When I came up with the concept of pairing vices with their virtues, it was something I was excited to get started on. Opposites attracting offers so much material and opportunities for organic conflict to arise. It’s a romance writer’s catnip. At least it’s my catnip lol. 

I’m five books into the Love is Cure, Vol. 1 – Vices & Virtues series which is all about opposites attracting along with a few other tropes but pairing the vices with virtues is the core of this series, and soon it will have a new addition. 

Wrath, book six in the series, takes a very realistic approach to opposites attract. As with all the other vices and virtues, at the end of the stories, the virtues assist the characters who are self-sabotaging under their vices to reform, and they both get the bonus of love out of the deal. 

Wrath follows the same path when paired with patience. 

The two are opposites for a reason. Wrath often results in a lack of emotional regulation, while patience involves the ability to control one’s emotions and impulses. Wrath comes from a place of impatience. Patience offers a level of calm and understanding that wrath is unknowingly in search of. Pairing these opposites, especially with the characters of Lauryn James and Asher Truesdale, makes both the vice and virtues traits easy to understand and relate to. The way my FMC Lauryn transforms on the page is inspiring and has helped me fall in love with the concept of this series all over again.

Understanding Wrath

Wrath is more than anger. It’s a negative passion with a focus on vengeance. Vengeance in book six appears as my character choosing violence at the onset of anything that remotely appears to be threatening to her, whether that is physically or mentally, especially when she feels threatened by the opposite sex. Wrath also appears as my character, indirectly punishing herself for something that happened to her. Something she had nothing to do with causing. Those on the outside don’t know the turmoil Lauryn is going through. They only see the surface, the aftermath of what she’s been through, and judge her as such. They see the effect and don’t consider the cause, and this shapes her world, causing her to cocoon herself mentally, believing her life can never get better than it is. But that changes when she meets Asher.

The Art of Pairing Wrath and Patience

I find this book in the series to be one of the most significant because both the vice and virtue give the other purpose. Lauryn, who has been through a lot, believes she will never know a life she’d love. She’s looking for a reason to persevere and endure her reality. Asher enters Lauryn’s life at the right time. She’s at the age where life is evolving for her and the things she believes she should do at her age (falling in love, having a family, building a life) she has no interest in doing them. Lauryn believes the life she is living is all it will ever be. She wants to aspire for more but doesn’t think the possibility exists. Asher comes in like the dawn of a day and changes that. Patience serves as a counterbalance to wrath by promoting emotional stability, understanding, and an emotionally intelligent response to adversity leading to personal growth. And while wrath is considered a negative emotion because the emotion has destructive potential, its presence can cultivate patience in awareness through contrast, building resilience, and motivating change. Wrath may not directly promote patience, but the experiences and insights gained from grappling with wrathful emotions ultimately can cultivate a strong sense of patience. And these are all the things Asher is looking for when he meets Lauryn unexpectedly during one of the biggest changes in his life. 

Made for each other is shown so vividly between the pages of Wrath with Lauryn and Asher because of this.

This story was truly a pleasure to write. It was the happily ever after I looked forward to delivering. The way you will root for these two will have you creating a bond with them. I know I have. You’ll always remember them, I’m sure of it.

Wrath is available now for pre-order and is scheduled for release May 3^rd. Pre-order via the link below.

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Have you started the Love is Cure Series? Every book in the series is a standalone, so you can read it in whatever order you choose. My recommendation? Start with Pride. The characters in Pride will appear in Wrath.