Title:
PROMISES KEEP

Author:
Sarah McCarty

Published By:
Ellora’s Cave

ISBN #:
1-84360-962-2

Release Date:
Available Now

Format:
Electronic

Sarah McCarty’s Promises Keep is one of the hottest, toe curling reads this reviewer has seen yet.

Frustrated by his body’s refusal to react to a woman, any woman, Cougar McKinley finds himself at Madam Cecile’s Pleasure Emporium. Madam Cecile quickly spots the handsome ex-Marshal, ascertains his concern and guarantee’s a solution in the form of her “new” employee, Lorraine. Cougar takes Cecile up on her offer, pays for the night with Lorraine and ventures upstairs. He is no sooner in the room when his body has a very favorable reaction to Lorraine, only he soon learns her name is really Mara and Mara is ensconced at the Pleasure Emporium against her will. Although she has been drugged, Mara manages to kill Cecile, but the damage has been done. Cougar has already taken her virtue.

Cougar wastes no time removing Mara from the Pleasure Emporium and takes her home to his adopted parents, Doc and Dorothy along with his promise to Mara that some how, some day, he would make it up to her. Due to being drugged by Cecile, Mara has no recollection of the night’s events except that she was in a house of ill repute and that at least one man raped her. Cougar tries to live up to his promise to make things up to Mara and finally sees a way to do so by making her his wife.

The character of Cougar is one of the most dynamic this reviewer has seen in a long time. Not only is his physical appearance compelling, his emotional makeup draws the reader in. He has a strong sense of right and wrong, an at times overwhelming need to protect those he cares for and loves and a toe curling sensuality that leaves the reader wishing such a man truly exists. His one flaw is his lack of complete honesty to Mara in the one event of her life that concerns her more than any other – what happened that night at the Pleasure Emporium. He keeps from her the one truth that would set her free from her fears, inhabitations and self-limiting behaviors. One can only wonder does he keep this dark secret, this secret about their mutual past, to protect or control her. Cougar simmers off the very pages and is a character that stays with the reader not only day and night during the read, but afterwards he remains almost an archetype of a man many women can only dream of meeting.

Mara’s character is fabulously written. Her emotional growth through the story is absorbing as she moves from a frightened waif-like young woman to one that is strong, determined and self-assured.

Reader beware: if you find the cover to Promises Keep a visual delight, the heat from that cover is nothing compared to the words in the book! The sizzle of this story may move through the very wiring of a palm reader or have steam coming off the pages! Yet Promises Keep is also a sensitive, well-told love story between Mara and Cougar.

While this hotly sensual love story could be told without any scenic description, Ms. McCarty’s creative talent treats all the reader’s senses with her descriptions of rooms such as the stairs in Madam Cecile’s. One can “see” the dirt on the bar and in Cougar’s house as Mara first enters it. One can “hear” the stairs creak as Cougar walks up to Mara’s room in the Pleasure Emporium. One can “smell” the apple pie Mara bakes for Cougar. One can “feel” Cougar’s touch as he woos Mara.

The characters and story stay with the reader even after the book is done. Promises Keep is a mesmerizing and enthralling read that will leave the reader wanting more.

Reviewed by: Regan