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Ruby never would have dreamed of finding reconciliation in Forgiveness
The Promise of Forgiveness
Women's fiction
NAL
March 1, 2016
Kindle, paperback
352
When it comes to family, Ruby Baxter hasn’t had much luck. The important men in her early life abandoned her, and any time a decent boyfriend came along, she ran away. But now Ruby is thirty-one and convinced she is failing her teenage daughter. Mia is the one good thing in her life, and Ruby hopes a move to Kansas will fix what’s broken between them.
But the road to redemption takes a detour. Hank McArthur, the biological father Ruby never knew existed, would like her to claim her inheritance: a dusty oil ranch just outside of Unforgiven, Oklahoma.
As far as first impressions go, the gruff, emotionally distant rancher isn’t what Ruby has hoped for in a father. Yet Hank seems to have a gift for rehabilitating abused horses—and for reaching Mia. And if Ruby wants to entertain the possibility of a relationship with Joe Dawson, the ranch foreman, she must find a way to open her heart to the very first man who left her behind.
All the Feels…
I love stories of love and reconciliation. They give me hope and encouragement to face difficult and trying times in my life. Marin Thomas brings one such story, of single mom Ruby Baxter, to life in her book
The Promise of Forgiveness.
Growing up, Ruby was very close to her truck driving father until the summer she was 12, when he became cold and distant. She became rebellious after this and got pregnant as a teenager. Determined to raise her daughter, she finished school with the help of her parents and went to work. She was getting by until tragedy struck with the death of her parents. This led her to go through a string of boyfriends, getting rid of them before she could get hurt emotionally. Now, she sees her teenage daughter, Mia, following in her footsteps and decides to start a new life for them by moving from Pineville, Mo (which is only 10 miles from where I live) to western Kansas. Before she can leave, she is hit with a bombshell… she is adopted and her birth father wants to leave her an inheritance. This detour to Forgiveness, Oklahoma will change everything.
I liked Marin’s main characters. They are real, with faults and shortcomings, yet good inside. It really speaks to the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” As the story progresses, Ruby must deal with the rocky relationship with her daughter, the uncertain relationship with her birth father, Hank McArthur, and the unexpected relationship with the ranch hand, Joe Dawson, on her journey to happiness. I like how Marin peels away the layers of life’s hurts, like peeling an onion, 
to get to the heart of each person.
I was intrigued by the subplots and how they wove together but was disappointed by what felt like an abrupt, predictable ending. Life’s loose ends don’t usually tie themselves up all at the same time. Even knowing this I would still read The Promise of Forgiveness. It is an enjoyable, heartwarming book.
Tanya’s love for books has been a lifelong passion that she likes sharing with others. Reading is also the thing that relaxes her after a day of juggling the many responsibilities that come with being being wife to an amazing man, mother to four great kids spread around the world, business manager, and farm hand on their place in southwest Missouri; home to Akaushi cattle and a menagerie of pygmy goats, horses, chickens, dogs and cats.
