Always love her books. Wonderful story about WW2 and faith.

It ended so abruptly. I was disappointed in that. I felt like there were so many things that could have been wrapped up.

Heart wrenching within each time frame, with a bit of a twist. As the story switches time frames, you can start to piece things together and see the picture, but not all of it. Interesting to try to figure it out. WW2 South France became unsafe for the Jews, and a fight to survive. Placed partly at a maternity home, there's more heartache and joy with the children and trying to save as many as they could from the nearby camp. Two generations away is another part of the story as a girl deals with tragedy in her life and tries to find out about her family while she's at school in Spain. Very interesting, fully captivating. Very hard to put down when you just have to know more of the story. Healing faith is a struggle for each because of what they go through with great loss of dear ones.
I received this book free from the author, publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

#WhatIPromiseYou #NetGalley #LizTolsma #BooksYouCanFeelGoodAbout #BarbourPublishing #ChristianHistoricalFiction #FiveStarHistorical

I appreciated the clean biblical theme weaved throughout the book, but it was so hard to follow the three separate time views.

I really enjoyed this multi-timeline story, one taking place during WWII, one contemporary timeline and one set in 1955. Although the 1955 timeline's chapters are short, they have a profound effect in connecting both of the others.

Although fictional, this story accurately portrays the tragedy of the many lives affected by the transit Camp de Rivesalts near the southwest French border. It focuses on the lives of a specific group, expectant young mothers and children. Although most of the characters are fictional, it is a tribute to the many unsung heroes of WWII. I found Helene's journey of faith compelling. One of learning to trust in one's faith, even amidst the darkest moments of our lives.

In most dual timelines, I am most drawn to the story set in the past, however Caitlyn's story drew me in from the beginning. Her's is one marked by tragedy as well, and her journey to overcoming the past and one of self-discovery is heartwarming.

Ms. Tolsma skillfully transitions between storylines, leaving the reader captivated from the very first page until the last has been read.

I received a complimentary copy from the author/publisher through Netgalley. I was not required to write a review. All opinions expressed are my own.

This was a great concept for a World War 2 novel, it does everything that I expected from a historical novel. The characters felt like they were supposed to for the time-period. I enjoyed the way Liz Tolsma wrote this and left me wanting to read more from the author.

WHAT I PROMISE YOU by LIZ TOLSMA is a poignant story of a Jewish woman’s survival during WW11, and her great granddaughter’s search for the truth.
We follow the story in three timelines,starting in 1942 in Perpignon with the pregnant Noemie Treves and her husband Levi being captured and incarcerated in the Camp de Rivesaltes .With the help of Fraulein Reiter, she escapes to La Maternite de la Paix with two young girls, Beryl and Margot. Noemie, whose name is changed to Helene, feels guilty for making a wrong decision in the past which led to the death of her factory workers and is now going to live her life to help others. She is determined that “never again would she fail to do what she could to protect others.” I like to see how her relationship with the Lord develops and how she holds onto her faith in Him ……
In 2022, Caitlyn Laurent, who feels guilty about the death of her best friend Lindsay in a car accident, goes to Barcelona to train as a missionary nurse, fulfilling the dream they had. She travels to Perpignon and on to Elne with her new friends Elissa and Aiden to find out more about her beloved grandfather’s life with him being born at La Maternite de la Paix in 1942. She is battling to release the pain of her loss and to feel the presence of the Lord…..
The mystery character who is revisiting the old maternity home in 1955 is interesting….
I feel What I Promise You is a must read for those of us who proclaim Jesus as Lord and recognize His Jewishness. It is a truly great read with a strong Christian message and an encouraging story of courage and second chances. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from Barbour Publishing. The opinions in this review are completely my own.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Net Galley. Liz Tolsma's latest novel What I Promise You is the 2nd in a series, but can also be read as a stand alone novel. This captivating story set in three different time periods had me hooked from the beginning. Each woman is dealing with a painful, traumatic memory of something in the past, and each is working through that memory while facing other hardships. These women are interlocked through time and location. I genuinely cared about the past, present, and future stories of each woman. I wanted to know why Helene felt so guilty for her life prior to the Nazi invasion, wanted to see her present circumstances unfold in the way she hoped, and wished for a glorious ending to her story. Young Caitlyn held the trauma of a tragic accident in 2022. She wants to be who she thought she would, but does she even know who she is. Her story is one of finding her identity, and realizing where that identity comes from. Eleanor did the hardest thing a woman could do while saving many Jewish women and children. Her story is more just whispers of the past that haunts her, but I still wanted to know more of who she was and what she was seeking. This was an excellent fictional look at life in WWII in Vichy, France.

This story was so moving for me. The author does a great job of portraying the grief and atrocities that took place during WWII without going into graphic detail.



The novel added a new dimension that I haven't read before with three different timelines. This added a new layer to the story and kept me guessing until the end.



There were so many characters that I enjoyed in the story: Caitlyn, Aiden, Salome, Aime, Helene and so many more.



Thanks so much to netgalley and Barbour Publishing for the arc. The opinions are my own.

What I Promise You by Liz Tolsma is a touching dual timeline story. A young American woman, who is struggling to work past her own trauma, solves a mystery surrounding her grandfather's birth in WW2 France.
The second book in the series, this stand alone tale also has a genealogical element and WW2 history, with the author's careful research evident. Unsung heroes put their lives on the line to save vulnerable women and children, with an impact on future generations. It is an inspiring story, sad in parts, but overall one of hope and faith. Deep questions of faith are threaded in as the characters deal with personal traumas. Nothing graphic, though some war violence and the Holocaust is mentioned.
The mystery is slowly unraveled by the end, with clues dropped along the way. There is an unidentified perspective interspersed between the modern day and 1942 time periods, which adds a mysterious mood to the narrative.
Overall, it was an interesting read, with real history and a hint of romance. Recommend for teens and up who enjoy Christian fiction. 4 stars

This is my first book of Liz's and I was not disappointed by it! I have read many WWII historical fiction novels, and this stood up to the best of them. It was a unique storyline that I had personally not read anything similar to, so it was easy to hold my interest.

What I Promise You is a beautifully written historical novel. Great plot and character development. I received an advance ebook from the publisher and Netgalley. This is my unbiased review.

Liz Tolsma is one of my favorite World War II era novelists. She writes with a depth of understanding that makes it clear to her readers where she is going in the plot lines of her book. In What I Promise You, she writes a triple time-line book that bounces from World War II, post war, and modern times.

The first timeline starts when Noemi and her husband, Levi, are arrested in southern France and taken to an internment camp. While there Noemi is spirited away to a maternity hospital with two children whose parents have been transferred to another camp.

At the maternity hospital, Noemi is charged with making new papers for all the mothers and children, including herself. When they get the word that the Germans are coming to clear out the hospital, Noemi and Aime, the owner of the land where the hospital sits, load up the women and children and move them to safe places. Noemi and Aime are given the charge of taking an infant to safety and caring for him.

The second timeline takes place in modern times and includes Caitlyn trying to find out what her grandfather's history is. She knows he was born in the maternity hospital, but not much else. His memory is slipping and he doesn't remember as much as Caitlyn would like. While studying abroad in Spain, she goes to France several times to research her great-grandmother and her role in the maternity hospital. Another student who is studying abroad at the same location, Aiden, becomes intrigued by Caitlyn's search.

The third timeline takes place thirteen years later and includes a mystery character who is truly integral to the narrative. At times clues are dropped as to who this character is, but then something else happens that changes the reader's mind about who the character truly is. When all is revealed, it is surprising to see this character reenter the story after she was reported to be dead--executed in one of the death camps.

The way Liz has woven this novel together really makes it an interesting read for fans of World War II fiction. There is just enough truth in the novel to be historically accurate and to be instructive for the reader. This is a five star book with two thumbs up and an illuminating trip to France.

Barbour Publishing provided the copy I read for this review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

What I Promise You was a page turner! I was quickly drawn in to the beautiful story of extreme strength, loss and love in France during WW2.
I really loved the perspective of Noemie/Helene and her part of the story but I definitely wasn’t as interested in Caitlyn’s POV or her part of the book but I did appreciate how both narratives came together at the end for a very satisfying end. A powerful read!
Thank you NetGalley and Barbour Publishing for my free copy What I Promise You

What I Promise You is another beautifully written novel from Liz Tolsma. I loved every single page. I would give it one hundred starts if I could.

In WWII women had to hide, change their names, etc. This is a heartbreaking story of a young pregnant girl who was doing her best to help others. Caitlyn goes back to France to learn about her grandfather only to find many questions. Very heartbreaking.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

5 stars, Triple Timelines

Echoes of the Past Series #2
WHAT I PROMISE YOU
By Liz Tolsma

The triple timelines are 1942, 1955, and the present.

In World War 2, Noemie and her husband Levi are captured because they are Jewish. Noeme is pregnant, her husband promises to never leave her, and she promises to never leave their baby. There are unimaginable horrors of life in the concentration camps. Noemie is smuggled to a nearby maternity house in France and struggles there to hide her identity and keep their baby safe.

Echoes of the Past Series:
1. What I Would Tell You by Liz Tolsma
2. What I Promise You by Liz Tolsma

Highly recommend.

I received a complimentary copy of #WhatIPromiseYou from #BarbourFiction #BarbourPublishing #NetGalley I was not obligated to post a review.

#historicalfiction #ChristianFiction #InspyFic #WWII #Jews #EchoesOfThePastSeries #UnconditionalLove #Pregnancy #Genealogy #Family #Mystery

This was a difficult read. The author does a good job of putting you into the saga of WWII. Fear, uncertainty, loss, denial and more will tug at your heartstrings.
We are once again seeing the hatred of the Jewish people. My heart aches for them; even more so because most do not believe in Jesus as their Messiah.
But current times also include loss. It is only by relying on God for strength that we can get through.

I had a bit of a hard time getting into this book because starts in Vichy France during World War II and deals with Nazi treatment of Jewish women and children, and a maternity hospital set up nearby to protect them. There is a lot of loss, grief, pain and hopelessness happening, which is hard to read about. Thankfully Tolsma does a great job of weaving together three story strands – one set in 1942, one in 1955 and one in the present day – in which the characters gradually learn to hope, lean on the Lord, and deal with their grief and loss in various ways. If you can handle reading about the atrocities of the Nazis, the book is well worth reading.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own." #WhatIPromiseYou #NetGalley

What I Promise You by Liz Tolsma goes into World War II France and the Concentration camps. It is bad enough with all the horrors that men, women, and children had to suffer while being tortured in those camps, but can you imagine being pregnant at the same time. No energy. Cravings. Sickness. Trying to eat enough good food to keep your baby alive. Those are hard enough for mothers in the modern age. Let alone be in a concentration camp where they are trying to kill you. Tolsma does a wonderful job at creating a storyline that tugs at the heart of the reader and makes them empathize with Noemie. Every World War II story that I have read does show a new level of the disgust and hatred of the German Nazi’s. At least, in Tolsma story, there was not a lot of cringe-worthy moments. A safe, yet unique story. The plot features a modern young lady who through she wanted her life to go way, but through the help of another character, she realizes maybe that is not where God wants her to go with her life. A touch of romance. A surprise yet fulfilling ending to the story. Overall, What I Promise You by Liz Tolsma showed another element of World War II that I was not familiar with, but at times, the story does move quite slowly for my taste.

I received a complimentary copy of What I Promise You by Liz Tolsma from Barbour Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

This is a book that explores three timelines simultaneously...

1942, 1955, and 2023

We get to live the life of Noeme who is a Jew living in southern France during Vichy rule in France. We immediately see her taken prisoner with her husband and sent to a prison camp. She's pregnant and worries about what will happen to her unborn baby. Promising she will NEVER leave Levi. And he asks her to PROMISE him to take care of their baby no matter what.

What follows in the book is what happens next regarding those promises as Noeme escapes to a maternity house nearby...

1955 we are in first person narrative. An unknown person who is visiting the maternity home 13 years later. We are given hints of what will happen in Noeme's story through the things mentioned here. Mentions of horror and happiness. Of pain and of joy. Discussions and foreboding of the imminent pain.

2023 back to third person with Caitlyn Laurent. Caitlyn is a nurse suffering from PTSD after a car accident she was in which killed her best friend. To get away from it all and live out the dream she and her friend had, she decides to go to France to become a missionary nurse to Africa. While there she also hopes to pop into the maternity home her grandfather Pops recalls being born in and living at for a short time. But things happen in France to change Caitlyn's life forever in ways she never imagined...

The author does a great job in weaving these three perspectives together. Each of them adds a little bit more to the story and then finally like an onion everything peels back to the heart in the last four chapters. The mysterious person in 1955 is revealed. The connection to 2023 Caitlyn is revealed. And Noeme's story concludes.

I think that the story was well done. It touches on the the horrors of the prison camps from the view of pregnant women or women with infants. I think there were many excellent quotes about faith--Especially for Caitlyn who holds herself responsible for something she had no control over.

4 Stars

*I was given a complimentary copy of an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review and alllll these opinions are totally me.