Emotional story of Second chances, over coming a childhood disability of Stuttering, Bullying ! Pressures and Expectations of a domineering parent, This little story has a lot packed in it! Tanner has enough on his plate with his Landscaping business, when he and his 2 brothers are left with the raising of their younger sister after the death of their mother! With the loss of both parents now (their father abandoning them), this family desperately wants and needs to keep the remaining family together!Enter childhood crush " Francie "School teacher, former Beauty queen, and childhood crush of Tanner! who needs a landscaper, willing to " Swap" childcare services for his service ! His sister Maddie is a sweet "Tween" is desperately holding on to her big brother, wanting to stay with him instead of going to live with her aunt! such a sweet emotional story with some heat pact in it! would have liked to have met Tanner's 2 brothers ! but their stories are for another
time!
Was given and ARC for my honest opinion from Netgalley! ( )

I liked this book. It is a light read and am sure people will definitely like t as a beach read during summer ( )

A fun, small-town feel romance
4 stars

This is the first Kaylie Newell book that I have read and also the first in a new series about the Harlow Brothers. Each book follows a different brother so stands very much alone. No cliffhangers here. (Hey - if your book is good enough - people will buy it without you having to resort to cheap marketing tactics. Just saying.) The next book in this series is Luke’s story, Luke’s Gift.

The story kicks off with Tanner in a bit of a turning point in his life. His mother has just passed away and he has taken guardianship of his sister. Despite the very sad set of circumstances, at no point in this book is the story overly maudlin or upsetting.

Tanner is a good guy - sweet, understanding and just a little bit gruff. Sadly for me, the author described him as exceedingly tall and 26 years old. 26. Good God - how old am I getting that this sounds so young?! So all through the book I had this image of a tall, lanky man-boy as our hero. I’m going to send out a plea - don’t tell us the age of our couple. Let me pretend I’m young - or that my couple are a little older!

I really like Francie, too. She was the girl next door that everyone had loved in high school - including Tanner. But she’d lived too long living up to the expectations of her mother, and everyone else in her life. And she’d always been the kind of person to try to not hurt anyone else’s feelings - even if it costs her something. I just felt for her and sympathised with what she was going through.

And surprisingly for me, I also really loved wee Maddie. I’m not usually into kids in a book but I enjoyed her and thought she brought something extra to the story.

The writing was good, the story kept me interested and I’m keen to read the next book in the series - always a sign that a book was good.

So now onto the things that stopped me from marking this 5 stars.

At first I thought this was a sweet, clean book. The first kiss wasn’t described much and I didn’t feel much sexual tension between the pair - only the sweet romance. But some words caught me out and left me wondering if the book was a bit sexier than it first appeared. And it did get sexier from there - it’s just I didn’t feel it. I have never said this about a book in my life (liking the sexy times as I do) but I honestly think I might have given it 5 stars if the door was closed to us when Francie and Tanner had all the sex. There was just something missing for me in the intimate scenes which made them feel a little awkward.

And I was also a bit confused as to what the problems were with Tanner and Francie - both individually and together. Why didn’t they want to be with each other? Why were they fighting against their feelings? It left me a bit drained trying to get my head around it - which made me think it might be the age thing. Which made me angry because that means I’m definitely getting old!

As I say, a couple of minor things dropped this from a 5 star read to a 4. But it was still a fun, small-town romance with a great couple and hopefully another couple of equally excellent books still to come in the series. Recommended. ( )

I absolutely loved Tanner’s Promise because of the writing which evoked an attachment to Tanner and a desire to find out if things worked out for him as he struggles to come to terms with raising his half-sister and what all that would entail. He has decided to send her off to her aunt in Hawaii for a better situation that he could offer but he struggles with really have to let her go. It is his story through and through, sprinkled with a chance at romance with a former high school flame, Francie Tate. Francie comes to his rescue with his sister and she finds herself wanting to help Tanner solve his dilemma. Both Tanner and Francie see each other as how they were ages ago in high school and have to chip away at the block walls to see who they really are now. ( )

I really liked Tanner's story and can't wait to read the stories for the other brothers. Tanner is trying to start a business and take care of his little sister. They are still mourning their mother's death. She wasn't always much of a mother, but they loved her. Tanner isn't sure he could raise a little girl, so he will be sending his sister to live with their aunt after summer is over. Francie is a grade school teacher and is trying to fix up her new home. She needs something done with the yard and has hired someone to take care of it. Tanner shows up and all the old feelings from high school show up with it. Tanner had loved Francie back then and she always felt protective of him. He had a stutter and everyone, including her boyfriend, made fun of him. Now he is all grown up and the stutter is gone. As Francie helps him care for his sister, they grow closer. He knows she is too good for him, but he can't help himself, he just has to be with her. How can he let his sister go and he really shouldn't get any closer to Francie, but he can't help it, he just has to be with her. ( )