Review: Promise Me Light (#2, Promise Me) by Paige Weaver

My Thoughts

Unique. Suspenseful. Steamy. Riveting. I was anxious. I was stressed. I was totally hooked. This book packs some serious action and angst — so much so that I was biting my nails through the entire thing, flipping the pages as fast as I could to see how it all would end. Loved it!

• Related Posts: My review of Promise Me Darkness (#1, Promise Me)

Synopsis

At one time my life was simple. Easy. But that was before the war. Now I was no longer an average college student. I was a survivor. A woman living in a ravaged world. My future was not bright and my life was far from perfect. The war had taken so much from me… but it wasn’t finished yet. It wanted more. It wanted my heart. My soul. The one person I couldn’t live without. It wanted Ryder Delaney. My best friend. The bad boy. The one person who could fight like no other and love me like no one else. He was the father of my baby. I watched him walk away one hot summer day and I prayed he would return. I needed him like I needed air to breathe and water to drink. Without him I was lost. A light without her darkness. Until he returns, I’ll wait for him. And I believe he will return because love is powerful… And so is the light calling him home.

Do not read if you have not read Promise Me Darkness, book 1. 

My Review

 “Somebody once said that when the darkness fell, we would be shown the light. I wasn’t sure that was true. Darkness had descended on my world and all I saw was despair.”

Wow. Pulse-pumping and action-packed. Promise Me Light is an incredible sequel that exceeded my expectations with stronger character development, more intensity and nicely tied-together plot lines. This cast of characters is in a dire situation. Amidst the imminent threat of terrorists, certain hunger with diminishing food supply and the approaching cold fronts of winter, their future is fearfully uncertain. At the beginning of Promise Me Light, Maddie is waiting for Ryder and her friends to return from their quest to save Eva. When she finally sees the group approach, her world turns dark…

“There are certain days that I will never forget. Days that changed my life forever. When my mom died. Meeting Ryder for the first time. The night I gave him my virginity. The moment when the EMP hit, taking electricity from the United States. The day my dad died. Finding out I was pregnant. Standing under the stars as Ryder asked me to marry him. So many important days. Each had a different impact on my life. Some happy. Some sad. But the day that changed my life forever was the day he didn’t return. That day, my world shattered.”

Without divulging too much, the situation that Ryder finds himself in is absolutely harrowing. And while Ryder is not there, Maddie simply falls apart. Facing a future without Ryder and thinking about the fate of her unborn child is simply too much for her. Her sadness is all-consuming and she’s lost in her grief.

“I forced my feet to move and my heart to beat. I told my lungs to breathe and my mind to think. Every day, I forced myself to go on, surrounded by people I loved but feelign more alone than I had ever felt before.”

The stress during this time is suffocating — everyone is on edge, tempers run high and each individual seems to be a changed person, a result of the things they’ve seen and experienced. Living under those tense conditions is enough for Maddie, because after so long and in traditional Maddie style, she is fiercely determined to get him back. They had gone through too much over the years for her to give up and succumb to the very likely possibility that Ryder was no longer alive.

“Death was trying to steal him away from me. But I didn’t plan on losing.”

Failed attempts to find Ryder are crushing and maddening and just when the hopelessness begins to take root, Ryder makes a surprising return. I won’t disclose what happens, but my heart broke during these chapters in the book. What he endured is awful and he has now been forever marred by his experiences. What was clearly evident, however, was that Ryder survived only through harnessing the strength of the love he shared with Maddie.

“Every day, I sat in that hellhole, beaten and barely holding on. Watching people die around me. But when I closed my eyes, thee was only you, Maddie. You made me survive. They couldn’t break me. They tried. Hell, they tried so damn hard, but they couldn’t take the memory of you away from me.”

The happiness of the reunion quickly vanishes as it all gets very real. A person can only take so much without permanent scarring — inside and out — and suddenly danger is all around them and amongst them. Truths are revealed, tempers explode and the emotionally-charged push-and-pull we saw in book 1, makes a hell of a comeback.

“Being with Ryder was like a roller coaster ride that never ended. There were sharp turns and up and downs. You never knew what was waiting for you around the corner. The ride ws bumpy and sometimes rough. One moment you wanted to laugh, the next moment you wanted to scream. But through it all, it was exhilarating and fast-paced. The ride of your life.”

It’s absolutely clear that Maddie and Ryder love each other, but there were times I felt so angry at Ryder for the things he said and did. Their relationship is the very definition of explosive and I felt so caught up in the emotional turbulence of these scenes. I completely understood Ryder’s flawed persona and fallacious logic, but my emotions definitely took the lead during this heart-wrenching part of the story.

“I’m darkness, Maddie. Stay away from men like me. You’ll only get hurt.”

Sooooo much happens. So much. You’ll have to read it to experience everything this book has to offer. Promise Me Light is the final installment in the series, and has a happy ending (thank goodness), but I assure you that you’ll be out-of-breath by the end! I honestly could’ve read more… she could’ve extended the Epilogue and I would’ve been hooked still. Highly recommend you check out this series!

“Let’s get a few things straight before we go, Maddie… Your body is mine and your heart is mine. I’ll fight for it and I’ll die for it. Never forget that.”

About The Author

Paige Weaver lives in Texas with her husband and two children. Her love for books became a love for writing at a young age. She wrote her first book as a teenager and continued writing throughout the years. Encouraged by her husband, she finally decided to self-publish. Her debut novel, Promise Me Darkness, was released in April 2013 and quickly became a New York Times and USA Today bestseller. Her second book, Promise Me Light, will be released in September 2013. She is currently working on other novels to be released in 2014.

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