3.5 stars. The characters deserve a much higher rating but the plot frustrated me too much to rate it higher. Full review:I had such high hopes for this book but unfortunately I was disappointed. There was too much bad luck, bad decisions, and bad circumstances for the characters and their story to feel real to me. I couldn’t get lost in it because in building the angst to such an extreme level, it made the book too fictional, if that makes any sense.I started out loving Deacon’s unconditional love for Crick, but as the MCs got older the feelings Deacon felt at trying to give Crick everything he deserves and still run the ranch and overcome the loss of his father and save Crick’s siblings just kept building on; and through all this he was handling it with the maturity and POV of the young man we met at the beginning of the book. Granted, Deacon is still young himself but it just seemed like only Crick matured and acquired perspective while Deacon lived with blinders on. The way things were handled about the army enlistment, the alcoholism, taking Benny in, and fighting Bob and the narrow minded townies were all very heroic, but so frustrating to a pragmatic reader like me. So I supposed the bottom line is that the angst in this book gave me anxiety rather that the “feels” and therefore I couldn’t quite enjoy it.I’m not discouraged from reading the rest of the series though because it is Amy Lane after all… Some times you find a book that touches your heart in so many different ways that single words cannot describe it. This book is one of those to me. This book is based on deacon and crick and the development and growth of their relationship.And i can seriously say i loved it and would recommend it. It was well written and no blanks were left. I love the fact that the characters were made human so realistic that they could be people who could actually live somewhere in this planet. I also liked the way their relationship was made to progress and that it was very clear that this people could actually have a forever even though they weren't perfect in anyway (doing dumb, crazy things. Hehe) but could touch hour hearts, in many ways.
What do You think about Promesse Mantenute (2013)?
Really good book, still a lot of angst. I enjoyed the narrator as well.
—Shanzay
