Review – The Promise by Melody Grace – Bookalicious Babes Blog

The first time you fall in love, it changes you forever. No matter how hard you try, that feeling never goes away. ~Nicholas Sparks

Books are like love; we get lost in them. We feel them. We experience them. The Promise by Melody Grace crashed into me unexpectedly, casting me under its spell, where I could do nothing but succumb to this story that shattered my soul and hijacked my heart from beginning to end.

From the beginning, I knew that this was unlike any other Melody Grace book I’ve ever read; it was way better. I knew that this story with its simple title would not be simple at all. The Promise…so much meaning in two little words. So much hope. So much potential. Simple-sounding but significant words.

The Promise took me prisoner from page one, immersing me, as I was intoxicated by the beauty and brilliance of words that rivaled those in a Nicholas Sparks novel. My emotions entangled around me, engulfing every part of me where I felt powerless to stop the feelings that threatened to flow.

A 19-year-old girl, Claire Fortune, promised her dying best friend that she would complete her bestie’s bucket list. A bucket list that would take Claire out of her Texas hometown into unchartered territory, Boston, a big city for a small town girl. A new adventure. A new life.

“I half-expected this new adventure to be a dream that would dissolve with every yawning breath, and when it didn’t, I treasured it all over again.”

This bucket list was so out of the reserved Claire’s comfort zone but one she would see through until completion. A bucket list that altered Claire’s world. A bucket list that meant everything.

Sometimes love comes along when you least expect and changes you forever.

“I wasn’t looking for a man to walk through the door and change my life. I wasn’t that girl at all. But that’s not how this story goes.”

Claire didn’t expect to check off finding a man who would change her life, an item not on her bucket list, but one that was an unexpected surprise.

“I wanted something I’d never wanted before, with a fierce hunger that took the wind from my lungs.”

A gorgeous guy named Theo, a poet with a huge heart, walked into Claire’s life, shifting their worlds forever.

“We were gravity, we were the earth’s orbit, inexorably drawn together.”

Love is built on trust, so delicately woven that once broken, may break the already fragile love. Once lost, love is the greatest hit to the heart of all.

“I thought I knew what it was to love and lose, to feel that wretched agony split your world apart, the jagged edged of an empty forever taunting with every raw, ragged breath…and then I lost Theo too. It was over. It was all my fault.”

I lost myself in The Promise, vanishing into this life-altering story, spellbound, as it seized every part of me: body, heart, and soul. The Promise hit my heart and shattered my soul where my emotions bled for this book. I was melded to every word. I smiled all the smiles. I cried all the tears. I felt all the feels. I FELT EVERYTHING.

Melody Grace poured her heart, blood, sweat, and tears into her most brilliant and best book yet, a perfectly poignant romance that remains for a lifetime like that epic love. The Promise is a story that is so much more than those two simple words. The Promise is taking that leap and living life to the fullest. The Promise is love against the odds. The Promise is happiness, hope, and heartbreak in a book bathed in beautiful words. The Promise is EVERYTHING.

Enjoy the little moments in life, for some day you will look back and realize they were the big things. Every day is a new beginning. A chance to love. A chance to live. A chance to dream. A chance to do! We live through our actions. We live through our memories. Sometimes we live through stories.

I lived and loved through The Promise, a breathtakingly beautiful and broken love story by Melody Grace, where I was wrecked in the worst and best way. I fell in deep and devotional love with The Promise. I gave my soul to this story—as if I had a choice—for it to be sucked in and stolen from me. I gave my heart to The Promise, this tender and touching tale, where it was massacred yet melted. I lost myself in The Promise where I may forever remain.

★★★★★ ‘but worth more’ perfectly poignant ‘full of promise’ stars

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“Promise me one thing. Promise me you’ll live.”

Claire Fortune arrives in Boston with an old notebook and her best friend’s dying wish – to finish the scribbled bucket list that Hope didn’t have time to complete. Moment by moment, Claire builds a life she never dreamed of – until Theo walks into the coffee-shop one crisp September afternoon, and her careful plans scatter on the winds.

Sometimes a chance meeting can change a life forever.
Sometimes fate knows exactly what we need.

Perfect for fans of ‘Me Before You’ and ‘The Fault in Our Stars’, ‘The Promise’ brings together two people searching for a love that can overcome tragedy. A heartbreakingly romantic novel that challenges us to live – and love – every day as if it were our last.