Review: Promises by Carolyn Twede Frank

Book: Promises by Carolyn Twede Frank
Genre: MG Historical Fiction
Rating:★★★★☆
For: Blog Tour
From: Sent to me by the author.

This book is based around the idea of promises that our heroine, Hattie, makes during the year she is 12 years old. It makes me think about all the little promises we make every day that we might not realize we are even doing! For instance, when we tell our kids we'll be there at such and such a time to pick them up... that's a promise. When we commit to helping with an assignment of some sort of another, that's a promise. When we say we'll participate in a blog tour! That's a promise too! :) It's nice to stop and take a moment to think about how important it is that we, that I, make sure I count these little commitments as big ones, to actually consider them promises, and keep them!

But let's get back to Hattie! She is turning 12 just as her family is moving to a tiny Utah town on the edge of Bryce Canyon, called Tropic. It's the late 1800's and she is just as bummed as any kid today would be about moving, and about the fact that no one remembered her birthday! She thinks she will have no friends in this new place, and in fact, when she arrives, the only girl her age is, to be blunt, a snotty brat! (Totally reminded me of Nellie Olson from Little House stories.)

But she does find some connection to the girl that used to live in the house her family has bought. She promises, in her heart, to find this girl and get to know her and bring her back her things. Will she be able to keep this promise? You'll have to read the book to find out!

The story is very sweet and heart warming, drawn from the memories of a real life Hattie. It gives you a realistic feel for what life may have been like for a young girl druing this time.... every day living, things kids did for fun, friends they made and... dealing with heartache and loss.

One thing I loved was the horseback rides she took with a certain cute boy, who really WAS a good friend, down into the Bryce Canyon! Can you even imagine letting your 12 year old kids take off on such an adventure today? It freaked me out!

Anyway, I've been to Bryce and it is an awesome place. I loved learning about what it was like for people living here before it became a famous and well traveled park.

Bottom line: I really enjoyed this fun little book!

Be sure to check out this blog tour page for more reviews on this book. There's a book trailer here if you are interested. Also, the author, Carolyn Frank, is having a contest on her blog as part of this blog tour. Be sure to enter to win a full-sized puppet stage and puppets, value of $290 by participating in this blog tour giveaway. Check out her website or blog for more details. Also, she is having a joint tour with her friend and blog tour partner, Cindy Hogan. Her book is called Protected and you can find info about her blog tour on her page here.