Promises, Promises

by Erica James

[Stephanie]

Really a 3.5

Maggie Storm is an unhappy woman. She is in a loveless marriage and cleans houses for a living. At least two of her clients are vicious rich women who treat Maggie as if she’s a second rate citizen. Maggie has never had the backbone to stick up for herself or to go after what she wants.

Ella Moore is fresh out of a long relationship. She’s purchased her own home and her business is holding steady even in the tough economy. Ella is finding herself and while she misses her ex, her life is far less complicated without him. One night Ella helps a complete stranger. She never imagined it would change her life.

Ethan Edwards lives with stress every day of his life. He owns his own textile business and everything is teetering on the brink in the dangerous economy. Of course you’d never know it, the way his wife goes through money like it’s water. His marriage lost any love it had years ago and now Ethan indulges in a slew of one night affairs. Ironically, his wife’s newest home improvement brings him more joy than he’s had in a long while.

Erica James tells three different stories and weaves them together beautifully. Promises, Promises is told from Maggie, Ethan and Ella’s point of view. This made the book go by faster for me because I was always curious as to what was going on with the other characters.

For the most part I enjoyed the book but I did have one problem that did effect the rating. Both Maggie and Ethan are still married when they develop relationship-like feelings for others. This was my only problem with the book. I enjoyed that the book was set in England with it’s different culture and British slang.

All of James’ characters were enjoyable and the story flowed well. While I won’t be rushing out to get the next novel, I’ll probably be reading another Erica James novel in the future. Promises, Promises was a nice way to pass some time.