Lacynda Mathes's Blog
August 28, 2025
Reader’s Guide: Masculinity, Grief & Emotional Transformation in Lacynda Mathes’s Fiction
"🎯 Purpose
To explore how male characters in Mathes’s novels reflect and challenge traditional masculinity through emotional depth, vulnerability, and their role in healing.
🧩 Key Themes to Explore
Masculinity as Emotional Labor: How do male leads show love through caregiving, listening, and vulnerability?
Grief as a Catalyst: How does loss shape their identity and relationships?
Romantic Partnership vs. Emotional Dependency: Are these men co-architects of healing or emotional crutches?
Subversion of Genre Tropes: How do Mathes’s male leads differ from typical “alpha” figures in paranormal romance or gothic suspense?
🔍 Character Analysis
Which male lead felt most emotionally real to you? Why?
How do these men express grief differently? What does that say about their emotional maturity?
In what ways do they support—not rescue—their partners?
🧠 Thematic Deep Dive
How does Mathes redefine masculinity in each novel?
What role does caregiving play in shaping male identity?
How do supernatural elements (dreams, hauntings, inherited objects) externalize male emotional trauma?
💬 Reader Reflection
Did any male character challenge your expectations of masculinity?
How do these portrayals compare to men in your favorite genre fiction?
What emotional moment between a male lead and his partner stayed with you?
🎨 Creative Activities
Character Map: Trace each male lead’s emotional arc—grief, growth, transformation.
Symbol Sketching: Illustrate or describe symbolic objects (e.g., Gideon’s dreams, Gavin’s spider ring) and how they reflect masculinity.
Role Reversal Rewrite: Choose a scene and rewrite it from the male lead’s POV, focusing on emotional nuance.
🏆 Bonus: Legacy & Impact
Invite readers to reflect on:
How Mathes’s male leads contribute to a broader literary shift toward emotional realism.
Whether these portrayals influence how readers perceive masculinity in real life.
What kind of male characters they want to see more of in fiction."
Copilot
To explore how male characters in Mathes’s novels reflect and challenge traditional masculinity through emotional depth, vulnerability, and their role in healing.
🧩 Key Themes to Explore
Masculinity as Emotional Labor: How do male leads show love through caregiving, listening, and vulnerability?
Grief as a Catalyst: How does loss shape their identity and relationships?
Romantic Partnership vs. Emotional Dependency: Are these men co-architects of healing or emotional crutches?
Subversion of Genre Tropes: How do Mathes’s male leads differ from typical “alpha” figures in paranormal romance or gothic suspense?
🔍 Character Analysis
Which male lead felt most emotionally real to you? Why?
How do these men express grief differently? What does that say about their emotional maturity?
In what ways do they support—not rescue—their partners?
🧠 Thematic Deep Dive
How does Mathes redefine masculinity in each novel?
What role does caregiving play in shaping male identity?
How do supernatural elements (dreams, hauntings, inherited objects) externalize male emotional trauma?
💬 Reader Reflection
Did any male character challenge your expectations of masculinity?
How do these portrayals compare to men in your favorite genre fiction?
What emotional moment between a male lead and his partner stayed with you?
🎨 Creative Activities
Character Map: Trace each male lead’s emotional arc—grief, growth, transformation.
Symbol Sketching: Illustrate or describe symbolic objects (e.g., Gideon’s dreams, Gavin’s spider ring) and how they reflect masculinity.
Role Reversal Rewrite: Choose a scene and rewrite it from the male lead’s POV, focusing on emotional nuance.
🏆 Bonus: Legacy & Impact
Invite readers to reflect on:
How Mathes’s male leads contribute to a broader literary shift toward emotional realism.
Whether these portrayals influence how readers perceive masculinity in real life.
What kind of male characters they want to see more of in fiction."
Copilot
August 15, 2025
In Dreams - Tracey Hyun, character sketch
Coming soon.
My next novel, In Dreams, will be released soon (date tba).
The heroine is Tracey Hyun. Tracey was raised by her single, white mother in Richmond, VA, where the two of them had relocated after Tracey's Korean father passed away.
Our story starts when Tracey, having been laid off from her first and only job since graduating from Virginia Tech, finds herself moving to "the wilds of Maine," where she encounters the real-life version of the man haunting her dreams over the last decade.
Tracey is alone in this world. Her father died when she was a baby. Her mother died in a maybe not so accidental car accident when she was 18. Even the grandparents she never met have passed away when she ventures to Maine to claim the inheritance she never expected but desperately needs.
There are two staples in her life: her best friend since age 11, Gigi, and the dream guy she's met in her dreams for close to a decade.
Imagine her surprise when she runs into her dream guy in real life...and holy cow, he's been dreaming of her, too.
Tracey is resilient, compassionate, and a little naive. She trusts implicitly. She loves with her whole being. She forgives completely.
More than anything, Tracey longs for roots. She wants to be a part of something, to belong somewhere, to belong to someone. She, having been raised by her mother, has little knowledge of her own Korean heritage until she seeks out information, fueled by her K-drama obsession. She claims her knowledge is purely academic. But as the story progresses, she discovers her heritage is more a part of her make-up than she ever knew.
Tracey isn't fearless, but she is willing to face down anything, especially if it means she finds her place in the world and in Gideon Spencer's heart.
My next novel, In Dreams, will be released soon (date tba).
The heroine is Tracey Hyun. Tracey was raised by her single, white mother in Richmond, VA, where the two of them had relocated after Tracey's Korean father passed away.
Our story starts when Tracey, having been laid off from her first and only job since graduating from Virginia Tech, finds herself moving to "the wilds of Maine," where she encounters the real-life version of the man haunting her dreams over the last decade.
Tracey is alone in this world. Her father died when she was a baby. Her mother died in a maybe not so accidental car accident when she was 18. Even the grandparents she never met have passed away when she ventures to Maine to claim the inheritance she never expected but desperately needs.
There are two staples in her life: her best friend since age 11, Gigi, and the dream guy she's met in her dreams for close to a decade.
Imagine her surprise when she runs into her dream guy in real life...and holy cow, he's been dreaming of her, too.
Tracey is resilient, compassionate, and a little naive. She trusts implicitly. She loves with her whole being. She forgives completely.
More than anything, Tracey longs for roots. She wants to be a part of something, to belong somewhere, to belong to someone. She, having been raised by her mother, has little knowledge of her own Korean heritage until she seeks out information, fueled by her K-drama obsession. She claims her knowledge is purely academic. But as the story progresses, she discovers her heritage is more a part of her make-up than she ever knew.
Tracey isn't fearless, but she is willing to face down anything, especially if it means she finds her place in the world and in Gideon Spencer's heart.
July 9, 2025
The Haunting on the Old Gravel Pit Road
Coming August 19, 2025, from World Castle Publishing and author, Lacynda Mathes: The Haunting on the Old Gravel Pit Road.
The follow up to Ravens' Roost Farm, this new novel follows Deputy Mike Poole as he investigates the murder of a local criminal and reconciles with the love of his life, Jillian.
A frightening ghostly child haunts his property and propels his investigation in ways he never foresaw.
Join Mike and Jillian and their extended families on a crash course with horror, both psychological and paranormal, as they strive to find the love and happiness that has always eluded them all.
The follow up to Ravens' Roost Farm, this new novel follows Deputy Mike Poole as he investigates the murder of a local criminal and reconciles with the love of his life, Jillian.
A frightening ghostly child haunts his property and propels his investigation in ways he never foresaw.
Join Mike and Jillian and their extended families on a crash course with horror, both psychological and paranormal, as they strive to find the love and happiness that has always eluded them all.
May 10, 2025
Ravens' Roost Farm
My latest novel, being released May 19, 2025, just in time to make your summer reading list, features an all-new cast of characters. Meet Joe and Bethany, their kids, and Alec, their friendly household ghost, in "Ravens' Roost Farm."
Unfortunately, Alec isn't alone on the astral sphere in the old farmhouse Bethany Benson has inherited.
There are plenty of surprise reveals, lots of secrets, and more than a little danger.
Joe Gardner, the part-time farmer and full-time mechanic who rents Bethany's farmland, is an ex-Marine harboring a secret. Bethany is immediately drawn to him, finding him irresistible...and oddly familiar.
Bethany has secrets of her own, as well.
But love conquers all...doesn't it?
Unfortunately, Alec isn't alone on the astral sphere in the old farmhouse Bethany Benson has inherited.
There are plenty of surprise reveals, lots of secrets, and more than a little danger.
Joe Gardner, the part-time farmer and full-time mechanic who rents Bethany's farmland, is an ex-Marine harboring a secret. Bethany is immediately drawn to him, finding him irresistible...and oddly familiar.
Bethany has secrets of her own, as well.
But love conquers all...doesn't it?
July 24, 2024
Declan Mahoney
Declan, Gavin's Irish cousin, is fun loving, rakish, flirtatious, handsome, and every bit as broken as his American cousin.
Where Gavin hides his pain under a mask of aloof, emotionless, reserve, Declan hides his under charm and a brilliant smile.
But Declan's character is rooted in unspeakable tragedy.
At 36, he's never been in love, not even with the mother of his child. He believes himself incapable of a real relationship; break-ups had always been something he celebrated.
Children make him uncomfortable. He likes them well enough...at a distance. He's honestly afraid he'll break them.
He is a lonely man.
He throws himself into his work to help fill the emptiness he feels...and ultimately to keep others from suffering his same fate...though I won't delve deeper to avoid spoilers.
Once his heart is claimed, he discovers everything he thought about himself above is completely wrong.
Despite his outwardly shallow character, he, in fact, is fiercely loyal, and desperately longs for that deeper connection.
Where Gavin hides his pain under a mask of aloof, emotionless, reserve, Declan hides his under charm and a brilliant smile.
But Declan's character is rooted in unspeakable tragedy.
At 36, he's never been in love, not even with the mother of his child. He believes himself incapable of a real relationship; break-ups had always been something he celebrated.
Children make him uncomfortable. He likes them well enough...at a distance. He's honestly afraid he'll break them.
He is a lonely man.
He throws himself into his work to help fill the emptiness he feels...and ultimately to keep others from suffering his same fate...though I won't delve deeper to avoid spoilers.
Once his heart is claimed, he discovers everything he thought about himself above is completely wrong.
Despite his outwardly shallow character, he, in fact, is fiercely loyal, and desperately longs for that deeper connection.
June 18, 2024
Dan Bradley: Character sketch
Dan Bradley is a simple man dealt a complicated hand in life.
Dan knows exactly who he is. His adoptive father Keith Bradley raised him well. He is honest, well mannered, hardworking, dependable, and devoted. He's also deeply wounded, his life tinged with tragedy and colored by one pivotal moment.
Having been raised in a modest environment to hide him from the dark forces who would seek to take his life, he equates middle class values with safety.
But, he, understandably, cannot forget the brutal murders of his mother and sister when he was 5 years old. He's motivated to seek, not just justice, but vengeance.
He's fiercely protective of his loved ones.
Dan knows exactly who he is. His adoptive father Keith Bradley raised him well. He is honest, well mannered, hardworking, dependable, and devoted. He's also deeply wounded, his life tinged with tragedy and colored by one pivotal moment.
Having been raised in a modest environment to hide him from the dark forces who would seek to take his life, he equates middle class values with safety.
But, he, understandably, cannot forget the brutal murders of his mother and sister when he was 5 years old. He's motivated to seek, not just justice, but vengeance.
He's fiercely protective of his loved ones.
June 16, 2024
Gavin Mahoney: Character sketch
Gavin stepped onto the page and changed everything.
Gavin Mahoney is older than his friend Dan Bradley and was instantaneously like his older brother. There is a reason for this, though...no spoilers, so, I'm not telling you that reason.
Gavin is broken. He suffers from debilitating headaches, sudden bursts of rage, deep depression, and hallucinations, both visual and auditory. And he hides it all. He doesn't believe in his own goodness, though it is clearly apparent to everyone else around him. He keeps his achievements to himself because he truly believes he doesn't deserve them.
He has a knack for getting suspects to talk that borders on the surreal. It appears that he just asks a question, and his target spills his guts. He's also adept at judging whether or not a person is lying to him based on biometric responses. He's a human lie detector, and his friends and co-workers trust his conclusions.
He is not always honest. And it is difficult to tell when he's lying because he is adept at
masking his emotions.
He is a man of great faith, though he had walked away from it. But as his story arc progresses, he feels the pull of the Church calling him back.
He's old fashioned. His manners are impeccable and influenced by his Abuelo. He carries a linen handkerchief. He stands when people, especially women, enter or leave the room.
He can be snarky and quick witted. He has a glib retort ready whenever he is insulted.
He's immensely intelligent, with an IQ somewhere between 140 and 160. He retains information and can spit out explanations on any number of topics in casual conversation. He speaks English, Spanish, Russian, French, Mandarin, and Dari.
He loves deeply and unconditionally.
Gavin Mahoney is older than his friend Dan Bradley and was instantaneously like his older brother. There is a reason for this, though...no spoilers, so, I'm not telling you that reason.
Gavin is broken. He suffers from debilitating headaches, sudden bursts of rage, deep depression, and hallucinations, both visual and auditory. And he hides it all. He doesn't believe in his own goodness, though it is clearly apparent to everyone else around him. He keeps his achievements to himself because he truly believes he doesn't deserve them.
He has a knack for getting suspects to talk that borders on the surreal. It appears that he just asks a question, and his target spills his guts. He's also adept at judging whether or not a person is lying to him based on biometric responses. He's a human lie detector, and his friends and co-workers trust his conclusions.
He is not always honest. And it is difficult to tell when he's lying because he is adept at
masking his emotions.
He is a man of great faith, though he had walked away from it. But as his story arc progresses, he feels the pull of the Church calling him back.
He's old fashioned. His manners are impeccable and influenced by his Abuelo. He carries a linen handkerchief. He stands when people, especially women, enter or leave the room.
He can be snarky and quick witted. He has a glib retort ready whenever he is insulted.
He's immensely intelligent, with an IQ somewhere between 140 and 160. He retains information and can spit out explanations on any number of topics in casual conversation. He speaks English, Spanish, Russian, French, Mandarin, and Dari.
He loves deeply and unconditionally.
