Scottish Highlands, 1700s: Barely two weeks have passed since Laird Collin MacDonald first darkened Katherine Mercer's doorstep and married her. Marriage has hardly been what she expected, given their grueling and adventurous days of travel to the Scottish Highlands. Along with the discovery that Collin's twin Ian would like to see her dead, Katie must now face her own clan, whose chief wants to kill Collin and take her to wife himself. All because Katie possesses the Campbell gift of sight, passed down through centuries of her ancestors. With little more than faith in her grandfather's vision and her unique bond with Collin to guide her, Katie steps bravely into an unknown future, where the glimpses afforded her may bring more danger than direction. When the misuse of her gift takes Collin from her side, she is left alone and vulnerable. Help arrives in the most unexpected form as Ian MacDonald makes good on his threat to attack the Campbells and Katie learns that the bond between brothers and love knows no bounds. I hate second books. The only good thing about them is that they fix the cliffhanger from the first book, Yesterday's Promise. And develop the story a little more. But there's so much drama! I never get my perfect happy ending in a second book - only a little bit of happy in the midst of conflict and complications!
True, but there was a plethora of said conflict and complications, along with twists and turns, drama out the wazoo and romantic tension (I was going to say sexual tension but Bubby says I can't use the word "sexual" in our post, so I won't use the word "sexual"...)You are a naughty biscuit.
Really, I don't know what to say because all the things that I want to talk about in A Promise for Tomorrow are spoilers. All I know is that I was having anxiety, the good kind, throughout the whole book. Katie and Collin certainly have that soul mate thing going on and what happens with Ian MacDonald, well. Let's just say that things don't always turn out the way you expect them to.I loved the way that Michelle Paige Holmes writes. Her characters are full of life and so believable, even the villains. Her rendering of the time period is fantastic, too. I really felt like I was right there in a drafty Scottish castle in the 1700's. I didn't get to visit enough Scottish castles when Sissy and I went last year, and now I really want to go back. As long as the castle has been modernized. Bubby needs her plumbing and wi-fi!
Smelly, moldy, damp, cold. Those are the adjectives that describe Scottish castles in the 1700's. Also our Grandma's basement, but that's a story for another day. The paranormal aspect (Katie's gift of Sight) appears again, though she still needs to hone it. More often than not, she interprets things wrong or takes too long to figure things out. I do love that part of the story, though.All in all, A Promise For Tomorrow is a great read. It's not a standalone book, for sure, (I mean you COULD read it without reading Yesterday's Promise first, but you'll be confused about the back story) and once you read it you'll be dying for the third installment, but it's totally worth the pain. Katie and Collin's relationship alone is enough to make this story a good one. Add in the warring clans, the evocative setting and Katie's "gifts," and it's a home run.
There are some sad things that happen in this tale, and I'm especially not happy about the sad thing that happened near the end. I've envisioned a few different ways that Michelle Paige Holmes could fix that in the next book, so hopefully she will. She can give me a call if she wants some great ideas. Until then, I'll be not-so-patiently waiting for book three.
