Kimberla Lawson Roby’s Thoughts on Concluding Her Reverend Curtis Black Series
“Ending my Reverend Curtis Black series is much more of a bittersweet moment than I expected it would be. Partly, because I will miss writing about a family that became a huge part of my life and writing career, and partly because I will truly miss hearing all the wonderful comments from the best readers in the world about Reverend Curtis Black, Charlotte Black and the rest of the characters.
It is also very hard to believe that the series began eighteen years ago—in January 2000 to be exact—with the first title in the series, Casting the First Stone. And while it was never my plan to write a series based on any of my first three books, it wasn’t long before readers nationwide began asking me when I would be writing a sequel about “Curtis.” Still, I went on to write my fourth and fifth books, and it wasn’t until then that I finally decided to write my sixth novel and second book in the series, Too Much of a Good Thing.
Now, on July 31, 2018, the fifteenth and final title, Better Late Than Never, will be released. To be honest, I never believed I would write more than fifteen to twenty books in the series, but once Curtis’s children grew up and I was able to write about their adult lives, it was then that I began preparing for the end. More important, my plan had always been to bring Reverend Curtis Black full circle. In Casting the First Stone, he was a man consumed with money, power and women, but in Better Late Than Never, he is genuinely a true man of God, a faithful husband, and a great father. He is proof that even the worst of people can change for the better if they choose to, and for me, this is one of the most important messages portrayed in the series as a whole. There are also messages of forgiveness and redemption, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to write about real-life issues. It has been a blessing to write stories that so many of my readers can relate to.”
—Kimberla Lawson Roby (May 24, 2018), #6 All-Time AALBC Bestselling Author
