Historical fiction and family issues before, during and after WWII. Once I started this book all I wanted to do was read.

When the story begins all three friends are still in school and living with their families in Munich, Germany. All three friends share details about their family. These friends promise each other that whatever happens they will always stay together. Then life and the war happens.

This book tells the story of Jews and the choices they had to make. It also tells us about the hard decisions that Germans had to make during the war - their life was not easy as hate spread in Germany. Can these three friends remain the great people that they were before the war? What does teaching hate do to families? What happens when you bury the past and do not deal with it? Read the book to find out!

A well told tale of resilience, friendship, and the human spirit. The writing is straightforward, impactful,and rich in historical detail.
Many thanks to The Book Whisperer and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

The plotline of this was sweeping and intriguing but the particular writing style just wasn't for me. I have read a fair amount of historical fiction and found the setup to be interesting but lack of explanation behind certain character actions was also hard to get over. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

This was a good-enough read, but I struggled with two aspects of it: 1) the quality of the writing (lyrical it isn't) and 2) the lack of character development. I honestly had trouble keeping the characters straight (personality-wise, not name-wise) in the first part of the book, because there just wasn't much there. I really like the World War II focus and it was very well-researched. Just, overall, I felt like it wasn't quite there.

This story discusses a time in history that I don't often get to read about. The characters were very well written and I felt just like part of their little group throughout the book.

In this strong historical fiction novel, Martin takes readers to interwar Germany and into the lives of Hannah, Adam, and Elisabeth, who all have their own struggles. Elisabeth and her little brother Friedrich live in an abusive household where their father and older brother are incredibly controlling, and their sister-in-law Olga is cruel, unhappy, and manipulative. Adam and Hannah are both Jewish; Hannah and her husband Otto escape to France, while Adam travels on the unfortunate St. Louis and ends up in England. Separated by war, circumstance, and tragedy, readers follow the three friends throughout the war as they all try to make it through and reunite. Martin’s characters, all telling the story from their perspectives, are complex and engaging, with unique relationships with others and themselves. The heart of the story, the unique difficulties all three protagonists face add to the depth of the narrative and the strength of their characters throughout the novel. Location is also critical to the three protagonists and their personal journeys through the novel; Adam ends up in England and the United States, where he faces his own demons, while Hannah and Otto, in France, seem to escape the war until it is too late.

guise of three young friends: Adam, Elisabeth, and Hannah. Only Elisabeth is not Jewish. They all live through trying times and lose much, some to a corrupt and evil ideology, and some to corrupt and evil people. They gain much, also, in their never ending loyalty to one another, even when they were far apart. Hannah is eventually taken to and dies in a concentration camp, but not before she hands off her daughter to people who can save her. Adam finds himself on the ill-fated St Louis but manages to land on his feet, sort of, before making it to the United States. Elisabeth stays in Munich after finding herself a young widow after losing her husband on the Russian front, where she also lost two brothers. It is a story of the damage done to young people brought up within the system, as well as the atrocities committed that we are all aware of. It was a touching story with three interesting characters who lived fairly normal lives in such extraordinary times. It was an excellent read, touching on the sorrows but not repeating detail beyond what was necessary.

I was invited to read The Promise by BookWhisperer. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #BookWhisperer #AmeliaMartin #APromise

With the rise of the Nazi party, friends Elisabeth, Adam, and Hannah must find a way to survive. I wasn’t a huge fan of this book. It was filled with short choppy sentences that did nothing to move the story along. The characters were very lacking, everyone just seemed to blend together. I also thought the passage of time was odd. The book just did not work for me.

I truly enjoyed the book, A Promise. The close friendships between the individuals are apparent throughout the book.

It is going to be difficult to review this book because the subject matter is presented in quite a forthright way for a very emotional story. Three German friends make a promise to always stand by each other.
WWI has ended, and Germany continues to be in turmoil.
Elizabeth, Hannah, and Adam are best friends in school. Elizabeth has an abusive father who just wants to marry her off. There is a subplot that felt unnecessary, that kept Elizabeth from marrying the boy she loved.
Hannah and Adam are Jewish, so we know where their story is headed.
The book begins in the 30's, goes through the war years, characters seemingly escape to France, but end up at Auschwitz and Dachau. Another character escapes to England and eventually is able to go to America.
Meanwhile, we see what life is like for Germans, with bombings and more.
I am not giving character names as I don't want to spoil the book.
I will say there is a lovely wrap up which had me in tears.
This is a relatively accurate rendering of history as seen through the eyes of many characters. Covering so many years and so many characters makes following the story a little difficult. Still, I believe it is important to continue reading these WWII books, because people seem to be forgetting history.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the EARC. This is my honest review.

Courtesy of The Book Whisperer and Netgalley, I received the ARC of A Promise, the debut historical novel by Amelia Martin. Beginning in Munich as Hitler comes to power in the 1930's, three teenage friends promise to always be there for each other, however destiny provides different paths. This story is emotional, and compelling while following the accuracy of historical events. Highly recommended for readers of Holocaust fiction..

A Perilous Journey to Freedom
A Promise by Amilia Martin is a historical fiction book set in WW2. The three main characters are Hannah, Adam, and Elisabeth. The book tells the story of the three friends Elisabeth, Adam, and Hannah who are teenagers, and are around 17 years old when the war breaks out. The novel takes you through each character's life, experience, and story as they survive Nazi Germany. Elisabeth, Adam, and Hannah sought comfort in each other as they grow up during these turbulent times.
I was pleased to see a wide range of characters and I found myself engrossed in the story as there were dark undercurrents that flow through the lives of these three friends. Each one must endure their own journey and there are a lot of heart-breaking moments that Elisabeth, Adam, and Hannah experience throughout the novel. Amidst the heartache, there is a lot of love and happiness as well.
If you like historical fiction books based in Germany, then you will enjoy this book by Amelia Martin. Amelia did a wonderful job in describing the characters as you follow their perilous journey to freedom. Thanks to NetGalley and to the publishers of this book for giving me a free advance copy of the book to preview and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I have a hard time placing this book. It was well written, no obvious misses. But I just lacked a character connection with any of the main characters. And that is a big thing to me when reading. I like to get lost in the story, in the characters, but I couldn’t in this one. So this is probably just a reader thing and not an issue with the author or story.

I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

Firstly I love this book because it isn't long and drawn out, then because it is an historical fiction and finally, it is a great story.

With wonderful characters and a story that gets you right in the heart this is emotional, heart-breaking and absorbing. I loved following the story of the three friends—Elisabeth, Adam, and Hannah through their lives, their ups and downs and through the tumultuous times of the war.

This is a book that will grab you from page one and won't take you long at all to get to the final page. But trust me, there will be tears. Friendship, hardships, war, survival and courage make up all the parts of this story and what a wonderful story it is.

Thank you NetGalley and Book Whisperer for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

I was happy to have the privilege of early access through the NetGalley app.
"A Promise," authored by Amelia Martin, is the irresistible historical fiction novel that had me hooked from the beginning. The life stories of Hannah, Adam, and Elisabeth become enmeshed in the violent, chaotic post-WWI era, and their adventure through Hitler’s ascendancy keeps me biting my nails throughout!

Amelia Martin’s novel adeptly delves into the depths of World War II and the Nazi party, featuring an array of personalities with different thoughts and beliefs. A couple of conversations felt forced and didactic, but for the most part, it made a nice change from your typical historical fiction.

What I would not have expected at all is that by the end of this novel, the final chapters had become so emotional that I could not help but burst into tears considering all those fates and events taking place there. "A Promise" is a touching book and highly recommended read as it shows us a fresh outlook on how people have shown their courage and strength in times of trouble throughout history.

This story tells the lives of three friends during the time of World War II and Nazi Germany. This period in time is my favorite to learn about and this book brings to life the hardships and pain that people endured during those years. I highly recommend this book as it is filled with both happiness and pain, survival and growth. Our lives are not always easy but we learn and the Lord is always with us. Thank you for writing this book!

First, thank you to NetGalley and Book Whisperer Publisher for allowing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is very moving. I love Elisabeth, Hannah, Adam, Dieter, and all the characters (minus Hartwig and Olga of course). They lived in my heart and I wish all the good things in the world for them while reading this book. As a non-native English speaker, I found this book easy to understand. Every moment in this book can be imagined clearly in my head, the terror and all that. I hope things so awful like this will never happen again.

I love this book so much and I would recommend it if you like to read stories about WWII.

It would be stereotyping to say all Germans were bad pre- and during WWII. This historical novel gives great clarity to this factor and that many suffered severely under Hitler's Reich' evil rule. This unfolds in the lives of Elizabeth, Adam and Hannah as they each get their turns to 'speak'. It is from them a promise is given.

This is no book for sissies as I found a whole range of emotions course through me, from horror and digust to tender moments. I feel Amelia Martin has captured a most realistic portrayal to those times and the far-reaching ripple effects of Hitler and his Nazis' hate.

I really appreciated how Martin inserted philosphical reasonings, opinions and conclusions via her characters in such clever ways. The thoughts and feelings of her characters' reactions to the 'poisoned brainwashings' of the peoples and even regarding God and His care or indifference to the plight of millions.

This is definitely not a 'happily-ever-after' saga, so brace yourself.

A 5-Star rating from me.

~Eunice C., Reviewer/Blogger~

January 2024

Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion based on the complimentary review copy sent to me by NetGalley and the publisher.

I am a little conflicted with A Promise: A Sweeping Story of Friendship in WWII by Amelia Martin. The story itself is fast-paced, poignant, and intriguing- it follows 3 young Germans as the Nazis come to power in Germany. Two are Jewish, and one has a father who, not only is violent, but idolizes Hitler. They make a promise to always be together, never forget each other, and find each other no matter what happens. The story spans the lead up to WWII and ends in the 1960/70s. Elisabeth, Adam, and Hannah experience the full devastation and horror that the Nazis, and war, brought to the citizens of Germany, and the world. Their stories give the reader glimpses into wartime Munich, Paris, London, and post-war Chicago and beyond. It was really interesting to read about the experience of a non-Jewish, non-National Socialist German during the war alongside the two, very different, Jewish stories. It is an experience I have rarely read about. So, the story was very interesting and I wanted to love this book so much because of it. But…

The writing is where A Promise went south for me. Told in the third person, skipping ahead and back in time inconsistently, and using short, simple sentences all made it hard for me to actually enjoy the book. Maybe it’s because I’m an English Lit. teacher, but I could not get past the basic, basic structure of the novel. At first, I thought it was a translated novel so I could excuse the writing as too simple. But I don’t believe it is a work in translation. So, then I considered that the author wanted to keep the pace fast and, maybe, confusing- sort of like what Elisabeth, Adam, and Hannah might be feeling- but, I don’t think that was the intent. The writing just did not work for me. Yes, you don’t want overly ‘flowery’ writing, but a reader needs something more than subject-verb- object construction!

If it wasn’t for the story- and how quickly I was reading- I would have DNF’d A Promise. Which, I guess means Martin did something right in creating characters and a plot I cared about. In the end, I was crying with sadness and joy at the way Elisabeth, Adam, and Hannah’s stories ended up, and how they indeed kept their promise. But there is little to be joyful about in terms of the writing. This appears to be Amelia Martin’s debut novel, and I read an advanced copy, one hopes that some editing will take place. In the end, I am not sure how to rate the book. I am giving it a 3.5/5 on the random rating scale- LOVED the story, strongly disliked the writing. I recommend, but with reservation. Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

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

A promise is a addictive story about friendship and love during a time when hatred ruled Germany.

The characters were wonderfully written, and the scenarios were believable. The only thing that bothered me was that it read blocky. I can't think of another word to describe it. Like each paragraph, we're its own little block that did not flow smoothly into the next paragraph. It didn't take away from the story. It was just a little bizarre