**2-2.5 Stars **
Expected Publication: February 7th, 2019

Unpopular opinion alert...I'm SORRY!! I wanted to like this so much, but it was such a slow burn that by the time something actually happened, my mind was made up that I just didn't really care. Three girls from boarding school make a "promise" to never discuss something tragic and throughout 60-70% of this book it just keeps referencing it without any details. Then the last 30% of this read, things get cray cray which did redeem it. I did love the way things came together, it was dark and twisted but it just came too late for me. I can see how a lot of people are giving this rave reviews. I would say know going in that it will be slow and if you can stay interested, I think the ending will be worth it.

Special thanks to NetGalley, Teresa Driscoll, and Thomas & Mercer for allowing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review..

This was an easy read with a secret withheld for much of the book and the effect keeping this secret had on the lives of three girls from a convent school. This is not the only issue this book deals with but it is the major one and keeps the reader engaged and wanting to know the whole story and the outcome.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Teresa Driscoll/Amazon for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Promise started off with an intriguing hook that had me gripped and in suspense of what the big secret actually is. It was chilling at times but it was a slow burner so be prepared for that.
Didn’t love this one but it was still an enjoyable read that intrigued me and it was mostly unpredictable and maybe a tad bit too dramatic.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer, and Teresa Driscoll for the opportunity to read and review her latest psychological thriller - it won't disappoint!

Three girls become fast friends at a Catholic boarding school. They also make a promise - to never reveal a secret about something they did to anyone, ever. Fast forward and Beth and Sally are still best friends, but they've lost touch with Carol through the years. An announcement that the school is being sold to developers who are planning on demolishing it send Beth and Sally into fear that their secret will be revealed. They must find Carol. Enter Matthew, a private investigator with his own secret. But is the hunt for Carol endangering their lives?

This was a great read with lots of twists - some you'll guess and others you won't. It's also a story of how what happens to us in the past changes our future and the power that secrets carry in our lives.

Awesome!!!! Couldn’t even move or eat dinner to finish this one! I’ve got 4 words for you.... good luck sleeping tonight!

5 out of 5 stars

First I want to thank Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer publishing for allowing me to read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The more books I read by Teresa Driscoll the more I enjoy her writing and this was no exception. The first book I read by her was "I am watching you" and I really enjoyed it. I just finished the audio version of "The Friend" and really enjoyed it. "The Promise" was just as good even though it had a different feel.

Sally, Beth and Carol, three best friends living in a catholic boarding school made a promise to keep a secret just between them forever. A secret so dark that has haunted them for life.

Now grown woman Carol has completely distanced herself from Sally and Beth to the point that they can't even find her. Sally and Beth however have grown closer So close that they are practically codependent. When news comes that the school is being demolished they are afraid that their secret will be revealed. In desperation they hired a PI and that is when things really begin to implode.

Yes, this is a mystery but I also really reads like a character study. Each woman handles things in a different way and it is very compelling to watch as these women handle the stress, fear and heartbreak that has been handed to them.

I must say that I really enjoyed seeing Matthew from "The Friend" in this and I liked that it told us the story of Matthew before we meet him in "The Friend". It was a pleasure to see him again.

Will you be surprised by everything in this book? No, not really but I think you will enjoy the story immensely.

This is a story of an intense relationship between a trio of friends. Such innocence and promise. I enjoyed the journey these girls went through throughout the book, gaining the insight and perspective from each character. They were all on the same journey, however their paths were very different. The way the author allows you into their lives using the past and present is clever. I did find the revelations predicatble, some not all I had worked out, but that's ok with me. All the main characters were likable, I felt for them and that is because the author made it so.

The Promise starts off slow and it took too long for me to get into it. I don’t feel confident in recommending this to close friends or family because, unfortunately, I was left with many unanswered questions. This wasn’t what was I was looking for in a thriller’s ending despite others enjoying it.

Three schoolgirls make a promise - mot take the horrible truth of what they did to the grave. For thirty years Sally and Beth have tried to put the trauma behind them, even though Carol, the third girl, has distanced herself from her former friends. Something had happened at the boarding school that was run by nuns. Now, the former boarding school has been scheduled for demolishing. The news has the girls scared and nervous. Sally and Beth hire Matthew, a Private Detective, to try and find Carol. Will their secret be revealed?

The story is a bit of a slow burner, but curiosity makes you read on to find out what the secret is that the three girls are keeping. The chapters alternate between past and present and narrated between the characters. Parts of the search for Carol seemed to drag out a bit. The pace quickens up at around 70%, but from then on, it all just seemed a bit rushed. I did guess what the secret was and I found it to be a little disappointing. All in, this is still a decent read.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer and the author Teresa Discoll for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

You can find this review and all my others over at www.readbookrepeat.wordpress.com

Actual rating of 3.75 stars.

Beth and Sally have kept the promise, the secret, for over 20 years now. They've never told a soul what happened when they were 14 and still best friends with Carol. Inseparable, attached at the hip, but no longer. Carol often pops into their minds but for the most part, they've put the past behind them. Until they receive letters stating that the St. Colman Convent, the girl's old boarding school, is closing down and set to be redeveloped. After all this time, is their past going to come back and haunt them? More than it already does? The death that happened, the secret they kept all these years, Beth and Sally are at a loss of what to do. They start an insane journey to find Carol, get in contact with her, so they can ask her opinion, what she wants to do. She's the third girl in this promise, and Beth doesn't want to continue without her go ahead. But as they search and search, coming up with nothing, their anxieties rise higher, beginning to effect Beth's home life and Sally's sanity. All the guilt from what happened so long ago spilling over into their present day lives. What happened when they were 14? What is the big secret that they're so afraid of? And what has happened to Carol? Where is she?

This is a gritty psychological thriller, it switches between three different points of view - Beth, Matthew and Carol. Carol's point of view is written mostly in diary entries so we're still not sure what's actually going on with her or why she has become so distant. The story focuses mainly on the promise obviously, drip feeding us small tidbits, enough for us to form our own opinions of what actually happened when the girls were attending boarding school, but as I found out in the end, not actually divulging anything that could force us to uncover the truth without the story doing it for us. Well, that's for me anyway. I had absolutely NO idea that the story would turn out how it did, and it definitely upped my rating in the end.

I believe that Driscoll portrays the uncomfortable, anxiety of resurgent guilt from a past mistake. I honestly felt anxious for the characters while they stumbled through this story absolutely terrified that their secret would come out, that everyone would know what happened, and that their lives would be completely destroyed because of it. Holding something so terrible in for so long would almost become like a background sound - white noise - constantly threaded through the everyday lives of someone. Driscoll's portrayal of the depression that completely clouds Beth as she struggles to deal with the possible ramifications of this is wonderful. Being someone who lives with depression, I feel that she got the feelings one experiences when in a depression rut rather well. Even though it was honestly only a tiny part of Beth's story, I felt that it was important anyway, and she pulled it off. The descriptions of going through the motions but not really being present, of feeling stuck in a fog that is cutting you off from your loved ones, and your life in general, was on point for me. Her loved ones becoming increasingly worried, and her assuring them that she's fine, that everything's fine, while actually trying to BE fine because of her two young boys.

Sally was written fantastically. And this is the point where I will put in a trigger warning. At the very beginning of the book when we're transported to Beth and Sally in 2009 - there is details of a miscarriage. So if you think you will have trouble dealing with reading about such a horrible experience, I'd probably suggest against reading this one. It's not super graphic or anything, but the detail into how Sally herself was effected, they way that she was as it happened, is pretty descriptive. So I can imagine that it would be incredibly hard to read for some. There are other trigger warnings that I will put here, that have to do with abuse, domestic abuse, and rape. This is not as light a read as I thought it would be. It dealt heavily with hard subjects, but I feel that it was done well. These subjects were not included for shock factor, they had impacts on the story as well as the characters, they were woven through this story wonderfully and they really did add another dimension to it. I feel that the book would not have been the same had it chosen to forgo inclusion of these themes.

Matthew was okay, we get to know a bit about him, but he's not completely in the forefront of this story, he is the private investigator hired by Beth and Sally when they decide to ramp up their search for Carol. He was a nice addition to the story, and it would not have been the same without him in it.

I love that Driscoll dealt with so many things in here. The themes mentioned above, as well as the loss of a parent and how it can impact someone's whole life. The struggles for some students who attend boarding schools, spending majority of their young life away from their family. I can't really say much more with giving away too much of the story itself.

The reveal was fantastic. When we finally find out what the bit secret was, I thought that everything would start to descend back towards the bottom of the proverbial mountain, ready to be tied up into a nice little bow, but oh I was wrong. So much more is revealed than I originally thought was even happening. We get answers to everything and more. Everything begins to make sense. The only word I have for the last 5 odd chapters is explosive. The revelations, the reasons, the surprises, phenomenal.

The reason that my review is not higher, is that at times, I felt that the story lagged a bit. Pacing was a bit slower than I like and I found myself looking at where I was in the book and thinking "Really? I still have 30% to go??". But other than this, I can't pick much fault with it. It was a great book but it didn't hit that giddy, unbelievable, butterfly inducing 5 star rating for me. When I was near the end, thinking back on the story itself, it sometimes felt like a mess of strands that were all tangled up and it was impossible to see which thread went where. Though once I got to the ending, it was as though the ball of mess had untangled itself. I believe that this feeling of chaos actually probably lent even more realness to the story itself. We are thrown into such a chaotic story that we can't help but feel empathy for these characters and what they're going through.

A fabulous story of loss and friendship spanning many years and the secrets we keep. I really enjoyed the relationships between the characters and found parts that made me smile and also made me cry.

I found this book really hard to put down. Really intriguing and it kept me guessing until the very end. A web of destruction that perhaps we could all encounter. A great read!

"Every spring when I watch the petals lost to the wind, I think of the fragility of our dreams."

The Promise by Teresa Driscoll centres around three friends, a promise made decades before, and their relationships, past and present. The author's writing is very distinctive and she writes in such a lovely style as she brings her characters to life. You get to know them so well, they are living, breathing people you root for from very early on.

"How cruel would it be? To dust a person with the magic of the mountains then snatch the dream away."

So many times I paused at a piece of text, admiring the prose. The story was so engaging, I couldn't help but keep turning the pages to discover more about this trio. It came as no surprise to learn the author spent time in a boarding school as the authenticity of the writing seeped from every page. The twists and revelations during the last quarter of the book blindsided me. The ending was truly satisfying and left me with a warm glow. Another winner from Teresa Driscoll. Five stars from me.

The Promise was a wonderful story of three best friends who are faced with bad circumstances, and together and among much hardship, make it through the struggle. I loved reading about the bond that the three girls shared throughout their lives. It was very heart warming since you don't see friendships that endure and last through so much today. The many twists and turns keep you guessing and excited until the bittersweet end. This novel about death, abuse (sexual and physical), and the contrast of friendship, love, and devotion is quite memorable and enjoyable. I will look for more by this author. Highly recommend.

Three school girls have a secret and they have sworn never to tell.
Thirty years later they are still dealing with the trauma of what happened all those years ago. Little do they realise that someone is watching them but WHY?
This book is a slow burner and at times I wanted to give up on it. It was really hard to get into. The premise has been done to death and I am sorry to say that this is not a good one. The ending was disappointing and very abrupt. This is not a book for me.
I would like the author, Thomas and Mercer and Netgalley for the advanced copy in return for giving an honest review.

I was excited to read this book after really enjoying Driscoll's I Am Watching You. Unfortunately, I didn't find this one to be nearly as good. The Promise was certainly a decent thriller with a few surprises threw in. In fact, I was impressed that I was actually shocked a couple of times, which to me signals a successful mystery/thriller. However, I just didn't connect with the characters as much as I had hoped. Beth and Sally, the main characters and best friends, didn't really speak to me, so I found it hard to become too emotionally invested. However, this was a quick and fast-paced read. I would recommend if you're looking for a psychological thriller.

This was my first book by this author and I will be diffently reading more. This book gripped me from the start, with its twists and turns. Very well written, I highly recommend this book.

Wow - This story was like peeling back the layers of an onion....everytime I thought I knew where it was going and who the criminal was, another twist came, and I threw me off course - in a good way!

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the book in exchange for an honest review.
The Promise is the third book of Teresa Driscoll that I have read and whilst I didn’t think it was quite as good as ‘I am Watching You’ and The Friend’ . I did enjoy the concluding chapters of the book which were totally engrossing and the psychological drama of the concluding chapters were what you have come to expect from Teresa Driscoll.
Highly recommended.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Thomas and Mercer and the author, Teresa Driscoll, for the opportunity to read a digital copy of The Promise in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.
I thought the book offered a good read, though it was slow to start. An easy book to pick up and put down if you are busy