I love a domestic suspense thriller and this one did not disappoint! I couldn't read fast enough to figure out what would happen and I ended up being shockingly surprised by the ending. Can't wait to read more from this author!

This was a fun fast paced thriller that kept me on the edge of my toes. I liked the characters and the story line, would suggest for anyone who needs a dark travel read.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read and review as part of the book tour hosted by Zooloos Book Tours.

The Promise is a suspenseful, slow burn read that left me questioning myself as to how far I would go as a person to save someone I love.
Erin is sick but doesn't know it yet. Her husband Scott has kept it from her and is doing all he can to get her the transplant she needs.
Kathleen is awaiting a transplant, and as the two women's lives become entwined, will either women get what they want or need?
Erin is very nieve, and Scott obviously loves her, but he makes so many alarm bells go off when I read this. The twists are superbly executed and flow so smoothly within the story. I could honestly believe this transplant situation occurring in real life, which is a scary thought. I loved the ending and found it an unexpected extra twist to the story.

At first, the premise of this just seemed bizarre. Double crossing your wife so she didn’t find out she was ill. Surely she’s not that fragile? But once you got into the story, you didn’t think about that any more and I enjoyed the book for what it was.
There were some really good twists, however the second half of the book felt very rushed.

“The Promise,” by Emily Shiner, is about a woman named Erin who is in need of a kidney but has no idea she is ill, her husband, Scott, a high-powered criminal defense attorney, and a woman named Kathleen who is advertising for a new kidney on a roadside billboard. Scott knowingly drives by the sign and points it out, knowing it will gnaw on Erin and she will want to give back by offering her kidney to the woman desperate enough to advertise. We discover Kathleen has Alport Syndrome, which is destroying her kidney. There is also Cora, Kathleen’s sick daughter, and Kathleen is convinced Cora has early stages of Alport as well. The common denominator for all of these people is one Dr. Thomas, a shady organ transplant physician who has lost his hospital privileges. There are promises all around, but are any of them kept?

There are tremendous parts to this book, like the climax, which is very well-written. The alternating voices of the characters push the story ahead in an interesting way and from all viewpoints, and there is an open end, leading to the hope of a sequel. Overall, “The Promise” is a great guessing game and reveal.

There are some issues as well, like the wordy repetitiveness (especially in the beginning). I would like to warn readers about triggers for domestic controlling issues, and Munchausen’s Syndrome.

I would like to thank Net Galley and Inkubator Books for the ability to read and review this Arc.

This is a breathtaking, suspenseful novel that is quite the page-turner and had me on the edge of my seat. I was pulled in from the very start, actually, right from the synopsis and couldn't wait to see how it ended. The storyline was well crafted and flowed smoothly and the twists and turns within the plot kept me guessing till the end. The author does a nice job of describing the scenes and making them come to life, as if you are experiencing them yourself. You won't believe the lengths people go to to protect the ones they love. Plenty of suspense and intrigue kept me turning the pages to see what would happen next. A gripping story you won't be able to put down!

I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

I really wanted to like this. But after 25% the characters just seemed to fake. I did. It finish. Great plot, story line and all but I just could not get passed the fake feeling of the characters.

First, I want to thank Emily Shiner, Inkubator Books, NetGalley and Zooloo’s Book Tours for providing me with this book so I may bring you this review.

O.M.G!! WOW!! Emily Shiner’s The Promise read like a movie playing in my head!! This. Book. Was. So. Good!! I was absolutely addicted to it and read it in one sitting! I just could not get enough of her twisted, jaw dropping, suspenseful, head spinning, and heartbreaking read! Oh you must put this on your TBR list as it is a 5 star must read book!

Emily Shriner you are incredibly gifted writing in this genre! This is my first time reading/reviewing for you and you just got an instant fan! I must read more of your books!

I loved how there was a medical theme to this book that definitely kept you on your toes!

Ohh there were scenes in this book that I can’t believe Emily went there! One storyline in particular that I was yelling at my kindle!

Erin and Cora were my favorite characters in the book! Erin because she had a huge heart of gold and wanted to help anyway she could. Cora my heart just ached for everything she was put through at a young age!

Scott totally creeped me out the more I gotta know his character. I know he meant well but WOW! The lengths he went to keep his wife safe!

This is one book I had no clue how it was going to end! Emily kept throwing major twists and turns! Nothing prepared me for the epilogue though! I am still shaking my head with it.

The graphic designers for the cover of The Promise must be commended! The cover brilliantly captured the book! It was one thing that lured me into seeing what the book was about.

I am a huge fan of psychological thrillers and especially those psychological thrillers that have a twist to them. I read the synopsis of ‘The Promise’ and it certainly sounded like the sort of story that I would enjoy. Well I was spot on too because I really enjoyed reading ‘The Promise’ but more about that in a bit.
It took me a little while to get into ‘The Promise’, which has a lot to do with the fact that I was tired when I started to read and finding it hard to concentrate. I did get into the story and then that was it- the rest as they say is history. I can’t say that I took to the characters as such but at the same time I cared about what happened to the two leading ladies. The male lead character was a different matter altogether as I got the impression that he wasn’t exactly who he claimed to be. I had my own theories as to what was going to happen and I had to keep reading to see if I was on the right track or whether or not I had wandered down another path entirely. The more of the story I read, the more I wanted to read and the quicker the pages seemed to turn. I soon got to the end of ‘The Promise’. I found ‘The Promise’ to be a tense, gripping and dramatic read, which kept me guessing and which kept me on the edge of my seat.
‘The Promise’ is well written. Emily has one of those writing styles that is easy to get used to and easy to get along with. She certainly knows how to grab the reader’s attention and draw them into what proves to be a compelling read. The story hits the ground running and maintains a steady pace throughout. The story is told from the points of view of the three lead characters with each chapter voiced by one of the three characters. The chapters interlink well and the story flows seamlessly as a result. Reading ‘The Promise’ felt like being on a scary and unpredictable rollercoaster ride with several twists and turns along the way. I love the way in which Emily makes the reader feels as they are part of the story themselves and at the heart of the action.
In short, I really enjoyed reading ‘The Promise’ and I would recommend it to other readers. I will definitely be reading more of Emily’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Promise in exchange for an honest review.

Erin is kind. Almost too kind. Her husband Scott is worried she will get ill. Doctor Thomas is greedy. He will do anything for money. Kathleen needs a new kidney. Erin is kind. Almost too kind.

This was a short, quick read. The characters were not particularly likeable and at times I wanted to shake Erin and tell her to wake up and smell the coffee! Overall, however, a solid 4 star read as I was happy to pick it up and read.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest feedback. Unfortunately, I was not a fan of this one. All the characters were unlikable - Scott, massively controlling; Erin, dumb; and Kathleen, selfish. My main complaint is that the premise was really unrealistic and hard to swallow. I kept waiting for something to happen, some twist, but it did not come until the epilogue. Even then, it did not resolve anything and basically left you wondering if the characters will ever be punished/ discover secrets/ etc. I thought maybe this was a debut novel, but I see the author has quite a few others on Goodreads. I probably will not seek them out.

This could have been a great book. The basic story surrounds three characters who narrate their stories in alternating chapters. Erin is married to Scott, a defence barrister who keeps track of his wife through his phone and hidden cameras. He has also decided she needs a new kidney even though tests only show a slight problem. He wants his wife to be totally healthy before he will deign to have children with her. Some might describe Erin as naive, but she seems short of a few brain cells in allowing her husband to totally control her. Scott arranges for a previous client, sued for malpractice, to enter into a private agreement with him to find a suitable kidney donor. Enter Kathleen, a single mother with a disease that means she needs a new kidney and fast. Kathleen has a teenage daughter who is perfectly well but Kathleen believes she will eventually get the same disease as her. So she purposely makes her daughter sick so that she will also consent to a kidney transplant and thus save her life. The dubious doctor has only one motivation and that is to financially fleece his patients.

Thus there is a plethora of issues to be explored here. Namely the harvesting of organs for transplant, domestic violence in the form of coercive control, issues of class when Erin and Kathleen become “friends”, Munchausens by proxy, motherhood, justice, organ donation. Instead all of these issues are not only glossed over but also there are no consequences to any of the perpetrators!

Finally, the writing is banal and repetitive with each character using the same language and expressions. At first I thought this might be deliberate to build tension but it was soon evident this was not the case. The only thing that redeems this book is that although I found it frustrating to read I did finish it as I wondered how it was going to wrapped up. Unfortunately the ending was a reflection of the whole book. So disappointing when there was so much there to work with.

It's creepy, but the characters are gripping, and you keep turning the pages wanting to know more! Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Immersive Psychological Suspense…
Scott is watching. He monitors his wife Erin, every movement and every action. He’s tracking her. He does it because he loves her. Right? And because he wants to protect her. Right again? When Scott finds out that her life is hanging in the balance he intends to do everything he can to save her. That’s when he meets Kathleen. Immersive psychological suspense, twists and turns aplenty and with a well drawn cast and a narrative successfully maintained from multiple viewpoints.

The promise by Emily Shiner.
If you break the promise, you pay the price.
Scott will do anything to protect his wife, Erin. That’s why he secretly installs a tracking app on her phone and watches her through hidden cameras in their home.
When he learns there’s a chance one of Erin’s kidneys will fail, he vows to shield her from the truth and find a donor for her at any cost.That’s how he meets Kathleen. She is the answer to his dreams, a perfect match for Erin. There’s only one problem – Kathleen has no intention of becoming a donor. That doesn’t bother Scott – he is confident he can manipulate her into giving him what he wants.But Kathleen isn’t as innocent as she looks, she has her own agenda. And she doesn’t care who she hurts as long as she gets what she needs.As lives hang in the balance, Erin and Kathleen are bound together by a terrible promise. But when that promise is broken, who will pay the ultimate price?
I did enjoy this book. Great story and characters. I liked Scott and Erin. Wasn't sure if I liked Kathleen. What a twist. Didn't see that coming. 5*.

Although it was slow-paced, I really loved this one.
It was full of manipulation, lies, deception, keeping secrets.
The book is written in the first person, following 3 characters' POV, and at some point you don't know who's tricking who anymore.
An overprotective husband, a desperate mother and a greedy doctor, all are great characters in a story that hooked me from start to finish.

I wish I could give the book 3.5 stars. I enjoyed the book & the base storyline was good. The story had multiple POV which helped weave a complete story. I wish that each POV would have been written differently to be able to tell who was narrating that particular chapter. I'd recommend the book for an easy fast read.

The premise of this novel can be boiled down to one simple question: How far are you willing to go for someone you love? 'The Promise' by Emily Shiner is described by the publisher as a psychological thriller. The book is written in the first person, following the points of view of the three main characters: Scott, his wife Erin, and Kathleen, a single mother with some serious issues plaguing her. The storyline is pretty straightforward and easy to follow along with, as the private musings of the characters give away the twist in the first few chapters. Scott, as a powerful criminal defense attorney, saved the corrupt Dr. Thomas from imprisonment and has turned to him for a favor in return. Erin, a pretty and kind, but naive homemaker, spends her days wishing for a child and looking for ways to fulfill herself outside of being Scott's beautiful wife. She gets this chance when she meets Kathleen- a mother who is saddled with a tragic disease and desperately needs a kidney transplant to survive. The motives of these three, along with Dr. Thomas, make for an interesting glimpse into the psychoses of people who believe in doing what they want, no matter the cost.

I liked that this book was simple to understand; often with thrillers, authors tend to write these convoluted narratives with multiple POVs where readers sometimes have to fight to keep track of what happened and where it happened. Despite the alternating reflections by the protagonists, everything in 'The Promise' took place in chronological order, with no major time jumps or flashbacks.

This novel fell short of gaining a five-star rating from me for different reasons. The biggest issue I had with it was, as previously stated, the major twist was revealed pretty quickly, leaving no mystery for me to solve. I usually love to guess the 'whodunit'; who's the good guy, the bad guy, the bad guy pretending to be good...but this book did not allow for that. In essence, all the suspense and thrill were missing for me. The other problem I had was the repetitious nature of the main characters' inner thoughts; we heard on numerous occasions how Scott would do anything for Erin, how much Erin wanted to help people, and how Kathleen would do anything to get a healthy kidney and to save her daughter. Honestly, after a while, I was reminded of a certain Fifty Shades character who was always going on and on about her inner goddess...

In the end, I give 'The Promise' a rating of 3 stars as the potential for a great book is there, but the execution just fell a little short. While I enjoyed the overarching plot, I just did not connect with any of the protagonists, as they were all so insanely...insane. With the exception of Erin, everyone else was completely overdone, and the former was completely ingenuous. Otherwise, this book was professionally edited, with no major grammatical or spelling errors. This is acceptable reading for older teenagers and up, as there was no profanity or erotic content. Trigger warnings include: harm to children, borderline controlling behavior, and death. Though not my favorite, I would recommend this if you are looking for a thriller that is a simple and easy read.

*Thank you to Emily Shiner, Inkubator Books, and NetGalley for the ARC; all opinions are mine, and I was under no obligation to provide a review.*

I'd have liked to have given this book another star, but just couldn't because I found the pace a little slow. The different points of view were great, and the narrations became repetitive because ultimately there really wasn't much to the story. But the premise was a really interesting one, if a little unbelievable, because I don't think anyone could truly be as gullible as Erin is. I didn't really like any of the characters, either, but I was intrigued to find out where the plot was headed, and I did like the ending. My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Inkubater Books, for the opportunity to read it.

The Promise of a Good Story
The Promise by Emily Shiner is a thriller with an interesting and unique premise, but which ultimately falls short in its execution.

The story focuses on three main characters (Scott, Erin, and Kathleen), and is told from their alternating points of view. Scott is married to Erin, and is controlling to a scary degree. So much so, in fact, that he has decided to trick Erin into getting a kidney transplant under the guise of donating the organ. And the donor/recipient? Well, that's Kathleen ... sort of.



Spoilers: Scott, as previously mentioned, is controlling. He’s also extremely fixated on the idea of Erin being a healthy mother for their future children, so, when her doctor mentions to him there were indications that her kidney could have issues down the line, he immediately decides the best course of action is to hide this from her, and trick her into a kidney transplant. There’s a convoluted plot with a fake twin, and everyone, bar Erin, believes they’re stealing an organ from someone else.
Kathleen, therefore, isn’t the innocent recipient Erin believes she is. No, she has decided that she and her daughter will be stealing both of Erin’s kidneys, leaving her dead. Kathleen has Alport syndrome, and has already undergone a transplant years ago. It didn’t work, though. And although her daughter isn’t showing any signs of the syndrome, the possibility is there. Naturally, Kathleen decides to poison her daughter to keep her sick enough to agree to a transplant.




Telling a story from different characters’ viewpoints is a tricky thing to undertake. If done well, it can be absolutely fantastic (think Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn). However, if done incorrectly, the narrative can feel very slow, even redundant.


That, in a nutshell, is the issue we see in The Promise. Shiner attempts to keep the tension going by rapidly switching between characters, but as this happens chronologically in the story as well as the book itself, readers are simply given the same scene with no real differences. Shiner also tries to end each chapter on a cliffhanger, but these, too, quickly become repetitive. They’re meant to be ominous, but they essentially boil down to each character restating their main motivation and/or feelings about the situation. These don’t change, so after the first few instances, it feels as though the same chapter is being reused.


Any sense of suspense is quickly lost, as any twist is revealed so early in the narrative that it’s not surprising, or even entertaining. For example, within the first chapter, Scott’s plan is more or less revealed. This topic is also the only thing the characters contemplate, so beyond that, there really isn’t anything else to them. Each can be summed up in a single word. Scott is controlling, Erin is naive, Kathleen is desperate.


What frustrated me the most, though, was that none of the characters face the consequences of their actions, nor learn from them. Several characters do some truly abhorrent things, but these are either forgiven or simply never addressed again. The book ends with nothing really resolved, with what’s meant to be a final twist, but what really feels like a final attempt to shock the reader, with nothing to really support it.


There’s also an odd emphasis on the fact that Kathleen should be “a good donor”. Erin actually stalks her to her place of work, to grill her and decide if she deserves a new kidney, essentially. I’m unsure if this is meant to be a way to show that Erin isn’t quite as good as she thinks she is, or if it’s genuinely what the author believes. Scott expresses similar views, though Kathleen does not.


Overall, I believe that “The Promise” has the potential to be a genuinely interesting novel, but with its lack of suspense, bland characters, and repetitive chapters, it’s simply a slog to get through, with no final payoff.


Overall Rating: 🌟🌟