anyone wants to think about.

Still, I couldn’t help but think that Redd was too evil. “Like so evil, that you would say it was E-VEEL.” Every time you think you’ve found the depth of his moral void, there’s a new level of despicableness. Yes, that’s a common thing in fiction (or life), but it just felt like Lyles was laying it on a bit too thick.

Manipulative and abusive is enough—you’ve got yourself a true villain right there. But once she starts adding the other crimes that he’s committed and/or planning to commit? I’m not sure the reader or the story needed that.

I Was Uneasy About…

It’s a risky thing (for storytelling reasons and, more importantly, for the risk of blaspheming) to bring God into a work of fiction as an actor in the story. Multiple times characters who are trying to free themselves from Redd will pray and instantly—or quickly—something will happen that could be interpreted as an answer to that prayer. Is it possible for the reader or someone in the text to interpret these happenings as coincidental? Sure. But not one single character does—they all see the good things happening to them after praying as a direct answer to that prayer.

I absolutely am convinced that prayer works—but I don’t think it works like a bunch of kids praying for help getting away from a gunman and suddenly a mountain lion shows up to frighten off the gunman.

Using prayer like that almost turns God into a genie in the bottle—or at least those praying into Magicians with just the right spells ready to get the heroes out of danger.

I absolutely appreciate and celebrate Lyles taking prayer seriously, demonstrating people acting in faith and trust in the Most High with integrity and not turning them into hypocrites or anything. I also think she doesn’t go over the line to treat God as a genie—but she walks right up to that line. It makes me uneasy (at best) to read on several levels, though.

So, what did I think about Shadow Ranch?

Overall, there’s a lot to commend about this book. It reeks of research into situations like this one, it’s full of distinct and clearly drawn characters. Many of these characters are really well-developed and (largely) well-rounded—a mixture of good and bad qualities, understandable motives, and repulsive actions. The tension and the pacing are enough to keep propelling the reader through the twists and make it hard to put down without knowing what happens next.

According to the Internet—and a book I read in grade school (so I’m more inclined to believe it, but not much)—Abraham Lincoln in trying not to say he didn’t like a book said, “People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.” That’s very much what I want to say about this book. Let me rush to say that I did not dislike the book, but it wasn’t for me. I know there’s an audience out there who really get into this kind of thing (The Lifetime Movie Network alone proves that), but you’re not going to count me as part of it.

In a Q&A Lyles did with me months ago, she mentioned that her novels always have a happy ending. That alone kept me reading, just to see how she pulled it off—and there were a handful of times I considered abandoning the book. The ending could’ve been dark. It could’ve been ambiguous. It could’ve ended up in a pretty twisted and sordid way. But no, Lyles stuck with her pledge and provided a happy ending (that’s not too cheesy).

I do think the touch of romance (that didn’t involve Flagg or anything toxic) was a little out of place, and possibly unbelievable—definitely misguided on the part of the characters. But it feels on brand from what I can tell about Lyles’s work, so ignore me.

Again, there are people who will like this sort of book—and more power to them. If you think you’re likely in that camp in any way—read this. I think you’ll be rewarded. If you’re leery of it? I’m not going to tell you to give it a chance—trust your instinct. There are books that I’d approach differently, and encourage people to take a risk. Shadow Ranch isn’t one of those—it delivers what it promises.


3 Stars

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20 Books of Summer

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