Reviewed by Becca
TITLE: Promises
AUTHOR: Ruby Moone
PUBLISHER: JMS Books LLC
LENGTH: 113 pages
RELEASE DATE: August 25, 2018
BLURB:
Captain Charles Hawkins has returned from the Napoleonic wars desperate for solitude. When the man who saved his life asks a favour, he feels honour bound to agree, but the request fills him with horror.
Sebastian Farrah knows the only useful thing he can do with his life is join Wellington’s army. He has tried everything else and failed. He agrees to his brother’s ridiculous request to spend a month in the country because it is the only way his brother will agree to purchase him a commission.
Charles and Sebastian clash but quickly form a bond that deepens into much more. However, they are running out of time. Charles begs Sebastian to stay, but Sebastian knows to do so he will be forced to reveal what it is that stopped him from succeeding in everything. The shameful secret he carries from the schoolroom.
REVIEW:
I love history, but sometimes I have a hard time reading it because it gets dry and boring. And that’s disappointing to me. But Ruby Moone has been one of those authors that I actually look forward to reading. She does her homework on the time frames, to make sure it’s accurate and it’s actually a good story. I love her stories. This one I loved too, but it made me cry so hard.
Sebastian Farrah is the ‘black sheep’s of the family. He’s not good at studies, for a reason, he looks different from the rest of his family, he’s not good with numbers and such, so he just gambles and drinks to forget how much he is constantly put down by the rest of the family. It doesn’t help he’s gay as well, well everyone else is settling down. So he figures joining the war will help his family and people finally respect him. But his brother Edward has already lost 2 brothers to war and barely made it out himself, and he doesn’t want to lose his only remaining brother to war. So he calls on his friend Charles to see if he will help. Charles is to house Sebastian for a month for Charles to try out change his mind. But as time goes on during this month, Charles is seeing things about Sebastian that everyone else seems to be missing. But when Sebastian reveals his humiliating secret, Charles doesn’t think anything of it, until he realizes how devastated Sebastian really is. He come to love Sebastian and he only hopes he can make things right with him before he loses him to war or something else.
Back in those days, having a hard time in school was horrible for a person. They often got beaten for not acting serious or doing what was expected or falling behind. No one understood then things like dyslexia or ADD or ADHD and other stuff. There’s more to it. So I really wanted to just smack Sebastian’s family for treating him like he was stupid and nothing worth anything. The fact is he’s super smart, creative, great with his hands, and isn’t scared of working hard. Not everyone is good at school stuff. He such a gentle giant as well. So compassionate and sweet. Loyal and loving. And he’s he breath of fresh air Charles needs.
Charles has been plagued since he’s been home with survivor’s guilt. And having Sebastian around gives him something else to focus on. He still has nightmares and stuff but they aren’t as bad. Sebastian gives Charles a new focus on life, a new reason to want to keep going. They’re perfect for each other.
This is such a sweet romantic story. I just love it. I love Sebastian so much. I love characters like him. Such a good book.
RATING: 
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