Release Day & Blog Tour: BROKEN PROMISES: Kelly Elliott
Hurt.
Regret.
All of these are a result from broken promises.
Love.
Joy.
Happiness.
All of these are a result from finding someone’s way.
Love has two paths, happiness and heartbreak. Sometimes those paths intertwine. Sometimes we choose the wrong path. And sometimes we’re given the second chance to pick the right path.
Which path will Walker and Taylor go down? Only time will tell…
Liza turned around and the smile on her face about dropped me to my knees. Her long light brown hair was pulled up into a bun and she had a bandana wrapped around her head. My eyes traveled up and down her body as I took in the jean shorts, cowboy boots, and light pink T-shirt. Her smile faded briefly when she looked at me before she gave me a weak smile.
I smiled as I walked up to Liza. I hadn’t felt this happy in a long time. I glanced at something hanging around her neck. When I noticed it was the ring I had given her I immediately looked down to her left hand. That’s when I saw the engagement ring. I stopped dead in my tracks. Liza let out a nervous chuckle and walked up to me and gave me a quick hug. “Hey you. It’s been what, a year?”
I couldn’t pull my eyes from the ring. Liza was engaged? I slowly looked up into her eyes and that’s when she looked down to her hand. She quickly put her hand in her pocket and smiled. “Um…how have you been, Walker?”
“You’re engaged?”
I am going to start by saying I had done my review and got it just how I wanted it and somehow it got deleted off the drafts in our blog, so I am starting over and I am sure I am going to have a hard time saying everything I said the first time. sighs. But here it goes...again..."Promise me Something...Wait for me, Liza."
"I promise, Walker, I'll wait for you."
Taylor Elizabeth aka Liza Morris and Walker Moore were best friends all of their lives, then developed secret crushes that blossomed into young love right before college. Their parents are best friends and they lived on neighboring ranches with intertwined family businesses. Going to separate colleges and the years apart brought new relationships and opportunities.
But a summer at home away from some distractions brings up unresolved feelings of first love along with confusion, lust, longing, guilt, hurt and fear. They both have decisions to make for their futures and are being pulled in different directions. Promises made to each other, other people, and themselves cause mixed feelings.
Promises we'd made to others were the only things holding us back.
My heart hurt though out the whole book. I wanted Walker and Liza together. I hated the people interfering. It was frustrating, tense, and heartbreaking to see them struggle. They were good people, that did not want to hurt anyone. They knew what they really wanted, but miscommunication, misunderstandings, and fear often clouded their judgment and affected their choices. They were also both so afraid of rejection and loss that it caused insecurity and avoidance.
Walker was a truly likable hero. He had a little bit of alpha in him, but was also loving, tender, passionate, and protective. Liza was smart, sassy, and caring, but sometimes seemed to get talked into doing what others wanted versus following her own mind. Together they had chemistry, a strong connection, and shared history and family values. But they found themselves in situations that were difficult because they were caring people that honored their commitments and did not want to hurt other people. But at times they only ended up hurting themselves and each other in the process. There was avoidance, resistance, and advance and retreat. There were times of anger, jealousy, heartbreak, guilt, and remorse.
And even when things seemed to take a more positive turn, they still had challenges and conflicts to face. Some they could face together, but others had the potential to further damage their future. But there were also happy moments too. I always felt like these two were truly meant to be together if they could cut through all of the external drama and get back to the core of their true connection and feelings.
"Follow your heart...I promise it will always lead you down the right path." (Courtney)
It was told in both Walker and Liza's points of view and also included flashbacks, so we saw their thoughts and feelings over the years and the build up of their shared history. This is a story of love that could have been easy, but instead took a longer and more bumpy road. Walker and Liza were likable characters even when they could make some questionable decisions. But they were sweet, passionate, and loving and valued their families.
Layton and Whitley (Broken) and Reed and Courtney (Broken Dreams) were their parents and it was fun to see them still so much in love and such good friends. They had their own difficult journeys towards happiness, but were wonderful, supportive parents. I enjoyed their interactions with their offspring and they often gave sage advice.
"Everything happens for a reason, son. Every road you travel down is because of a decision you made. Some decisions are good, some are bad. Learn from each one. But don't look back in regret. Always look forward in anticipation of what could still be." (Layton)
Walker's sister Ava and Liza's brother Jase added more support, humor, and depth to the family and I expect we will see more with both of them in future stories. These siblings were a tight knit group that had grown up together and were truly close friends. And the antagonists in this one definitely annoyed and angered me. There was an underlying element of suspense along with the general drama and angst surrounding the romance and relationships.
This was a heartfelt journey of love, friendship and family in the back drop of their families' Llano ranches. It brought back characters from the Broken series that I have come to love and I enjoyed seeing into their future and spending more time with them.
I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.
This was very much a Kelly Elliott story. Broken Promises is filled with just that -- broken promises.
Taylor Elizabeth Morris, daughter of Layton and Whitley (Broken), has gone by Liza much of her life. As Liza returns to spend one final summer on the ranch with her family before moving to Dallas to live with the man who wants to marry her, she finds herself torn between the promises she has made to Keith, and those she made years before to Walker Moore.
Walker Moore, the son of Reed and Courtney (Broken Dreams), is having trouble committing to his girlfriend, even though she plans to move in with him on the ranch at the end of the summer.
There is so much that goes on at the ranch during this single summer that this became a quick read because I didn’t put it down once I started. I found myself emotionally hurting as I stopped reading to realize just how far apart Walker and Liza drift but how much they still feel for the other.
Even as they begin to find themselves as a couple again, there is more going on outside their control and the story takes on a bit of a suspense angle. I loved the second chance nature of the story and the way they leaned on each other during times of stress.
Both Walker and Liza needed a few well placed pushes from the people around them to realize what they were missing in their relationships with Jessica and Keith. Though it would appear that this book was a love triangle (or square?) I’m not sure I would give it that label. While yes, each main character is in a relationship at the beginning of the book, they are both struggling with what the future of those relationships look like before they even see each other again.
Ultimately, this is a story of what happens when two hearts who are meant to be together forget the promises they made to each other and try to find a life with anyone but their other half.
I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.
Broken (Broken #1)
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Kim and Rachel's 5 star reviews
Layton Morris and his brother Mike grew up not knowing what it would be like to live in a normal home. With no running water or electricity in their home, no parents around to protect them, they quickly learned how to survive and depend only on each other.
When a tragic accident takes Mike away from Layton, and the only other person that he ever let into his heart walked away from him, leaving his heart shattered, Layton focuses all of his time and energy into the ranch he and his brother dreamed of. He makes a vow to himself to never let love in again. The last thing Layton needed or wanted was more heartache.
Whitley Reynolds grew up in a privileged home in upstate New York. When she landed the star football player in high school no one was surprised, not even Whitley. She dreamed of a life with Roger living in New York City and happily followed him there.
The first time Roger hit her for arguing with him about a dinner party, she forgave him. The more it happened, the further Whitley withdrew from her friends and family. One fateful day things go to far. Whitley makes a promise to herself and finds the courage to do the one thing she thought she’d never be able to do.
Fleeing with her best friend Courtney, Whitley was determined to put her past behind her and start a new life in the small town of Llano, Texas, where no one would ever find out about her past.
Will they both ever learn to trust and love again, or will their pasts come back to haunt them, keeping them both alone and…
Broken.
Broken Dreams (Broken #2)
Broken Dreams (Broken #2)
Courtney Will always dreamed of finding her Prince Charming and living happily ever after, like in the fairy tales she read as a child. Her dreams were shattered one fateful night when her prince turned out to be her worst nightmare. Burying herself in her job as an editor, Courtney tried to forget her past, and she lost hope of ever finding true love.
Reed Moore’s past filled his world with guilt and anger, and then a mistake in college deepened these feelings. Fearing he will one day repeat his father’s mistakes with the woman he loves, Reed has vowed to never give his heart to anyone.
Reed and Courtney have each spent years building walls to guard their hearts, so when their feelings for one another explode into something unexpected, they argue and throw hurtful words at each other in hopes of avoiding the truth.
Will Reed end up being the Prince Charming Courtney has dreamed of her entire life? Is Courtney the woman who will help Reed move past the guilt and anger, so he can embrace love?
Can their broken dreams become their happily ever after?
Kelly Elliott
She’s also a mom to an amazing daughter who is constantly asking for something to eat while her fingers move like mad on her cell phone sending out what is sure to be another very important text message.
In her spare time she loves to sit in her small corner overlooking the Texas hill country and write.
One of her favorite things to do is go for hikes around her property with Gus....her chocolate lab and the other man in her life, and Rose, her golden retriever. When Kelly is not outside helping the hubby haul brush, move rocks or whatever fun chore he has in store for her that day, you’ll find her inside reading, writing or watching HGTV.
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