Review: Jessica Wood's Promise to Marry

We were best friends since as early as I could remember. We grew up together. We were next door neighbors. We shared each other's deepest secrets. When I was thirteen, we made a pact: if we were still single by the time we were 30, we'd marry each other.

Today was my thirtieth birthday. I was single. I knew he was single too.

But we were no longer best friends, and a part of me knew that he hated me.




3.5 Stars but 4 Stars for the WTF Reveal!

Review by Lisa Kane


Promise to Marry is the first installment of a three part series. Chloe and Jackson were best friends all through their childhoods. Her mother turned custody of her over to her aunt and uncle because she couldn't care for her. She needed to get her addictions under control. But all Chloe knew was that her mommy was sick for a long time and she could only see her once in a while. Jackson's family lived next to Chloe's Aunt Betty and and Uncle Tom. Their first encounter was a memorable one for her. She remembers he called her Pippi Longstocking, because of the braids in her hair. She swore not to give this kid a chance. But she has a rough rode ahead of her at her new school. She doesn't dress like the other girls and quickly becomes a target for their jokes. But guess who comes to her aid?

The two slowly become good friends; best friends and make a pact that they will always have each other's  backs. When they get old, like really old-say 30, if they aren't married to anyone else they will marry each other. Just so they won't  be alone. They remained best friends up until their early twenties.

Fast forward nine years later. It's  Chloe's 30th birthday and she wakes up from a dream about Jackson. And them being together. But she wakes up to the sad reality that they haven't talked in 9 years and it's her fault. She's depressed about it, but she tells herself her boyfriend and their relationship works and she has a good life. She may not love her boring job, but she has a great best friend, Carly, and things are good.

Happy birthday to Chloe! By the end of the day, she has lost just about everything. She starts to stalk Jackson on the internet, trying to catch up on the details of his life. She finds out one of their friends from high school is getting married back home. Her aunt and uncle expect her to fly out from California to Pennsylvania for the wedding, and the bonus-Jackson is supposed to be there.

Oh she sees him alright when she arrives back in her hometown, but this is where the angst really comes in to play. Their conversations and her big reveal of why they are no longer friends, KILLED me (insert big bug eyes at this point!)

It ends on a huge cliffy and if I were Jackson, nine years would not be nearly enough for me to have gone without speaking to her! Jessica Wood has her work cut out for her in making this reader feel any kind of empathy for Chloe.  I have read hundreds and hundreds of books, but this was one had one of my biggest WTF moments at that reveal that I have ever read.                                                                            


Nook