Promise It All
by Weston Parker
My review:
You might think that novels with a fake fiance trope would get to be boring after a while. Nope! At least, not when they are written as well as “Promise It All”, the fourth ‘A Wedding Bells Alpha Novel’ by Weston Parker. I never thought of myself as a fickle person but apparently, I am, because each successive couple becomes my absolute favorite. By the way, you do not need to have read any of the previous books in the series to be able to enjoy this one. If you have read them, it’s fun to see some of the characters from those stories within this one.
Lennon is at that point in her life when everyone she knows seems to be getting married. She’d love to find the right guy, settle down and have a family of her own, but it’s just not happening for her. Her best friend reminds her that being single can be fun. Indulging in some of that fun, she hooks up with a handsome, charming guy she meets at the first wedding of the season. After she falls asleep, he vanishes without a word, and even disappears from the wedding breakfast the next morning as soon as she arrives. Fast forward just a little bit and she literally stumbles across him again. Nash is a wealthy, single guy who is married to the family business he runs. He enjoys it, but it’s very high-pressure – so much so that his doctor orders him to take a couple of months off for the sake of his health. He ends up entering into an agreement with Lennon that he will be her date to the rest of the weddings she must go to that summer. Unexpectedly, their relationship gets boosted to the next level with a fake engagement
Lennon and Nash are both wonderfully multidimensional characters. The chemistry and dialogue between them is excellent. The situations in the novel are interesting and cover a variety of fun, sweet, serious and steamy scenarios. The story is told in dual POV, so we get to know what they are each thinking and feeling as things progress between them. When a college friend of Lennon’s start pursuing her despite believing her to be engaged, Nash start realizing he’s developed feelings for Lennon that far exceed anything he’s experienced in his life. Watching Nash and Lennon separately come to terms with their feelings, and struggle to figure out where to go with the fake relationship, is wonderfully stressful for the reader. You know it’s a romance novel. You know there will be a happy conclusion. But you get so caught up in this story, you forget all that and ‘worry’ about what will happen. In a world overflowing with serious, real-life worries, I think even Nash’s doctor would prescribe reading this book as a wonderful way to escape for a little while.