The Righteous and the Wicked Tour Stop!

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.

I just finished Righteous and The Wicked and I loved it!  I can honestly say that this is one of my top reads and I can't see anything topping it for a long time. Think of a book that you loved. I can tell you that this is better!  You think I'm to confident in that assessment?  I think not and the only way to know for sure is.......to read it!
I'm going to try a stay spoiler free because I want you to be surprised so here I go
 
Emma is going through the motions of her life. Waking up, going to work, cooking dinner for one, looking into a box that she had saved, goes to sleep and then wakes up to start all over again. To her she is not feeling anything, hasn't for a long time. Her friends really try to get her to live a little but why should she?  Here is where we get a glimpse of Eric. One chance meeting and that is it for her. Her heart starts to really beat for the first time in a long while. On the other hand Eric really doesn't notice her but when he does he doesn't want to acknowledge anything. Wants to live his life, keep his secrets buried, and do the job he came there for and then go to another town. But what happens when desire cannot be denied and the hunger for each other keeps building?  You will have to read and see.
 
Wow, Eric. What to say, what to say. At first I just couldn't believe he was the way he was (You will understand) but I ended up changing my opinion quickly to being entranced by him in a disturbing way. Then here is the kicker....then came understand to just being downright in freaking love and it all happened in a heartbeat. I'm just awed really.
Emma, I just loved her. She is such a fighter and you feel nothing but compassion for her and what she has been through. And to say that I want nothing but the best for her is an understatement. I want rainbows, unicorns, roses, anything to just brighten her day. Hell, her life. Honestly when she meets Eric it was a blessing in disguise because she was self destructing. No drugs, or alcohol of that nature but damn there are other ways for that to happen too I can tell you though that the two of them just make things easier for each other even though there are so many secrets that are waist out in the open
or are buried deep. To me even though there were so many things against them they needed each other to heal.
 
I loved the religious aspect of this. You do not see this in a lot of stories but it was beautifully written here. Hence the title, it was really about being righteous and wicked.  It's also about forgiveness and opening your heart to love and be loved in return.
 
You have to read this. I can honestly say with the most certainty that you will regret this if you do not read it. This story was unlike anything that I had read before. It was gripping. It had some mystery. Most importantly for me it had second chances. You will not be able to put this down.

This is a different twist on a romance story and I found it quite interesting. Although I will admit that I've been reading more paranormal books lately and when I started this book (not reading the synopsis) I thought it was paranormal until I realized that it was just a story about addiction. 

The chemistry between Emma and Eric was pretty good although I had some issues with the third person POV sometimes. Being Catholic, I related to Emma and her beliefs, but found that she drove me crazy sometimes. The constant reference to her faith was a bit much to me; I think we got the point without it needing to be directly mentioned. 

I will say that the description of Eric's addiction and the fulfillment of that addiction, should we say, was quite good and steamy. Overall good just little things here and there that bothered me and lost a star ultimately.

I found this book confusing, interesting and had a few suspenseful moments.  The plot idea was what interested me in this book from the blurb, as I read it I still felt that it was a very cleaver plot, great story telling in the writing style but the two things I had issues with were the character development and it felt like the story jumped from scene to scene, never giving me a consistent flow as I was reading.  It felt more like diary entries most of the time.  This could be just my taste in books, and by no means would I say it was distracting enough not to recommend the book to other readers, it is well worth the read.

This is really a ying and yang kind of relationship, where Eric Wilder is a sexy man with dark demons and addictions that need to be fed; he is drawn to the sorrowful and depressed, yet religious and righteous Emma Santori.  She is suffering from a loss and in hopes that part of her past will come back to reclaim her.  With a box of memories that she keeps close to her, she goes through life working and doing domestic things, just waiting for her happiness to find her once again. 

Eric is doing his "stop drop and roll" routine in building a house next to Emma only to sell it and move on to another location.  While he finds women to feed his addiction, nothing is meant to last.  He has two sides to him, the charming Eric and the self-driven Storm that usually ends up chipping a bit more of his sanity away each time the storm happens. 

While Eric is trying to figure out how to tame desire and life, Emma is trying to learn how to become alive and daring.  When these two finally find each other on a stormy night, the story could go two different ways, it could be the answer to their prayers, or it could destroy both of them.  I will offer that some of her ideas on how to help Eric added to my confusion, seemed counterproductive to his addiction, but I guess it worked out for the best.

There are several times that Emma relies on her Catholic religion and was advised to deal with her weakness to Eric with prayer, but she ends up trusting her heart and emotions, but If you have an issue with religion then be prepared there are some in this book. 

I would recommend this book to readers even though it isn’t one that will stay with me for a long time. I never could completely connect with the characters, but I think that was due to the jumping from scene to scene and the POV style. It could also be due to the fact both characters had massive walls around them, and maybe it was something even the reader couldn’t totally break through. I was left more confused during the book than entertained but by the end of the story it began making more sense to me.    

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

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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.

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