Kay M. (maydayzee) reviewed A Promise to Love (Michigan Northwoods, Bk 3) on + 754 more book reviews
This is an exciting and skillfully written book! A Promise to Love begins with a tragedy and the action rolls on through the rest of the book. There are numerous twists and turns, so something of importance happens with each new scene.
The main characters sidle off the page and into your heart and mind. Ingrid is a wonderful, caring and strong woman, who depends on her faith to carry her through life. I particularly enjoy the way love comes as naturally to her as smiling. Of course, she isnt perfect, which makes her even more endearing. Joshua, the ex-military man and captain, is the kind of flawed hero that readers love to cheer on. His emotion and loyalty sometimes interfere with his good sense. Several interesting, secondary characters, with strong personalities or distinctive quirks, also add richness to the story.
I love the historical aspects to this book and how the author was able to weave history around and through her story. A Promise to Love is a book hard to put down, before the last page is turned. It is an extraordinarily good, historical fiction novel.
The main characters sidle off the page and into your heart and mind. Ingrid is a wonderful, caring and strong woman, who depends on her faith to carry her through life. I particularly enjoy the way love comes as naturally to her as smiling. Of course, she isnt perfect, which makes her even more endearing. Joshua, the ex-military man and captain, is the kind of flawed hero that readers love to cheer on. His emotion and loyalty sometimes interfere with his good sense. Several interesting, secondary characters, with strong personalities or distinctive quirks, also add richness to the story.
I love the historical aspects to this book and how the author was able to weave history around and through her story. A Promise to Love is a book hard to put down, before the last page is turned. It is an extraordinarily good, historical fiction novel.
Ingrid Larsen, a young Swedish immigrant, arrives in Michigan to meet her brother. When her brother doesn't show she decides to take the job of house keeper for George and Millicent (the store owner and his wife). Joshua Hunter stops by to pay a bill and witnesses Millicent's cruel behavior toward Ingrid. He shows kindness to her and she is immediately drawn to him. After that, Ingrid fleas from Millicent and heads for her friend Hazel's house. Hazel informs her that Joshua is newly widowed and is in danger of losing his children due to allegations by his mother-in-law. In a desperate moment, Ingrid proposes marriage to Joshua. Marriage would solve both their problems. It would give Ingrid a home and Joshua would have help raising the children. But can a marriage built out of desperation ever be a real marriage? She loves her new family and wins the hearts of the children right away, but will she ever win the heart of her husband?
I am one who gravitates toward 'marriage of convenience' stories, which made A Promise to Love one that I certainly wanted to read. What I found was a complex, multilayered story, filled with real-life characters dealing with real-life situations of that time period. I loved the fact that many of the situations in the story were based on actual historical accounts and people. One being the author's grandmother. For me, that just added a extra richness to the story. One surprise to me was learning the secret that Joshua's first wife and Millicent kept. What's the secret? You'll have to read the book to find out. Ingrid is a woman that I really admired. She was smart, savvy and truly trying to be all God wanted her to be. She lived out 1 Corinthians 13 and I found myself thinking I'd like to be more like her. Joshua was a man that I liked getting to know. He was a good man but sometimes I wanted to knock some sense into him for the way he acted. But I think that's what made him flesh-and-blood real to me. This was a story that was difficult to put down once I started reading it. When I did have to put it down, I found myself anxious to pick it back up again. If you're like me and enjoy 'marriage of convenience' stories then I definitely recommend this one. A Promise to Love is the promise of a great story!
Paperback: 332 pages
Publisher: Revell; Original edition (October 1, 2012)
ISBN-10: 0800721179
ISBN-13: 978-0800721176
*This complimentary copy was provided by Revell through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
I am one who gravitates toward 'marriage of convenience' stories, which made A Promise to Love one that I certainly wanted to read. What I found was a complex, multilayered story, filled with real-life characters dealing with real-life situations of that time period. I loved the fact that many of the situations in the story were based on actual historical accounts and people. One being the author's grandmother. For me, that just added a extra richness to the story. One surprise to me was learning the secret that Joshua's first wife and Millicent kept. What's the secret? You'll have to read the book to find out. Ingrid is a woman that I really admired. She was smart, savvy and truly trying to be all God wanted her to be. She lived out 1 Corinthians 13 and I found myself thinking I'd like to be more like her. Joshua was a man that I liked getting to know. He was a good man but sometimes I wanted to knock some sense into him for the way he acted. But I think that's what made him flesh-and-blood real to me. This was a story that was difficult to put down once I started reading it. When I did have to put it down, I found myself anxious to pick it back up again. If you're like me and enjoy 'marriage of convenience' stories then I definitely recommend this one. A Promise to Love is the promise of a great story!
Paperback: 332 pages
Publisher: Revell; Original edition (October 1, 2012)
ISBN-10: 0800721179
ISBN-13: 978-0800721176
*This complimentary copy was provided by Revell through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
Mary N. (maggysue) reviewed A Promise to Love (Michigan Northwoods, Bk 3) on + 811 more book reviews
I loved this book! Great story of a feisty heroine who marries a man she doesn't know and brings his sad, distressed family back to life. Also, the great fire of 1871 that occurred in Michigan is featured in the interesting and exciting historical novel. Highly recommended!
Charity L. (kingsdaughter1611) -
Not often you read a book and end up crying halfway through while you are laughing at the same time. Yet that is exactly what happened during my reading of A Promise to Love by Serena Miller. This is another hit from an author who knows how to draw her readers into the characters lives.
Serena is an author I have kept an eye out for after reading her other novel, The Measure of Katie Calloway. I really enjoyed that book so I was wondering how this one would be. And I had no need to be worried. This is a book that draws you in and I felt like Ingrid, Joshua and the wonderful passel of children were all neighbors.
This book features Ingrid as the heroine. She is quite a character and I fell in love with her from the beginning. Her intrepid understanding of the english language and trying to fit in makes you ache for her. And yet she has the strength to propose to a man! Joshua is the man who she proposes to and he accepts. But you find out he is still quite in love with his first wife, Diantha. So it is not your regular marriage. There is one part that I just started crying. Ingrid is trying to hard to fix things up and be a good wife and mother. And Joshua comes in and yells at her over something, calling her a name at the same time. And she just gets up and leaves. Now at this point I also started laughing because Joshua's little girl starts telling him that Ingrid can't leave because she makes good biscuits. :)
A very good novel with some good dialogue and well written characters. Loved it!!
Available October 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.
Serena is an author I have kept an eye out for after reading her other novel, The Measure of Katie Calloway. I really enjoyed that book so I was wondering how this one would be. And I had no need to be worried. This is a book that draws you in and I felt like Ingrid, Joshua and the wonderful passel of children were all neighbors.
This book features Ingrid as the heroine. She is quite a character and I fell in love with her from the beginning. Her intrepid understanding of the english language and trying to fit in makes you ache for her. And yet she has the strength to propose to a man! Joshua is the man who she proposes to and he accepts. But you find out he is still quite in love with his first wife, Diantha. So it is not your regular marriage. There is one part that I just started crying. Ingrid is trying to hard to fix things up and be a good wife and mother. And Joshua comes in and yells at her over something, calling her a name at the same time. And she just gets up and leaves. Now at this point I also started laughing because Joshua's little girl starts telling him that Ingrid can't leave because she makes good biscuits. :)
A very good novel with some good dialogue and well written characters. Loved it!!
Available October 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.
