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The Promise of Love (Fast Track #4.5)

by Lori Foster (Goodreads Author), Erin McCarthy (Goodreads Author), Sylvia Day (Goodreads Author), Jamie Denton, Kate Douglas (Goodreads Author), Kathy Love

3.55 of 5 stars 3.55 · rating details · 263 ratings · 28 reviews

Edited by New York Times bestselling author Lori Foster-a deeply moving anthology of all-new stories!

These six stories by beloved and bestselling authors are a bounty of riches for those who enjoy reading about love and the potential it has to change our lives. As with previous collections in this series, the authors are donating proceeds to charity.

Features all-new nov...more

Paperback, 320 pages

Published June 7th 2011 by Berkley Trade (first published April 23rd 2011)

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Aug 30, 2011 Dinjolina added it

Shelves: angst, stress-inducer, slut-alert, brain-dead-heroine

I got this book because of Take Me Home from Erin McCarthy.
I can not believe this author could really think I could for one moment care what happens to Sara after who she was and what she did in the previous books.
And guess what?
She was not lovable then and she is not lovable now!
She just got a very nice man after ruining the life of an other man.
Oh goody!
Well...burn bitch buuuurn!
Ehm.
I hate her so much! *sniff* She is the worst character ever!

So,...now the spoiler-ish part of my hate:
(view spoi ...more I got this book because of Take Me Home from Erin McCarthy.
I can not believe this author could really think I could for one moment care what happens to Sara after who she was and what she did in the previous books.
And guess what?
She was not lovable then and she is not lovable now!
She just got a very nice man after ruining the life of an other man.
Oh goody!
Well...burn bitch buuuurn!
Ehm.
I hate her so much! *sniff* She is the worst character ever!

So,...now the spoiler-ish part of my hate:
(view spoiler)[Th story opens with Sara telling Evan that he may not be the father of her baby. She is fearing he will go berserk about that because she was so insistent that he was the only man her stupid un-protected womb met with. He does not. But I did.
She was going around town having unprotected sex with random man?
Welcome to fantasy land where from that you only bust up the life of an other character by your pregnancy and not get an STD. Good for you!
Ugh.
So she goes back to her home town and gets in to a love dance with a childhood friend of hers.
The friend, Travis, was nice.
I hated the fact that she ended up with a floozy like Sara.
Altho she goes on and on trough the book about how she is a slut and Travis tells her she is not.
She is. Not because of her very stupid actions but because of her mental state! She slept with and unknown bartender! And then the next day with somebody else! And told that somebody it was only him because he had money! God! If you are not a floozy then I just...sheeesh.

There was a sentence in there that just floored me.
“So do you have feelings for this Evan guy? If the baby’s his do you think you two might work something out?”

Holding on to his shoulders, Sara shook her head. “No. He just reunited with an old girlfriend and they up and married.”

Which Sara should be more upset about, honestly, but here, back home, it didn’t seem to matter so much.

Eh,eh? What? She should be upset because he found love? Why? What right does she have! She jumped him bareback while he was stone drunk and hardly knew her name! Eeeesh!

The stress this story gave me!

So, in the end, we have no idea who the father is, but we know that Travis will marry her and be a father to the child. A very happy ending for me would be if Evan was not the father. Not only because I hate Sara so much I detest the idea of Evans genes mixed with hers, but because I do not see Travis as a person that could share his kid with an other man. He is loving but...well not only that. I do not want him to share. He is in love with Sara and she is kind of giving him so many scraps along the way that it think now he should get it all.
(hide spoiler)]
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Jun 12, 2011 Melindeeloo rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read Promise of Love for a palate cleansing change of pace from my normal paranormal fare. So there's no vampires, 'weres', or magic other than the most powerful of all magics, the magic of love. I really enjoyed these shorts, which were for the most part, great little tastes of just how sweet love can be.

Shelter From the Storm - Lori Foster - I am only half way through with the six shorts in the books but this one, the first in the anthology, is my favorite so far. The romance here was incred...more I read Promise of Love for a palate cleansing change of pace from my normal paranormal fare. So there's no vampires, 'weres', or magic other than the most powerful of all magics, the magic of love. I really enjoyed these shorts, which were for the most part, great little tastes of just how sweet love can be.

Shelter From the Storm - Lori Foster - I am only half way through with the six shorts in the books but this one, the first in the anthology, is my favorite so far. The romance here was incredibly sweet, and gentle with two people who have been important parts of each others' lives finally taking the next step to become so much more.

Take Me Home - Erin McCarthy - After making a total mess of her life, she runs back home to the one man she can alway count on, giving him the opportunity for him to pursue what he has always wanted - her. I do like the friends finally discovering their true feeling theme of the story, but I had a hard time getting past the situation of her pregnancy, if she really had feelings for him - she was kind of a mess esteemwise. So the happily ever after didn't feel so ever after to me.

Razor's Edge - Sylvia Day - This story takes things to a whole other level of steaminess, which is not surprising since a companion novella is coming out under the 'Heat' banner in the fall. But the intensity works just as well for this one (as the sweetness did in Foster's) when the hero with a dangerous life gets a chance with his friend's widow, I woman he has always secretly loved.

Midnight Rendezvous - Jamie Denton - doesn't follow the friends to lovers theme, but a man whose addiction has nearly ruined his career, finds his muse in a scarred woman who now lives in solitude. It was hard to imagine a happy ending for these two different lives, but I liked theirs.

Dime Store Cowboy - Kate Douglas – This one was a big surprise to me coming from Douglas, whose writing is generally way more erotic than my normal fare – in fact I had to check her website to make sure that is was the same Kate Douglas. I just loved the hero in this one, who apparently was a side character from and earlier cowboy romance. He's left his big city life, to try and find the man he's left behind at some point in his life, and I loved the delight that he finds in starting his new life in Colorado, along with love.

Life in the Past Lane - Kathy Love - Another really sweet ending, for a man who dreads returning to the town he fled as a child and discovers that looking through adult eyes, everything that he'd always wanted might just be there for him now.
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Nov 11, 2011 Cindy rated it 3 of 5 stars

1st story by Lori Foster - Roy and Sabrina lived next door to each other when they were kids. He from good parents and her left with a drug addicted, abusive father. When she was 15 and Roy 19 her father sold her to a drug dealer for a fix. Roy and his family witnessed Sabrina being dragged out of her house in the middle of a raging thunderstorm by the dealer and intervened. After this Roy's family got custody of Sabrina and he was in love with her but she was to fragile at that time. At 25 she...more 1st story by Lori Foster - Roy and Sabrina lived next door to each other when they were kids. He from good parents and her left with a drug addicted, abusive father. When she was 15 and Roy 19 her father sold her to a drug dealer for a fix. Roy and his family witnessed Sabrina being dragged out of her house in the middle of a raging thunderstorm by the dealer and intervened. After this Roy's family got custody of Sabrina and he was in love with her but she was to fragile at that time. At 25 she still has emotional breakdowns when there is a thunderstorm and runs over to Roy's place and he holds her until the storm passes. Sabrina works in social services with kids with no home and Roy is a vet that also runs a shelter for animals. Roy decides it time to tell Sabrina his feelings. This was a very sweet love story.
2nd story by Erin McCarthy - This is a very short story that basically tells us about Sara Parker, the woman that had a one night stand with Evan Monroe and got pregnant in the book The Chase. We find out that she lived in foster homes her whole life and never thought she was good enough even for her best friend Travis who she left behind when she ran. It starts off with her being honest with Evan and saying she doesnt know who the father is and not liking what she had become and decides to go home - back to Travis to find herself. Travis has been in love with Sara since they were kids. They both were in the foster care system. He doesnt take sex lightly where as she went the opposite way. But Travis makes her see she is worth of love and he wants to marry her and be the father of her baby..
3rd story by Sylvia Day - Jack Killigrew works for the US Marshal Service - more specifically with the Shadow Stalker unit. He is a loner coming from the foster care system and believes his job will keep him from the one thing he wants desperately, Rachel. Rachel is a widowed mother whom Jack was good friends with her husband Steve and he made a promise to look out for her and her son should something ever happen to Steve. Jack has been in love with Rachel from the start but never told anyone. Rachel is a different person since her husband died - she loved her husband and the person she was with him but since he dies she had to become stronger and more independent and knows what she wants and that is Jack. So she sets up a hardcore seduction scene which Jack tries to fight (for her own good of course - men are so stupid sometimes) This story was the main reason I bought this book - Jack and Rachel were in the Men out of Uniform anthology in Brian and Layla story and I just had to read there story after meeting them.
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Jul 18, 2012 Eileen rated it 4 of 5 stars

I picked up this book when I was at RAW last year and met a few of the authors at the event. I thought what better way to get to read some of their works all in one book. Lori Foster and Sylvia Day I had before but not the others. I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed the other authors and I'm interested in reading more from them.
My favorite happened to be Kate Douglas' Dime Store Cowboy. I read the story "Cowboy in my Pocket" before the short story so I got the backstory. I'm happy that Mar...more I picked up this book when I was at RAW last year and met a few of the authors at the event. I thought what better way to get to read some of their works all in one book. Lori Foster and Sylvia Day I had before but not the others. I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed the other authors and I'm interested in reading more from them.
My favorite happened to be Kate Douglas' Dime Store Cowboy. I read the story "Cowboy in my Pocket" before the short story so I got the backstory. I'm happy that Mark got his HEA with Betsy Mae. Being a romance editor has its benefits and I'm glad that he used them for good with her. LOL
Jamie Denton's "Midnight Rendezvous" was another tender story for both Maya Pomeroy and Burnett Dupree. Maya has scars from her reconstructive surgeries and lives a solitude life in the dark. Swimming at night gives her time to exercise but what she didn't know was that she had a peeping Tom of a tenant. Glad to see that they gave each other company both trying to heal. Lovely story.
Sylvia Day's story "Razor's Edge" was definitely the racier one of them all. A lot can happen in 2 short years to anyone when they find that they have to grow and depend on themselves. Rachel knew who she was after becoming a widow and she knew Jack was what she wanted now. Her seduction of Jack was probably more than she expected but she stood up and got him in the end. A wonderful writer.
Lori Foster's "Shelter from the Storm" was wonderfully written. She is probably one of the best romance writers out there. Friends to lovers stories are one of my favorites.
Kathy Love's story "Life in the Past Lane" was delightful. Rocco returned to his hometown for his 15 year HS reunion reluctantly but his boss wanted a story for his NY column. Its funny when you look back with a new perspective what you missed. Meeting Franny, owner of the B&B and reunion organizer, he definitely saw things in a new light.
Erin McCarthy's "Take Me Home" was...hard to put my finger on it. Travis has a big heart and must really love Sara to take her for his own. I don't think I would be all that accepting.
I normally don't read anthologies but I would definitely recommend this for short, sweet stories you can read one right before hitting the hay.(less)

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Jun 16, 2011 Connie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I received this book as a goodreads giveaway. This anthology contains six new contemporary romance novella by six different authors. Since I haven't read any previous works by any of these authors, I really didn't know what to expect. When I received the book in the mail, I fell in love with it just by looking at the cover, which is so sweet and refreshing. The same can be said about the the content of the book as well, although one may also add steamy and racy to couple of the novella. Although...more

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Jun 18, 2011 Ann Lorz rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, anthology

I'm a big fan of anthologies. I enjoy getting a good story, but not have to sit down and read for hours. With an anthology you can read one short story and go about what you need to do. Sometimes you end up like ones more then others but that too, is okay. This time I would have to say I enjoyed all the stories. My favorite was Foster's. I don't think that woman could write something that I didn't like. My least favorite is Denton's. It wasn't that her story was bad, it was just that I didn't li...more

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Dec 29, 2012 ☂ ℬrandi rated it 3 of 5 stars

❤❤❤

I thought all of these stories were adequate but over very quickly. I don't mean they were short, I mean they suddenly concluded. I expect short story anthologies to simply be glimpses but with these stories the ending swiftly followed the climax. Just when it was getting good (or better or whatever) it suddenly ended. It was odd that it seemed to happen in nearly every story and I kept being disappointed and looking for missed pages.

The theme of these stories is that most of the characters...more

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Jul 17, 2011 DianeG rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance-contemporary

I have to say, short stories like this are okay, but often not my favorite. It's hard to really get into a story when there isn't time to truly develop it. Lori Foster's contribution to this was my favorite of the book. Although it was a format used by many romances, it still was entertaining and interesting. I loved the characters and it was a nice start to the book.

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Feb 11, 2013 Valancy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, library, friends-to-lovers, steamy-hot

Shelter from the Storm (Lori Foster) - 4.5 stars, loved it!

Take Me Home (Erin McCarthy - book #4.5 in the Fast Track series) - 3 stars

Razor's Edge (Sylvia Day) - 3.5 stars

Midnight Rendezvous (Jamie Denton) - 3 stars

Dime Store Cowboy (Kate Douglas) - 2.5 stars

Life in the Past Lane (Kathy Love) - 2 stars. This had the potential to be a really great full length novel but as a short story it was a bit unbelievable. Everything happened unrealistically fast.

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Feb 18, 2012 Shea Donahue rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance-2012

I HATE when ppl say this, but: it was too short. It felt like she pulled 4 short scenes from a book and put them here bc they didn't fit in Evan's book. BUT, they were cute and sweet and it was nice to see her get a happy ending...very, very quickly.

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Feb 24, 2013 Ashley E rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelter from the Storm by Lori Foster ★★★★
Take Me Home by Erin McCarthy ★★★★
Razor's Edge by Sylvia Day ★★
Midnight Rendezvous by Jamie Denton ★★★
Dime Store Cowboy by Kate Douglas ★★★
Life in the Past Lane by Kathy Love ★★★★

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Jul 23, 2011 Veronica86 rated it 4 of 5 stars

so the reason i pick this book up was because Lori Foster is one of my favorite authors.
But i was so suprised that my favorite story came from Erin McCarth it was hot HOT!! love it..
so i did some looking around and now i have some a new reading material :)

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Sep 13, 2011 Tamara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Very short stories in this anthology. But, an enjoyable read. Some of the stories a bit on the edge of believability, but, that's why we read romance sometimes.

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Oct 23, 2012 Darcie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-read, rate-3, short-stories

This was a nice collection of short stories. There are several authors in this collection I would like to read more of!

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Jan 03, 2012 Maggie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Fun, great short stories from some of my favorite authors.

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Dec 26, 2011 Lindsay rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: anthology, contemporary-romance

Just read the Erin McCarthy and Sylvia Day stories.

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Feb 24, 2012 Kathy marked it as to-read

look for more erin mccarthy

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Jan 08, 2012 Stace rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance

I read all the stories except for Erin McCarthy's "Take Me Home". Sara's storyline ruined "The Chase" for me (and actually may have ruined the chance of me reading any more of the Fast Track series) so after a few pages of being annoyed with Sara AGAIN, I gave up and moved to the next story. The rest were pretty satisfying. I would have liked Sylvia Day's "Razor's Edge" to have been longer. I may have to take a look at more of her books from that series.

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Feb 08, 2012 Dannielle rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, anthologies, romance

Lori's story in this 6-story anthology was the best.

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May 29, 2011 Christy rated it 5 of 5 stars

I marked as to read.

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Aug 28, 2011 Shellbelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fav-author, fav-series, all-my-books, anthologies, contemporary

Love this anthology. I read it for the Erin McCarthy novella and ended up loving them all...especially the Lori Foster story☺ For a book dealing with such a sad, distressing subject, the overall message was uplifting, and hopeful, and showed how love can heal♥ As cheesey as that may sound I didn't find it cheesey at all while I was reading it!!!

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Aug 01, 2012 Nikita rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-read, anthologies, contemporary-romance

"Shelter from the Storm" by Lori Foster - 3.5 stars

"Take Me Home" by Erin McCarthy - 1 star

"Razor's Edge" by Sylvia Day - 2.5 stars

"Midnight Rendezvous" by Jamie Denton - 2.5 stars

"Dime Store Cowboy" by Kate Douglas - 2 stars

"Life in the Past Lane" by Kathy Love - 1 star

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Feb 03, 2012 Darcy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, anthologies, romance, short-stories

I thought that this collection of stories was sweet. It seemed like every one of them had the common thread of one of the couple having a crush on the other, but don't think they are good enough for the other. It was fun to watch as each couple was able to see that fact and then move past it.

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May 25, 2012 Angel rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: anthologies, contemporary-romance

“Take Me Home,” by Erin McCarthy [Sara & Travis]

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May 15, 2012 Lynne rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: a-to-z-2012-series-challenge, used-in-a-challenge

Just read Foster and McCarthy. I need to read more of the other authors first.

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Apr 26, 2012 Wendy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Take Me Home" by Erin McCarthy
"Razor's Edge" by Sylvia Day

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Feb 28, 2012 farmwifetwo rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: anthologies, lori-foster

Very short, angst free, some believable, some not, romances.

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May 20, 2013 Tara marked it as to-read

May 20, 2013 Sarah Kinnard marked it as to-read

May 19, 2013 Shawna marked it as to-read

Shelves: short-stories-and-essays

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About Lori Foster

Since first publishing in January 1996, Lori Foster has become a Waldenbooks, Borders, USA Today, Publisher’s Weekly and New York Times bestselling author. Lori has published through a variety of houses, including Kensington, St. Martin’s, Harlequin, Silhouette and Samhain. She is currently with Berkley/Jove.

Lori believes it’s important to give back to the community as much as possible, and for th...more

More about Lori Foster...

Books by Lori Foster

When You Dare (Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor, #1)

Savor the Danger (Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor, #3)

The Guy Next Door (Includes: Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor #0.5; Donovan Brothers Brewery #0.5)

Trace of Fever (Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor, #2)

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Quotes from The Promise of Love

“The kiss he gave her was fierce and passionate, relaying so much more than lust and desire. She clung to him, soaking up the flood of emotion from a man known for his reserve and austerity. This was why she could blossom for him, why she felt fearless and audacious. They were so much alike in that way, their still waters running deeper than most.” — 3 people liked it

“But she'd seen beyond his indifferent mask. She'd realized he was hiding his pain - she understood, because she hid her own. Not behind sullen ennui but by trying to stay quiet, unnoticed. Invisible.” — 1 person liked it

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The Promise of Love (Fast Track #4.5)

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