Customer Reviews

Adam's Promise

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

From Yorkshire England to stunning Nova Scotia, take a journey rich with romance and forbidden love with Madeline Oxley and Adam Coates.

Taking place in 1775 and spanning two countries, this tale begins with Madeline Oxley believing she is to marry Adam Coates, her sister's former suitor. When her sister instead chooses class over love, and marries someone else, Adam leaves for Nova Scotia and has several children with another wife.

Madeline's father receives a letter from Adam asking for her hand in marriage, Madeline is surprised but believes it to be true. Her father, who is ashamed of her due to a scandal that left her unmarriable, sends her quickly on her way to Adam's home.

When Madeline arrives she quickly discovers that Adam did not request Her hand in marriage, but her widowed sister Diana's.

Humiliated and finding herself weeks from her own home, Madeline stays with Adam while she figures out what she is going to do. In the meantime, he writes her father to bring the correct bride over.

This warm and enchanting tale is a full of rich characters, and a family held together by love and devotion. Madeline and the sexy Adam Coate find themselves drawn to each other in a deep emotional bond. When Madeline's sister Diana arrives, she contracts strikingly with Madeline. Though she is beautiful on the outside, her true fickle personality shows through. As Madeline and Adam fight their feelings, Diana quickly discovers something is afoot.

Ms. MacLean has delivered a wonderful story not to be missed! HistoricalRomanceWriters.com highly recommends this story, as it will warm your heart.

Julianne Maclean paints a beautiful picture of a noble Yorkshire Immigrant in intriguing colonial Nova Scotia and the tension that builds between him and the sister of his betrothed. It's obvious that Adam and Madeline were meant to be together, and I loved going along for the ride as they attempt to hurdle over the obstacles in their way. This story was so alluring; I couldn't bear to put it down!

I highly recommend this Harlequin Historical title, and not just for its unique setting (Tantramar Marshes, 1775). Author Julianne MacLean makes your heart break right along with Madeline's when our heroine arrives in the British Colony of Nova Scotia to find that the man who sent for her, the man she's been in love with all her life, actually wanted her older, more beautiful sister. And that's just the beginning. MacLean will quietly and deftly wring a whole lot more emotion from you before you close this book with a satisfied sigh.

Madeline Oxley can't believe her good fortune when her father informs her that Adam Coates, the man of her romantic dreams, has requested her hand in marriage. Immediately she sets off for Adam's colonical Nova Scotia farm, eager for her new life as his wife.... Only to discover she isn't the woman he's expecting -- he requested her sister! She's jilted by the man she loves!

ADAM'S PROMISE was a delightful read, rich with historical detailing of early pioneer life. From author Julianne MacLean's vivid description, I felt like I'd stepped back in time, and seeing this world with my own eyes. A must read for historical fans!

Motherless Madeline Oxley has lived without love her entire life. Dashing Adam Coates is the unwitting hero of her childhood fantasies when he comes courting her selfish older sister.
While Madeline is growing up alone and unloved, Adam is surviving a series of hardships that include: a broken heart (courtesy of the above selfish sister); a rebound marriage to a woman with some serious emotional issues; raising a family virtually alone, and becoming a widower. Wanting to improve his lot in life, he emigrates with his children to colonial Nova Scotia.
When fate throws Madeline and Adam together on the Tantramar Marshes, at first the pair seems mismatched. Madeline is considerably younger and has been sheltered most of her life, while Adam is a man who has *lived*.

Adam's Promise is a beautifully written story with vivid description and lots of emotion to tug at your heart. If you are a history buff as well as a romance reader, and would like to experience the year 1755 in a setting other than the Scottish Highlands, this book is a must-read.

After years struggling to build a prosperous life in Nova Scotia, Adam Coates is finally able to send back to England for his first love. Instead, he gets her younger sister, Madeline, who has quietly yearned for him.

Julianne MacLean paints a vivid picture of colonial Nova Scotia and wonderful characters in Adam, Madeline and the Coates family. I enjoyed watching the relationship between Adam and Madeline unfold as they reassess their rose-colored impressions of first love and struggle to establish a stronger, deeper bond. One that will last a lifetime.

Again, Ms MacLean has created a rich setting for her intriguing characters. Tricked by her father, Madeline arrives in Nova Scotia expecting to marry. But the handsome Adam has also been tricked by her father. He was expecting Madeline's sister. Smarting from Adam's shock, Madeline tries to turn her life around. But thanks to Ms MacLean's deft hand and delicious storytelling, Adam and Madeline find at first a common ground, mutual respect and companionship and the reader holds her breath as we see this very compelling romance begin to bud. But Alas, Ms Maclean twists the story delightfully! Don't worry, I won't spoil it for you!
Realistic, vivid and fabulous, this story is well worth the great reviews it has received. I highly recommend Adam's Promise!

It was a good read, not a great one. Basically the heroine's dad lies to her and sends her to the Hero, thinking the hero wants to marry her. The Hero wants the heroine's sister because she's more beautiful. The hero was a jerk to the heroine pretty much up until the last few chapters when he realizes he doesn't want the vain sister, he wants the heroine. The heroine has been in love with him throughout the book, even when he was a jerk of the highest order to her. The vain sister shows up, gets hurt, and goes off with a secondary character in the book, leaving the playing field wide open for the hero and heroine. I'm pretty sure I've read this story somewhere else, but it was written well. Just not a re-read for me.

Madeline has been in love with Adam since she was 7 years old. She is now 22 and because she was compromised by a lascivious vicar whom she refused to marry, she has no prospects. When Madeline's father receives a letter from Adam in Nova Scotia saying he wants to marry Diana, Madeline's older sister and the childhood sweetheart who jilted him, the father sends Madeline instead, glad to be rid of her. But when she shows up at the dock Adam is so mad at what he views as Madeline and her father's deception he publicly jilts her on the dock before grudgingly taking her home with him to await Diana's arrival.

I loved the beginning of this book. The first half is wonderful and I loved to read about Adam's growing love for her while she tries so hard to not feel anything for him, being he has sent a proxy marriage to Diana and for all she knows Adam and Diana could already be married. Also in the first half we meet Adam's charming family, whom he had with his first wife and his children are very sweet.

But as much as I liked the first half I was very very disappointed with the ending, (WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD). Suddenly Diana appears, not because she received Adam's proxy marriage request but because Madeline wrote to Diana about her upcoming marriage to Adam before she left England and Diana jumped on a boat to try and stop the wedding. Adam realizes that he can't marry Diana, even though he is bound to her through the original written proposal, even though he never asks her in person, and finally tells her he can't marry her. Diana runs out in a storm and nearly dies after he jilts her and while Diana is laying unconscious Adam finally tells Madeline how he feels.

And this is where the book lost me. Madeline tells him she loves him but she feels guilty planning a future with him while her sister is physically and emotionally so broken. To me this is a normal and healthy response to a terrible situation. But, suddenly Madeline is wrong to not want to tell her sister that she was jilted, after Diana can't remember the incident after being hit in the head. The story then turns Diana into a shrew and Madeline into a spineless wimp. She avoids Adam because of the ambiguousness of their situation and suddenly he isn't sure if he even loves her any more. To me the problem here wasn't Madeline at all, or at least not all Madeline. Adam couldn't be patient and realize the amount of guilt involved in coveting your sister's fiance, espeically when Madeline felt guilty about Diana's accident to begin with, feeling she was somehow to blame. Not only that but she has never been loved by anyone before, only abused and he wasn't the slightest bit sympathetic that she needed time to feel ready to show her emotions, espeically with her perfect sister in the room next door.

I don't quite understand the title because Adam never made a promise to anyone, well other than to marry Diana and he broke that. He didn't seem to feel any guilt at jilting both of the sisters, at least until he discovered he loved Madeline. I think most of the problems come from their age difference. He was a literal grandfather at 43 while she was only 22. This had a certain ick factor attached to it for me, and I liked that the author talked about that, with Adam viewing her as child, but suddenly he is in love the the age difference is just totally dropped, just like any reference to his family was dropped in the second half.

I know this sounds like a negative review but I really did enjoy this book. I don't know if I would consider it a keeper being I disliked the way the story progressed in the second half but it was a wholesome and sweet tale where love bloomed slowly and sweetly even if the hero did mess up by trying to push someone to chose between loyalty to her sister and a man she can't believe would ever want her.

3 1/2 stars.

I loved this book!!! It is on my keeper shelf and one I will read over and over. I truly enjoyed everything about this book, though I almost passed it over since it was listed as a "western" when it is not, it takes place in Nova Scotia. Regency English Romances is my first choice of novels and even though this one would be Georgian/Colonial in time period 1775, it does start off in Yorkshire England with a shady father sending the wrong daughter to a Yorkshire gent now living in the British Colonies of Nova Scotia to be his wife. I found this story to be a real page turner and looked forward to discovering how the hero and heroine would finally get together. This is a real keeper.