Customer Reviews

Promises to Keep

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

 

 

The Earth of the future is not an idyllic place. Economic, environmental, and social woes are made even worse by Earth's recent loss in the war against the former colony of Gaia. Dr. Sarah Johnson is one of many women who decide to start new lives--as the futuristic equivalent of mail order brides--in the Outer Colonies. On the journey, however, the Earth transport is hijacked by the Gaians.

The war w/ Earth has resulted in a shortage of available Gaian women. This shortage is especially problemmatic because Gaian men cannot become sexually active until they "attach"--or form a unique, lifelong bond--to one woman. The victorious Gaians have secretly won a concession from the Earth government to offer Earth women the choice to mate w/ Gaian men. Any woman not agreeing to the offer has the option to return to Earth or proceed to the Outer Colonies as originally planned.

Sarah Johnson is especially disturbed by this turn of events. Her best friend Karen was a doctor on a hospital ship that was destroyed by the Gaians at the start of the war. All of Earth learned of the tragedy through the oft-played video of Gaian General Garran Doranth gloating to Earth authorities about the incident. Sarah has been unable to overcome her loss, or her dislike of the Gaians who caused it.

Sarah's distress becomes even more acute when she learns that her group is being held by none other than the infamous Gen. Doranth. The situation becomes even more complex when, upon meeting Gen. Doranth for the first time, he attaches to her. Now, she must decide if she will become the lifelong mate of the one man she despises. The decision isn't as cut and dried as she would have initially imagined as information about Gaia, the Earth government, and the war begins to come to light.

Garran Doranth is as horrified as Sarah by this unexpected turn of events. After the death of his wife and child in the war, Garran had been mired in grief and was unable to attach to any of the Gaian women in the marriage meets he participated in. It was widely believed that he was now immune to attachment and would never wed again. It is shocking to find himself attached to an Earth woman, but he decides to give the relationship a chance. Now, he must convince Sarah to stay w/ him.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up this book, but I was very pleasantly surprised. The premise was original, the plot was well executed and engrossing, and the characters interesting and appealing. It was a good read simply simply from a science fiction standpoint, and the romance element was a bonus. (Really, there's an allure to the idea of unconditional love and devotion, isn't there?) The cover of the book warns that it contains graphic sexual content and violence, but both were minimal in my opinion. There is more romance than overt sex in this book, but it doesn't suffer from the fact. This futuristic romance is a great book and I highly recommend it.

(Ms. Miller has written another Earth/Gaia story called Beloved Enemy, which actually takes place before the events depicted in Promises to Keep. I also highly recommend that book, as well.)

Sarah is unhappy with her life on earth. Men who want to marry and have children are in short supply. Sarah decides to move to the Outer Colonies where men want wives. On the way she is kidnapped and given a different choice. Marry the most hated man on earth, the "Gaian Beast".

I loved the story of Garran and Sarah. He is kind and he spends the book proving he would make a good husband. This book is the perfect balance of Sci-Fi and Romance. Read it! You won't regret it.

In the 25th century, Dr. Sarah Johnson works as an obstetrician in a public service hospital on Earth. Because the hospital is for the poor, she works with little or no access to the very advanced medical technology available to the wealthy. Earth is crowded, polluted, and depressing, while Earth society is stratified by class. The war with Gaia has just ended with the Earth government's surrender. To Sarah it was a senseless war in which one of her closest friends was a casualty. Sarah holds the Gaians responsible for her friend's death--in particular, she hates Garran, the Gaian general responsible for Earth's defeat. In search of a better life, Sarah volunteers to emigrate to the Outer Colonies as a potential wife for a settler. Little does Sarah know that her future soon will be closely linked with her enemy, Garran...

This story updates the classic mail-order bride plot into the future, embellishing it with political overtones. The writing is very good, and the plot is well-paced, keeping one's interest throughout. The female characters are smart and brave and willing to take the initiative, perfect complements for colonial men. I was fascinated by the details of Earth and Gaian society, and the contrast between the two. The love scenes are sensual or spicy, rather than erotic. I quite enjoyed it, and recommend it as a good summer read. -- Jean, Fallen Angel Reviews (courtesy of Fallen Angel Reviews)

I was surprised to find that I could not put this book down. I usually read paranormal set in present or past. This book is futuristic. A recommendation from Amazon and I am hooked. I read this novel first but it is the second of the series but can be a stand alone. A love story that made me laugh and cry. An original futuristic world created by Miller. I can't wait to read the rest of this series.

I really enjoyed reading this book. The author created a wonderful world that was explained well throughout the book and had a great story. Others have described the book and plot better than I could have. This is just the type of story that I love to read, sci-fi space romance! :)

Extremely enjoyable read. I'm not into rehashing the story but this one flowed very well and kept my interest all the way through. One of the few books that I didn't skip ahead to see if I like the ending...the story kept me enthralled enough I didn't need to. Not so hot it burned but just spicy enough to keep you coming back for more. It is worthy of space on my Kindle.

I won't rehash what other's have written - but I did love the way that the author developed the charters and story. This is a solid love story. Yes, it is set in a far away time and place but this does not take away from the story. The only reason I gave this a four star rating vs a five star is that I became agrvated with the main woman's charter about 3/4th of the way through the book. And all I could think was what a stupid woman. At first her "reluctance" was understandable, but, after sometime - not. Yes, the author gave us a explanation for the (excuse) reluctance which helped - but not before I grew tried of her stupidity. Now, having said that, I know that everone who reads this book will love the story and enjoy a good read. Oh, this is not that "erotic" which I really did like. A little goes a long way and a little is what we got (erotic that is). So this made the book even better (for me anyway).

*Spoilers Throughout*

I read "Beloved Enemy" before this one and I loved that book so much I immediately got another book in the series. However, I was quickly reminded of my own personal cardinal rule of not reading series books because they never live up to the book that inspired my interest in the series to begin with.

Sarah is a doctor and wants to leave Earth and go to the outer colonies in hopes of a marriage, something that is almost extinct on Earth. NLC is a company sending women to the outer colonies to find husbands, but instead of going to the outer colonies they are captured by Gaians, Earth's former enemy, who just happen to be responsible for the deaths of millions, including Sarah's best friend. Gaian men can only have sex with the woman they are attached to (married to) and they need women or else many of their men will be alone because of the deaths of so many women during the war. The man who attaches to Sarah is none other than Garren, the general who ordered so many to their deaths.

The book is divided up into two parts. The first part is much slower but much more intriguing. It involved Gaian's interesting and unique mating ritual about how couples meet without seeing each other. What made the first part so interesting is wondering how Sarah would react to seeing she had unknowingly married the man who she believed had killed so many of her fellow Earthens. The problem is she just accepts the situation. She agrees to spend the 3 trial days with him and is utterly and completely civil to him and gives him every opportunity to try to win her.

He doesn't tell her that he knows her friend is really alive and than proceeds to treat her with much less respect than he would ever show to a fellow Gaian. He even attempts to rape her (forced seduction really) and when she says to him that he treats her that way because she is from earth he agrees that he doesn't respect her because of her origins. For me this SHOULD have been the real basis of their problem, but it isn't. He simply sent her a rose bush and looked at her with sad eyes and never even apologized for the way he previously treated her. The fact that he withheld the information about the death of her best friend, closer than a sister, also isn't the reason for their conflict and the cop out excuse is pretty stupid, being he didn't just not tell her(which I could understand once explained), he forced her friend into hiding to avoid Sarah. For me this means he doesn't truly care about her feelings if he is going to go out of her way to keep her from reuniting with her best friend who she loved so dearly and with no reason beyond his own vanity as an excuse.

The real reason for their conflict is utterly idiotic and hard for a practical person like me to take seriously. Sarah has been having sex dreams about a mystery man with no face and she believes she can't love anyone but the mystery man and she's sure that man isn't Garren. I'm sorry but falling in love with a dream is too irrational for me to grasp.

The ending where her friends uses COMPUTER EVIDENCE to prove she really loves Garren is also very stupid. The emotions didn't ring true. For Garren because he is Gaian and isn't supposed to be capable of jealousy, rape, or physical violence but he is guilty of all 3, the violence is very mild and all interrupted. Sarah is supposed to be rational and intelligent but she never sits down and has a serious conversation with Garren about her feelings and just tells him she doubts she can ever love him and also really and truly believes she is in love with a figment of her imagination.

In the end I disliked the second half more than I was intrigued by the interesting world created by the author in the first half. I couldn't get past the fact that Darren wasn't all that likable and certainly not anyone I would want to be with and that Sarah had every right to not want to be with him and didn't need a figment of her imagination to not want to stay with the man.

2 1/2 stars.

Not bad, but not too good either. Writing style was fine, it was more the content that I found irritating. But then maybe it's just me, I'm totally over the type of story where they meet their 'perfect mate'and there's minimal tension, and the man is practically emasculated because he can't ever 'desire anyone except his beloved'. Yeah, right. Oh, and sorry if that was a spoiler - again, not a bad story, just not to my taste.

I'm a complete convert. I don't like giving synopsis in my reviews, so I won't. But sometimes I make specific comments so just in case *spoiler-beware*.

I just started reading Janet Miller's Gaian series and I wish I could sign up for NLC (New Life Collective)! I love the premise of this series. I can totally see how our Earth could easily become the Earth of 2488 in Miller's stories; corrupt and self-serving. It's not that different now! I love the Gaian's marriage meet idea - what woman wouldn't? I guess only the most shallow prefer finding mates by sight alone. I love that the men know that outsides aren't the "be all, end all" that they are in this society and that a vow and a commitment for life should be exactly that. I like that the men attach first and fall in love over years... that the marriage is focused on the fulfillment of long-term time spent together.

As for more book basics - the writing is pretty good and so was the plot; though any society that is SO life-loving as the Gaians are, seems more unbelievable than a space-future for our own society.

The characters were people I cared about. I could easily go back to this story over and over. I like the more sensual and emotional aspects verses sex-all-the-time with no real story-building!

The one little thing I was missing was that Sarah never explained to Garran the stork symbol on her marriage band. I think it was clever!