The Promise by Brenda Joyce

Okay, I had actually read this book in the span of two days (the second being an overnighter that ended at 5:00 AM) sometime two weeks ago...I believe it was around the 18th.  I meant to write about it sooner but I've been swamped with stuff, mostly having to pack for my trip which was last weekend.



ANYWAY...here's what I have to say about it.  The hero and heroine (Alexi de Warenne & Elysse O'Neill, respectively) are cousins related by marriage.  Their fathers are Cliff (A Lady At Last) and Devlin (The Prize).  So it was interesting to see how the new generation fares after their parents find true love.

I'd first read about Ariella's story (A Dangerous Love) when it came out, and it mentioned that Alexi had married Elysse and then immediately left her at the altar afterwards.  I pictured him just literally walking out of the church and off to the side.  Boy, was I wrong.  Additionally, at the time I didn't realize that the Elysse he married was Devlin and Virginia's daughter, so I was quite surprised when I read The Promise.

What I want to talk about briefly is the development of Alexi and Ariella's characters after having read about them in their previous novels.  Alexi is the bastard son of a princess who had a fling with Cliff, and Ariella is the bastard daughter of a concubine who had a fling with Cliff.  They've got a younger half-sister named Dianna who you don't even hear about during The Promise, but she is first introduced in A Dangerous Love.  Alexi grew up to be like his dad Cliff, and his uncle Devlin, both seafaring men, so Ariella's used to it, and so is Elysse.

The first I heard about Elysse was...(I'm not sure which book but) when she was a little kid and Devlin and Virginia had bought her a doll from Paris.  Didn't give me much to see the development of her character until this book.

What kind of bothers me is Ariella in this book, compared to the Ariella in her book.  This book takes place in the span of time before and after she met Emilian (her husband).  Although it talks about how she prefers books and libraries, I originally took her for a serious girl...and then Ms. Joyce throws me for a loop when in "A Dangerous Love," Ariella is risk-taking and gets all enchanted and stuff when she sees Emilian's Gypsy family.  In "The Promise" she is very perky...that's actually the best word I could think of.  And...her attitude is quite girly.  This is weird.

Essentially the "promise" is about Alexi having sworn to protect Elysse, ever since they were children.  They've had crushes on each other for so long, but Elysse is such a flirt, which leads to her getting in trouble and he has to save her through marrying her to preserve her reputation.

It deals with...having accidentally killed a man and throwing him over the harbor in the dark of night.  Really?  Really?!  It's...different, but like, because they're the de Warenne's of course they won't get caught by the authorities.

Then, fast forward to six years later...the married couple hasn't consummated their marriage, like, EVER...and they haven't civilly communicated, but Alexi does the husbandly thing by giving her a monthly allowance.

Oy vey, and the moment they actually DO consummate their marriage...is really...really...dumb (on Alexi's part).  I'm not going to say anything, but it's ridiculous and somewhat entertaining.  I won't say it's funny, but Alexi's attitude the morning after is just plain dumb.

Well, this book isn't THE greatest, but it certainly at least receives a 4/5 rating from me.  That's being generous...it would have gotten a 3/5 rating, but considering it's a book that actually makes me tingly (a book has to be special for this to happen, even more so if it makes me cry will it get a 5/5 rating), I decided to give it 4 stars (especially since I love the other Brenda Joyce books I have so I'm quite biased).

So that's it for now, because I don't want to give out spoilers like I usually do.  Hopefully this review's actually good, because I want to move onto another book now.