Reviewed by Lisa
TITLE: Making Promises
SERIES: Keeping Promise Rock
AUTHOR: Amy Lane
NARRATOR: Paul Morey
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 15 hrs and 7 mins
RELEASE DATE: January 2,2013
BLURB:
All Shane Perkins ever wanted to be was a hero. But after a career-shattering decision to go down fighting, Shane comes home from the hospital to four empty walls, a pile of money, and a burning desire for someone to miss him the next time he gets hurt in the line of duty. He ends up an officer in the small town of Levee Oaks, and, addicted to the promise of family, he makes an effort to reconcile with his flighty, troubled sister. Kimmy makes her living as a dancer, and her partner steals Shane’s breath at first sight.
Mikhail Vasilyovitch Bayul dances like an angel, but his past is less than heavenly. Since he left Russia, he’s made only two promises: to stay off the streets and stay clean, and to take his mother someplace beautiful before she dies. Making promises to anybody else is completely out of the question – but then, Mikhail has never met anybody like Shane. Earnest, brave, and self-deprecating, Shane seems to speak Mikhail’s language, and no one is more surprised than Mikhail to find that keeping promises is Shane’s best talent of all.
REVIEW:
This is the 2nd installment in the Promises series with all of the main cast from Keeping Promise Rock making appearances. It could potentially be read as a standalone, however I feel like it’s best to read in series order since the cast from the first book are heavily featured and the reader would miss that backstory. It has drama, humor, snark
Shane moves to Levee Oaks after he’s injured in the line of duty as a police officer in Los Angeles. He’s been welcomed to Sunday dinner at Deacon and Crick’s which makes him part of their chosen family. As much as he loves that family, he really wants to connect with his sister Kimmie. While visiting Kimmie at the Renaissance Fair where she dances, he’s immediately attracted to her dancing partner Mikhail.
Mikhail has had a difficult life and his mother is dying from cancer. He’s moonlighting as a dancer at the local Renaissance Fair as well as teaching dance to children so he can pay to take his beloved mother on a sunny cruise before she dies.
Shane has a hero complex and Mikhail is determined to never make any promises to anyone so he won’t have to worry about breaking them. Which means they have to work around Mikhail’s skitteshness and Shane’s tendency to get hurt on the job.
Shane describes himself as being weird as well as having an “equal opportunity pecker” and a “once chance heart”. He values his made family and would do anything to help them; including attending a Renaissance Fair to buy princess outfits for the girls who can’t afford to buy them. He really wants to make a difference which is why he’s still a police officer even though he has enough money he doesn’t have to work.
Mikhail is prickly and sarcastic, yet he’s entirely selfless when it comes to his mother’s care. He has a huge inferiority complex.
What I liked best about this story was the theme of found family and seeing the relationships between the people included in Deacon and Crick’s inner circle develop. What didn’t work as well for me was multiple instances of casual misogyny; where the guys are described as acting like a girl when they display strong emotions.
I recommend this book for anyone who likes re-visiting characters from previous stories as well as for people who enjoy a found family theme. This is for those who like Amy Lane’s books when they’re more fluffy than angsty.
Paul Morey did a decent job with narration, there were only a few times when I wasn’t exactly sure which character was speaking and his female voices weren’t cartoonish. Something I noticed several times throughout the story was there were lines repeated. And once it was clear the narrator was re-reading after a mistake he’d made and for some reason these weren’t edited out of the final product. But I feel like that’s a production and editing issue and not necessarily the fault of the narrator.
RATING: 
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