Book Review: “Promise Broken” by K’Wan

Promise Broken by K'wan
Published March 15th 2022
Theme/Genre: New Adult/Adult, Urban Fiction, Coming of Age, Crime Fiction

I chose this book initially because it’s set in my local area. I wanted to read something that connected with the local community, and may mention places that I know. I find this always adds a unique personal connection to the story, and I was happy to find it the case here. Knowing the places and the energy of the area aided in my enjoyment. Being able to picture the way folks gather and interact in our communities of this area really brought the story to life for me! Fully glad to support local stories.

This is a very different read from my normal genre fare, but I really enjoyed it! It’s a wonderful blend of “slice of life” vibes of living in these urban areas, with a taste of crime fiction mixed with New Adult/YA drama. I think the characters are all pretty compelling, and I was wrapped up in their heart-breaking emotional turmoil. The writing did have slightly stilted cadence every now and again, but the overall voice fit the narrative, demographic, and characters and leant itself well to the local NJ elements.

I was fully invested in the well-being of our MC, Promise, and sucked into her downward spiral of questionable life choices due to her social circle and home life. My heart was aching each time her wickedly vicious Aunt Dell and awful evil cousin dealt out their dastardly abuse. I wanted so very badly to reach through the pages and hug her, and tell her that she was worthy of love and deserved more! This poor girl is just looking to find her place in life, and be everything she dreams of, but everyone and everything is standing in her way. The characters, setting, and motivations were all so realistic it was almost hard to read at times, but also what made it so compelling to continue on. Ugh! It's just too much, y'all!, but I suppose that is the point of this story in the end.

I’m interested enough to read more of this series, and I look forward also to seeing how the writing style and voice develops along with the characters and their stories! I’ll definitely keep reading more as I found it compelling to watch these characters grow and evolve, and, with any luck, have an opportunity to heal and work through this trauma.

A word of caution for those who may have some personal trauma, this book does contain drug use, gun and gang violence, child abuse and domestic abuse, and a rape/assault of one of its teenage characters. There are also some pretty frank descriptions of sexual behavior which doesn’t remotely bother me so much on a page as it does in movies, but may be a bit much for some younger audiences. It is listed as adult fiction, but reads a lot like a YA/New Adult, and due to this heavy subject matter, I’d recommend this for much older teens and adults.

I received an ARC of this from NetGalley for review.