Promises to Keep

Promises to Keep
By Jane Green
Viking, 2010. 343 p. Fiction

The Tollemache family has much to learn this year. Steffi’s cooking up a vegan storm in her new job as head chef at Joni’s, the hippest restaurant in Manhattan. But when one of her hottest (and unfortunately married) customers needs a dog-sitter she happily leaves her rock-star boyfriend and the city life to live in Mason’s charming old house in the country. Her sister Callie is living the suburban dream, with a handsome husband, 2 kids and a thriving home photography business. Their parents have been divorced since the girls were little, but the sisters have always held onto a faint hope that they’ll somehow reunite. But tragedy strikes everyone when Callie begins to experience disturbing medical abnormalities and how they manage to survive the crisis will take more willpower and love than any of them imagined possible.

Jane Green is the author of numerous bestsellers in the chick-lit genre. However, Promises to Keep falls somehow flat, lacking depth and character strength, even though the subject is particularly emotional and the characters seem interesting from the outside. Yet, hope is always a welcome message and with an ending imbued with it perhaps the book will appeal to those looking for a light, marshmallow-ish read.

DAP