Due to popular demand, veteran author Debbie Macomber returns once more to Promise, the fictional town in the Texas hill country, site of Macomber's celebrated Heart of Texas series. Characters who have become like readers' old friends appear again, along with new faces including Annie Applegate, Gordon Pawling, and Nessa Boyd, who find romance when they least expect it. Love, intrigue, and tragedy are well known to the citizens of small-town Texas, where the past, present, and future collide as they are wont do in all our lives. Perhaps it is here that the secret of Macomber's distinction lies; she elucidates so clearly the extraordinary nature of the most ordinary lives. Readers will hope that Promise, Texas, continues to experience a population explosion, thanks to Macomber's fluent crafting and her understanding of the human heart. --Alison Trinkle