A Promise to Keep

Thursday #2

by Lilian Harry

A powerful and evocative saga - the sequel to A GIRL CALLED THURSDAY.When Thursday Tilford returns to Haslar Hospital after two years serving as a VAD in Egypt, she finds many changes. With the town packed with troops waiting to leave for the Normandy beaches, and Haslar on standby for the wounded, Thursday's thoughts go to the two men who are vying for her Connor Kirkpatrick, the naval doctor she met at Haslar in 1940, and army doctor Mark Sangster, who travelled with her on the troopship to Egypt. Although she longs to keep her promise to Connor, Thursday's feelings for Mark force her to consider the nature of promises and even, in the end, the nature of love itself. It is only as the war ends and she is presented with an ultimatum that she understands the truth about love, about promises - and about herself.

Genres: Historical Fiction

418 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 28, 2004

About the author

aka Donna Baker, Nicola West

Donna Thomson was born in Gosport, near Portsmouth Harbour, England, UK. Growing up during the terrifying years of the Blitz in a two-up, two-down terraced house, the youngest of four, she aspired to be a writer from an early age.

As a young woman she worked in the Civil Service and moved to Devon to be near her sailor husband. They had a son and a daughter. When the marriage ended, she and her two children moved to the Midlands, where she happily married again to her second husband. After living in the Lake District for twelve years, she finally moved back to Devon, and now lives in a village on the edge of Dartmoor. She lost her son Philip in 2008, and has two grandchildren. A keen walker and animal-lover, she now has a dog and three ginger cats to keep her busy, along with a wide range of hobbies she enjoys.

She started signing her romance novels as Donna Baker and Nicola West, now she also writes as Lilian Harry (inspired by the first names of her grandparents). Among her works are historical novels, romances and even two books giving advice on how to write short stories and novels.

Reviews

[Abhi* Abhi* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thursday returns to Halsar to continue her VAD services. Things keep happening back and forth with the war doing the rounds.Her friends Patsy and Elsie stand as a strong support amidst all the hectic and nerve-cracking work. The patients around bring in their stories of horror where Thursday stands as the best medicine to all their problems. Her encouraging words and her generous services lift them from their pain and heals them.
Things go smooth and nice until Mark is admitted at Halsar carrying a heavy injury.His presence invokes Thursday to rewind those memories at Egypt and her lovely time with Mark.Yet she falls under a dilemma as she thinks about Connor the love of her life and the promise she made him.

This confusion and Mark's presence around her, makes it difficult to take the right decision.As the war close to its end, she is left in further pressure with her life after war.

This is a lovely tale of the life under the pressure of war and its effect on the lives of the general crowd.

P.S. A story to follow without the lead; afresh and new piece of writing.

[Amy DeWolfe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was going to be a five star read until I got to the ending. If you don't want it completely spoiled, please ignore me.

I thought for sure Thursday was going to pick Mark and I was 100% there for it. And then it's Connor! Also, all of a sudden, Mark is this possessive angry guy and she's basically telling him that he has no right to be angry with her for taking her time to choose. BUT HE DOES. She's literally had a war's worth of time and then some to make up her mind.

She strung him along and knew the entire time that she was going to pick Connor. But yet she still had to convince herself that she loved him? Like girl, if you're doing that, you don't love him.

And Connor has the personality of a wall. There's just none to be had. If you put a wet blanket and him in front of me, I couldn't tell you the difference. He's so boring and even in book one I hadn't picked up on any actual feelings between him and Thursday.

[Annemarie Hannaberry · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a beautiful story. It also gives people a glimpse of what life was like during WWw2 in Portsmouth, England. The characters were warm and kind. There was a lot of fun times dancing to Glenn Miller, Vera Lynn and Tommy Dorsey . Everybody contributed to the war efforts even if they never went to the homefront like the Red Cross knitting socks, making care packages. There was also VADS who worked in the hospitals. Families faced anxiety about whether their loved ones return home alive or in a box. Husbands left young wives with small children. There was family gatherings and fun to as well. There was a lot of positive things, true friendships and relationships as well with people who cared about each other.

[Kylie Dowers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as part 1

I was disappointed with the kind of girl Thursday became. She promised herself to Connor yet kissed all those men and almost went beyond kissing with Mark and falling in love with him. It killed the romance for me. You don't kiss anyone else when you love someone, there's never any excuse for it. Kissing someone else is cheating. Thursday wilfully kiss many men and they aren't chaste little kisses. And some of the men she's only know a few hours. I found the book hard to finish.

[Bec · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sequel to A girl Called Thursday. It's a quick, easy read which keeps you engaged throughout. It provides a clear insight into life during WW2. I really like that it has a female lead. However, I don't think it's as good as the first book.

[Pauline Bicknell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyable. Kept me interested throughout. Couldn’t predict how it would end. A good ending

[Salvin Sawyerr · Rating 5 out of 5]

My best book of all time!❤️❤️❤️❤️💚💚💚💚

This book is the reason I love Portsmouth, England!😍

[Layla · Rating 4 out of 5]

READ THIS YERAS AGO DIDNT KNOW IT WAS BOOK 2. fOUND BOOK one IN THE SERIES IN A BOX of books I had. will start again at some point and read the series.

[Emily Langdown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. I felt that story carried beautifully from A Girl Called Thursday.

The book never seemed to slow in pace and continued to have me gripped from start to finish. On several occasions I found myself fully devoted to the characters just like they were my friends.

Lovely story about what can only be described as a terrible time. Would certainly recommend.

[Graceann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thursday Tilford continues her adventures, working in Egypt and then returning to Haslar to take care of the wounded in the final days of WWII. She has made a promise to herself, and struggles to keep it.

While A Promise to Keep was an enjoyable read, I did get frustrated with Thursday's indecisive behavior and self-doubt. A Girl Called Thursday presented a sharp, tough woman who kept her wits about her - A Promise to Keep let her slide, at times, into situations the Thursday from the first book would have navigated more artfully. As in the first book, however, the storyline keeps moving and Lilian Harry continues to be brave with regard to characters we grow to care about.

[Dark-Draco · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sadly, I just couldn't get into this. I was in the mood for a nice read, but ended up being a bit bored. In the first three chapters, there was a lot of setting up, not much action and a hell of a lot of repetition ... you only need to be told once that a place has changed and that the characters had seen a lot of suffering while treating the wounded! "Life's too short to read bad books", so I went onto something else that might grab my interest more.

[Heather Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second book in the Haslar series, set during world war 2.
Lilian Harry makes you feel that you are right there going through all the things the characters are going through.
I couldn't put it down.

[Rosemary Orme · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cliched in the domestic dialogue, but well researched and engaging in the war time hospital experience of a VAD. At worst, it was a formulaic list of 'things they experienced'; at its best it set the imagination going.
I bought a set of three and will read the others in time. because it covered such a broad canvas, it was bound to be thin and unconvincing in places, but it kept me interested enough to complete it.