Reviewed by Shelley
TITLE: Keeping Promise Rock
SERIES: Promises
AUTHOR: Amy Lane
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 332 pages
BLURB: Carrick Francis has spent most of his life jumping into trouble with both feet. The only thing saving him from prison or worse is his absolute devotion to Deacon Winters. Deacon was Crick’s sanity and salvation during a miserable, abusive childhood, and Crick would do anything to stay with him forever. So when Deacon’s father dies, Crick puts his college plans on hold to help Deacon as Deacon has helped him.
Deacon’s greatest wish is to see Crick escape his memories and the town they grew up in so Crick can enjoy a shining future. But after two years of growing feelings and temptation, the painfully shy Deacon finally succumbs to Crick’s determined advances and admits he sees himself as part of Crick’s life.
It nearly destroys Deacon when he discovers Crick has been waiting for him to push him away, just like Crick’s family did in the past. When Crick’s knack for volatile decisions lands him far away from home, Deacon is left, shell-shocked and alone, struggling to reforge his heart in a world where love with Crick is a promise, but by no means a certainty.
REVIEW:
Well … that just about squeezed the life out of me. I thought Amy lane was supposed to be the queen of fluff, not the queen of heartache. I’m drained and exhausted after that marathon.
Keeping Promise Rock has been read and reviewed by everyone I know; it’s like the m/m rite of passage now. If you read m/m romance, then you have to read Amy Lane, and if you read Amy Lane, then you have to read Keeping Promise Rock. It’s quite simple.
This is a coming of age romance that spans a decade or more.Levee Oaks, redneck capital of the world is home to Crick and Deacon. Deacon is Parish’s son and lives on The Pulpit (a horse ranch) Crick is a half-mex kid with a no good mother and a drunkard step-Bob – life’s not great for Crick until he wanders onto The Pulpit and lays eyes on Deacon – thinking him the most beautiful boy he ever did see, and they was gonna be friends forever. And they were. They were friends and then they werebrothers, and then … they were more.
It takes years for Crick to get Deacon to open his heart and when it finally happens Crick sees it as something else and makes the worst decision of his life. The consequences of that flighty impulsive choice are catastrophic for Crick, but more so for Deacon. It is the catalyst that just about destroys them both.
Hold on tight readers because it is from this point on that you might get your heart shredded about a hundred times. Amy Lane is a wonderful story teller and her characters are real enough to create a tangible empathy that will have you sobbing and hoping beyond hope. Hope is a reverential thing here. We hold onto it right until the end …
… if you had no hope, life could actually surprise you in the best of ways. He hated the hope. It made him fear the betrayal.
These guys have a long way to go before they overcome their stubborn self-sacrificing ways. They have even further to go to believe in themselves and recognise their self-worth. It’s a road worth travelling if you can stand it.
There are some battles to wage and I honestly can’t tell you how many times I threw my hands up in the air, in defeat. “God! No more, please! This is too much!”
And really, it is too much. I think Amy Lane took the catastrophic events too far. I really was waiting for that plague of locusts to descend. There is only so much emotional drama I can take before it becomes emotional manipulation, and Ms Lane crossed that line in my opinion.
Like I said, this is a must read. It’s very well told: its hard going, but its hope, and its love and it’s exhausting. I still liked it.
Shelley’s Rating: 
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Shelley is one of the official reviewers on The Blog of Sid Love.
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