Romance Book Reviews
Page Two of TwoThe Promise by Dee Davis
Dorchester, January, 2002Paperback, 194 pages
ISBN: 0505524759
Subgenre: Time Travel
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
Cara Reynolds' life was shattered on her
sixteenth birthday when her parents were
killed in a car accident, as they drove
to a favorite restaurant for a birthday celebration. Cara
herself barely survived the accident. She wouldn't
have, if not for Michael Macpherson who finds her in
the blizzard and
promises to take care of her. But in the morning, Michael
is gone. Her family and doctors convince her that he was
a hallucination, but Cara cannot forget him. An artist,
she captures him and the place where they met, the Promise
silver mine in Colorado, in her paintings. When Michael
shows up again years later, pursued by an assassin,
the pair realize that they are separated in time: he lives in the
past and she lives in the present. Bonded somehow by
the silver mine where they met and the promises they exchanged,
the pair must overcome the restrictions of time itself in order
to be together and to change a terrible wrong from the past.
The Promise is a moving and sweet love story in which the power of love and a promise can change history itself. Time travel romances are tricky things, but Dee Davis is up to the challenge. The story is told in alternating points of view, which are all happening at the same time; this style works quite well. With a well-drawn cast of secondary characters and a vivid sense of place, The Promise is a gift for those who love a moving and powerful love story, with a touch of the supernatural.
Safe Harbor by Luanne Rice
Bantam, February, 2002Hardcover, 337 pages
ISBN: 0553802186
Subgenre: Contemporary
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
Painter Dana Underhill returns home
to Connecticut after the untimely death of
her sister and brother-in-law in a sailing accident.
Dana returns to the town of Black Hall for a
showing of her work, and to take her two
nieces back to France to live with her.
At the gallery showing, she runs into Yale
professor Sam Trevor, whom she and her sister
Lily taught to sail when Sam was just a boy.
Sam has been in love with Dana all these years,
but Dana only sees him as a young boy learning to sail.
But Sam sticks by Dana as she determines to investigate
the so-called accident which killed her sister, who
was an excellent sailor and swimmer. She must also
deal with her two nieces, Allie and Quinn. Quinn is
a 12 year-old, cigarette-smoking nightmare who
gives Dana quite a bit of trouble.
Luanne Rice excels at exploring the intricate bonds of family, and her latest work is no exception. An in-depth examination of the bonds of sisterhood of two generations, the book also provides a sweet and moving romance between Dana and the adoring Sam. Readers of Firefly Beach will also enjoy seeing some familiar faces.
Romance Book Reviews
Page One | Page Two
Return to the April 2002 issue of The IWJ.
More from Writers Write