Memory Playing Tricks

Reviewed by Phee Paradise

Yesterday’s Promise
By Delia Latham

Memory is a tricky thing, and Latham uses its mysteries to create an intriguing story. Hannah Johns falls in love with, and marries, a handsome stranger who abandons her after fathering her child. Three years later he buys the lounge where she works, but acts as if he’s never met her. What should Hannah do?

The book is the story of how Hannah resolves that question. In spite of the insecurity Brock has created in her, she tries to interact with him in a godly manner. She doesn’t tell him who she is, but patiently tries to find out what has happened to him. She also takes time to face the past and the emotions she has suppressed.

The way Latham tells the story reminds me of the gothic novels I loved as a teen, by authors such as Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt. The difference is that Yesterday’s Promise is a much simpler story. It doesn’t have a second love interest to distract Hannah or a secondary plot to complicate the story. Nor does it have any deep themes. It’s a simple love story with an intriguing premise.

I enjoyed reading it and liked the characters. The descriptions of Yosemite National Park grounded the story in a real setting. But I had a problem with time. I couldn’t quite place when the story was set. Hannah drove a Mustang and cell phone, but her childhood was so sheltered, I wanted to place her in the early part of the 20th century. The flashbacks confused me and I had to keep checking when things had happened. It also felt to me like the whole story was rushed. Less than four years pass from their first meeting to the end of the book and Brock and Hannah fall in love in a week. Later we’re told that neither of them are impulsive. That didn’t ring true.

The book isn’t very long and definitely worth devoting an afternoon to read it.

Pros: Interesting plot with a satisfying ending. Good love story.

Cons: It’s only available as an e-book.


About the book:

Songbird Hannah Johns supports the child born of that ill-fated union by singing in a dinner lounge. Her dream of someday owning the elite establishment and turning it into a venue more suited to her Christian values is shattered when an unexpected transaction places it in the hands of Brock Ellis, the handsome biker who abandoned her in their honeymoon suite.

Ensuing sparks fly high, revealing buried secrets and forgotten pasts. Seeking to find peace with her painful past, Hannah returns to Yosemite, and Brock follows hard on her heels. Back where it all began, she finds herself in danger of losing her heart yet again to the man who shattered it the first time around.

About the author:

Writing has been Delia's passion since third grade, when she won an essay writing contest and took home the coveted prize: a beautiful bed doll with a pink quilted satin skirt. Winning that contest made a profound impact on her young psyche - enough so that she never stopped writing. Delia writes songs, poems and greeting card verse as well as short stories, articles and novels.