I’ve read a few books by Robin Bielman, and loved each one. Samanthe Beck is new to me, but that will be changing soon. These two write so seamlessly you would never guess it was a duo’s collaboration.
The book has a few laugh out loud moments, mixed in with the blazing chemistry that we are given an insight before we even see Vaughn Shaughnessy and Kendall Hewitt together for the first time. Vaughn’s slightly hungover recollections of their first meeting(not shown in the story, but visualized in his head next morning, was the precursor to their attraction.
I smiled, laughed… and golly-gosh, did I swoon for this man. He is romance incorporated without even trying.
Vaughn is a model and aspiring reality show host. He’s gorgeous and sweet and kind. He falls for Kendall from the second he sees her. It was just… gah!!! So good.
They are the perfect match for each other, on paper at least, but real life has some hidden truths that will put some bumps in the road. How will they deal with this?
Kendall isn’t looking for love or a relationship when she meets Vaughn, she’s only meant to be house-sitting for her aunt for the summer. But, fate works in mysterious ways. Not only does she meet Vaughn, but her aunt asked her two half-sisters to house-sit as well. Not much wrong with that you might think, but these three girls are all but estranged. Now they have the summer to make a proper sisterly connection.
I loved all these different objectives and the feeling of family was strong, despite their initial hesistance.
But it’s Vaughn and Kendall’s relationship that steals the show, as it should. It smolders with pent-up feelings and attraction. They’re fun and sexy, but serious too when the need calls for it. And there is just a little bit of angstiness at the end. But, it was resolved in a cute way that felt right.
Can’t ask for more than that.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone thinking of buying it. Do so, and do it today!!

Kendall came to LA to house sit and decide if law school is really the path she wants to take. She didn't count on her two half-sisters showing up or meeting her next door neighbor Vaughn.

She and Vaughn are attracted to each other, but Kendall only plans to be in town for the summer. The more time they spend together, though, the harder it is to resist each other.

Vaughn is a genuinely good guy who likes everything about Kendall. He really makes an effort to do everything he can to be there for her and to be a good friend above all.

Kendall is trying to figure out her life and to find closure and forgiveness for a traumatic experience from a few years ago. The authors did a nice job showing her connection building with Vaughn and her building a relationship with her sisters.

I do wish more of Kendall's time spent with her sisters had been included. I really liked their growing bond and friendship. I have a feeling we may see them and Vaughn's friends in future books, though!

Once I got into this book, I really started to enjoy it. I had a hard time with the beginning but I'm glad I stuck with it because it really picked up.

I have to say I liked the progression of the sisters. You felt that even though they still hurt that there was a bond forming.

I also really liked Vaughn. Even though he was this huge star, at heart is was a good man. He had great friends, took his job seriously and loved his family. He did have a strained relationship with his father being he was his manager.

The part of the book that I had a hard time with was in the beginning when you met the sisters. Maybe its because I haven't ever experiences this but I was so frustrated at the anger these sisters had towards each other. Maybe it's the rose color glasses thing for me but each of these three sisters are innocent. The person they should be mad at is their father. He was the one who abandoned them for another family. How was that Kendal's fault?

when three half-sisters find themselves at a crossroads in their lives, their aunt maneuvers them into spending the summer together housesitting. and the single men next door might find their lives shaken up by their temporary neighbors. i mean, that's where i imagine this is going as a series. and i am into it.



promise me focuses on kendall and vaughn. kendall is the youngest sister, and is supposed to be heading to law school in the fall. except for many reasons that's not the path she wants her life to take. she made a terrible mistake in high school and has been trying to make reparations for it ever since. and so she's not sure her heart is available to anyone.



but vaughn finds a way to sneak in. he's an up-and-coming model/actor and has a chance at real stardom. with his biggest role on the line, he's got some stuff to work through. like his dad's inability to let him make his own decisions. and cutting out people who don't do him any good in his life.



with kendall he sees the possibility of everything, and he pursues her from the get-go. their story is the perfect blend of heart and humor. there are some real heartwrenching moments, but the chemistry between these two is off the charts and all of the secondary characters have emotional depth to them. i really do hope to see this continue as a series.



**promise me will publish on april 15, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/social butterfly pr/entangled publishing (embrace) in exchange for my honest review.

Kendall & Vaughn are hot together. Vaughn encourages Kendall to reach for the stars & her dreams. She wants to follow her father & live up to his expectations but can’t see working in a law office long term. She wants to be an actress. Vaughn is on the cusp of his big break & doesn’t want anything to derail it, including the spoiled model hanging around.

Kendall & Vaughn both have to recover & move on from past hurts & decisions. These hurts have the power to keep them down but only if they let them. Neither is used to a relationship with someone encouraging them to grab it all & realize they are worthy. I enjoy reading stories by Robin Bielman but now I’ve added a new author in Samanthe Beck. This collaboration was seamless & felt like one author.

The temporary neighbor relationship between Vaughn and Kendall starts out almost…accidentally, and slowly develops over the summer. Kendall is only supposed to be house sitting for the summer while her aunt and uncle are away, but unfortunately her aunt had something up her sleeve as Kendall’s two half-sisters have also been sent to house sit for the summer.

This is my first read from Author Robin Bielman, but not for Samanthe Beck. I really enjoyed this collaboration by these two authors! They have created such a wonderful, quick, enjoyable, fun read! The characters were great! I loved the half-sisters (Amber and Dixie…and don’t call her Dix!!! LOL) and Vaughn’s housemates (Dylan and Matt), and Snowflake and the parents!!! Such great characters throughout this whole book! (Disclosure…I want to punch Becca in the face!).

Promise me you’ll always remember:
You’re braver than you believe,
And stronger than you seem,
And smarter than you think.

This is a story of hope, of past mistakes, and trying to overcome them. It’s about opening your heart when you think it isn’t possible again. I loved this and would definitely recommend it!

I thought Promise Me was a wonderful read. I enjoyed reading about Kendall and Vaughn. I thought they had great chemistry. It was a page turner. It was well written and a great storyline.
I received an Advanced Copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I have read quite a few Robin Bielman books, and nothing by Samanthe Beck, until now. I am pretty used to Robin Bielman’s humorous books and this wasn’t like that at all. It was more serious than anything I’ve read from her before. Since I haven’t read any Samanthe Beck books, I couldn’t tell you if this is par for the course with her books.
Unfortunately, I found this book lacking something. I thought the characters were both kind, thoughtful, and just really nice people. But, I almost felt bored because they were so nice. They had like no flaws at all, and really there was very little angst. I thought the writing was descriptive and detailed, but I found the pacing a problem throughout. While I really struggled to push into the book, when the characters do get together, I felt like it was way too quick at the same time. There was also a whole lot of issues going on. Both characters came with a lot of baggage- mostly familial, and of course, Vaughn’s celebrity issues. I would say I found the most interest in the familial issues, and was especially intrigued by Kendall’s half sisters. I really wish I could have liked this one more, but there was just something missing for me.

* ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Kendall is supposed to be House and dog sitting for her Aunt for the summer. What she wasn’t expecting was her two half sisters to show up also. Apparently her Aunt made the same deal with them in an attempt to get the three sisters together. She also wasn’t expecting her Aunts neighbor to be sexy model, Vaughn Shaughnessy.

Vaughn feels a connection with Kendall as soon as he meets her and he knows he needs to get to know her. Kendall knows that she needs to avoid Vaughn and figure out her future. I love the characters and the storyline! I hope that we get books about each of the sisters!! Fun book!!

Having previously read books by both Samanthe Beck and Robin Bielman, I knew I’d be getting a great, fun read. But I didn’t realize just how emotional and special this one would be. While the subject matter from Kendall’s past was heavy, the story between both Kendall and Vaughn, as well as between Kendall and her sisters, was more lighthearted.
I loved that Vaughn was almost immediately all in with Kendall, while she was, naturally, more hesitant. A strong male lead who isn’t afraid of committing to a relationship is super hot and not always the norm in romance. Maybe that didn’t make him alpha enough for some, but I appreciated that part of him.
Kendall was a little more of a challenge for me, but I liked her overall. Her slow bonding with her sisters was realistic and interesting, especially with the very snarky Dixie.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who appreciates great writing and character development, with lots of humor and heart! I hope these two author pair up again and often.

What a great story! Promise Me was a story about love, family, forgiveness, trust, and so much more that I was not expecting. I loved it!!

Trust in a world where people use you for your name, your face, who you know is hard to come by. Trust if fragile. Trust is sacred. Trust is everything.

The same can be said for someone living out the spotlight living with their own secrets. Trust by nature is hard to give, especially the older we get.

Those four little words; can I trust you? hold so much weight. They are the foundation for every relationship we build starting in childhood. Can I trust you with my secrets? Can I trust you with my friendship? Can I trust you with my heart?

Vaughn and Kendall come from two different worlds, but at their core they are very similar people. It is that similarity that continues to pull them back together. Vaughn's face/mostly naked body is plastered all over the world. He's a model whose career if just getting started and he has a huge career opportunity on the line, if he doesn't screw it up. Kendall is a small town girl spending the summer in L.A. She's figuring out her next move before she begins law school in the fall a decision that will decide her entire future.

He's a man who lives in the spotlight, she's a girl who prefers the shadows. They only have the summer to figure out if they can meet in the middle. Is this just a fling or could what they feel for each other last beyond the summer?

Kendall just graduated from college. Instead of going back to her hometown, she's spending the summer house and dog sitting for her aunt and uncle and trying to figure out if she really wants to go to law school. On her first night, she meets her next door neighbor Vaughn, who happens to be a model/actor. Then the next day her two half sisters show up, each also thinking they were supposed to be house sitting thanks to a setup from their aunt. I enjoyed watching Kendall navigate interactions with the sisters, and I loved seeing her relationship with Vaughn develop. The book was sweet, and the characters were likeable.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What a great book! Full humor, quirkiness and passion- this book definitely gave me a roller coaster of emotions! Loved it.

"Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

I finally finished this book!!! If I have to describe 'Promise Me' with one word it would be EASY . It's a quick and easy read. The plot was predictable. The romance between Kendall and Vaughn easy. The writing flows quite nicely and most of the characters are likable to an extent, but the story didn't give me much. That's why I can't rate this book more than three stars.

"Why is it so much easier to let harmful opinions bother us, rather than allow good ones to lift us up?"

**Spoilers alert**
Let's start with the heroine and hero of the story. Kendall and Vaughn.
Kendall has such a big heart and is the person who takes care of everyone. She is the woman she is now because something tragic happened in the past where she lost the person she loved most. That event changed who she is forever. Kendall tries to move on with her life, but it's really hard for her because she still harbors so much guilt. To avoid her home town, she decides to spend the summer at her aunt's house to do some house-sitting. To her surprise, she's not the only one house-sitting, her two half-sisters are there as well to escape their own life. In the beginning, I didn't really like her sisters, cause they don't get along and were quite mean to Kendall, but throughout the book, their relationships improved a lot. So Kendall tries to move on from her past and figure out what she wants to do with her life if she doesn't go to law school.

"One painful event explains why such an intrinsically outgoing person hesitates to get too close, why such a smart beautiful girl would hole up in her aunt and uncle's house all summer if left to her own devices."

And there is Vaughn. Her handsome neighbor who she has to help cause he is so drunk that he almost gets run over. They have a connection from the moment they meet (even though he is drunk as hell) and so their romance slowly begins. Now, who is Vaughn? Vaughn is a model in Hollywood going on to 'host-one-of-the-most-popular-reality-show' who is just too nice for this world. Yes, I really said too nice. I like my characters flawed, at least a little bit and that's where the problem was. I couldn't find one in Vaughn. He was too patient, too understanding, too perfect, too selfless. Too much of everything good, that it was just too much for me. The only flaw I could see was his name. Vaughn Shaughnessy. You read it correctly. His name is really Shaughnessy. When I read it for the first time I thought 'WHAT THE HELL? WHAT KIND OF NAME IS THAT?'. I'm sorry it's such a superficial thing, but I can't understand how you can name your character SHAUGHNESSY. From all the names in the whole wide world, it has to be this one? His name kept on coming up in almost every chapter when all I wanted was to forget it. Do I sound like a drama queen? Maybe because I'm one :D

Whatever Vaughn was so nice that I found his character pretty boring. He was always saying and doing the right thing and it was so annoying! I could have moved past that if his character had more depth. With Kendall, we got a fracture of her past but Vaughn didn't give much away, except that his sister died years ago. I needed more than that.

Another aspect that didn't sit well with me was the easy romance between Kendall & Vaughn. In the beginning, they had some minor problems with Kendall refusing to start something with Vaughn cause she's only there for the summer, but after they accepted that it's going to be a summer fling, things got too easy for me. Their relationship was far from smooth. Kendall broke up with Vaughn because she didn't want to jeopardize Vaughn career with her past and because she was not ready for the public to dig into her personal life. It just the way the problem was resolved, was just too easy and predictable. I wanted more angst!

"Thanks for being patient with me."
"Always."
"Thanks for being mine."
"Easiest thing I've ever done. And"-he kisses me-"something I will never take for granted."

I received an e-arc of this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

Kendall and Vaughan figuring out their relationship!

Kendall is house sitting in the Hollywood Hills for her aunt and uncle while figuring out if she wanted to go to law school and become a lawyer like dad. Kendall’s half-sisters show up unexpectedly because her aunt invited them also to stay for the summer to get to know each other as adults. During a late night dog walk Kendall meets the next door neighbor, model Vaughn Shaughnessy. Vaughan’s career is taking off, getting his name out there as a possible replacement host for a television show but Kendall is a much more private person wanting to help others. Kendall and Vaughan are both dealing with the loss of people important to them with the death of Vaughan’s sister and Kendall having a driving while intoxicated after prom and her boyfriend seriously hurt.

Promise Me shows Kendall and Vaughan’s relationship began as friends but Kendall decided to end anything between them because her history was causing problems for Vaughan but he felt love was more important. I’m really hoping Samanthe Beck & Robin Bielman write about Kendall’s sisters.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

it pains me to say this but i really struggled through this one. i've read and absolutely loved two samanthe beck books so maybe it was the robin bielman i didn't click with? or maybe samanthe beck's style has changed since she published the books i read (2013 + 2014)? or maybe it was the plot and the characters. honestly, i don't know. i didn't like either main character. i didn't like vaughn from the get go because, sorry, it's hard to take someone seriously in a book when they get trashed. i didn't love kendall because i felt like she was so wishy washy. because i didn't like them alone, i didn't like them together. felt no connection, the sex scenes were just words on the page without caring about the characters, which is a bummer because i want to feel that connection, the falling in love. but i just didn't care about either of them. maybe it was the age of the characters, or the industry vaughn was trying to break into? not my favourite setting in a romance but i've read several and enjoyed them so it wasn't enough to not request it. all of that on top of the just not loving the writing or plot, i seriously considered DNFing. but i kept hoping it would get better, because when i say i LOVED the samanthe beck books i've read, i really really loved them. so, whatever the reason, this one just did not work for me. i liked the sisters and am curious about their stories but not sure i'm curious enough to continue the series.

What I liked:
The writing style
Most of the characters
Dual POVs
Standalone
HEA

What I didn't like:
Kendall

I had a hard time staying interested in this book.

ARC provided by Netgalley.

4.5 Stars

I loved this book! The main characters had great chemistry and they sucked me in from the beginning. All the supporting characters were also great and I can't wait for the next book in this series! Like ASAP!

5 Flaming Stars!

There was just something truly magical about this book and these characters. Beautifully written and crafted, the story sucks you in right from the first when Kendall saves Vaughn from getting mowed down by his own car. Vaughn is a little jaded after being surrounded by superficial sycophants who want to climb the social ladder and is refreshed by Kendall's complete brush off.

Kendall is house sitting for her aunt all summer while she figures out how to tell her dad that she doesn't want to follow in his footsteps and become a lawyer. What should be a relaxing summer gets turned on its head with the arrival of Kendall's two half-sisters who have never been close with each other. They are both jealous of Kendall's relationship with their father and the fact that Kendall grew up with both of her parents.

Their aunt is determined that the girls can find common ground if they get to know each other.

While the love story between Kendall and Vaughn is top notch, I feel like the evolution of the half-sisters' relationship is just as important and intertwined with the story. Bielman and Beck create such enigmatic characters that are full of depth. One of the best books I've read this year.

Amber and Dixie's fate are left up in the air, so I hope that we get each of their stories!

I’ve lost count of the number of books I’ve read from both Robin and Samanthe, so when I found out they were teaming up, I was on Promise Me faster than a rat up a drainpipe.

“I already got my wish tonight.”

Some people meet in life just when the time is right and there’s no doubt that fate is playing its hand in bringing Vaughn Shaughnessy and Kendall Hewitt into one another’s lives. And it quickly becomes evident that together, these authors have created an uplifting, heartfelt, sexy story that is impossible to put down.

“This is my summer of self-discovery, and Vaughn is an important and unexpected part of it. Being with him released me from the burden on my heart.”

Told in the dual perspective, I was totally smitten by Vaughn from his gentle tender nature, wit and delicious way with words. But, for me, this book is Kendall’s story and my heart hurt for her, for what she’s experienced and how she blossoms as their story unfolds.

“You’re so close to perfect it hurts just to look at you sometimes, but I’ve got imperfections—big ones—and they’re mine to keep.

No fan of Samanthe Beck or Robin Bielman will be left disappointed, their writing was knitted together beautifully and I couldn’t tell where one started and the other ended. I can’t wait to see what they bring us next—Kendall’s sisters and Vaughn’s housemates won me over with their humour and personalities and I’m hopeful they have stories to tell—but in the meantime, Promise Me is worthy of a place on any contemporary romance-lover’s shelf.