Sin of a Woman

April 15, 2017
Pastors Raven Jones Black and Porsha Harrington may co-minister the New Vision Christian Center but there's no room for two at the top.Fans of Roby's (Copycat, 2017, etc.) bestselling Reverend Curtis Black series will rejoice at this new tale of women wrestling with temptation. After serving time for embezzling $100,000 from the Rev. Black himself, Raven married and divorced the reverend's son, Dillon. She subsequently made an unexpected alliance with Porsha, Dillon's former mistress, who fronted most of the money to start the women's mega-church. No stranger to creative financing, Raven has never repaid Porsha's seed money, nor has she repaid the money she stole years ago from a loan shark. Called to the pulpit by greed not God, both women are unlikely Christian role models, drawing hefty monthly salaries and indulging in steamy relationships outside the bonds of marriage. Tensions between Raven and Porsha escalate when Porsha announces that she will be delivering an inspirational message before Raven's sermon. Raven smiles but seethes. Hoping to turn the spotlight back on herself, Raven spontaneously decides to share her story of being raped by a prominent pastor years ago on Facebook Live. The ploy works, but as Porsha suspects, the story is a lie, and Raven's strong suggestion that the Rev. Black was her assailant sparks outrage from both Raven's ex-husband and her current boyfriend. Coincidentally, the loan shark is back on her doorstep demanding payment with exorbitant interest. Financially desperate, Raven again turns to criminal behavior. Meanwhile, Porsha tries to turn back to God and clean up her behavior, but Steve, her married boyfriend, might not let her go, and Dillion is pushing her to reignite their love affair. Less burdened with back stories than other books in her series, Roby's latest sizzles with scandal. A deliciously decadent beach read of temptation and the wages of sin.

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May 15, 2017
In the latest Curtis Black novel, following A Sinful Calling (2016), Raven has divorced Pastor Black's son, Dillon, and is now pastor of her own growing church, which she founded with Portia, one of the women with whom Dillon betrayed her. The dollars and membership are increasing, and Raven is hoping to develop a television show. But her jealousy over the attention Portia is getting provokes her into making a video in which she confesses that she was raped and hints that her attacker was Pastor Black. Her machinations cause the loan shark she once robbed to reenter her life, demanding a huge payoff. She embezzles funds and tries to blackmail Portia. As Raven descends, Portia starts listening to God and changing her sinful actions. Bad deeds always come into the light in Roby's engrossing and dramatic Black novels, and readers will enjoy the journeys of both women as well as Roby's skill in showing the effects of greed and redemption. Roby continues to please her fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

February 1, 2017

After her divorce from Dillon, Raven Black is doing better than ever--in part by imitating his bad ways. But there will be consequences. Next in the best-selling "Curtis Black" series--and note that the publisher has removed the "Reverend" from his name to give the series a broader, more ecumenical feel.

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