REVIEW & GIVEAWAY: THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED by April Emerson

Available April 10th from The Writer's Coffee Shop

The winning entrant from the TWCS Library Making of a Masterpiece Competition
 

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The Summary:

Small moments can seem insignificant until they change the course of a life forever. The sound of a bulldozer. A chance meeting at a gas station. A gust of wind through a chime. Benign events become something more when viewed through the lens of fate.

Emma Santori is a prisoner of tragic memories. Locked in a spiral of depression, she leads a desolate and empty life, trapped in her decrepit home. Rooted in routine, she’s numb and vacant. As a lonely Catholic school teacher, her only joy comes from her young students. One Saturday morning, her isolation is infiltrated by a mysterious architect building a home beside hers.

That man is Eric Wilder and he’s keeping a secret that’s destroying his life. Filled with guilt and self-loathing, he’s forced to move often. He chooses the small northeastern town of Pine Lake as his latest refuge, and hopes to make a successful attempt at starting his life over. As always, he’s unable to make that happen.

That all changes when he meets Emma.

She finds herself drawn to Eric when she accidentally bumps into him, but Eric’s unfazed by their first meeting. When a gust of wind brings these two people together once again, Emma discovers Eric’s secret. She’s forced to battle between her Catholic faith and her desire for this stranger.

Their attraction is intense and they soon discover they’re each lonely and longing for what the other has to offer. As their friendship blossoms, Emma realizes her passion and lust for Eric are the remedy to her depression. Eric discovers his feelings for Emma are the only antidote to his secret burden. 

They begin an erotic journey, which leads these beautifully broken people to discover that love can be both righteous and wicked.

Introducing April Emerson

April Emerson grew up in rural upstate New York, and moved to New York City after graduating from college with a degree in Literature. As a nature lover, living in the city was a culture shock, but she soon began to enjoy being surrounded by so much energy. Submerged in perpetual crowds, April developed a fondness for people-watching, which inspired her to start writing. Drawn to both the light and dark of humanity, she strives to tell sexy and romantic stories with exquisitely complex characters. When she isn’t writing, she loves listening to music or reading a good book, with a glass of wine.

Connect with April on 

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Erin's Review:

The Righteous and the Wicked is the perfect title for this book. Emma is pristine. She's pure. She's righteous. Eric is dark. Eric is sinful. Eric is wicked. The contrast between these two characters could not be more clear. Until the lines start to blur a bit. 

For Emma it is a crisis of faith. How can she think these thoughts about an almost perfect stranger and still remain true to her faith? Eric battles his own inner demon and Emma is the light can bring him out of the darkness. The more he is around her, the more he wants to do good in his life. The demon remains at bay. For Emma, lust is just awakening. But can she trust her heart again or will it be shattered in to pieces by the one man she desires most?

 I adore Emma. She appears so fragile but she is much tougher than she looks. Her friends are something else too, almost polar opposites of her and it's a good balance. Reading about her crisis with her faith is something many struggle with every day. How far can she go before she compromises her beliefs? How does her faith fit in to er feelings and how can she manage them? 

 Eric is something else entirely. Stormy eyes, as Emma calls him, is dark and cares nothing about the person he is with. He seeks his own satisfaction. When the beast is quelled in to silence, Eric is a typical love 'em and leave 'em type of bachelor. The worst kind of man for a woman like Emma. Their journey isn't a bed of roses. There were times I wanted to punch Eric so hard his head would spin. He's a jerk, a player, but as the story unfolds,you see a tender side to him. A giving side. Dare I say, a loving side. 

This isn't your typical bad boy meets good girl story. It is so much more than that. Very few writers can take a male lead that is such a jerk and have you cheering for him at the end but April Emerson manages to be one such writer! I cannot wait to see what else she has in store for us!