Living Promises

As you know already, with the approval of Dreamspinner Press, we’re reviewing previously published books. We continue with Amy Lane‘s, Keeping Promise Rock contemporary romance series.
I love this series but this book …

This sequel of the series was not as good as I was hoping for. I loved Jeff from the very first moment we met him as Crick’s PA. He charmed me with his outgoing behavior, sassy attitude and strong personality.
But this book turned him into a “woman”. Without disrespecting the author or the series, this story turns out to be a false-stereotyping bottom=girl-in-the-relationship type of tail. From the strong personality, he becomes a sobbing, quivering damsel in distress. Maybe the author did it unconsciously, but as I read it, it annoyed me to hell.

Collin is 13 years younger and has a bad boy attitude. He’s had a 5-year crush on Jeff and when the opportunity comes he, finally, makes a move.

Jeff can’t get past the age difference, but in the end, he leans on Collin. Right. And this…!

I don’t know, maybe its just me being a man, maybe having the man-pride myself, but that doesn’t bode well with me. An over 37-year-old leaning on a 24-year-old boy, just not ok in my book. Jeff is strong, we all know that we all need a shoulder from time to time, but for a 24-year-old to have more manliness in him than a 37-year-old grown man who takes care of all his friends…well, that is a lack in his character. This wasn’t a first time when I read a series where a personality change happens to a character. For me, it’s just kind of ruins the book, if not the whole series.

Toward the end of the book, the story was repetitive. We read again and again about previous MC’s of the series. There are a lot of health issues going around. It seems that everyone gets sick at the same time. It was a bit depressing.

As much as I loved the previous books, this felt stretched.

Jeff and Collin made me fall in love with them. Their struggles and their will to live became an intricate part of them.
They needed closure and got much more.

I'm not sure but this third installment of Amy Lane's Promises series might just be my favorite if I were willing to pick a favorite! Once again I will preface this review by saying I waited until I had re-read the book before writing it.
Collin Waters has been running from safety ever since he was five and his dad had a massive heart attack in the car while they were driving. His mother is convinced that this is why Collin then spends an inordinate amount of time getting into trouble. Unfortunately for Collin, his flight into danger doesn't go his way which is how he ends up dumping all over the nice stranger outside the HIV clinic.
Jeff Beachum's had it a little rough, to say the least. A condom breaking with his in-the-closet Marine Corps boyfriend leads to him being diagnosed HIV-positive after his first year of medical school. With a little help from his self-proclaimed benefactor, he gets an internship at the VA hospital making him eligible for health insurance benefits and he starts on the road to being a physician's assistant.
Now it's five years later. Jeff's still working at the VA hospital, he's found a new family with Crick, Deacon, Jon, Amy, Benny, Andrew, Shane, and Mikhail, and a ghost from his past has popped his head up. Jeff spends his days happy to make others laugh while hiding all of his own pain. Collin owns his own garage but still fills in at his mother's diner next door, especially in the last year when he knows Jeff will be there, since Jeff's been his hero ever since the talk outside the clinic. Collin has worked very hard these years to not be so self-centered and to try to give back.
In some ways this book is almost more about The Pulpit and the whole family than it is about just Jeff and Collin. There are serious emergencies going on and the whole family pulls together even more than they always are. One of the things that is so striking to me, here, is that the age range of these characters is 15-32. There's been a whole lot of crap happening to people so very young still.
Living Promises brings hurt, pain, hope, joy, love, life, death, sorrow, laughter, and tears right to the forefront. It made me fall in love with all these characters all over again and again and again. Once again I'm not sure I've written an understandable review - sometimes I wander over my love for these books and the writing. Read it, love it. I don’t think you'll ever regret it.