The Promises She Keeps by Erin Healy

It's her destiny to die young. The man who loves her can't live with that. 



Promise, a talented young vocalist with a terminal illness, is counting on fame to keep her memory alive after she dies. Porta is an aging witch and art collector in search of the goddess who will grant her immortality. 
When Promise inexplicably survives a series of freak accidents, Porta believes that Promise is the one she seeks. But Chase, an autistic artist who falls in love with Promise and opposes Porta, comes between the women with his mysterious visions and drawings, and plunges everyone into a flesh-and-blood confrontation over the true meaning of eternal life.










The Review:

My Ranking: 7 out of 10
Ages: 13 & up



The Promises She Keeps was a very unique story and caught my attention nearly from the get-go. It was written by Erin Healy, which was one of the reasons I wanted to read it. Healy is the editor of one of my favorite authors - Ted Dekker - and also has co-authored several books with him. I was hoping to find her writing just as gripping and action filled as Dekkers, and must admit I was let down a little. The book was still great, but it wasn't to be compared with Dekkers. But that is not a downer, as she is her own author, but if you were looking to read her books for the same reason I did, I would suggest rethinking it.

The story was very...interesting. It was not normal and I've never read a book like it. By reading the synopsis, I knew I would find the main characters intriguing. Chase was autistic, Promise had Cystic Fibrosis, and Porta was a witch - all unique characters that have an explorable background that you'll want to dive into.  Chase intrigued me the most. I have a friend who is autistic(and, by the way, is just about the coolest kid alive) and anticipated reading about Chase's life. In this area, Healy did well. I connected with Chase and fell in love with his way of thinking - outlandish to the common person, but prodigious to the reader who can see into his life.
Promise was a slight disappointment for me. She seemed to only care about getting her name heard and being remembered for something before she died. It kinda annoyed me at times how much she wanted to be heard, but that's just me. It didn't have a huge bearing on the story; just kind irked me a bit.
Porta...now she was quite a character. Wonderfully written - exactly what I'd expect from a real sorceress these days. She was selfish, caring nothing for others, and full of ridiculous ideas that should have put her in the insane asylum. ;) Thought I can't necessarily say I liked her because of the evil character she was, I still found her well written and perfectly described.

I think the character I connected with most in this book was Zack, who is just this kid who doesn't really know what he's doing in life. I won't say much about him, as it may ruin some of the book, but let's just say I felt compassion for him a lot, as did Promise.

This book was very clean. The only think I really need to mention is the fact that Porta is a witch and calls on goddesses and spirits and all that weird stuff. It may be a bit too much for young readers who aren't grounded in their faith. 

All around, this book was fairly good. I found some of the ideas Healy portrayed a bit strange, but I still managed to make it to the last page and close the book, contented.

Purchase this book HERE - it just released yesterday! :-)


I received this free book in return for an honest review from Book Sneeze. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.