Something about this particular book release is making me so emotional. There was a lot of work that went into making this possible, and I’m just glad it’s (back) out there in its current form.
I’m excited to deliver this revised and expanded edition of my debut novel, The Sacred Scarred, to you. This is the novel’s third edition; it was previously known as The Sacred Scarred & Calysta & the Beast.
If you’ve read either one of those books, then you already know the general story of The Beauty in their Scars. However, there are quite a number of significant changes setting this edition apart from the first two. First of all, I would hope that the writing is better. Beyond that, below is a detailed breakdown of changes (no spoilers), in case you are trying to gauge if it’s worth your time to read a new edition of a story you’ve already read. I can, however, sum it all up in three points:
- I wanted to redeem my debut novel and produce something that I’m a lot more confident in.
- I want the series as a whole to be more cohesive from Book 1 to Book 3. As it used to be, it felt to me like Book 2 and Book 3 were afterthoughts, and in a lot of ways, they were. This is no longer the case with this edition; in fact, Book 2 and Book 3 are unrecognizable compared to the previous editions.
- There are certain scenes and situations in the old editions that I’m no longer comfortable with. I would rather not say which ones and why.
Detailed breakdown of changes:
- Calysta’s full back story is no longer part of this novel. Her story has been extracted from Calysta and the Beast and is now its own full novel, The Making of a Beauty, a Christian contemporary retelling of The Ugly Duckling. You can download the ebook free from most major ebook retailers.
- No more time-hopping from present to past and vice-versa. The story is written in linear fashion except for Part II which is entirely in the past as Brendan’s back story.
- Brendan Keefe is now Brendan Ashthorn.
- The story no longer happens primarily in the USA; instead, the setting of the story has moved to fictional countries set in the modern-day world.
- Without Calysta’s back story, there’s a lot more time spent in the present with multiple scenes added to flesh out both Brendan’s back story as well as their love story.
- In addition to multiple new scenes, every scene has been expanded and fleshed out.
- Calysta and the Beast, including Calysta’s back story, was over 80,ooo words. This new edition, without Calysta’s back story (approx. 25,000 words) is over 122,000 words. Combined with the word count of The Making of a Beauty, there’s more than double the content the original novel had.
If you haven’t read either of the two editions, this is the edition I recommend you read (not that the other two are still readily available, as I plan to unpublish all other editions and keep this one).
No matter the edition, the core of Brendan and Calysta’s story remains the same, despite changes in location as well as the altering and addition of many scenes. I hope you enjoy their story — one that remains close to my heart after all these years.
So now… Without further ado…
The Beauty in their Scars is now officially launched.
Find out how you can get your copy via the button below.