“Courtland Murray is learning to love herself after the bad experiences she had with her ex-boyfriend, Allen Benson. She’s looking forward to college but first she has to get through her senior year and Allen and his friends aren’t making it easy. The new guy, Aiden Calhoun, has got her back and he also has feelings for her. But Courtland is afraid to love another guy after her last relationship. Aiden shares her beliefs when it comes to waiting until marriage to have sex and he seems to be a better guy than Allen, but can Courtland really trust him or will becoming involved with this fine guy bring more heartache?
I’m always keeping an eye out for the next Kimani Tru book. This beautiful cover really got my attention and when I read the words ‘Worth-the-Wait Club’ and ‘purity ball’ in the book’s summary I knew this was a story I’d be interested in. I didn’t realize The Promise was a sequel until after I purchased it. The author did include a lot of information from the first book and that was helpful because even though I haven’t read The Pledge, now I have a pretty good idea what happened in the story.
I liked Courtland, but I wasn’t happy with her when she disobeyed her parents. I liked Aiden and it was very nice to see a teenage guy who was a virgin and wasn’t ashamed to admit it because he knew there was nothing shameful about virginity. Bree had to deal with one difficult situation after the next, poor girl. Nathanial made a decision that was honorable but it was a choice this young man was nowhere near ready to make. And Allen Benson –oh my goodness, I don’t know what to say about him.
There are only sixteen chapters in this book and they are long chapters – some over twenty pages. A story with thirty some short chapters vs. a story with sixteen long chapters – I’d choose the former any day, but that’s just me; books that don’t have lengthy chapters seem to move along better. I expected The Promise to focus mainly on Courtland, but her family also plays a big part. For a while there it seemed the story was more about her “Momma and Daddy”. They were good people and I think it’s always good that parents have a voice in young adult novels, but I was looking forward to reading mostly about Courtland. I wanted to know how she was dealing with abstinence on a daily basis, expecting to see how she resisted temptation when she had feelings for a guy. She was President of the Worth the Wait club, a purity group, and that was great, but club meetings and organizing the purity ball was all I could really see of her commitment.
There were parts where I would have liked there to have been more showing and less telling. When Andrea prayed during the morning church service, it would have been nice to hear her words, so I could have been moved the way Courtland said she was. And when Bree experienced all she did, I would have liked to have heard her voice more. That poor girl went through a lot and was even hysterical at one point, but I wasn’t really able to feel her pain. More dialogue would have helped me to get a better visual.
Despite my personal preferences, this was a good read. There were some things I could see coming but what was revealed near the end of the story was something I never could have predicted. I was totally surprised. The importance of self-love is stressed, along with the importance of education – particularly higher education- and the importance of family (blood relatives or not) and forgiveness. The story is also very clear about how choices have consequences and how some choices can even alter life goals. And there is quite a bit about college plans. I believe teenage girls and guys would benefit from reading this novel.
”
