Arms of Promise
by Crystal Walton
Adult Contemporary Romance, Suspense
Paperback & ebook, 314 Pages
August 24th 2016 by Impact Editions, LLC
Summary
A dancer who won’t back down. A soldier indebted to a promise. The
only thing more dangerous than the threat pitting them together is the
secret keeping them apart.
Contemporary dancer Anna Madison is determined to honor her mom’s memory. With the life she’s built in downtown Chicago hinging on an upcoming audition, now’s the worst time for her childhood best friend—and the only man she’s ever loved—to reenter her world. Her dad’s current DA case instigates enough danger without adding on the risk of losing her heart. Again.
Army Ranger Evan O’Riley has always known his place in Anna’s life. Letting his feelings compromise her safety simply isn't an option. Especially when his promise to protect her drives him off the sidelines and into the one place even his special ops training can't save him from. Anna's arms.
Keeping her from uncovering the real reason Evan returns is one thing. Trying to hide the reason he left to begin with could destroy them both. But when the past they’ve both tried to outrun launches them down a heart-pounding road of threats, secrets, and attraction, resisting love may turn into the greatest risk they face.
If you like emotional romances mixed with humor, depth, and characters who come alive on the page, then you'll love Crystal Walton's moving story of love and forgiveness.
Read Arms of Promise today and be swept into a moving tale of romance and suspense that'll have you turning pages until the end.
Contemporary dancer Anna Madison is determined to honor her mom’s memory. With the life she’s built in downtown Chicago hinging on an upcoming audition, now’s the worst time for her childhood best friend—and the only man she’s ever loved—to reenter her world. Her dad’s current DA case instigates enough danger without adding on the risk of losing her heart. Again.
Army Ranger Evan O’Riley has always known his place in Anna’s life. Letting his feelings compromise her safety simply isn't an option. Especially when his promise to protect her drives him off the sidelines and into the one place even his special ops training can't save him from. Anna's arms.
Keeping her from uncovering the real reason Evan returns is one thing. Trying to hide the reason he left to begin with could destroy them both. But when the past they’ve both tried to outrun launches them down a heart-pounding road of threats, secrets, and attraction, resisting love may turn into the greatest risk they face.
If you like emotional romances mixed with humor, depth, and characters who come alive on the page, then you'll love Crystal Walton's moving story of love and forgiveness.
Read Arms of Promise today and be swept into a moving tale of romance and suspense that'll have you turning pages until the end.
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My Review
ARMS OF PROMISE was foremost a story of two old friends who have loved each other for forever, but never moved past friendship because of guilt and what was at stake. It was a story of forgiveness, reaching for dreams, suspense, friendship, and love. With likable characters, an underlying feel of suspense, romantic tension, and some fabulous dialogue, this is sure to be an enjoyable story for romance readers.
What I liked:
- I loved Evan! What a sweet, confident, protective (even if a little overprotective), and quite a hunk of a guy. There were parts I was like "Kiss her already!" or "Just tell her how you feel or why you did what you did!" but I still liked him.
- I really liked the kids at the rec center. They were sweet and added some extra character to the story.
- I wasn't necessarily expecting the suspense aspect, but I thought that was handled fairly well and enjoyed that part of the story.
- I really loved a lot of the dialogue and not just between Anna and Evan, but also between Evan and his buddy and colleagues as well as Anna and her sister Reese. This is probably one of the best parts of the story.
- I really loved Evan's and Anna's friendship and how they have this natural camaraderie that carries across the pages.
- The romance was super sweet, even though it took quite a while to get there.
What I didn't like:
- I wanted more.
- I wanted a stronger reason for Evan's past actions.
- I wanted more in the internal dialogue so that it wasn't repetitive.
- I wanted more swoon-worthy moments and for the romance to move just a little bit faster. I felt a little like: "Enough, already!" I mean the characters just keep being unsure of themselves and questioning if they should put themselves out there over and over and over...
- I wanted more development towards the end so it didn't feel like this big lead-up to Evan's secrets that weren't really as big of a deal as I was expecting and then to have those who didn't like or were upset with Evan to just do such a quick turnaround.
- I also wanted more from Anna's character. She felt a little one-dimensional. I think that had to do with her coming across as rather naive and in such denial under the circumstances. I got it, but I wanted to see her character develop more and over the course of the story instead of be stubborn almost the whole way through.
- I thought Evan missed some things that he shouldn't have with his training.
In the end, was this what I wished for?I honestly wanted more because I knew I liked this author's last book, but it was still a good read and one that I enjoyed. I'll definitely be picking up the next release from this author.
Content: Some innuendo and violence, but clean.
Source: Received a complimentary copy from the author, which did not affect my review in any way.
What I liked:
- I loved Evan! What a sweet, confident, protective (even if a little overprotective), and quite a hunk of a guy. There were parts I was like "Kiss her already!" or "Just tell her how you feel or why you did what you did!" but I still liked him.
- I really liked the kids at the rec center. They were sweet and added some extra character to the story.
- I wasn't necessarily expecting the suspense aspect, but I thought that was handled fairly well and enjoyed that part of the story.
- I really loved a lot of the dialogue and not just between Anna and Evan, but also between Evan and his buddy and colleagues as well as Anna and her sister Reese. This is probably one of the best parts of the story.
- I really loved Evan's and Anna's friendship and how they have this natural camaraderie that carries across the pages.
- The romance was super sweet, even though it took quite a while to get there.
What I didn't like:
- I wanted more.
- I wanted a stronger reason for Evan's past actions.
- I wanted more in the internal dialogue so that it wasn't repetitive.
- I wanted more swoon-worthy moments and for the romance to move just a little bit faster. I felt a little like: "Enough, already!" I mean the characters just keep being unsure of themselves and questioning if they should put themselves out there over and over and over...
- I wanted more development towards the end so it didn't feel like this big lead-up to Evan's secrets that weren't really as big of a deal as I was expecting and then to have those who didn't like or were upset with Evan to just do such a quick turnaround.
- I also wanted more from Anna's character. She felt a little one-dimensional. I think that had to do with her coming across as rather naive and in such denial under the circumstances. I got it, but I wanted to see her character develop more and over the course of the story instead of be stubborn almost the whole way through.
- I thought Evan missed some things that he shouldn't have with his training.
In the end, was this what I wished for?I honestly wanted more because I knew I liked this author's last book, but it was still a good read and one that I enjoyed. I'll definitely be picking up the next release from this author.
Content: Some innuendo and violence, but clean.
Source: Received a complimentary copy from the author, which did not affect my review in any way.
I read my first book from this author, Write Me Home, last year and really enjoyed it. Have you read any of her books?
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