Promises Keep

Promises #2

by Sarah McCarty

Wyoming Territory 1869Being kidnapped into a bordello has a way of changing a woman's focus. On the day Mara Kincaid escapes the Pleasure Emporium, she vows to start living for herself. Rebuilding her life isn't easy as the town isn't fond of reformed fallen doves, but she's a Kincaid and Kincaids are known for their stubbornness. She's successful right up until the notorious ex-marshal Cougar McKinnely comes into town.As big as a mountain, dark as sin and wearing a reputation as deadly as the knife strapped to his thigh, McKinnely is a man who knows what he wants. By rights, Mara should be shaking in her shoes when he approaches her. But when the powerful half-breed turns his dark gold eyes on her, it isn't fear that has Mara trembling, but rather an overwhelming desire to be the kind of woman Cougar needs to satisfy his deepest desires.

Genres: Westerns, Historical Romance, Historical, Erotica, Romance, Erotic Romance, Western Romance

438 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 18, 2005

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
(1)romance author

Sarah has traveled extensively throughout her life, living in other cultures, sometimes in areas where electricity was a concept awaiting fruition and a book was an extreme luxury. While she could easily adjust to the lack of electricity, living without the comfort of a good book was intolerable. To fill the void, she bought pencil and paper and sketched out her own story. In the process, Sarah discovered the joy of writing.

Sarah writes what she loves to read; fast paced stories with vivid dialogue, intense emotion and well developed characters. Her attention to detail in her stories has earned her multiple awards and a reserved spot on Keeper shelves everywhere.

Sarah writes for Ellora's Cave, Harlequin HQN, Harlequin SPICE, Berkley HEAT and Berkley SENSATION.

Reviews

[Eastofoz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smokin’ hot, um no wait that’s not quite it, Smokin’ hot, still not good, a SMOKIN’ HOT read that’ll sear your finger tips off as you whip through the pages oblivious to the microscopic print and two ton weight of this baby! Wow what a fantastic book! Not only is the sex red, blue and blistering white hot in this western but there’s even a multifaceted story to boot –what more could a reader ask for?! Yes maybe a less nasty cover but this book brilliantly illustrates why you should never judge a book by its cover in the first place ;)

Cougar, is the protector kind of hero but he’s also like a little boy who fears being abandoned by someone he loves so he’ll stop at nothing to hold on to what’s his. He is such a gentle person underneath it all but look out if you cross him or just happen to look at his wife the wrong way! Scary stuff from this guy. Then there’s Mara who gradually blossoms into an amazing heroine. She’s timid and horribly self-conscious about everything but as the story unfolds she develops into this dynamo of a woman providing a perfect foil to Cougar’s control freakishness. Boy does she ever get him to his knees ;)

Asa and Elizabeth from book 1 pop up which was nice to see. Asa is too funny trying to be all careful around his wife but keeps getting shot down no matter what he does. Then there’s the Reverend Brad who is apparently this beautiful male specimen that all the ladies fawn over and all the gents secretly hate. This guy does everything to get under the gents’ skin especially Cougar. Excellent comic relief in what’s otherwise a very harsh environment. Great wit and repartee smattered throughout the story. McCarty has an exceptional talent for making you feel like you’re in the Old West. The snappy dialog and the narrative passages all take on the same tone making you believe that you can hear the characters speaking in their cowboy drawls. There’s also an intro to the suffragist movement which was a nice touch. Some horrible things happen throughout the story all done to keep the reader on their toes.

The opening scenes in this book are so well done that you can’t even guess that there’s a second story taking shape. The author does an incredible job of mixing the scorcher sex while adding to the development of the story and the ick-factor is nearly nil here –this is quite a feat when you get to some of those sex scenes (!) A bit too much detail on the fellatio scenes for me but everything else made up for that. If it weren’t for the weird genital slapping every so often this book would’ve been a hands down favourite for me.

If you want a period piece with great sex and story, a protective hero who knows what he wants and a heroine who slowly but surely comes into her own to be on equal footing with her man, then this story has your name on it :D

**Little FYI: Keep significant other close by, read in a well-ventilated room in case you can't seem to breathe normally and avoid reading it in public if you can ( smokin’ly smokin’ hot I’m telling ya!)

[Beatriz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tenía muchas expectativas. El protagonista es uno de los personajes secundarios del primer libro de la serie y prometía mucho, al igual que la sinopsis de esta novela. Pero... se queda en eso, no pasa absolutamente nada más. Es un capítulo tras otro con Cougar “Puma” McKinnely desplegando sus “encantos” para lograr que Mara se quede con él. Incluso, el principal (y único) conflicto, aunque me gustó como se resolvió, pasa sin pena ni gloria entre tantas páginas.

Al final, sentí que la autora iba sacando situaciones debajo de la manga para alargar un argumento que no daba para más.

[jenjn79 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whew! I'm lucky this book didn't singe off my fingertips as I was reading! Because this one is seriously smoking hot. I mean, damn...some of the scenes in this book...well, let's just say that McCarty definitely knows how to write a super sizzling hot sex scene. And aside from that, this was a pretty enjoyable book. It had some interesting story elements.

Promises Keep is the second book in the Promises frontier western erotic romance series. Though this book could be read on it's own, I'd personally recommend reading the first one first. But then I generally always recommend reading a series in order ;)

Cougar McKinnely was introduced in the first book in the series and had been getting involved with a prissy young woman named Emily. As this book begins, we learn that Emily and Cougar had a fight one day when Cougar let her know what he wanted from her in bed. Emily fled and ended up drowning in a flash flood. Since that time, Cougar has been unable to perform in bed. So he goes to a brothel hoping to find something of his interest. The owner, seeing Cougar's size and Native American heritage, decides to use him as part of her revenge. She offers him a new working girl, someone she says will do just the trick. Cougar relents and goes to the woman...and is instantly smitten. His body rises to the occasion and he set about, err, joining, with the young woman.

But it isn't long before Cougar realizes something is very, very wrong. He finds out the woman isn't willingly at the brothel and that she'd been drugged while he "slept" with her. Cougar helps her escape and promises her that he will protect her from then on.

As time passes young Mara remembers little of what happened that night, only that she'd been raped and forced to kill the brothel owner. She knows that whether she wanted the sex or not, she'll be forever branded as a whore by everyone who knows. So she doesn't understand why Cougar is so interested in her. He pushes and pushes until she agrees to marry him. But Cougar will have to work to get her past the events of that terrible night, and to help her regain some self confidence. And when she learns what really happened...well, he'll doesn't expect that she'll ever forgive him.

I have to admit that the first chunk of this book put me off a little bit. Though Cougar doesn't exactly rape Mara, it's not consensual either and I didn't really like the fact that that was going to be the building point of their relationship. Then you learn that Mara doesn't remember Cougar's exact actions that night and all I could think was, oh great, now we get to read the rest of the book waiting for the big bomb to drop. I just didn't find that whole deal very appealing.

The book does win me over, though, as it progresses. As mentioned in the first part of this review, there's some seriously hot sex in this book. Some of those scenes will leave you squirming in your seat ;) Cougar is for the most part very patient with Mara sexually, helping her get past what happened. He was very reassuring to her and her growing sexuality. The slight D/S vibe is a little weird because of what Mara went through, but hey, whatever floats her boat.

Beyond the rampant sexuality of the book, there are also some deeper issues. They weren't necessarily as prominent as they could have been...the sex does dominate the story a little bit...but they gave the book some depth and kept the story from being too light.

There's the fact that Mara has to deal with the reputation she now has. Even though she was kidnapped into it, people now see her as a whore. Then there's her fear of sex. There's also a bit of a gender battle where Cougar just wants to protect her and Mara wants to be an equal. McCarty even brings the suffrage movement into the storyline. It made things interesting.

So I have to say I enjoyed this book a lot. I'm glad I was able to read it in paperback instead of at my comp as an ebook because it's a long one and much easier to read without having to sit at my desk staring at the monitor for hours. I'm definitely looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

WARNING, this book contains: lots and lots of explicit sex and language, oral sex/"mouth fucking"/deep throating, anal sex, rimming, spanking, bondage, shaving, rough sex, and a non-consensual sex scene (see review for more info on that one)

[Dina · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMG, this book had me reaching for a fan and a bucket of ice right from the start! Cougar and Mara really knew how to set the sheets, the kitchen table, the couch, the vanity, everything on fire! It was HOT, no doubt about it, but I admit I got a bit tired of it and skimmed through a couple of the sex scenes. Maybe I´ll get back to them someday, to fully "appreciate" them... ;)

The "rape" thing was a little annoying and, quite frankly, didn´t make sense to me. I mean, I don´t see what Cougar did with Mara as "rape", because he didn´t know she was drugged and unwilling. Anyway, I was happy to see that it didn´t lead to one of those Big Misunderstandings that I hate - and I congratulate Mara for being reasonable and not throwing a fit over it. She was really someone special, and I loved her. Cougar was one lucky guy to have her, because he wasn´t very "bright" when it came to his dealing with that b!tch Nidia. Thankfully, Mara was smarter than him and managed to put some sense into his mind. :)

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow. I'm sort of shocked by how much people seem to have like this book. To be fair I didn't finish it but I did get ~50% of the way through (Kindle reader) and wow - the "hero" in this book was infuriating! I felt like I would like him because he seemed like a semi-good guy in the previous books but no. He definitely comes across as an ass though and the author blithely states what a good person he is! Ugh!

As a note, I don't feel what follows is a spoiler because it happens in about the first quarter of this book. I tried reading some more after but it was just too infuriating and I couldn't finish.

Basically, he forces the heroine of the book to marry him because she needs protection and her reputation is ruined because she was raped in a whore house -- she was drugged at the time and, oh yeah, the rapist was the hero! But he thought she was a whore at the time who was just trying to get his libido going by acting strange (aka drugged) and saying no to be tempting... or something. Once he realizes what's happened he feels really guilty and helps her escape and swears to himself that he will protect and her and that's all sweet and good.

Because she was drugged during the whole rape incident, she doesn't remember who raped her, just that she was raped. Which, you know, sort of emotionally scarred her. Weird. Anyway, hero-man doesn't tell her that he raped her (which is kind of understandable and normal in these sorts of books). Even when he corners her into marrying him for her protection and reputation, I could go along with it. But it's like as soon as he gets her hitched to him he's all over her! And sure she feels drawn to him (>_>) but she wants to hold off on the sex for a bit until she feels more comfortable!

Yes, in these types of books it seems normal for the guy to be all "No! We need to start off how we mean to go on and have massive amounts of sex!" but, dude, really? Being all "I won't give you time to get over your fear of men or acknowledge that you don't really know me at all or that you were recently raped, something I am aware of because I was an intimate part of that experience for you (even though you don't know that!) Sex now, woman!" Is that really ok?

It's like, one you raped her, haven't told her, and now, even though she's saying no, you are forcing her to have sex with you as her "marital duty" so basically raping her again *but legally because she is now your possession because it's like pre-1960*.

No. Wrong. Not hero behaviour. Will not continue to read. Too annoying.

[Viri]

Estaba mentalizada para que me gustara.

Pero no pude terminarlo. Luego pensé en solo leer el final o cuando ella descubría la verdad pero me di cuenta que en realidad ni siquiera me interesaba lo que pasara.

Uno de esos para el olvido.

[Jane Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it, but not enough to spend money on it. However, it might be worth buying for those who want a lot of erotic sex.

REVIEWER’S OPINION:
I would normally give this story 2 stars, but because the genre is erotic I’m bumping it up to 3 stars for quality within that genre. The sex scenes were above average, but I prefer more story and emotion. A couple of times I wanted the book to be over. Outside of bed, Mara is headstrong and stubborn. In the bedroom, Cougar gives all the orders and Mara is happy to relinquish control and to do as he says. He makes it worth her while from a pleasure standpoint. There is rear door activity. Cougar is a softy around Mara. He loves her more than anything. He is a former marshall and a tough guy toward any man who threatens to hurt Mara.

STORY BRIEF:
Mara’s father sold her to a bordello. On her first night there, she is drugged. She is a virgin. The owner of the bordello convinces Cougar that she has the perfect girl for him, and he pays for a night with Mara. As Mara comes out of the drug, she wants to escape, and Cougar helps her. For the next two months, she avoids all men including Cougar while she works as a washer woman. Cougar tries to convince her to marry him. She is against it.

DATA:
Story length: 424 pages. Sexual language: erotic. Number of sex scenes: 13. Total number of sex scene pages: 116. Setting: 1869 Wyoming. Copyright: 2004. Genre: erotic western historical romance.

[Halcyon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I decided on my rating of this book almost half way through finishing it (edit: lowered it some time later). After reading the first part of this series, I was excited to see Cougar’s story and was hoping it would deliver more so than the first book did. It kind of didn’t.

Summary with own impressions and pet peeves:

There’s no way around this book’s beginning: the hero rapes the girl.

Cougar, after not having found any satisfaction since his Emily died, rides into a neighbouring town to visit a whore house to see if he can finally be cured of his ailment. After a very weird ménage thing with the owner of the brothel and one of her bouncers, she points him to a room telling him the cure for his affliction can be found right there.

In it we have Mara, his virgin love interest for this book. She winded up there for one reason or another, and apparently to teach her a lesson the owner of the brothel wants her raped. Cougar, not getting that her weird responses and her spacey eyes mean she’s under the influence of a drug – laudanum – doesn’t need much encouragement to have his way with her. When feeling her very tight passage he just thinks that it’s odd that a whore is that tight, but if it takes a whole night to maneuver his gigantic self in, then so be it. Charming.

Mara, after having slept off part of her drugs, tries to escape, and after Cougar gets what’s going on, he takes her with him. We fast forward 2 months and she seems to know that she was raped, but conveniently not who did it. Cougar supposedly was downstairs in the brothel, heard her scream, and rescued her. Since Cougar promised her he’d make up for what he did by protecting her, he’s kind of stalking her, threatening men to leave her alone (they hear rumours about her and want to see if she’s easy), and is putting the moves on her himself. His solution for stopping all this is of course that she marries him, as he has a good name and can protect her better then. (The now dead owner of the brothel must have not been too terrified of the large piece of land-owning ex-marshal’s name as after hearing it she decided he was the one to initiate Mara into being a whore. Half-breed, okay, but an ex-marshal with land?)

Since the heroin said she was ‘going to live for herself’, it of course means that she marries Cougar. He then leaves her for a week, and if he comes back after that week and she’s set on actually making their marriage work (get over her rape and let him have her in every way, charming again), she only has to indicate so. If not, she could remain with his mother and father. After two weeks pass and Cougar doesn’t come back, Mara makes her way to him and finds him in bed with his non-housekeeper whore giving him head. This makes her decide she wants her man and she’s going to fight for him. Personally, I’d likely have left. She pulls Nidia off of him, and sees he’s really sick with the fever and he was attacked by a bear. Phew. Charming, once more, though. (Please don’t tell me I’m supposed to find any of this, and Cougar’s macho behavior, sexy?)

Fast forwarding to their first sex scene with penetration: now, where does a raped virgin want to have a monster dick inside her on her consensual and conscious first time? Yup, her tender portal. Cougar, wanting to claim her in every way possible either way, thought it best not to take her in the regular place first because he’s afraid it might make her remember it was him who raped her, so anal sex it is. Charming, yet again. (I really long for a book that doesn’t have this part, as it’s getting too dang repetitive in these kind of works.) The same evening they have the regular kind of sex, too, and though it started with her being scared, everything worked out fine, as she didn’t remember anything about the rape. Cougar once again gets off the hook and they can finally be free to do what these books are written for.

What follows then is a lot of sex scenes, kind of too many because it waters down plot that is only half there anyway. Even when neighbours Asa and Elizabeth visit, they go at it in the kitchen. Later, after a random fight in town where Mara sees Cougar use his knife in the same way he used it on the bouncer at the brothel, she suddenly gets that he likely raped her. And nothing much happens then. Rape back then by your now husband is almost fine. It requires hugging and that’s it. He makes her promise him again to never do anything dumb, to never run away. She doesn’t.

He does. After there is some out of nowhere women’s rights suffrage plot (I get it fits the setting, but it came pretty much unannounced and it wasn’t what I wanted to read about), Mara gets stubborn/grows a backbone about the wrong thing and he shows her who’s boss, she miscarries. After it seems she’ll make it through, he runs away back to his home. Where Mara finds him yet again in bed with Nidia, his hired whore/non-housekeeper and she yet again tosses her out. Oh, he can only get hard with Mara so he didn’t cheat. Charming, part how much?

Mara came to the house with the intention of tying him up and ‘raping’ him herself, as she figured out he ran away from her because he didn’t want her to get pregnant and die. During the rape/seduction they can joke about her talking like a whore and dressing like one, so I guess the situation they originally started with is now funny. Charming.

The first book in this series I still gave 4 stars even though Elizabeth was so annoying, and I was hoping I could at least give a 4.5 or 5 star rating to this book seeing as Cougar seemed great in the limited time we had with him in book 1. Yeah, didn’t happen that way.

The writing style of the author isn’t bad, she’s better than some of these other authors I’ve read. It probably took guts to start the book with having the hero rape the heroin, but too bad that it was more a plot device to get the heroin to marry the hero as the discovery of his deceit fell flat.

I was looking forward to finishing this whole series, but I don’t know if I’m going to bother. The third book, if I’m not mistaken, is about Clint and his terribly abused girl Jenna, who will probably like being with Clint since abused/raped girls always want to jump into the next relationship, and I’m not even sure what to think of Reverend Swanson’s book.

Ah well. Perhaps I’ll change my mind some day. Toodles.

[Ivana Azap Feješ · Rating 5 out of 5]

#2 in the series. Again, loved this Sarah McCarty book. Ex-Marshall Cougar McKinley & Mara Kincaid - Wyoming Territory, 1869.

Mara is kidnapped, drugged, and taken to a bordello, where she first meets Cougar. Loved getting to see Elizabeth and Asa from book #1. Asa is a sweetie.

Loved the candid conversations between cousins Cougar & Clint :) Promises Linger, the first book of Sarah McCarty's Promises series, was so incredibly good, I was really looking forward to reading Promises Keep.

While the story is quite long, it keeps readers wanting to know what will happen next, as the secrets looming in the past are all to close to resurfacing. This second book in the promises series was another winner.

Solid Characters, great heroes. Whew!

I'm lucky this book didn't singe off my fingertips as I was reading! Because this one is seriously smoking hot.

OMG, this book had me reaching for a fan and a bucket of ice right from the start!

Great recommendations :D

[Formerly Known as Spoiler W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ooooo doggie! This was a smokin' one!! Loved the bantering, one liners and the sex...goodness gracious me.

Cougar met Mara at a brothel where he thought she was willingly participating as a whore. Turns out she was drugged when Cougar "took" her without Cougar knowing she was drugged. She doesn't remember who is was just that she was raped. Two months later, Cougar keeps his eyes on her, protects her(when he can) and loves her. In return she loves him even when she remembers that night. I felt the chemistry between them and their sex scenes, again, were smokin.

[KatieV · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think the book was too long and the scene where she finds out he's the one who raped her was very anti-climactic. For me, that was a big thing, but it just fizzled out....

I like some erotica, but the more I read it, the more I realize that it's the emotions I'm more interested in. I started skipping sex scenes at some point. Also, the focus on anal was a little much for me. The end annoyed me too. I'm a supporter of women's lib, but I don't want a soapbox moment in a historical romance.

[L · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series should just be called "Butt Stuff". Because, yeah... there's a lot of that.

[Julianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed for THC Reviews
Promises Linger, the first book of Sarah McCarty's Promises series, was so incredibly good, I was really looking forward to reading Promises Keep. While Promises Keep was a reasonably entertaining book in and of itself, by comparison to the previous book, it was something of a letdown. For me, Sarah McCarty is an author who vacillates between being totally spot-on fantastic or phoning it in. Promises Keep wasn't quite as frustrating as another of her books I read a while back, but it wasn't nearly up to the caliber of which I know she's capable either. Ms. McCarty has the ability to create erotic romances that are about so much more than just the sex, but unfortunately, this was not one of them. I really felt like the story and the sex could have and should have been more evenly integrated together. Instead, we get sex at the very beginning, followed by a little bit of story, followed by pages upon pages upon pages of sex, and finally at the end a little more story. However, the story she chose to tell in those final pages didn't quite make sense to me, which is something I'll address shortly. Still, though, as I said before, the book was fairly entertaining for what it was, which is why I didn't choose to mark it any lower than four stars.

When we meet Mara, she's in a brothel and presumed to be a new prostitute who has just been sold for the first time to one of the establishment's patrons. That customer happens to be Cougar, the hero of the story. He finds her to be the most beguiling creature he's ever laid eyes on, but what he doesn't realize is that she's been drugged and is there against her will. In her drugged state, she acts rather seductively, so he thinks it's all part of an act. Her reality, however, is that he's raping her and she's attempting to fight back, but the drugs are making her actions come out all wrong. Little does she know that Cougar made a vow that he would take her out of there when he left, and he does eventually make good on that promise, helping her to escape, but not before they kill the madame and her henchman in self-defense. Safely in Cougar's hometown of Cheyenne, Mara no longer remembers him. He's just the man she's been told rescued her from the brothel. Unfortunately, the rumors of a prostitute escaping the Pleasure Emporium in the next town follow Mara to her new home, leaving everyone speculating that she's an ex-whore. Mara was a very strong, courageous woman who held her head high amidst the scorn of nearly an entire town. Unfortunately, though, her pride doesn't stop the unscrupulous men in town from trying to take advantage of her, which is why she somewhat reluctantly accepts Cougar's offer of marriage. She knows that only her husband's name and his protection can truly keep her safe. While Mara may not remember who took her virtue that night at the brothel, she recalls enough of the experience to be very skittish around her new husband, but eventually, she warms to him and proves to be a woman whose passion matches his measure for measure.

Cougar was an honorable man who never would have taken Mara the night they met if he'd known the circumstances under which she was at the Pleasure Emporium. In spite of it essentially being a non-consensual act, at least from her perspective, he was very sweet and gentle with her. On some level, he fell for her the moment he saw her, which is why he made his vow, and once he finally realized what was going on, he felt so responsible for her, he became her self-appointed protector, looking out for her well-being even though she didn't want him to. When some ne'er-do-wells rough her up one day, he realizes she needs more protection than he can offer by simply following her around town and scowling at any man who dares to look cross-ways at her, so he uses the opportunity to press his suit more forcefully. The thing that disappointed me a bit about Cougar was that his characterization seemed a little uneven to me. During the early part of the story, he came off as a kind, gentle man. In the previous book of the series, I had gotten the same impression, that he was a little rough around the edges, but was a romantic at heart who was stuck with a fiancée who didn't fully appreciate him. Because of this, I thought he was going to be a hero similar to Asa (Promises Linger), an alpha with a sweet side. I guess he had his moments, but in general once he married Mara, it seemed like he changed into one of those clueless uber-alphas, which is not really my favorite kind of hero. What really made me want to slap him silly though, was when Mara found him in bed with another woman, not once, but twice, after they were married. Granted the first time he was out of his mind with a fever, and the second, nothing had apparently happened yet, but who knows if something might have if Mara hadn't shown up in time. I really felt that if Cougar truly loved Mara, he should have read the woman the riot act and sent her packing, but instead he acted pretty passively in both situations, which seemed out of character for an otherwise very forceful alpha male. However, as I said, he had his moments (I really liked the way he always called Mara “Angel”) and he could be an intensely seductive lover, so in general, I liked him alright even though a man like him would never truly be my cup of tea.

The main thing that I really felt was lacking in Promises Keep was the storytelling. Many times, I wished that the author had deepened the characterizations, particularly Cougar's and Mara's. There were several things about both of them that I thought could have made them so much more fascinating if they'd been explored more fully. In Promises Linger, it was obvious to me that for whatever reason Cougar had latched onto a woman who was a poor match for him and who treated him pretty badly. When Promises Keep opens, he's still struggling with something that happened between them right before she died and perhaps some guilt over the way in which she died as well. I thought these vulnerabilities were very intriguing, but after he meets Mara, it's like Cougar is a completely new man and all these old issues are completely swept under the rug. Also, Cougar is a half-breed, who very easily could have experienced some type of prejudice, but nothing of that nature ever came to light. If anything, it seemed he'd become fairly well-respected around town which was maybe a little hard to buy into. Mara was left at the brothel by her father as payment for gambling debts, which seems to indicate a pretty messed up home life and should have had a major emotional impact on her too, yet this part of her background was never explored at all. Madame Cecile definitely seemed to have it in for Mara, and I initially thought that she would make a very formidable and relentless villain if Mara were to escape her clutches, but alas, she was killed off far too quickly in my estimation, losing that promise of a major external conflict. Even though Mara didn't remember that Cougar was the man who raped her, she did still have to overcome her fear of men in general, which was pretty much the only conflict for quite a while, but when she finally finds out the truth, it was a revelation that basically fizzled. Toward the end, the author set up a brand new conflict centering around women's rights when a suffragette comes to town. This part of the story really came from out of nowhere, with no inkling up to that point that Mara had any interest in or concerns about women's rights at all. It felt like the author had found some interesting tidbit about the suffragist movement in her research and decided to just throw it in without really crafting the story around it. During these chapters we're also introduced to a new supporting character, Pearl, who also come from out of nowhere. No explanation is given as to who she is or how she relates to the other characters in the book except that she's obviously friends with several of them.

I wish that we could have seen a little more of some of the secondary characters. I really liked Cougar's adoptive parents, Doc and Dorothy. I thought it was very sweet that they were still so deeply in love after all the years they'd been together. Cougar's interactions with them were fun and easy-going. They were obviously a very loving family. We're introduced to Brad, the handsome town minister, who turns every lady's head. He seems like a really nice guy, and he becomes the hero of book #4, Promises Reveal. Then there's Cougar's cousin, Clint, who is also a half-breed. We were first introduced to him in Promises Linger, where he worked as a hand on Asa and Elizabeth's ranch. Now, it seems he's working for Cougar on his ranch, and this apparent ladies' man has a few words of wisdom for the errant Cougar. Clint becomes the hero of the next book, Promises Prevail. Last but not least, Asa and Elizabeth come to pay their friend a visit. It was really nice to see them again. I adored every minute Asa was on the canvas. He's still just too yummy for words.;-)

In addition to the story issues I had with Promises Keep, there were several nagging smaller problems I found. One is the author's use of the passive sentence structure “A had B occurring.” (eg. The sight of her beautiful breasts had him growing hard.) I took to rewriting a lot of these in my head, because they were annoying me so much. She also has a tendency to place dialog in the middle of prose, which is again passively worded (eg. Her “yes” was softly murmured.) and generally annoying. I also found a number of continuity errors such as a character standing in one paragraph and sitting in the next with no mention of them sitting down or a character being bare-chested in one paragraph and wearing a shirt a few paragraphs later. There are also times when the way the author described certain actions it was difficult to envision them and other times when the way they were being described seemed almost anatomically impossible unless the character was a contortionist. All of these things should have been caught and corrected by a truly good editor.

On the upside, I can't deny that Sarah McCarty has a way with writing love scenes. Although a few of the ones in this book were a little too raw for my taste, she is good at varying them in such a way that each one is a little different from the last, which can be difficult to accomplish in an erotic romance where so much page time is taken up by sex. I liked Mara's gentle but spunky nature, and although Cougar could get on my nerves occasionally, he was mostly likable as well, or at the very least, I liked his passionate seductions. Maybe the sheer hotness of the love scenes melted my brain, but I did mostly enjoy the book in spite of its weaknesses. As I said before, for what it is Promises Keep is decent story, so I'll definitely be looking to continue with Clint's book soon, while hoping that he's not quite as pig-headed as Cougar, and that the story is a little better constructed.

Note: This story contains explicit language and sexual content, including biting, spanking, bondage, intimate shaving, non-consensual sex, rimming, and anal sex, all of which may offend some readers.

[❋ · Rating 2 out of 5]

You know that gut-sinking feeling when you find what looks to be a great book, only to be bitterly disappointed? Currently sinking in the unfortunate aftermath :(

Good reviews aside, steamy sex scenes disregarded - a good romance is, above all, a good romance. This. This was a terrible imitation.

I didn't finish this book and I'm not proud to say so. But I couldn't possibly, as hard as I tried. In the back of my mind swirled a dozen possibilities, an array of books just waiting to be read. And I was wasting my time on this. No siree. Not for me.

So in light of this James Joyce quote, let's begin.



A multitude of reasons why this book sucks

Reason numéro un:
-> It had a terrible start. An absolutely awful (yet I won't lie intriguing) start. And as Cougar (our dashing *yawn* hero) states, let's 'start as we mean to go on'. This wasn't a fab start, I think it was damned from the beginning. Cougar unknowingly raped Mara, thinking she was willing and not the kidnapped innocent she was, in the midst of a brothel. Before the rape, he was getting a blowjob by the owner of the establishment. His reason for being there in the first place was due to his inability to get it up, after a past betrayal. Said betrayal was never brought up again. Figures. But then again, I never finished the book so who am I to say if it did or not?



Moving on,
Reason numéro deux:
-> Predictable, boring characters. Let's devote this bullet point to the hero, Cougar. He was the classic macho man. Don't get me wrong, I love an alpha male but he brought nothing more to the stereotype. Every alpha is a little different, but he was just plain ol' same ol'. Nothing I haven't seen before. Now it's possible friends, that I've become a little picky after reading about so many alphas, but surely a unique characteristic or two isn't asking too much?



Reason numéro trois: (See how I've used french for these subheadings.. Ah the language of love, la langue de l'amour. I love irony as much as the next person hehe)
->Mara.
Freaking Mara. Freaking is, I concede, more relevant to me. Cos I am freaking out. Freaking. Out. I really disliked her. At the beginning, I felt sympathy. It saddened me that she was raped and then abused by townspeople afterwards and labeled a whore. But as the story progressed, I found her to be an annoying little brat. I tried to convince myself that I liked her.

[Mara is repeatedly rude and sharp to Cougar when he's being patient and kind.- But it's okay because she's had an ordeal and these things change a person. She's not a bad person for acting out. She doesn't trust men, and rightfully so after a brutal kidnapping and rape.
Mara is indecisive about her marriage to Cougar. One min she's committed, the next she's wanting an annulment?.... Okaaay, maybe she just needs time? This is all very confusing for her.
Still yo yo-ing, whether it's the marriage, her feelings, desire etc. It's all new for her, this is realistic. She's healing but it'll be a slow recovery.
Mara hardly dissuades another possible suitor, even when married. She enjoys the attention, and self-proclaimed this.But she's married?? To Cougar?? The hero of the novel?? Or am I missing something here? Like come on, girl. Get your act together. And then of course, she enjoys baiting Cougar because being the epitome of an alpha male, he reacts possessively. And that excites her. Cute. Real nice. Ughhhh.]


Literally.

Sorry, rant over.

Wow, I just really couldn't warm to her. She was even more boring than Cougar. I don't understand how that's possible but miracles happen.

Reason numéro quatre:
-> The D/S undertones confused me a little. Given all that Mara has been through, her past and the background of her rape, I found this slightly strange. I've read books where heroines had been abused when they were younger by parents/guardians, but the bdsm by the hero served as a positive spin on things, in a way erasing the past pain for pleasure? And I got that. It makes sense. But Mara was sexually assaulted (by the hero of all things, but we'll get to that), so I don't see how she would be drawn to that? Maybe because of how little she remembered but I'm done making excuses for her. She irritated me on a level that is almost unexplainable. It's safe to say, I didn't warm or gel with her character at all. Nothing worse than trying to be feisty but she came off as whiny and standoffish. It was just all wrong.



Reason numéro cinq:
->The inevitable bomb that Cougar raped her. Again, it was accidental but still. To have to read, anxiously awaiting the reveal (at peak happiness for them as well) was just far too predictable and in a way, ruined everything leading up to it.



I suppose it would be fair of me to list the good things, but honestly it will just disappoint me because there's nothing worse than wasted potential.

Also, as a side note, there was a crazy amount of sex (and some real sizzling stuff). But no amount of rutting can make up for a bad book and bland characters. Sorry but this was in no way enjoyable and I am honestly, so damn glad to be rid of it.

[Gabrielle Espinoza · Rating 3 out of 5]

También lo leí pero Puma no me emocionó mucho o mejor dicho no me cautivó 🥹✨ yo voy mas por su primo ☺️😈

[Laura V.]

*Tiene super supers spoilers*
Esto es más un descargo que una reseña útil.
Este libro toca cuatro de los temas que más me repelen:

Violación, infidelidad, aborto, abandono. Lo curioso de la historia es que estos hechos son sin querer queriendo y no tienen la trascendencia o el peso dramático que uno hubiera esperado.

Para nada. En absoluto. Solo pasan y a seguir viviendo se ha dicho.

A mí, personalmente, me choca. En realidad, ya solo con la violación me dejó un poco shockeada.
Más allá de lo ocurrido en esa habitación y que él haya confundido como un juego de seducción/inocencia la negación que Mara trataba de demostrar en su estado narcótico(?, la trama toma otros rumbos.

Cougar es un bruto, torpe, picapiedras, neandertal, brusco, impulsivo, honorable si se quiere buscar algo bueno. Se comporta como quiere y como puede con la desgraciada de Mara, primero presionándola a casarse, segundo forzándola a tener que "convivir" con su antigua amante, tercero presionándola a superar el trauma para empezar a tener relaciones porque él es un hombre muy sexual(trauma que él mismo causó pero no quiere reconocer porque sabe que la niña agarra sus cosas y se va), cuarto dejarla sola porque cree que eso es lo mejor cuando sabe que no lo es, pero de todas formas se siente culpable por ello, así que no tiene mejor idea que irse, darle lo que quiere, y no darle mucha explicación ni consuelo luego de que ella aborte.

Mara es vendida, usada, humillada, está confundida, un poco amnésica, no conoce a nadie en la ciudad donde Cougar la llevó, y solo puede permitirse "confiar" en él por haberla llevado sana y salva. Mara está en tal estado de vulnerabilidad con respecto a su situación que me frusta que Cougar se le haya metido entre ceja y ceja que debe ser suya. I mean, desde el momento en que se le paró y esta mujer le "dio" el polvo de su vida, se siente su dueño y señor. Se casa con él porque sabe que no tiene otra opción y sus problemas no pueden empeorar.



En sí, la historia se lee, Cougar no es taaaaaaaaaaaan malo como lo pinto (un poco pero no taaaanto), pero visto desde afuera sus acciones son para arrancarse de los pelos. En un momento la trama decae y se entorpece a sí misma. No queda muy claro bien que quiso significar la autora con ese final o los sucesos que lo llevaron hasta ahí.
Por cierto, esta portada es much better que la original, en realidad, me encanta, ESA es la esencia de Cougar y Mara. El color le pega muy bien.

No la califico porque me deja en un dilema moral por el "temilla" de la violación/no violación.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book BUT had a big problem with the first chapter. The book description says "On the day Mara Kincaid escapes the Pleasure Emporium, she vows to start living for herself..." but that's not exactly what happens. I don't want to write a "spoiler" but let's just say that Mara's and Cougar's first meeting is icky and does not fit with who their characters are and the feeling of the remainder of the book. I skimmed over the first part of the book and enjoyed the remainder of the story. It is a very sweet and scorching love story.

[JoAnn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well after months I finally decided to finish it. I like a good smutty romance as much as the next addict but I couldn't get into this one, and that's disappointing since I was looking forward to it. It just didn't work for me... I know these books are more smut that story line, but this one was b-o-r-i-n-g.... and annoying all wrapped into one. Cougar kinda ended up being a douche and Mara... well she was Mara, nothing exceptional there.

All said and done I will probably read another one... sad...

[Chappy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great follow up to Promises Linger but it was darker with less light hearted moments.

When Cougar and Mara meet for the first time, it's quite a disturbing situation. It was actually a little hard to read...so be prepared.

Cougar is determined to win over Mara's affections and she is quite resistant. That is until Cougar uses his "dominant" attributes to woo her and show her how to submit; in bed only of course...

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I like this book and the story, I had some major issues with Cougar. The reason this book only got 3 stars from me.

That being said:

Had I been Mara, Mr. McKinnley would've had MUCH more 'splainin' to do than he did about Nidia!

The love scenes were smokin(altho a little too much backdoor), and the the dialog was great.

[Crys Harris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this but there were too many gaps in the plot and the actions of the character for me to like it. I thought it was a weak story and I didn't particular like the main characters. Meh.

[Reyi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am going to write a longer review later, until then these are my thoughts. I liked the book for all the wrong reasons. Asa and Elly, the women's equal rights scenes, Mara's opinion on them, Doc and Dorothy , the W.O.M.B. ladies and the last bondage scene. The chemistry was not doing it for me. Also, the thing that threw me off the most was Mara herself. No one and especially no woman in my opinion who was sold,drugged and abused (especially if it was his/her first time), would welcome an intimate touch from practically a stranger so soon after the incident. Even if they don't remember fully what happened, the fact or knowledge that something like that happened to them would be reason enough to be cautious and wary. Even if she had to marry Cougar, I hoped that she would make him work for it a little. I liked it best when she tried to stand up for herself but it was short lived. I went in expecting more angst and was very disappointed. I needed more grovel from Cougar too. In short the story required more. I still love the first book the best.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5!

[Ailin Skye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tengo tantas ganas de contaros tantas cosas y todo se resúme en una palabra “uff”
Terminé un libro que me ha quitado el hipo, por un ratito me ha escandalizado, me ha enamorado y subido la temperatura varias veces. Me ha dejado con varias emociones en el cuerpo y la sonrisa de satisfacción que una buena obra te puede dejar.

La obra en cuestión es PROMESAS QUE CAUTIVAN el segundo de la serie PROMESAS de la autora Sarah McCarty, y os puedo garantizar que os va a encantar.
Os invito a venir conmigo a un viaje a través del tiempo, vayamos al viejo oeste, ahí donde todavía está llegando el ferrocarril, donde los hombres se curten y se hacen con el honor, el sudor de su frente. Dónde las mujeres con su voluntad, su dulzura pueden domar al corazón más salvaje. Abrid vuestro corazón porque os aseguro que nos vamos a enamorar.
Pero es que es imposible no hacerlo con Puma. Este mestizo de rasgos indios, alto, fuerte: musculoso, firme, obstinado, honorable, viril, dulce, mandón; que nos escandalizará por momentos. A pesar de que conoce de la peor manera a la que marcará como suya, es su grado de compromiso lo que nos hará adorarlo. Un héroe hambriento de ser aceptado, capaz de todo por lo que ama hasta lograr sanar cada herida, y ganarse la confianza ciega de su amada.
Mara.. ah Mara yo lo siento pero este personaje se convirtió en mi preferido. A pesar de todo por lo que ha tenido que pasar, me encanta su rebeldía, su inocencia, sus respuestas. Me encontré con una mujer que es dura de roes, pero que tiene el corazón noble, capaz de perdonar cualquier falta y aceptar que el hombre que tiene a su lado es lo que ella realmente desea. Es tenaz, una pequeña luchadora que jamás se dará por vencida, y que peleara como leona si se atreven a tocar un pelo de lo que considera suyo.
Tenemos una pareja con un problema muy grave al inicio: el miedo de ella. Pero es tal la química y la magnitud de lo que sienten el uno por el otro cuando están juntos, que las chispas explotan sin ellos mismos proponérselo, se rebelan y se doblegan entre sí. Son carnales, asertivos y perfectos, de tal manera que es imposible encontrarles un pero.
Prepararse además para un grupo de mujeres muy especiales, que están impacientes de instruir a las dulces esposas con maridos descarrilados, y os harán pasar momentos geniales.
Sara McCarty definitivamente es una autora magnífica Su pluma es sensual, deliciosa. Sólo os puedo asegurar algo. Desde la primera página de este libro ya comenzamos a calentar motores, y mantendrá de manera brillante la tensión hasta la última página.

[Vallsykes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Been on a Sarah McCarty kick lately and as "promising" as the first book in this series was, this book (#2) is annoyingly promising.

Again we have a damsel in distress. Like Desi, another McCarty heroine, in , Mara Kincaid falls into the only other profession for women in the west, besides wife, which means she finds herself drugged and helpless in a whorehouse.

Thank goodness her soon-to-be alpha protector and husband, Cougar(apt name) ends up being her first customer,an interesting fact that she never knows that until later, after he's won her, and I, the reader, think "How clueless could Mara Kincaid, of the Kincaids who don't give up, be?"

Yet, you gotta love Mara's spunk as the story goes on. She is a scrap of a girl, but her determination shines so that you pity that she is so beholden to Cougar. What's more, here we have another McCarty alpha who possessively adores his woman.

I enjoyed this story. This author has some sizzle in her erotic scenes, which sometimes run as too similar from book-to-book, but for some reason the familiarity can evoke and odd sense of anticipation.

The one thing that could strengthen these characters is a better back-story. Cougar has one that is given some notice. He is adopted and has some darkness to him because of being on his own and experiencing rejection. Mara: well the only thing we get is a vague sense that she was near respectable and after the whorehouse ordeal, that is helped by her own father, she is given the respect of Cougar's last name. However, none have forgotten her fall from innocence. Moreover, more insight about her is needed.

This author is promising, but more fluidity in plot and rounding out of her characters would add to her great setting and plot. Add that and I'd be giving these stories 4 stars.

[T · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF
Found the plot line boring and couldn't be bothered to continue. Did introduce the preacher who I am VERY interested in and willing to skip the next so that I can read his book instead.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every time I read or re-read a Sarah McCarty title, I remember how good she really is as an author. Promises Keep is the second book in her Promises series.

There are four now with a fifth promised (pun intended) in 2010. The first three were originally published with Ellora's Cave which tells you how sexually explicit they can be.

The thing about these books is that the sex is not the point. These books are romances through and through. There is an alpha male with a strong female who is normally overcoming a violent past. That is a particular twist in Promises Keep.

The only reason I haven't bought and read more of her books is that she hasn't released them yet. Sarah McCarty is definitely on my "gotta have them" the first day they are released list.

[Silvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 STAR

as always sarah mccarty books always so refreshing..the conversation between her and heroine always so hilarious, smart, strong and sexy as hell...and off course the sex scene always made me hot as hell ha ha ha..i like mara ..shes strong, and shes willing to listen to her logical mind without getting emotion to take control..shes very brave and smart..no wonder cougar made her his possesion ...

and i love all the hero character always has alpha male attitude..its hot as hell

[Feminista]

Rape and cheating...

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first book so much that I was really looking forward to reading about the others. Unfortunately, Cougar's story took him down a few pegs in my eyes. This was the first non-dark romance hero that I considered unlikeable and unredeemable. Here's your warning--this is pretty much your classic Western bodice ripper. By which I mean the "hero" is overbearing, takes liberties, and is disgustingly unrepentent about it.


The circumstances of the main character's meeting aside, since that at least was not intentionally taking advantage, Cougar bullies an abused young woman into marriage, then bullies her into all manner of sexual acts, while keeping a serious secret from her that would change the nature of their relationship. It's explained away by a healthy mix of body betrayal, dom/sub dynamics, and good old misogyny a la "husbands, take care of your wives; wives, submit to your husbands." Even his parents shrug and go "well, he's pretty stubborn, and he always gets what he wants." Oh and it's okay if he keeps secrets, because he's an "honest man," and lies of omission don't count, right?


Mara, for all her verbal bluster, is a helpless pushover of an FMC when it comes to this treatment. It's not at all like the dynamic we get in the first book, with a capable, intelligent woman (Elizabeth) whose laid-back but dangerous man (Asa) brings out a softer side in her. I wasn't expecting such a switch, given what seems to be the general themes of these books. I might understand if this was something from the 80s... But 2005? We can do better than that.