Book Reviews

Book Blurb

How much will it cost Fin to keep his promise?

During the off-season, professional football player Calder Finnegan returns to Boston to help run his estranged father’s pub. Little did he know he’d find the love of his life in the pub's bartender, Mick Sullivan. Fin soon discovers his father has only weeks to live. All his hopes of getting to know the man who always seemed too busy to be a father are dashed. With Mick’s help, Fin begins the healing process between father and son and through this some of Mick’s wounds are healed as well. When Fin makes a deathbed promise to his father, he’ll do anything to keep that promise. Even if it costs him his lover and his career.

 

 

 

First Edition published by Ellora's Cave, 2007. It has been revised and re-edited for re-release with Pride Publishing.

Book Review

Emotional devastation comes in many forms – but I never really considered what it would look like in the shape of a promise. Keeping promises is usually considered to be a good thing, but as this story shows, there are exceptions. Not because it is right to break a promise, but because some of them should never be made. ‘Finnegan’s Promise’ is the story of an estranged father and son reconciling just before the father dies – and what the son promised in their last moments together coming back to haunt him.

Fin is a professional football player and only comes home to help out in his estranged father’s pub while his dad takes a trip to see his family in Ireland. Fin has no idea why, and he is very angry when he finds out that his dad has been keeping the illness from him. This family is full of secrets! Fin isn’t exactly innocent – he keeps it a secret that he is gay and stays away because he thinks his father loves the pub more than him. His father has realized his mistake in neglecting Fin, but has no idea how to reconcile. Oh boy!

Mick has a few secrets of his own, but nothing comparable to Fin and Fin’s father’s issues. Mick is right in the middle of the conflict and can see both sides. And as much as he is beginning to love Fin, Mick doesn’t want to have a secret relationship. Fin and Mick fall for each other with lightning speed – and there is enough chemistry between them to keep going. But Fin doesn’t want to come out, and Mick doesn’t want to stay in the closet.

Between the complications around Fin and Mick and Fin being desperate to spend as much time with his father as possible, things get intensely emotional. Then there is Fin’s determination to keep his well-meant promise even though it causes him so much pain… What a train wreck! It took some doing to get that sorted out, and Carol did a great job. Made me sigh with relief – at least on Fin and Mick’s behalf - eventually!

If you like love stories with complications, if you think it should never be too late to admit a mistake and apologize so you can move on, and if you’re looking for a read full of secrets, revelations, desperation, and a surprisingly happy ending, then you will probably like this novella.

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Pride Publishing for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novella, 114 pages/42071 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	18-July-2017
Price	$2.99 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.pride-publishing.com/book/finnegans-promise