Yesterday's Promise, Delia Lath

Romance/Contemporary
A whirlwind romance amidst the natural splendor of Yosemite National Park. A spur-of-the-moment wedding. A young bride who awakens the morning after to find her new husband gone with the mountain wind.

Songbird Hannah Johns supports the child born of that ill-fated union by singing in a dinner lounge. Her dream of someday owning the elite establishment and turning it into a venue more suited to her Christian values is shattered when an unexpected transaction places it in the hands of Brock Ellis, the handsome biker who abandoned her in their honeymoon suite.

Ensuing sparks fly high, revealing buried secrets and forgotten pasts. Seeking to find peace with her painful past, Hannah returns to Yosemite, only to have Brock show up hard on her heels. Back where it all began, she finds herself in danger of losing her heart yet again to the man who shattered it the first time around.


A whirlwind romance amidst the natural splendor of Yosemite National Park. A spur-of-the-moment wedding. A young bride who awakens the morning after to find her new husband gone with the mountain wind.

Songbird Hannah Johns supports the child born of that ill-fated union by singing in a dinner lounge. Her dream of someday owning the elite establishment and turning it into a venue more suited to her Christian values is shattered when an unexpected transaction places it in the hands of Brock Ellis, the handsome biker who abandoned her in their honeymoon suite.

Ensuing sparks fly high, revealing buried secrets and forgotten pasts. Seeking to find peace with her painful past, Hannah returns to Yosemite, only to have Brock show up hard on her heels. Back where it all began, she finds herself in danger of losing her heart yet again to the man who shattered it the first time around.


Excerpt:
“Is this all the thanks I get for saving you from the lowlife?” he demanded. “Accusations of, uh… ‘seizurely’ behavior?”
Hannah breathed an exaggerated sigh and shook her head. “‘Fraid so.”
“What’s a guy gotta do to get a little respect?” He slid off the boulder with a grin. “Come on, I’ll help you down, you little ingrate.”
Laughing, she placed her hands on his shoulders. He gripped her waist and swung her off the boulder, setting her on her feet in front of him.
Whoa! Way too close for comfort. Breathless, she found herself tangled helplessly in his warm gaze. Then he stepped back and she could breathe again.
“You hungry yet?”
They headed back toward the cabin and Hannah nodded. “Starving.”
“Let’s go get some lunch. What’re our choices?”
“We have several, actually. I’ve got brochures at the cabin.”
“OK.” He grinned, suddenly looking like a little boy planning a raid on the cookie jar. “I’ve had you all morning. Give me a few more hours, and the lowlife will have missed out on the whole day.”
“Brock!” Hannah laughed but swung around to face him, walking backward. “This is Davey’s father you’re talking about.”
He stopped dead still, and his gray eyes took on an icy glitter. Hannah gasped, shocked and a bit frightened as strong fingers gripped both of her arms in a steel grasp.
“Any man can father a child.” His lips whitened, and she shrank from his sudden hot anger. “That’s the easy part. Davey’s a great kid, but you’ve done that all by yourself—no thanks to the scum who fathered him.” His eyes were icy steel. “I’m giving you fair warning, Hannah. I will do everything in my power to keep you away from him. He took something fine and…” His voice broke, and he cleared his throat.
Awed, Hannah watched the ice in his gray eyes melt, softening his entire visage. He ran a finger down her cheek in a feather touch that sent an electric current through her entire body. “Something pure, and treated it like a cheap toy he could play with and toss away.”
Hannah was unable to think of a single appropriate response. It didn’t matter, though, because Brock hadn’t finished. His lips twisted in disdain, and he lifted his chin determinedly.
“He won’t get you back that easily!”


Reviews:Long and Short Reviews
"BEST BOOK" rating!
This is a book I’ll be recommending to everyone I know.
…Yesterday’s Promise is a reunion love story, my favorite kind. Lovely readable style that captures you within the first few pages. I must comment on the flashback sequences. Most authors love to include these kinds of scenes and more often than not, they are unnecessary and slow down the flow of the story. The flashback scenes in this book were done with such poignancy and beauty that I couldn’t imagine the story without them. Very well done.

This is the kind of book to curl up with and continue reading all afternoon. I absolutely loved it. The characters, the writing—all beautifully done. Such an emotional tale tenderly told. Tell your friends, tell your family. They will want to read this book.
Reviewed by Orange Blossom
Read the rest of Orange Blossom's review

The Romance Studio
5-Heart Rating!
Ms. Delia Latham has, once again, fascinated me with her writing ability. I read this book previously—this updated version is fabulous. I love the way Latham takes her characters and develops them into multi-faceted people that capture the readers’ attention. The manner in which she presents her main couple is amazing. Her imagination and her storytelling skills are truly touched by God.
The plot of this book was so unbelievable that it actually could have happened. I found it impossible to put the book down. Her secondary cast of characters were no less expanded. This book, once again, has proven that Latham has the ability to write a top-seller and create interest without compromising her principles. She was able to tell this story without explicit sexual content but still maintain reality.
I highly recommend this book to everyone. If you’ve never read Delia Latham’s work, this would be an excellent place to start. You will definitely not be disappointed.
Reviewed by Brenda Talley

Why Delia Wrote this Book:
I was in the middle of writing Goldeneyes, a historical romance that eventually released through Vintage Reflections Publishing. I had come up against a major writer’s block, and I simply could not find a way around, over, through, or under it. I had prayed, cried, begged, and pleaded, and still could not make the story happen.

One day, as I surfed the internet in search of inspiration I had failed to find anywhere else, I came across an advertisement for National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo), an annual writing event that challenges participants to produce a 50,000-word novel in during the thirty days of November, or that many words toward a longer novel. I was intrigued. Maybe this was what I needed to finish my book! Then I discovered writers are discouraged from bringing in a previously started work. Instead, the Nanowrimo powers-that-be preferred participants work on a fresh storyline.

Well. So much for Goldeneyes. Still, maybe a break was in order.

I came across that advertisement just days prior to the November 1 launch of that year’s Nanowrimo event. So on November 1, 2005, I laid aside my work-in-progress, pulled up a blank document in my Word program, and started writing—just me, that scary, blank white screen, and God. I had no plan, no outline, no idea whatsoever what I would write about, only that the story would be set in the Yosemite area.

God came to the rescue, and thirty days later, I had the barebones skeleton of what would become Yesterday’s Promise. (It originally printed under the title Almost Like a Song. That’s a long story I won’t go into. I reclaimed my rights to the work two years later, and eventually sent it to White Rose Publishing, where it found a home under the new title and with a beautiful new cover.)

When I returned to Goldeneyes, God provided the release and inspiration, and the rest of the book flowed easily. Goldeneyes released in March 2008.

I’ve always felt that God had a message of faith and trust for somebody, somewhere, and he used Yesterday’s Promise to deliver it. It amazes me that my Father cares that much about each and every one of His children!
Purchase link:
White Rose Publishing
Amazon


Author Bio:
DELIA LATHAM is a Christian wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend. While she considers each of these roles important ones, she treasures most of all her role as a child of the King and an heir to the throne.

A former newspaper staff writer, Delia promised herself a novel for years, while raising her four children, working at various jobs and writing the occasional article, poem, or song. She fulfilled that promise when Vintage Reflections Publishing released Goldeneyes in 2008. A Christian historical romance with a touch of the divine, Goldeneyes is set in the farm country of the author’s childhood, and therefore close to her heart. In 2010, White Rose Publishing released Yesterday’s Promise in electronic format. A children’s book, Adam’s Wings, will be available in December 2010.

Delia grew up in Weedpatch, a tiny agricultural community near Bakersfield, in California’s San Joaquin Valley. She and her husband Johnny recently transplanted from that area to Okmulgee County, Oklahoma.

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