Book review - Promises to Keep

About the Book: Successful photographer Callie Perry thinks she has a pretty perfect life, although it may not be everyone's idea of happiness: a great job, lots of time with her daughters, but a workaholic husband. She couldn't be more unlike Steffi, her younger sister, who has never held down a job - or a boyfriend - for more than six months. Walter and Honor, their divorced and perpetually feuding parents, have almost given up hope that Steffi will ever learn what it is to be responsible ... until they all receive a shocking email that changes their lives forever and brings them together one extraordinary summer in Main.

Promises to Keep is about the hard choices we sometimes have to make, about having to be your parents' child long after you've grown up - and about the enduring nature of love.

My thoughts: I really enjoyed this book. I found the characters to be thoroughly believable and the plot to be not only entertaining, but also thought-provoking. Though dealing with several serious subject matters, it was also light-hearted and downright funny at times. I loved seeing how the characters grew throughout their life experiences, both personally and in their relationships with each other, in believable and realistic ways.

Unlike the other books I have reviewed on my blog thus far, this book is not Christian fiction, however, it is very tastefully written (ie nothing explicit) and I have no hesitation in recommending it to Christian adult readers.

However, because I am a Christian reader, I found that the deep issues of the story and even the relationships between the characters (though touchingly portrayed, developed and worked through) felt somewhat superficial, empty and unsatisfactory. This was not at all due to a deficiency in the writing (on the contrary it was very well-written), but due to a difference in worldview.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book and would definitely recommend it.

Jane Green's website

Thank you to Penguin Group for providing me with my complimentary review copy.