Christine Lynxwiler, Promise Me Always

Promise Me Always

Christine Lynxwiler

Barbour, December 2006, $12.99

ISBN: 1597893552

In Shady Grove, Arkansas, thirty-five year old widow Allie Richards loses her job as an office manager at Cobler's Plant Nursery when the local firm was sold to a larger company. She knows she must be sensible as she must feed her daughters, twelve year old Miranda and ten year old Kate. However, the most relevant known social order in the small town, the Pinky Promise Sisterhood, of which she is one of four members, along with her friends Lark, Victoria and Rachel, insist she take a risk.

She agrees to go for a Hail Mary dream of running her own landscaping business. The bank rejects her for a loan, so she knows her only chance is to win a landscaping competition, with her crew being her younger brother who would rather do his trimming on line, and the Pinkies who never cut anything but a cuticle. With local TV watching the event, but divided about her, as the snotty reporter tries to humiliate her, while his cameraman goes out of his way to make her look good, Shady Grove is rooting for the widowed mother of two.

The Pinkies add humor, pathos, and plenty of support to a fine character cozy, starring a woman with a dream battling a reality of feeding her preadolescents. Though some readers will doubt Allie has the experience to perform the full landscaping work, no one will doubt her sincerity and effort. The other Pinkies are quite the support group, as they encourage her and amateurishly assist her as money exchange is a Sisterhood taboo. Fans will appreciate a fine follow your dream drama.