Review: Promises to Keep by Jane Green (audio book)

From the back of the audio case: Callie Perry is a successful family photographer living in tony Bedford, New York. She adores her children, has great friends, and actually doesn’t mind that her workaholic husband gets home at 9 p.m. every night. Steffi is Callie’s younger sister, and unlike her irrefutably settled sibling, Steffi has never grown up. She’s always been a free spirit, living in Manhattan. But she will discover another side of herself – one that finds a simpler life in the country, with its steadier pleasures, surprisingly seductive. 

Lila Grossman is Callie’s best friend and has finally met the man of her dreams. But there’s a problem: a demanding harridan ex-wife who is determined to create a perennial crisis to keep attention firmly on her. And then there are Callie and Steffi’s parents. Divorced for thirty years, they rarely speak to each other. They may share two grown-up daughters, but it’s obvious they share little else.

Promises to Keep is about the hard choices we have to face, about having to be your parents’ child long after you’ve grown up, and finally, about the enduring nature of love.

Read by: Cassandra Campbell

My thoughts: I have read a few of Jane Green’s books and loved them all, but I think this one might be my favorite. While it was a more heavier than her other books, the messages within the story are ones that resonate with us all. Callie and Steffi are polar opposites of each other – Callie has a steady life filled with two children, a job she loves and a loving husband; Steffi just goes with the flow of life, leaving a job when she becomes bored and moving onto something else. Their parents have been divorced for most of their lives and can’t stand to be near each other. When unexpected news hits this family, everyone’s lives change. Promises to Keep shows surprising depth of characters and story line, leaving the readers completely enthralled in the story, empathizing with what is going on. It is a heartfelt story about the ties that bind us – family, friendship and love- and what happens when those ties are threatened. While I enjoyed listening to this book, I found it hard to drive when the tears came – make sure to have some tissues near you as you read/listen to it. I also loved that Jane Green included recipes throughout the book – recipes that were mentioned within the storyline. Now I just have to get my hands on a the physical book to copy some of the recipes to try out – listening to the book makes it hard to get the recipes down!

(I borrowed this audio book from the library.)