Review: FANTASTIC READ
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 15, 2014
SUMMER'S BOOK BLOGShattered Promises is a debut novel by J.R. Grant, it is a stand alone novel and tells the complete story of Lani Foster. Lani married Kade, her childhood sweetheart, at the age of eighteen and they were blessed with two beautiful boys. They were the perfect, happy family until an accident changes everything. After the accident secrets begin to come to the surface and Lani finds out her happy life was all an illusion. With her family and best friend Parker by her side she is left to pick up the pieces of her life and figure out how to survive.I was very surprised to find out that this was the first novel by J.R. Grant, she writes extremely well and the story is incredibly well developed, I would have thought she had written several other novels! This novel grabs your attention from the very beginning, the prologue gives you a taste of what is to come and the opening scene hooks the reader in immediately. This book is a very emotional read, it is full of heartbreak, betrayal, lies and secrets that rip a family apart. Lani was a wonderful and relatable character, she stuck by her husband through terrible tragedy only to find out that the man she loved was not who she thought he was, something i'm sure many women can relate to. Kade made a perfect "villain", his character will bring out some very strong emotions on behalf of Lani and her children. I'm not sure I've ever hated a character as much as I hated him. She tried so hard to keep her family together for the sake of her children and her pain and sacrifice were hard to read about because it was all so real and heart breaking.The author had such detail in her character that I really felt like i knew her and it made my heart hurt even more for her. The entire plot was very real, the reader can easily imagine these things happening and the author wrote it in such a descriptive and vivid way that the reader feels every bit of pain as the secrets begin to come out. Out of all the characters in the story Parker was my favorite. Parker is one of the best friends anyone could ever ask for, he loved Lani so much and stuck by her side no matter what, devotion was beautiful and touching. The author tells the story mostly through Lani's point of view but there are chapters from Parker's point of view also which helped the reader really get emotionally involved in the story and their characters.The author makes excellent use of flashbacks to help the readers understand the characters and story a little bit more, it really helps the reader connect with the characters on a deeper level. The only thing I didn't like is I was a little confused on the time line in certain parts but over all it was excellent. After all the pain and tragedy this story turns into a heartwarming tale of second chances. I had tears streaming down my face by the end, especially after the epilogue, have the tissues near by! I look forward to many more novels by J.R. Grant.