Susan Gable

STORY-LINE A PROMISE TO KEEP BY SUSAN GABLE:

Susan Gable's takes us back to join the Hawkins family in A Promise To Keep. Hayden, love 'em and leave 'em, Hawkins made a promise to his dying brother, Ian, to watch over his son Nick and Nick's mother Ronni. Today proved he had not done a very good job. Nick's in those awful teen years of rebellion; given a chance, rather than going to jail, Hayden agrees to Ronni's suggestion to the Judge to mentor Nick during his probationary period. Feeling show more he has let Ian down, Hayden agrees. However, that does not ease the hard feelings he has for Ronni and her dissertation of a dying Ian. Stirring up old hurts, wounds, and desires, this situation will be a power keg. My romance book review of A Promise To Keep follows.

CHARACTERS, PLOTTING, DEVELOPMENT:

First, let me say how much I like the Hawkins family and the women they love. Strong, independent, and trust-worthy, the men of the family will make your heart pound and admiration for the women. A strong family with every day problems, they're not a fairy tale family, but realistic with dynamics, issues, and drama. Ex-Marine Hayden,now a high school teacher, faces a situation where he would rather dance with devil than make nice with Ronni. Ronnie's the girl he once wanted before brother Ian stepped in.

Watching Hayden come to terms with his feelings and issues gives the reader a look into the real Hayden. Through counseling Nick, Hayden comes to recognize the good in Ronni and the situations she faced. Nick is holding a hurtful secret close, protecting his mom. Seeing Nick grow through this story was wonderful; he's not a bad kid just a typical teenager; full of hormones and mouth. I saw myself in some of his attitudes. Ronni, as well, has issues and revelations to face.

Watching Ronni struggle with her permanent vegetative state husband, Scott, who came back from the Iraq war broken, made my heart bled for her. His escapades overseas were a betrayal, the struggle to raise a teenager, and earn a living, overwhelming to Ronni. I wondered if I could have been as kind and gentle as she was after the things he had done. Hayden noticed Ronni and Nick shut down when to came to talking about Scott; something's up with this shut down. Bringing Ronni back into the family, would not be easy, however, Hayden set his mind to keeping his promise to Ian. Love's in the air.

To reduce the intense emotions of the serious side of this book, Gable included laughter; I thought Hayden's problems with his spandex Captain Chemo suit so funny. Then, the family name for him was also hilarious; want everyone to know some bit of news, just tell Hayden. Oh, and when Nick...no you will have to read the book. In concluding my romance book review of A Promise To Keep, I found a wonderful romance with pacing in line with the length of the book, it did not lag or bog down. Gable included several plot lines, as well as, well-developed characters. This book has an intense love scene, which I did not find offensive. A Promise To Keep has a lot of heartache but also a lot of love; you will not regret buying this book.
A PROMISE TO KEEP RECOMMENDATION: STARS 4 show less

The Family Plan is a great combination of highly-unlikely events, even more so than usual for Mills & Boon, in very much the modern world (there's even reference to Facebook!). We have IVF babies, a rare blood disorder that requires a bone marrow match; and a rare complication of pregnancy that requires the mother to spend the last 3 months in bed to ensure the second baby stays in the womb to term. This of course presents at just the right time for the donor father to provide a home and show more give the parents-through-technology a chance to get to know each other in person.

What I found interesting was the very limited discussion, from anyone in the story, of the moral questions around the use of IVF and screening technology to provide a bone marrow match: is it ok to create a sibling "just" to save the first child? Is it ok to screen and discard the embryos that won't help? For Amelia, the mother in this book, the answer is clearly yes. I think there's about 2 paragraphs where the possibility people disagree with her is raised, and promptly disposed of. I happen to agree with Amelia, but I can see the grey areas and I've had fairly intense discussions with people on the morality of creating "saviour siblings"; I'm surprised that in the US, of all places, there is simply no discussion of the parallels between the morning-after pill and discarding the embryos that don't match.

The author does pull off telling this story convincingly and giving a real sense of the emotional roller-coasters involved in parenting a very ill teenager, and carrying a risky pregnancy. The pregnancy complications mean that the romance developed over the course of the book is fairly unphysical, but I don't think this detracts from the intimacy or the attraction developed. I noted in passing that the book handles consent very well: she says "let go of me", he lets go immediately.

http://rmc28.dreamwidth.org/414174.html show less

Very readable book. The heroine had a rough upbringing and a rough recent life. The hero wants children and but doesn't want to get remarried in order to have them. So they get together on a surrogacy. I liked the down on her luck heroine and the kind but rather dim hero. After all he should have figured out that he really wanted her sooner. The brother that didn't approve was a nice touch and I really liked the parole officer. The ending was pretty great and the hero really came through for show more her. show less

Not too bad, as series romances go. Likeable and engaging main characters, though, oddly, I found myself liking the supporting cast more than the primaries. Heart-tugging storyline with sick daughter Jordan, and the medical crisis for Amelia leads to a certain lack of the traditional physical contact that's a staple for this type of novel.

But, overall, a pleasant enough read...and one that I both started and finished all in the same evening.