Books & Spoons Review: A SOLDIER'S PROMISE by Karen Templeton

WHEN A PROMISE BECOMES A TEMPTATION… 

Look after his best friend's widow and kids. It was a promise Levi Talbot was determined to keep. But returning to Whispering Pines, New Mexico, where he was once known as the local troublemaker, wasn't easy for the former soldier. Especially when gorgeous Valerie Lopez really wants nothing to do with him…and Levi can't get her out of his head! 

Val knows she needs Levi's help—her house is in chaos and she's juggling two young kids with a fledgling business. So she lets him take over the repairs—but there's no way she's letting Levi make himself at home! Since her husband's death, Val has kept her heart locked away…but what if the handsome veteran next door is the key to her future?

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Instead of a romance, this story was more of a journey of several people, a journey towards happiness and joy, and love, from all the devastation life has offered them in the past.
Levi has been a lot of trouble in his younger years, always ready for mischief and adventure, trying the limits, gaining of a reputation of being trouble. But he was a kind, caring, loyal man, who took his responsibilities seriously, and had a heart to help others around him.
Val has faced so much in her life, her father abandoned her at a young age, her mother wasn't an easy person to be around with, and had a reputation in town, she lived up to, and she lost her husband, Tommy, in the war. Now back in her hometown, she is trying to find happiness again, trying to accept that Tommy isn't coming home, learn to accept the troubled childhood, while remodeling a house, working as a waitress and a baker, and being a mother to her two children.
While working on the house for Val, Levi is making a connection with Val and her daughters. As they get to know each other, learn to trust each other, they open up, share painful memories, heal together from the past, and find love, devotion, and affection with each other, that turn into a passion and desire to build a life together, support each other through the rest of the journey, and to be a team as they face the future they have planned for themselves. 
The story is touching and tender. There's so much Levi, and especially Val, has to work, face, and deal with. I love how Levi was with the kids, his kind soul was obvious during those encounters. 
Even though the story moved on a little slow at times, it is a poignant tale, that will touch your heart. 
~ Four Spoons

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