The Promise Between Us

By: Barbara Claypole White

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's Summary

From the bestselling author of The Perfect Son comes a hopeful tale of redemption, renewal, and the promise of love.

Metal artist Katie Mack is living a lie. Nine years ago she ran away from her family in Raleigh, North Carolina, consumed by the irrational fear that she would harm Maisie, her newborn daughter. Over time she's come to grips with the mental illness that nearly destroyed her, and now funnels her pain into her art. Despite longing for Maisie, Katie honors an agreement with the husband she left behind - to change her name and never return.

But when she and Maisie accidentally reunite, Katie can't ignore the familiarity of her child's compulsive behavior. Worse, Maisie worries obsessively about bad things happening to her pregnant stepmom. Katie has the power to help, but can she reconnect with the family she abandoned?

To protect Maisie, Katie must face the fears that drove her from home, accept the possibility of love, and risk exposing her heart-wrenching secret.

©2018 Barbara Claypole White (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved

Veins opened, story bled

There’s that famous quote attributed to Red Smith that says, “Writing is easy. You just open a vein and bleed.”

When I read Barbara Claypole White’s novels, I get the sense that’s exactly what she does, but especially in The Promise Between Us.

The veil between fiction and reality seems gossamer thin, with the smallest touch one could reach through the writing and catch amazing Maise’s tear on your finger.

And because the line between here and there is so transparent, it allows Claypole White to give her readers access to what life inside OCD is like. It grows compassion for a woman like Katie Mack who often lives in a one-sided, demonized half of a headline.

It is a hard read at times. All those anxieties that many of us have as tiny whispers in the back of our minds are amplified to a deafening volume and you long to turn it down for yourself and for these characters. But that’s what builds compassion and understanding for those living with mental illness in real life.

Claypole White has a way of writing that gives her characters such depth that you’d swear you knew them.

As heavy as mental illness can be to read about, there is joy and humor and hope in these pages, too. Enough to keep you going, enough to soften the hits to your emotional guts.

Sometimes I am wary of reading an author more than once. I worry that the new book won’t quite grab me as much as the other book I read and loved, but when I read two that I love... it’s magic. I’m looking forward to the next book.

MUST LISTEN!!! ITS AMAZING!!!! HA I love it!!!

hahahaa can you tell I love it? It truly was amazing!! Must get it and you won't be disappointed. Taught me alot. And made me feel apart of the story. Love love love..would listen 10× again and again!

Didn't want to stop listening

This story really sucked me in. I've been wanting to try a Barbara Claypole White book since my review Susan is always raving about them. I wasn't disappointed. I did think so many of the characters having mental health issues was a bit over the top. Even though the narrator added accents I sometimes had trouble telling the characters apart when they spoke.

Educational. Tragic. Beautiful. Inspiring.

I had never heard of Harm OCD before, so this book was a definite eye-opener. It took me a while to figure out that it was the fear of something happening that caused it, not the desire to do it. And that is really what makes this condition so truly awful - an ordinary person being beset by all of their fears exponentially.

I myself have a mild touch of OCD. I was never officially diagnosed, but I have experienced some intensely stressful situations that I know that my brain, too, has a glitch. I have to sit from the left side of a chair. If I am turning around, sometimes the direction feels wrong, and I have to turn in the opposite direction. One day at work I was putting paper into the printer but no matter how many times I put it in, it didn’t feel right. So I had to take it up and do it again. And again. And again. And again. And all the while I was feeling a ball of stress and frustration getting increasingly tighter in my stomach, because I wanted to stop but couldn’t, because the stupid paper had to ‘feel right’ when I put it down. I was close to tears until I finally yanked myself off my seat and walked away. It. Was. Horrible. So I understand completely what Katie and Maisie were going through.

I unreservedly recommend this book to everyone, because we all need to understand the power and effects of OCD. Beautiful story.

Insightful

Their was so much detail in this story about OCD and how it effects your thought process. Grateful for that insight into a condition I knew little about.

OCD Understood

Fabulous story about OCD and how tough it is to live with this mental health disorder.

Unexpectedly honest and mind opening

I didnt realize what I would learn from this book. Anxiety, especially during these times, is something I see everywhere. I know there are many forms, but this book gave me an insight that I am grateful for. Thank You

Different Perspective

This book will open your eyes to a world many people struggle with. It takes the common romance away from the stigma of being an artist and things to light the human aspect of it all; messy and hopeful.

Great description of mental heath issues

Wow. Mental heath is a subject matter that just isn’t talked about nearly enough. This book was sometimes hard to stomach but the way it portrayed mental heath issues was so spot on. I really felt for all the characters and their struggles. It really makes you remember everyone has their own demons that you may never know anything about. I think this is a really good book that really needs read by everyone. This is a book that is going to stick with me for a very long time.

Eye opening

Compelling story about a character who struggles with anxiety and what they go through on a daily basis. Eye opening for me.

Unexpected Page Turner

What did you like most about The Promise Between Us?

A very unexpected plot, full of twists and turns with the characters. It also gives the reader a level of understanding about the horrors of OCD

Who was your favorite character and why?

Definitely Katie as she brings so much understanding to the heart break of mental illness.

What does Justine Eyre bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

By listening you have more time to digest and think.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Yes - every time "the voice" talks to Katie and her reaction " I am strong..."

Any additional comments?

A great book and I think the best of all Barbara Claypole White's books. I was unable to guess any of the plot and found myself totally engrossed to where the "voice" would take you next.