The Promise Of Tomorrow

California Series, Book 5

By: Sandy Loyd

Narrated by: Carol Dines

Can Christmas wishes lead to Valentine kisses?

War is hell, especially for those left behind to deal with the loss of loved ones. When an IED explosion devastates the lives of Army field medic Roberto 'Cam' Camareno and Nicole Murphy, both believe their promise of tomorrow has been shattered.

Army field medic Cam helplessly watches his fatally wounded friend die in his arms, wishing he could take his place. Cam is the one who should die, not his friend who has a fiancée waiting back home. Instead of getting his wish, Cam promises to take care of Nicole. How on earth can he do that when survivor's guilt paralyzes him?

After losing the love of her life and having her future blown away with his death, Nicole fears her broken heart will never heal. Even now, a year later, she still grieves. Then she meets Cam and her life changes for the better. Love has the ability to heal, but only if the heart is open to accepting love.

As these two struggle to come to grips with the past, can they find the promise of tomorrow?

©2015 Sandy Loyd (P)2015 Sandy Loyd

Can Love Overcome The Nightmare Of War?

Army field medic Roberto Camarino [aka 'Cam'] is serving in Afghanistan when his vehicle is shredded by an IED explosion. He watches his best friend, Seth, succumb to his injuries but not before making a promise to him. He promises to take care of Seth's fiancé Nicole. The story picks up with Cam in his civil life and we meet Nicole, the heartbroken fiancé. It is a year later.

Cam finally gets to a place in his psyche that he feels he can meet with and tell Nicole what he experienced and promised Seth, who was also Nicole's fiance.

However, when they meet and start hanging out, Cam does not told Nicole of his friendship with her former fiancé. Nicole cannot seem to get over him, she cannot accept that he is gone and trying to move forward with her life. Both Nicole & Cam are resistant to the suggestion of moving on, let alone a romantic relationship.

Will Can ever tell Nicole? Will the survivors' guilt keep him reenacting those last moments with Seth? Is Nicole going to allow herself a future with him or anyone?

This is a really nice book. However, I have one major grievance with it. The author refers to the mission in Afghanistan in a very negative manner. The exact words are not coming to mind but the phrase 'useless mission' or something along that line. I felt that minimized what a real military man would think. Since she did base this around Afghanistan – it did not seem to me to be a fictitious or generalized conflict. It felt very personal to the war in Afghanistan that the US has been involved in at length (at this writing it is the year 2015.) Perhaps she has a real personal experience, relation or friend who served. But I found her political opinion interjection of this to be not necessary to the story.

Other than that detail I was really impressed and enjoyed the story and my time listening. At this point none of the other books in the series are available on Audible. If they were, I would add the entire series to my Wish List. Fortunately, this book is a standalone as well as part of the series, so it was not confusing at all.

Carol Dines does a wonderful job with the narration. The characters each have their own unique voice and are believable, whether male or female. I was able to hear the story without being distracted by an inadequate performance. Great job! If anything else sparks my interest and I see Carol is the narrator I will be certain to pick it up.

There is nothing to warn of here. It is a sweet romance without graphic language or situations.

*I received this book in exchange for my review. If you found that my review was helpful in making the decision whether or not to purchase this book, would you take a moment and select yes immediately following this text? Thank you.

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A Sweet Simple Romance

Narration - Carol Dines - OK
She has a pretty good set of male and female character voices. Pleasant to listen to.

The story is short, sweet and simple. Follows the basic format for a romance with issues involving loss/grief, survivor guilt, alcoholism and poverty. I thought it was all handled in a pretty simple manner. Insta-love. Very little character and relationship development so I didn't really feel much of a connection to either of our MC's. But, it has a lot of high reviews on Goodreads, so maybe it's just me again.

Remember, reviews are only opinions and that's the beauty of books. We all are affected differently by each and every one of them - and as humans, we certainly don't agree on everything, so why should books be any different!

I think if you like a clean, sweet romance, you'll enjoy this book.

I received a copy of this audiobook free of charge from Audiobookblast in exchange for an unbiased review.

Captivating

*** I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first Sandy Loyd book, and was hesitant because it was #5 in the series. I always like to read my books in order. This book worked perfectly as a stand alone, and was absolutely captivating. I love books about veterans and enjoyed this one from beginning to end. The beginning from Afghanistan and the tragedy that occurred there, to a second chance at love and life the story kept me enthralled. Cam and Nicole both had a lot of healing to do, and were able to find the ability to become whole again with each other. I found Nicole's family warm and loving, but especially loved Cam's mom and Anthony. Anthony was a wonderful advice giver and was the last one I expected for Cam to listen to.

Carol Dines is a wonderful narrator, her voice is very rich and captured the essence of the book with her narration. Loved this and will be looking for the rest of the series to come out in audio.

I'm torn

Well, I'm not totally positive if this audiobook deserves a 3 or 4 star review. On the one hand, the background was believable with the hero being an ex-soldier and how he and his heroine met. I appreciated descriptions of the angst he felt and his struggles as a young person and as an adult were worth the download alone. Meddling parents are certainly mimic real life and added another layer to the story.
But one the other hand, the hero and his love did not have real chemistry. When a young woman first meets a man she analyzes his looks yet this character just spoke of the "zing" she felt when they touched. I don't want to be shallow but I can only picture both characters looks from the cover of the audiobook. I can't deny that not knowing what they wear to a New Year's Eve ball is important to my being more invested in the storyline. Also, the narrator was a bit slow to me. Dramatic pauses add to the drama but too many makes the book drag. Altogether the book was passable to me and the best part was the storyline. An audience of younger people would be best because the love scenes were glossed over and the language was PG.

Great military romance!

I was given this audio book in exchange for an honest review.
This book is basically about a former soldier who served as a medic in the military and had the horrible experience of holding his buddy in his arms and watching him die, after the vehicle they had been in was hit by an IED. It's also about the fiance the dead man left behind. One is dealing with survivors guilt and the other with the loss of what feels like her very heart and life. When Cam goes to check on Nicole as he promised his dying buddy, they are thrown together and start falling for each other. However, in true soldier fashion, there are things Cam's not revealing about what happened. Problems arise between the two and the continuation of the relationship is in jeopardy.
This story was very good. The narration was terrific. The ethnic accents were great and Carol Dines voice is a pleasure to listen to.

Sugar on sugar with candy on top!

The Promise Of Tomorrow: California Series, Book 5 by Sandy Loyd is a over sweet book with romance in it. It is almost like you get toothache from the sweetness! SO if you like a sweet story with love in it, this is your book. It is almost like dandy Loyd tryed to make a OVERLOAD of sweetness, and the strange thing is that i did not hate it!

When a book is narrated By Carol Dines you get also a sweetness that is there! She gets the essence of the book with her narration, and that is hard to do! One of the things i really like about this book!

I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBlast dot com