Date Published: June 2011
ISBN: 978-0-425-24107-3
Trade Paperback
Romance
Reviewed by Angie
Review Copy Provided by Publisher
Six award winning authors bring to the table tales of true love and secrets. They bring the past to light in order to help six people find true love and happiness with the mates they deserve.
Shelter From The Storm by Lori Foster (3.5 Stars)
Sabrina Downey’s mother left when she was four and she was raised by a drug addicted father who sold her out for a drug fix. When during a storm one night her father died of an overdose, a neighbor family took her in and taught her what love should be like. Part of her salvation came in the form of Roy Pilar the son of the parents who gave her a home when she became orphaned. Roy has always loved Sabrina and hopes someday she will realize they can be more than friends.
Sabrina and Roy are both great characters in this short story. Ms. Foster brings them to light with clarity that makes the reader want the best for them both. The short story is filled with emotion and drama that make the reader want more. As the story opens with Sabrina running from her apartment to Roy’s directly across the hall, her terror comes from the pages into readers hearts making them want her to feel safe and secure – forever. Both Sabrina and Roy have rewarding careers taking care of others and are a perfect match together.
Take Me Home by Erin McCarthy (4 Stars)
Sara Parker has screwed up her life and has found herself pregnant and unsure of who the father is after having two one night stands back to back. Having run from her hometown to the East coast to attend nursing school she is now coming home to her best friend Travis to decide what her future holds. Travis has always loved Sara, her coming home to him just makes him realize he is her future and he must lead her into his bed and heart forever.
Sara is a young woman who readers will fall in love with when they realize she needs to find herself and what she was running from when she left home to attend college – to make herself better. Travis is a strong hero with his own home and life – he proves himself to be a great man when he is willing to take on another man’s unborn child to make the woman he loves his forever. The emotions come off the page in this short story and will leave readers wanting more.
Razor’s Edge by Sylvia Day (4 Stars)
Jack Killigrew is a special ops agent who has been in love with his best friend’s wife for some time. His friend Steve once asked him to take care of his wife, if he was ever gone, yet neither expected him to have to take him up on that promise. Steve was killed in a car accident leaving Rachel and their young son Riley alone. Jack has not come “home” in two years since the accident knowing he wants more than Rachel should be willing to give out of their relationship. He has taken care of his friend’s widow and his godson from afar with phone calls, photos, and gifts yet has not come face to face with them once. Coming home for Riley’s birthday party he finds Rachel has grown independent – and is ready for his love.
Jack is a strong man who thinks he knows what is best for himself and the woman he loves. As he gets to know the woman Rachel has grown into, he finds himself more and more drawn to a woman he has loved from afar. When he finds out her in-laws approve of him as a suitable lover, and his godson hopes they get together, he lets down his guard and begins a relationship that is well worth a novella. Both Jack and Rachel deserve a story of their own, I would love to see both of them in a full length tale.
Midnight Rendezvous by Jamie Denton (4.5 Stars)
Burnett Dupree has been playwright whose last play bombed after just one night on Broadway. He has come home to New Orleans sober and ready to write. He finds his muse when he watches his landlady dive into her pool nude night after night after midnight. Maya Pomeroy has spent the last two years hiding in her house after a bad car accident has left her scared for life. She doesn’t feel anyone could love her and yet Burnett seems interested.
This is one of the best novellas in this book in my opinion. The emotional and physical scars by both Burnett and Maya will horrify the reader and yet leave them rooting for happiness for both. They both have rewarding careers that have been put on hold for different reasons, and as they come together realize their careers are changing and their relationship needs are merging. As these two work out their new relationship, they come across the pages in ways that will leave readers wanting more.
Dime Store Cowboy by Kate Douglas (3.5 Stars)
Betsy Mae Twigg has come home again after being physically abused by her husband. When she returns home her brother welcomes her with open arms, but leaves her in charge of their dude ranch for two weeks while he and he wife go off on a much needed vacation. Mark Connor has run west to find himself. A New York Editor he realized he was growing older yet has never found meaning in his life. He knows something is missing and goes off to search for happiness.
Mark is one of my favorite hero’s in this entire book. He comes from a high class and realizes he is living life large. He wants more from life and goes to find out. What he does not expect is Betsy Mae to hold the key to his happiness. When he realizes she thinks he is going back to the city, he bares his soul to her – and finds true love. A man who knows his way around a woman’s body, admits to reading romance novels, yet can do the work of a farm hand – what more could a woman want?
Life in the Past Lane by Kathy Love (4 Stars)
Rocco Vincente is returning to the hometown he never wanted to revisit for a writing assignment he does not want to complete. A famous columnist, his editor thinks it would be good for the single writer to show his past and give himself some depth. When he gets to the bed and breakfast that will be his home for the next two nights he finds a high school friend Franny Arsenault that he had forgotten.
Franny is a great heroine who has never gotten over the bad boy from high school that caught her eye, yet was unattainable. While she is slightly star struck by the hometown hero who made his past as an orphan a stepping stone to success, she remembers the boy he was, and wants to find out if the same qualities are there in the man she hopes he is. When he goes home, she is heartbroken, but his return to her B&B gives both of them hope of a future together.
THE PROMISE OF LOVE was a great summer vacation read. Light hearted and yet emotionally satisfying each of these six stories made me smile and want more. I would have loved a more indepth look into the lives of all of the characters involved. As a reader I am not a fan of novellas, they always leave me wanting more, but this did not disappoint me. Each of these stories would be great fleshed out into a full length book, and I hope at least one of these talented woman take their story and let it grow.
This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.
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