The Promise

By: May McGoldrick

Narrated by: Gabrielle Baker

Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

To Protect

On a desperate journey to America, Rebecca Neville promises the dying wife of the Earl of Stanmore to raise and care for her newborn son, James. Once in the New World, Rebecca begins her new life - as a mother....

To Cherish

Ten years later, the Earl of Stanmore learns of the fate of his family. He sends to the colonies for his young heir so he can raise him as a peer of the realm. With no intention of forsaking her vow, Rebecca returns to England with James to face a future without her beloved charge. But she must also face her tumultuous past....

To Love

At first glance, the formidable Stanmore sends Rebecca reeling. But beneath his coldly attractive façade and seeming indifference to his son's plight, emotions roil. For there is more to Stanmore and his motives than meets the eye. The enigmatic lord has his own promise to keep - and a passion for Rebecca that cannot be denied....

Contains mature themes.

©2010 Nikoo K. and James A. McGoldrick (P)2018 Tantor

a feelgood story

the writer engage you in the story about Rebecka. well written. a rally good narrator . overall a good audiobook worth the money

Loved it

The narrator was excellent. The story line held my interest. I also enjoyed the little bit of mystery.

Needs a Rating XXX

This is the perfect example of why Audible must find a better way to rate the sexual and violence content of books, just as TV and movies did.

In The Promise an excellent plot is ruined by sexual details, sexual assault, and perversion. But there’s no warning. And Audible Escape doesn’t allow you to find the mood by title. You can only browse their settings that do not include all books.

Summary: After being assaulted in an attempted rape, Rebecca Neville escapes by striking her boss and leaving him dead. She journeys to America. On route, she promises a dying woman to care for her newborn son, James.

Ten years later, James’ father finds him and sends to the colonies for the young heir. Rebecca returns with her son even though she could face hanging for murder.

At first glance, James’ father, the Earl of Stanmore, proves to be coldly indifferent to his son, but has his own promise to keep.

The passion between Rebecca and the Earl is over the top too soon and doesn’t match Rebecca’s values. Plus the horrible sexual perversion of the bad guys in this book are difficult, even when skipping the scenes that are xxx rated. But the plot is really good and even though I got a bit upset with the sexual details, I wanted to see if my guess on the outcome was correct. It was a great plot but, May McGoldrick, please don’t degrade your reader. Warn us or why not fade to black.

Graphic

I appreciated the story line but this one was one that I had to skip to the last chapter because the level of graphic content. It was not what I had expected and was distasteful for me.

The Narrator is terrible!

Although I tried to finish , it was impossible. This was a painful experience. A first I thought. maybe I can ignore the reader and just follow the storyline. However, it soon became clear that the storyline was as bad or worst then the narrator.

Needs a thesaurus

Interesting premise. The story and the characters are superior to most but the narrator needs to understand proper emphasis.

I liked the book except for the incessant use of the word LAD.

Sometimes lad was used several times in one paragraph. This became so grating that repeatedly
I had to stop listening until I got over my irritation.

Boy ... child ... youngster ... By the characters name ... James or Jamie ... whatever the spelling was in the book.

Where was the editor ?? Writing 101 teaches that a closely duplicated word should be replaced by a synonym.

STORYTELLING AT ITS BEST GREAT NARRATION

The Promise is absolutely one of the best stories I have read in awhile. May McGoldrick is an Amazing Storyteller. This story will go on my re read list. I Highly Recommend Historical Romance or any read to read The Promise. The story is Heart Rendering, Emotional and will have you on the edge. The slow burn romance between Samuel The Earl of Stanmore and Rebecca Neville was beautifully written.

Ten years ago in 1760 Rebecca Neville was an 18 year old Governess for Sir Charles Hartington, a cruel, sexual abuser to women. He is after the young virginal Rebecca, but she fights back. she thinks she has killed him so she runs. Waving down a Coach she meet Elizabeth Wakefield she has just given birth that morning and is leaving for America with her newborn son Jamey. Jamey is hard of hearing and has a deformed hand. Elizabeth is running to. She has secrets. She helps Rebecca and takes her with them but Elizabeth dies on there voyage. She gets Rebecca to Promise she will raise her son. Rebecca never learns who Elizabeth and Jamey really are.

Ten years later Jamey and Rebecca have made there lives in America. Rebecca loves Jamey as her own and pretends to be his natural mother. Jamey loves his mother he knows no other. But Oliver Birch solicitor for the Earl of Stanmore shows up to retrieve Jamey the Earls son. But there are secrets there too.

All the characters and the backstories are very well written. I loved all the characters, except the evil slave owner and the ex mistress but even they were creatively written. Great writing all around in this story.

The story really takes off when Rebecca and Jamey arrive in England. She will stay with him until he is settled into his new life as heir to and Earldom. She just has to find a way to tell him she is not his real mother. This scene had me in tears. You can feel Jamey's pain. Heart Retching.

Samuel never tries to have any relationship with Jamey. Rebecca notice that Jamey doesn't look anything like Samuel but dismisses it. Rebecca tries to get Samuel to have some kind of relationship with his son. Soon there smoldering relationship starts to flame and off we go.

There is slavery and the abuse of slaves, a evil depraved ex mistress, a cruel slave owner and a story that will claim your heart and mind. I couldn't stop reading this story and then I listen to it on audible. Excellent Narration by Gabrielle Baker.

A FIVE STAR WRITER

This is my first time writing a review, but I have so enjoyed MM's books I just needed to share. I have been listening to Romance books for a couple years now. (Yes, I wish I had stock in Audible:) ) This book was my first one of hers and I have now listened to six of her books in just under two weeks. She has a great talent for visual descriptions, and character depth and development. This book is a perfect balance of that talent, along with mystery, and descriptions of intimacy that are engaging but not over the top. She also added a bit of history which only helped with the depth, and believability of the story. I will continue to listen to more of her books.

Very Enjoyable

I enjoyed the story as well as the narration. The characters are well developed and not cheesy.

The Promise

I enjoyed the storyline and plot . All the characters were riveting and promising . The plight of the slaves and those fighting against the inhumanity of slavery. Rebecca and Stan more ' s story was enjoyable , Great writing .

Good story - dreadful narrator.

I enjoyed the story and stuck with it despite the stilted narration with accent placed on the wrong words.

The author also needed a dictionary and a thesaurus. In Regency days one's 'major domo' or 'steward' was a 'butler'. The 'bailiff' was an officer of the court and not the 'steward' or 'game keeper'. In England 'fall' is in fact 'autumn'. A number of words (adverbs and adjectives) were used incorrectly. This is all a pity as the story deserved much better treatment.