Author Lyla Sage, known for her BookTok-favorite cowboy romance series, Rebel Blue Ranch, is back with an all-new romance duology.
This time, though, things are getting a little bit paranormal, just in time for Halloween! The first book in the duology, Soul Searching, is out now, with the second book set to release summer of 2026.
The first book in Sage’s new Sweetwater Peak duology centers 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 while Cartwright is an out of work photographer looking for somewhere to stay while she tries to help save her parents’ antique shop that her twin sister runs. After more and more time spent together and a little bit of help from some meddling ghosts, the pair start to connect in unexpected ways that might just alter their futures.
The second book, the title of which has not yet been released, will focus more on Cartwright’s twin sister, but will still be a continuation from where the first book leaves off.
Sage chatted with Life&Style about all things Sweetwater Peak following the September 30 release of Soul Searching.
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While Sage’s western setting for the Rebel Blue Ranch series was inspired by living in the “Wild West” herself, she says the Sweetwater Peak duology was inspired by something else close to her heart; a spooky location near her childhood home.
“I’ve always loved a ghost story and there’s, like, an abandoned ghost town about an hour away from where I grew up,” Sage shared. “It’s just, like, the coolest thing ever. And I had stopped by on my way home and took a couple of pictures before I started thinking about and conceptualizing Sweetwater Peak, and then all of a sudden it just kind of hit me like a truck and it just felt like where I needed to be and where I needed to go, and I’m so enamored with how it turned out.”
For Sage, the opportunity to depart from her established ranch characters was also a fun and exciting change.
“I am so excited for readers to get to know Brady and Collins. They are different from any character I’ve ever written,” Sage shared.
“Brady, I think, is just kind of the biggest green flag,” she continued. “I’ve never really seen anything like him in a romance novel before. He’s very soft, very steady, very sweet, he loves Lord of the Rings, and is, I think a reader put it, ‘just damaged enough to make him interesting’ while also being, like, healthy and a communicative partner.”
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Collins Cartwright, on the other hand, may be a bit more guarded at first, but still loveable to the reader.
“Collins was really fun for me to write because she’s a little bit more prickly, but very open hearted,” Sage explained. “And so I think you can expect maybe some of that, like ‘black cat/golden retriever dynamic,’ if the golden retriever, like had, nerdy glasses or something.”
While the ghost town near her childhood home sparked the initial inspiration, Sage still had lots of research to do to flesh out the series.
“I watched so much Antiques Roadshow to kind of prepare for the duology, especially with the second one where the main character is, like, the owner of the antique shop,” Sage said. “I wanted to kind of identify, like, unique, cool antiques that you might find in western America. I did a lot of research on, like, old Appalachian folklore and tried to figure out how, like, that could show up in the work because I wanted this town to have so much just history and lore.”
For an even more immersive reader experience, the duology is also available to listen to through Spotify Audiobooks.
“Sam and Jason, who are the narrators for Collins and Brady, are so incredibly talented and they take their work so seriously, and they add this level of emotion and depth and characterization that just really brings everything to life and really pulls the characters off the page,” Sage said.
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Some of the moments in the audiobook are so vivid that Sage even found herself getting spooked while listening to it.
“There’s one part that I think on audio is kind of actually scary, which wasn’t my goal when I wrote it. Actually, it was, but..” Sage said, pausing and chuckling, “I listened to it on audio and I was like, ‘am I scared right now?’ So I just think that extra texture is so fun to immerse yourself in what you’re reading.”
While Sage has said the Rebel Blue Ranch series is her “love letter to the Wild West,” she views Sweetwater Peak as a love letter to herself.
“It feels like the most authentic parts of myself that made it on the page, which is very nerve wracking because I feel like I’m about to show everybody my soft underbelly, and I prefer walls,” Sage admitted.
Everything about Sage, from her small town upbringing to her personal preference for scary books, converges in the new series.
“I just wanted to explore rural communities in a more realistic way on the page while also paying homage to the things that I love and just a book that I would want to read,” Sage explained. “Having the chance to just be unapologetically myself on the page was a lot of fun.”
