Promised Land [Paperback]

Connie Willis (Author), Cynthia Felice (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1998

It has been fifteen years since Delanna Milleflores set foot on Keramos. Now her mother has died, and she has returned only to settle and sell her estate.

But Keramos has some surprising laws. To sell her farm, Delanna must first live on it for one year. And along with her land comes one Tarlton Tanner, heir to the adjoining farm.

A man who, at the moment of her mother's death, became Delanna's husband...

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Delanna returns home to the mining and farming planet Keramos to settle her mother's estate, take the money, and return to a civilized planet. To her dismay, she finds that to claim her inheritance she must stay on her mother's land for one year. She also learns that upon her mother's death she was automatically married to Sonny Tanner, a man she remembers (barely) from childhood. Willis's (Bellweather, Spectra: Bantam, 1996) romantic sf adventure effectively explores a young woman's coming of age. Recommended.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

After expensive schooling off-planet, Delanna Milleflores returns to planet Keramos intending to stay just long enough to settle her recently deceased mother's estate. But, thanks to Keramos's weird laws, Delanna finds that, in order to inherit, she must live on the estate until the legalities are completed; worse, she's legally married to the estate's co-owner, Sonny Tanner! Dismissing Sonny as a bumpkin, Delanna flirts with handsome wolf Jay Madog while reluctantly making arrangements to travel to Milleflores--some 5,000 miles distant. Despite various adventures and embarrassments, Delanna arrives at Milleflores realizing that Sonny, though uneducated, is intelligent and hardworking; by contrast, her mother was a rude, idle snob--and whatever profits Sonny managed to squeeze out were sent to Delanna at school, to waste on expensive clothes and parties. Further complications include Delanna's illegally imported pet, the local wildlife, storms, and the omnipresent Jay. Light, amusing, and well worked out: a vast improvement over the wretched Light Raid (1989). -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Ace (August 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441005438
• ISBN-13: 978-0441005437
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,909,930 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Good Read for Early Teens, December 1, 2000

By 

Nancy C. Herbst (Cary, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Promised Land (Paperback)

I began reading the book because I love Connie Willis. After 20 pages, I was disappointed; after 50 or so pages, I was mad. The only thing that kept me going was the fervent hope that the unbug would get squashed after mortally wounding the shallow and obnoxious "heroine." And then, unexpectedly, I began to enjoy the story, mostly because of the science-fiction elements, and I realized that if this book were marketed for young people, it would be quite good. It's a very moral story... the wretched Delanna sees the error of her thinking, proves to be a hard worker, kind to animals both warm and cold-blooded, and learns to love a good and uncomplicated hunk of a man. And there are no scenes you would be embarrassed to read aloud to your 13-year-old daughter, who I think is the perfect audience for this rather charming but predictable story. I hope there's a sequel, perhaps written more towards adults... and this time, the unbug gets it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A marvelous little concoction! I can't wait for her next one, October 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Promised Land (Paperback)

Great for anyone that doesn't like technical novels. Promised Land is incredibly light to read, heavy on the semi-subtle wit, just a tad preachy, with wonderful characterizations. Everyone knows a Sonny Tanner and the gossip mill. The vet's a bit overdrawn, but Delanna is perfect!

It is nice to see an innocent romance blossom without the lurid details, although the hints are there. The imagination is left to paint your own picture of fire-haired Delanna with her nacre-backed Cleo wrapped in her arms. (Really, it's not a bug!)

Not her best book - that honor goes to Doomsday - but probably the most enjoyable to read. I hope Willis and Felice write another.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars warm, sweet and utterly enjoyable, June 6, 2000

By 

"treska" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Promised Land (Paperback)

Maybe it was just the right book at the right time in my life, but this book struck just the perfect chord with me. So what if you can smell the happy ending a mile away? I for one was content to relax in the capable hands of two skilled authors and let the story take me there. This wasn't what my mother would refer to as a "deep" book, but I read books for all kinds of reasons, not least of which is plain and simple enjoyment. The characters are interesting and develop in complexity as the main character grows to know them better. For all that the storyline is relatively straightforward, it's still complex enough to keep me going and surprise me now and then. I love this book. It even passed that most difficult of all tests: the re-read.