Creator Lyla Sage, identified for her BookTok-favorite cowboy romance sequence, Insurgent Blue Ranch, is again with an all-new romance duology.
This time, although, issues are getting slightly bit paranormal, simply in time for Halloween! The primary e book within the duology, Soul Looking, is out now, with the second e book set to launch summer season of 2026.
The primary e book in Sage’s new Sweetwater Peak duology facilities on characters Collins Cartwright and Brady Cooper, whose paths converge in Cartwright’s hometown of Sweetwater Peak, Wyoming.
Cooper is a new-to-town upholsterer with a spare room whereas Cartwright is an out of labor photographer on the lookout for someplace to remain whereas she tries to assist save her mother and father’ vintage store that her twin sister runs. After increasingly more time spent collectively and slightly little bit of assist from some meddling ghosts, the pair begin to join in sudden ways in which would possibly simply alter their futures.
The second e book, the title of which has not but been launched, will focus extra on Cartwright’s twin sister, however will nonetheless be a continuation from the place the primary e book leaves off.
Sage chatted with Life&Type about all issues Sweetwater Peak following the September 30 launch of Soul Looking.
Whereas Sage’s western setting for the Insurgent Blue Ranch sequence was impressed by dwelling within the “Wild West” herself, she says the Sweetwater Peak duology was impressed by one thing else near her coronary heart; a spooky location close to her childhood house.
“I’ve at all times cherished a ghost story and there’s, like, an deserted ghost city about an hour away from the place I grew up,” Sage shared. “It’s simply, like, the best factor ever. And I had stopped by on my approach house and took a few photos earlier than I began enthusiastic about and conceptualizing Sweetwater Peak, after which swiftly it simply sort of hit me like a truck and it simply felt like the place I wanted to be and the place I wanted to go, and I’m so enamored with the way it turned out.”
For Sage, the chance to depart from her established ranch characters was additionally a enjoyable and thrilling change.
“I’m so excited for readers to get to know Brady and Collins. They’re completely different from any character I’ve ever written,” Sage shared.
“Brady, I feel, is simply sort of the largest inexperienced flag,” she continued. “I’ve by no means actually seen something like him in a romance novel earlier than. He’s very tender, very regular, very candy, he loves Lord of the Rings, and is, I feel a reader put it, ‘simply broken sufficient to make him fascinating’ whereas additionally being, like, wholesome and a communicative associate.”
Collins Cartwright, alternatively, could also be a bit extra guarded at first, however nonetheless loveable to the reader.
“Collins was actually enjoyable for me to jot down as a result of she’s slightly bit extra prickly, however very open hearted,” Sage defined. “And so I feel you may count on perhaps a few of that, like ‘black cat/golden retriever dynamic,’ if the golden retriever, like had, nerdy glasses or one thing.”
Whereas the ghost city close to her childhood house sparked the preliminary inspiration, Sage nonetheless had a number of analysis to do to flesh out the sequence.
“I watched a lot Antiques Roadshow to sort of put together for the duology, particularly with the second the place the primary character is, like, the proprietor of the vintage store,” Sage stated. “I needed to sort of establish, like, distinctive, cool antiques that you simply would possibly discover in western America. I did plenty of analysis on, like, outdated Appalachian folklore and tried to determine how, like, that would present up within the work as a result of I needed this city to have a lot simply historical past and lore.”
For an much more immersive reader expertise, the duology can also be accessible to take heed to by Spotify Audiobooks.
“Sam and Jason, who’re the narrators for Collins and Brady, are so extremely proficient they usually take their work so significantly, they usually add this stage of emotion and depth and characterization that simply actually brings the whole lot to life and actually pulls the characters off the web page,” Sage stated.
Among the moments within the audiobook are so vivid that Sage even discovered herself getting spooked whereas listening to it.
“There’s one half that I feel on audio is sort of truly scary, which wasn’t my purpose once I wrote it. Really, it was, however..” Sage stated, pausing and chuckling, “I listened to it on audio and I used to be like, ‘am I scared proper now?’ So I simply suppose that additional texture is so enjoyable to immerse your self in what you’re studying.”
Whereas Sage has stated the Insurgent Blue Ranch sequence is her “love letter to the Wild West,” she views Sweetwater Peak as a love letter to herself.
“It appears like probably the most genuine components of myself that made it on the web page, which may be very nerve wracking as a result of I really feel like I’m about to point out everyone my tender underbelly, and I favor partitions,” Sage admitted.
All the things about Sage, from her small city upbringing to her private choice for scary books, converges within the new sequence.
“I simply needed to discover rural communities in a extra real looking approach on the web page whereas additionally paying homage to the issues that I really like and only a e book that I might wish to learn,” Sage defined. “Having the prospect to simply be unapologetically myself on the web page was plenty of enjoyable.”
