Promises (G K Hall Large Print Book Series) (ISBN 0783818424)

Passion & Betrayal:
The story of a woman who faces an ugly truth - her husband's betrayal, as her happy marriage is eroded. There's temptation, passionate romance, and betrayal wrapped up in an engrossing story of an extended family and how people respond to changes in their lives, including destruction of their expectations. A quick, easy read, and an interesting story. As always with Plain, it's well written, with good character depth as she pulls you quickly in, and you come to really care what will happen to the individuals involved. Belva Plain's books are always great drama, hard to put down, and make good summer reading; this is a good selection to take to the beach. If you like Danielle Steele, you'll enjoy this novel.

LOVED IT!!!:
This was a great book! The first time I read it I couldn't put it down. The story got me in suspense abput what was going to happen to Margaret and Adam and Randi. Randi is such a powerful woman who came out of nowhere to find Adam and take him away from his family. Adam, being married to Margaret, knew that having an affair with Randi was wrong but he let Randi lead him on anyway. My favorite part of the story is when Adam and Randi are too fallen in love with each other and Margaret is still trying to ignore signs that Adam is with someone else. And Margaret is such a great caracter, having a great recovery after Adam leaves her. It really makes me think what I would have done in her place. I know it is not easy dealing with something like that, when a husband or wife leaves you for someone else. The end is also great. All in all, it is one of my favorite books and I always read it over and over again. I can't get enough of it.

The cost of love...:
How can a book about such a painful topic as divorce be such a page-turner, and I'm tempted to say, entertaining? I have no answer to that, but can only say that I found this book totally absorbing and almost impossible to put down. Cliché it may be, but it kept me awake till early morning the two nights it took me to finish it. No two relationships are the same. No two divorces are the same. So also in this case. Margareth and Adam have known each other since childhood and are, so to speak, destined to marry. Adam, finishing university before they are to marry, meets Randi and falls in love. But Randi does not want to wait for Adam to pick up the courage to break it off with Margareth, and leaves him. So the wedding between Margareth and Adam goes forward as planned. They move into Margareth's childhood home, get three nice children and seemingly enjoy a perfectly happy family life in the small town of Elmsford. Until one day on a trip to New York, Margareth and Adam meet Randi. Recently widowed, Randi sets out to win Adam back. She moves to a small town close to the family and of course, manages to entice Adam into an intoxicating affair. Totally different from solid, kind, pretty Margareth, Randi is an exciting, alluring, sexy, rather crude woman, who knows all Adam's weaknesses and has little regard for his responsibilities toward his wife and young children. A parallell story takes place in addition. Nina, orphaned at an early age, has grown up with Margareth as a combination of mother, sister and friend. Nina is a striking and talented interior decorator who goes to New York where she gets involved with a married man. Belva Plain gives a very detailed picture both of Margareth and Adam's divorce and Nina's experience of being the - if mislead - intruder. Marriage, duties, temptation, unfaithfullness - and healing. Life goes on, but will never be the same. As always, Belva Plain writes extremely well. The characterization in this book is very strong. How Margareth suspects but chooses to trust and even protect, her husband. How Nina believes completely and needs proof, the naked truth, in order to see. As the saying goes: "Everyone is blind when maddened by love", or rather, "when maddened by falling in love". And the cost may be excruciating.

A clean, uncompromising look at morality:
Belva Plain will not be part of the Oprah book club, or Kelly Ripa's for that matter. There are no metaphors on life (like Jodi Picoult), no treatise on the power of forgiveness (like Macomber and others), no lectures on journeys of self-realization or needing to look at shades of gray, and all that babble that authors of women's fiction typically resort to. and so what a RELIEF! It is a clean, straightforward look on marriage, morality, and clearly outlines what is right, what is wrong. It has a strong, clear message about love, its illusions, and what divorce does to children, and to me at least was far more realistic than what is out there. It clearly points a finger at who is right and who is wrong, and doesnt attempt to make anyy excuses for the "other point of view". What a breath of fresh air. I needed something like this. Someone mentioned that she was a feminist. I am not sure...he values on marriage and what's right and wrong is very traditional...most feminist authors today (like Picoult and Delinsky) like to throw in differing points of view (primarily for book club discussions) and give us a huge headache.

Adulterous.:
This book is definitely a must read, I have read it twice and still couldn't put it down the second time! Promises delves into the passion and heartbreak that comes with adultery. Margaret is your classic mother figure, sweet, sensitive and loveable from the start. Adam, on the other hand, surprises you... he has an affair with Randi before his marriage to Margaret but ends up breaking it off then he spots her years later in NYC and all his feelings about her come back. You can actually feel the magnetism between Randi and Adam, I sometimes found myself even thinking, "stupid, don't go meet her you have a wife!" The twists and turns in this book get you hooked and the ending?!? It's shocking. Like I said, definitely a must read.