The Wife's Promise (Tales from Goswell #1) was a great read by Kate Hewitt. When Alice looked at the young girl alone on the platform, she sensed the same vulnerability she'd felt entering the village she called hom. The child gripped her hand and Alice felt the pain and sorry in her heart soften. She vowed at that moment that she would always protect her. In 1939 England, Alice married vicar David, which meant that she left everything in her old life behind when moving to the remote village. Alice is homesick but also determined to make a new life there for herself and David. Unfortunately war breaks out and David chooses to sign up to fight. Alice is asked to take in a child evacuee and she promises to do anything to protect this girl. In present time Jane and her family move to the small coastal village of Goswell where David grew up. The new home feels completely different than her previous fast paced life and Jane struggles with her empty days. She finds a small note that was forgotten behind a shelf in the pantry. The note was written in the second world war by a woman named Alice. Her story has the power to change everything. I enjoyed reading this book and cant wait to read more by the author.

I tend to enjoy World War II books, especially those set in England, but I had a hard time getting into this one. The character Jane kinda drove me nuts and I would have liked to read more about Alice and her life in the 40's.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to the audio book. Even though The Wife's Promise wasn't my favorite I thought the narrators did a great job. I'd like to try another Kate Hewitt book in the future...I love the covers of her books so they are very appealing to me.

Publication date: 26 January 2023

This book was really good! I liked the characters too. I hope to read more by this author soon!
I liked the setting too and the style of the author.

When Alice marries David, it means moving from the only home she has known to his vicarage in the small village of Goswell, Cumbria. After World War II breaks out, Alice is devastated when David enlists. Then Alice takes in a child evacuee, and she is determined to keep the girl safe no matter what.

In present day England, Jane and her family have just moved into the old vicarage in Goswell. When Jane finds a forgotten note in pantry written by Alice, she wants to learn everything she can about this woman she feels strangely connected to.

Gemma Dawson and Elizabeth Cottle both did a nice job reading the audiobook for this novel. This story looks at the lives of two very different women and the choices they made for their husbands and families. I recommend it to those who enjoy women’s fiction and dual timelines stories.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

I was not a fan of this one. It was incredibly dull and boring. I didn't find any of the characters entirely likeable, and it was just a long book of nothing really happening. The narrator was fine, but where I wasn't enjoying the book that may sway my dislike.

Overall a 1/5 stars.

Thank you for this ARC!!

I tried really hard to love this book and just couldn't. It is written about two women, in two time periods, living in the same house. I really liked one of the stories but couldn't fall in love with the other. It was likely just me, but it didn't capture my attention like I had hoped.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

While this took me a little bit to get into, it was overall an enjoyable book. Well developed characters and the timelines weren't too confusing. The narrators were good as well.

I really enjoyed the book, The Wife’s Promise, by Kate Hewitt. Told from the perspective of two women in different decades, it is definitely interesting. Alice is a vicars wife during WWII and Jane is a modern day New Yorker. When Jane’s husband wants to relocate to a small village and live in an old vicarage, Jane, rather unwillingly, moves with him and their whole family. When she finds a small handwritten grocery list deep in the cupboard, written by Alice, it begins a search for her into the history of the house. Very well written and I think the narrators did a great job! Thanks NetGalley and the publisher.

The Wife’s Promise is a well crafted and beautifully written dual timeline story. I was touched by the emotional depth of the story and it’s well developed characters, and the vivid descriptions helped to seamlessly transport me to another place and time. This story was a perfect blend of contemporary and historical fiction with a little mystery thrown. Thoroughly enjoyable, I couldn’t put this one down.

Set in a vicarage, parallel storylines of Jane (present thread protagonist) and Alice (past thread protagonist) are slowly stitched together into a well layered story that slips back and forth between time periods, an old grocery list bridging the gap. While their stories and life situations were very different, the sacrifices they made and challenges they faced were quite similar. Both women had difficulty transitioning to their new home, felt isolated and unwelcome, and each courageously learned to find their place and a sense of home. The story comes full circle bringing closure to the past and freedom to embark on the future.

The first book in the Goswell Quartet, I look forward to continuing on with the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to listen to an advance audio copy of this story narrated by Gemma Dawson and Elizabeth Cottle. They really did a fantastic job bringing these characters to life.

I really wanted to love this story. It was just okay. I enjoyed it well enough but I found myself slightly board with both stories.
The narration was good

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed both narrators , they were easy to listen to and kept me engaged in the story.
The story itself was a wonderful telling of two women spanning generations who come to live in a small town , leaving behind the only places they knew and loved. One a young new bride the other a strong corporate wife and mother. The story alternates between these two women’s weaving a story of how they both learn to overcome difficult and trying times in this home they both shared living in. It’s a story of heartache, finding oneself and learning what is really important in life. The author does a wonderful job of bringing you into their lives.

I voluntarily received a free copy from NetGalley and all opinions are my own.

I would read more books by this author and I would recommend this book to others.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for accepting my request to read and review The Wife's Promise.

Published: 01/26/23

This was okay: it's not bad and it's not good; it's an airport book. Your hands are full, you're tired, and on your way home -- someone says, I wish I had brought a book. You hand it over. The story is not memorable. If you finish an airport book great. I wasn't a frequent flyer, however, I left a book in virtually every airport. I finish and left it on a seat before I boarded. Can't do that nowadays, I'm not even sure you can give a book to a stranger in an airport anymore, but you get the point.

I'm going to recognize the title in a month and will have to read my review, the story is that simple.

Now, there are a couple good things -- it has dual time lines, that were not confusing at all. Well done Kate Hewitt, There is no profanity. Hewitt wrote using her talents and skill. The familial dynamics are not over the top. The parents disagree, the kids are kids -- no smart mouths. Good examples of what to work for, respectful.

Also, I would have been pleased for my mid-teen to read this as their transitioning into adult books.

Wow, what an amazing book. I was moved to tears on multiple occasions. I listened to the audio version of this book.

This is a story about two women that span two different time periods. One is an American woman (Jane) who is moving from NYC to be near her husbands family in rural NW England during present day. She struggles with moving continents, giving up her busy full time job, displacing her family, and finding her own personal happiness. Her story is one many current women can relate to in the busy world we live in. The second woman's story (Alice"s) starts shortly before and into the Second World War - she too is displaced to NW England but this time willingly in marriage, and experiences similar struggles of adjusting to a place she knows nothing about. Both have their own strengths and weaknesses and hardships and victories.

I found myself initially drawn towards Jane as I too am American and have spent some time living in NW England near where the story takes place. As the story developed, however, I found Alice's story more captivating and emotionally invested. It's always with Alice's stories that I would shed a tear while listening or become anxious to hear the next chapter for. The character development of both women is excellent throughout the entire story.

The narrator did an excellent job throughout the book with Jane's chapters in an American accent and Alice's in a British accent. With various other accents from Jane's husband and Mother-in-Law as well. It as not difficult to keep the characters straight at all.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction, any woman who has ever had to move far from family and friends and start anew, or anyone who would just like a good story of perseverance. Fairly quick read.
#TheWifesPromise #NetGalley

Overall, I enjoyed this book, but it took me a bit to get into it. In the beginning I found the narration stilted and somewhat annoying. That seemed to get better as the book progressed so I chalked it up to my just needed to get used to it. For me, the modern timeline seemed almost ancillary to the historical fiction timeline. Unfortunately it felt like there was more attention/development in that modern timeline. I felt the beginning of the book was almost too descriptive and may have contributed to it feeling slow, but then the last part of the book felt rushed and not fully formed. The pacing was just never really in that Goldilocks zone. I didn’t love or hate this book so I have given it 3 stars.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing an audiobook for me to review.

Set in two different times, Two different women face very similar challenges in the same setting, a vicarage in a small English countryside town.
I loved listening to the narrator of this story and really liked the characters. The writing is crisp and easy and I would highly recommend readers enjoy The Wife's Promise as an audio book.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this audio ARC in exchange for my review.

I really wanted to like this book. I’ve read other books by Kate Hewitt that I’ve enjoyed, but this one wasn’t as spectacular. I’m just not sure finding a simple grocery list would lead someone to search up the history of Alice and all that. Maybe if it had something more eventful on the paper rather than potatoes and such it would have been more believable.

This book was so good! Sometimes when chapters flip flop between two different timelines, it can be confusing but that wasn't the case with this book. I found myself looking forward to what would happen in each storyline and they come together so beautifully. I'm a bit confused about the title. . .It seems that there was the same book published as "The Vicar's Wife" by a different author? Maybe this is a reprint?

Audio pub date: 26 Jan 2023
Previous name: The Vicar’s Wife

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Wife’s Promise by Kate Hewitt follows the lives of two women living in the same vicarage … some eighty years apart in time.

Present day, Jane and her husband have uprooted their family from fast-paced New York City to small and quiet Goswell. 1939, Alice has just married the love of her life and has to adjust as a vicar’s wife in this tiny town of Goswell. Their dual timelines are parallel with two women who are forced into a life they never expected for themselves and into a home that doesn’t feel like home.

I felt like Jane’s story took the front, but Alice’s had me begging for more chapters.

I had a lot of different feelings about Jane as I came to understand her as a businessperson, mother, wife, and woman. Jane isn’t perfect. She definitely has her selfish moments. She agreed to move for her husband, but mentally she’s kicking and screaming the whole time. Her lack of acceptance begins to cause issues with her family, marriage, and mental well-being.

Alice was similar, yet different. She didn’t realize what she was getting into when she married the vicar. She was very young and wasn’t what the town wanted out of a vicar’s wife. This leads her to feeling isolated from even her own staff.

I would recommend this for somebody who loves historical, women, and family fiction. I wouldn’t classify it as romance tbh, but it’s listed as such. The narrator was fantastic for this book, even using minor accents that didn’t seem fake and ridiculous.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the complementary audio!

I really enjoyed this story. I've always been mindful of the legacy I'll leave and how people will remember me (thank you, Nicole Nordman). So to see a story that explores how one person is remembered by those whose lives she touched (and those yet to meet her) was special.

I enjoyed the dual timeline and learning about both Alice and David in the past, as well as Jane and her family in the present. I do wish that we understood a little better why Jane had such a hard time giving her new home a chance. With all the soul-searching she did in trying to understand why she was so unhappy, it seems like we never actually got to the root of the issue. But it was satisfying to see her take interest in others and the impact that had on her new home, and her self-awareness was certainly to be commended.

Overall, I found it to be a very satisfying book. Thank you to Kate Hewitt, Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

This is actually a truly interesting book. I love that it is about 2 different couples even though they are years apart. It's nice to think about those who came before us. I'm so happy with the book. It's seriously amazing how many people can be affected all by one person or family. It definitely helps so that you don't feel so alone. It reminded me that there are always others who feel down or like they don't fit into a set situation. I highly recommend this book if you like books about relationships, world War 2, modern families, and just mother struggles.