A man who thrives on wickedness and counts on forgiveness, Curtis Black proclaims to his wife, Charlotte, that he will sin no more. He's finally learned his lesson about straying, and he's got the repercussions of his past misdeeds to remind him. First there's his new baby daughter, Curtina, and her mother, Tabitha, Curtis's former mistress, who demands that the preacher be a part of their lives--or else! Then the interim pastor who took over while Curtis was on a book tour threatens to blackmail Curtis if he tries to push him out of the pulpit. But Curtis isn't the only one who has transgressed. In their darkest moments, husband and wife must ultimately work together to save their family, their marriage, and their souls. Publishers Weekly Flawed Rev. Curtis Black returns in Roby's latest melodrama (following Love and Lies). The repentant, 46-year-old Curtis has finally made amends with his 31-year-old wife, Charlotte: she's forgiven him for his five-year affair with Tabitha, but forbids him from seeing Tabitha or the infant daughter he fathered with her. An enraged Tabitha harasses Curtis, stalks Charlotte around their hometown of Mitchell, Ill., and threatens to go public. Haunted by her own daughter's death and determined to keep her husband's secrets, Charlotte decides to take matters into her own hands. Meanwhile, interim pastor Rev. Tolson, who knows a thing or two about Curtis's business, is smarting from his loss of power now that Curtis has returned to the pulpit from a book tour and speaking engagements. And Curtis and Charlotte risk losing their 13-year-old son, Matthew, after David, the man they believe is Matthew's biological dad, decides to seek full custody. Roby has got smalltown church politics down, but spends more time on stiffly repeated backstory and hollow finger-wagging than on plot, leading to a hurried, undermotivated denouement. (Jan.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information