The Promises She Keeps by Erin Healy

The Promises She Keeps. Erin Healy. Thomas Nelson, Inc. February 2011. 344 pp. ISBN #: 9781595547514. $14.99

Promise is a dying woman with a vivid dream, to become such a great singer that her name will achieve immortality. Porta Cerreto is a witch who seeks the One who will bring immortality to all. She has traveled across America, stopping in each place to present art in various galleries and telling customers that certain pictures speak truth to the viewer that will have everlasting resonance. Is she for real or is she just a quack scheming with peoples' lives in a way that brings as much destruction and death as it does life?

Chase is an extraordinary, talented artist whose gifts are more often ignored because his autism repels rather than connects those with whom he attempts to interact. His paintings are based on the identity of the one being drawn - in a rather abstract yet natural manner - and the Biblical inspiration he is inspired to incorporate into his "white on black" drawings. Chelsea, Chase's twin sister, has sacrificed much to support Chase and Wes, Chase's helper, is inching her forward to realize a new world awaits her attention and hold.

Porta's son, Zach, is a drug addict and scorner of all that is beautiful thanks to his mother's machinations which he perceives to be pure evil.

Promise's experiences with regaining health and surviving death begin to unite every character in this tautly plotted story, leading to a climax that is devastating in literal and figurative implications for all involved.

Erin Healy's latest novel is a page-flipping foray into what we so often glibly label "good" and "evil," an examination of the consequences of so-called "love," and a journey through the layers of magic and dreams that will leave the reader thrilled, questioning, and celebrating what is!

Delightful, Erin Healy!

Never Let You Go: A Novel by Erin Healy

Never Let You Go: A Novel by Erin Healy. Thomas Nelson Publication. May 2010. ISBN #: 1-59554750-7

There is no pain as severe as that of losing a sibling at a young age. Nothing is the same ever again. Seven years ago, Lexi Solomon lost her sister in a violent act. She is left with another daughter, Molly, who gives her a reason to live, and she's now threatened by her husband who initially deserted her. He's a tyrant for sure and Lexi is afraid of him at first but then clings to something much bigger than fear, which she is going to need for sure in the future.

Lexi's sister's murderer is up for parole, one it seems has a definite possibility of obtaining it. Add to that that Lexi is being threatened by a drug dealer for a debt payment she can't possibly make. The story snakes back and forth from the past to the present, and the survival mode that Lexi had begun to become accustomed to at first is slipping but then becomes stronger and stronger as the riveting plot's pace increases!

She and her daughter will come close to losing life because there is a potent evil conspiring to destroy them. Another so-called criminal will be present in a way that is totally unpredictable and almost incredible. When all is said and done, the characters and readers will be questioning the power that makes one reverse one's judgments to call out and offer understanding where least anticipated and open to understanding how to deal with the true evil that arises from unexplainable causes. To advise forgiveness and release of bitterness is easy; to do it requires supernatural help!

This is supposedly a Christian novel, but its predominant and obvious presence is so balanced and understated that it makes it multiple times more powerful and acceptable than preaching or platitudes usually found in this genre of fiction.

Very nicely done, Erin Healy!!!