The Promise

by Apryl Baker

[Angie]

The Promise is a fast paced story full of witchcraft, vengeance, and betrayal! Cassie--aka CJ--is the only skeptic in a town where every single person is a member of the local Coven. Her eighteenth birthday is fast approaching, and it seems like everyone is nagging her more than usual to join them. That is, except for her father, and her dead sister, Emily. Cassie had promised her sister that she'd stay away from the Coven when Emily was terrified of them right before she died. Then Ethan--the hot, new guy--appears in town and encourages her to come to a meeting. What's a girl to do?

I actually really liked the set up for The Promise. There's a little town called New Salem in North Carolina where the descendents of witches from Salem fled after they were betrayed and several of them were burned at the stake. Everyone joins the Coven at age fifteen, but Cassie oddly doesn't believe in any of it despite being raised in it. However, weird things start happening that she can't explain away with logic. She finally believes, but it may be too late, since she's at the center of curse. It turns out that the witches in her town aren't all that peaceful and they're out for blood. Literally. The details of the curse are revealed slowly as Cassie finds her sister's journal, a powerful grimoire, and through some horrific visions.

The only thing that I didn't like about The Promise was the romance. The romance between Cassie and Ethan is horribly underdeveloped, and yes, it is instalove. There is no love triangle, but Cassie's neighbor is in love with her, but she sees him as just a friend. Cassie and Ethan fall in love after a week, but they had only hung out twice. He walks her home in the opening chapter, while she's dragging her drunk BFF to her house. Then they go on a disastrous date, but she gives him another chance anyway, where he escorts her to a Coven meeting after he pulls the "your mine" card. While there, she discovers that he had manipulated her to get her there, but she also realizes that she's fallen in love. What?! But then there's a twist that I never saw coming and it was kind of awesome, until it was untwisted and I got annoyed again.

Aside from the romance, I really liked The Promise. I find witchcraft and magic to be really interesting and fun, and this one kind of leans to the darker side which I also like. The connections to the Salem Witch Trials were also well done, and added an extra something to the plot. Thankfully, it doesn't end on a cliffhanger, but Cassie is warned about darker things to come, so I guess we'll just have to wait for the sequel!

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.