Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Promises of the Heart: A Novel
    Promises of the Heart: A Novel
    Promises of the Heart: A Novel
    Audiobook9 hours

    Promises of the Heart: A Novel

    Written by Nan Rossiter

    Narrated by Erin Bennett

    4.5/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    The first novel in a new series from bestselling author Nan Rossiter tells the moving story of a couple struggling to start a family and the young foster girl with a heart condition who changes their lives forever.

    “A multi-leveled, beautifully written story that will glow in readers’ hearts long after the last page is turned.”—Kristan Higgins, New York Times bestselling author

    Can the course that they’ve set for the future handle a slight detour...?

    Macey and Ben Samuelson have much to be thankful for: great friends, a beautiful—if high-maintenance—Victorian house on idyllic Tybee Island, and a rock-solid marriage. The only thing missing is what they want the most. After her fifth miscarriage in six years, Macey worries that the family they’ve always dreamed of might be out of reach. Her sister suggests adoption, but Macey and Ben aren’t interested in pursuing that path...until a three-legged Golden Retriever named Keeper wags his way into their home and their hearts.

    Harper Wheaton just got kicked out of another foster home and it won’t be the last if she keeps losing her temper. She’s not sure why she gets mad; maybe because no family seems to want a nine-year-old girl with a heart condition. She loves her social worker, Cora, but knows that staying with her forever isn’t an option. Will she ever find a family to call her own?

    As a physician’s assistant, Macey meets lots of kids. Harper Wheaton’s a tough one, but Macey knows the little girl has already struggled more than most. It gets Macey and Ben to thinking about all the children who need homes. Then Harper goes missing, and one thing is suddenly crystal clear: life is complicated—but love doesn’t have to be.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateFeb 4, 2020
    ISBN9780062984753
    Author

    Nan Rossiter

    Nan Rossiter is the award-winning and bestselling author of seven novels, including The Gin & Chowder Club. Nan lives in Connecticut with her husband, Bruce, and a noble black Lab named Finn. They are the parents of two handsome sons who have decided to grow up and strike out on life journeys of their own. When she’s not working, Nan enjoys hiking or curling up with a good book.

    More audiobooks from Nan Rossiter

    Related to Promises of the Heart

    Titles in the series (3)

    View More
    View More

    Related audiobooks

    Contemporary Women's For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Top 10 Books

      Jun 16, 2023

      Top 10 Books
      1 min read

    • Article

      Salt On The WIND

      Apr 1, 2020

      Salt On The WIND
      6 min read

    • Article

      By the RIVER’S EDGE

      Mar 22, 2023

      By the RIVER’S EDGE
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Writing On THE WALL

      Apr 6, 2021

      The Writing On THE WALL
      6 min read

    • Article

      Wise old Mrs Merrow

      Jul 27, 2020

      Littlesea was everything the description said: a white stone cottage with beams and higgledy-piggledy walls and steps away from a tiny quay in a private bay. It would have been the perfect spot for honeymooners had it not had just the one single bed

      8 min read

    • Article

      Black Water Sister

      Aug 2, 2021

      The drawing must have been bundled up with other, less interesting papers, or Jess wouldn’t have thrown it away. Mom had kept every piece of art Jess had ever made, her childhood scrawls treated with as much reverence as the pieces from her first – a

      5 min read

    • Article

      Mrs. Robinson

      Dec 10, 2022

      “Do you think she will like me?” The question slipped from between my lips and hung suspended in the air. My gloved hands were in my lap, and I was wringing them. As the carriage conveyed us and we neared my new husband’s ancestral home, Ashby Hall,

      20 min read

    • Article

      Nothing to Declare

      Jun 15, 2019

      All the senior partners were having a laugh about a movie they’d seen. Forty-Five Years. Something, something about the movie taking forty-five years to sit through. The woman McGuinness thought he recognized was in it with them at the far end of the

      24 min read

    • Article

      The winds OF CHANGE

      Jan 19, 2022

      The winds OF CHANGE
      11 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reading Guide

      Jan 2, 2022

      Summer Reading Guide
      6 min read

    • Article

      Drawn to THE MOORS

      Feb 8, 2022

      Drawn to THE MOORS
      11 min read

    • Article

      Snow Angel Mittens

      Nov 1, 2021

      THE WINTER OF 1933. Some remember that time as the depths of the Great Depression. But I remember it for something else. Life, as we knew it, had ground to a halt in our small town in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon. When the bank failed,

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Last Friend on Earth

      May 4, 2023

      It was as if Doreen Saunders had been waiting for me, passing the time until my arrival. She might as well have been sitting in a rocking chair, knitting needles clicking, jam tarts cooling on the side, the door wide open, waiting for the next visito

      6 min read

    • Article

      Follow Your HEART

      Mar 30, 2022

      Follow Your HEART
      9 min read

    • Article

      Last Christmas

      Oct 6, 2022

      Last Christmas
      6 min read

    • Article

      Everything But The Kitchen Sink

      Oct 10, 2021

      When Mary Little walks into her kitchen on Tuesday morning, the sink is under the window. At first she can’t even find it. She looks at the space where the sink is supposed to be, at the end of the island, and the sink is gone. Her son, Ben, sits the

      18 min read

    • Article

      Scenes From A Marriage

      Mar 23, 2022

      Scenes From A Marriage
      6 min read

    • Article

      Nectarivores

      Sep 5, 2023

      Nectarivores
      15 min read

    • Article

      Scenes From A Marriage

      Mar 23, 2022

      Scenes From A Marriage
      6 min read

    • Article

      Cornwall CALLING

      May 4, 2022

      Cornwall CALLING
      9 min read

    • Article

      Home Alone

      Aug 16, 2022

      Home Alone
      9 min read

    • Article

      A Gentle STIRRING

      Mar 13, 2024

      A Gentle STIRRING
      6 min read

    • Article

      Building A Dream

      Dec 14, 2022

      Building A Dream
      4 min read

    • Article

      Riding The Rapids

      Apr 4, 2021

      Riding The Rapids
      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Promises of the Heart

    4.5/5

    27 ratings8 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      This is a beautifully written, emotional novel about love and acceptance...love within a marriage, within a family, love shared with a foster child. The characters were well written and felt like people that I know in real life. The story will touch your heart and stay in your thoughts long after the last page.Macey and Ben live in a restored Victorian house on Tybee Island. They are deeply in love but after six years of marriage and five miscarriages, they are beginning to doubt that they'll ever have the family that they've dreamed of. They don't want to adopt but begin to change their minds when they decide to foster Harper, a nine year old girl with a heart condition and an attitude that has gotten her kicked out of numerous foster homes. Can they change their hopes of having a baby and learn to accept Harper and make her part of their family?My favorite character was Harper -- she was a feisty young girl who knew how to stand up for herself. She wants to be part of a family but isn't able to control her temper and keeps getting sent back. It was fantastic to see her blossom once she became part of a family.I'm thrilled to know that there is a book two in this series so we can learn more about these wonderful characters and hopefully see more of Harper as she finally has the life that she's always dreamed of.Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
    • 4/5
      Macy and Ben are childhood sweethearts and long for a child. After their hearts are broken multiple times, they cross paths with a young girl who needs them. This is a story requiring a Kleenex box at the ready. I was NOT prepared. I shy away from sad books for the most part but this one was worth it. Thank you to Harper Collins and Library Thing Early Reviewers for the chance to read this book and give my unbiased opinion of it.
    • 5/5
      Macey and Ben Samuelson have a good life. There is only one thing missing: a baby. Macey, a nurse, has had several miscarriages, both upsetting and disappointing. Ben is very supportive of Macey, and it is obvious this pair deeply love each other. After her last miscarriage, Macey falls into a funk. While out with her sister, they come upon as animal shelter “fair” where dogs are on display, hoping someone will adopt them. Macey is taken in by a three-legged dog, Keeper, but hesitates to move into the adoption phase. A couple days later, she and Ben go the shelter, to adopt Keeper. Once a part of the family, Keeper becomes an endearing and integral part of the family. Macey’s spirits improve, but she still misses not having a baby. Macey is a nurse for a pediatric doctor and encounters young patients all the time. One such patient, Harper, a child without parents who is part of the foster care system, stands out. Before they know it, they have agreed to foster Harper, who has a heart condition that requires complete monitoring and, potentially, a heart transplant. Once again, Harper, like Keeper, fits right into the family and moves into a place right in the couple’s hearts, and is soon adopted by the couple. As time passes, Harper’s heart condition worsens, and the couple, along with Harper, her doctor and the social worker who placed Harper, have to make some serious choices about Harper’s heart.This is a tear-jerker book, so, when you read it, be sure to have plenty of tissues available. The story is definitely an emotion filled, heartwarming, captivating one. The author does a fantastic job of bringing out the characters and all their traits as the story progresses. The importance of family, connections, love, and acceptance also come right out in the story. I loved the way the author was able to accomplish all this and still manage to keep me interested in what was going to happen in this family next. In addition to the story of the Samuelsons, the author has also included and developed a story about a dedicated and loving social worker, who, I hope will also figure in later books in the series. This is a great book for dog lovers, for Keeper truly is one special dog who can manage a myriad of wonderful things, just like Harper. It is also a good story about one young girl, Harper, who magically brings out the very best in everyone she meets and who manages to keep going despite all the bad things that happen to her. If I could give it more than five start, I would. I received this from Library Thing to read and review.
    • 4/5
      The story of a loving youn couple longing for a child merges with the heat-rending story of nine year old Harper Wheaton, who has lived in multiple foster homes, bouncing around, perhaps because of her anger issues. Another strike against her is her very weak heart, likely due to undiagnosed rheumatic fever in her younger years. Macey Samuelson and her husband Ben have dealt with the incomparable sadness of multiple miscarriages but are not at all interested in adoption. Harper's only positive relationship is with her caseworker Cora Grant. Harper wishes Cora would allow her to live with her and her three children. In fact Cora's daughter Rudy is Harper's best friend. But Cora knows that is not the best solution for Harper.Macey's sister Maeve has an annoying habit of suggesting adoption as a solution to Macey and Ben's unfulfilled longing for a child. Macey is clearly NOT interested, but when she and Maeve see a pet adoption fair set up where they are shopping together, Macey is captivated by a sweet older Golden Retriever with only three legs. Maybe adding the dog, Keeper, to their family will reintroduce joy into their home.Nan Rossiter has definitely woven a perspective of faith and dependence on God into this novel. Macey's faith is inspired by her long departed grandmother's life of service in her community. Cora is a woman of prayer and shares her faith naturally in conversation with her children and Harper too. She has plenty of suggestions for God but knows one must wait on God's timing. She is quick to point out to Harper that her sassiness and angry responses are not helping her make friends, much less make her life go more smoothly.But when Harper decides everyone's life will be better if she strikes out on her own, not only Cora but the whole community bands together to find the little girl.
    • 4/5
      I forgot I won this book back in October through Early Reviewers — what I nice surprise to get a finished copy the other day! Promises of the Heart was a touching novel; I giggled some, I cried a (large) handful of times. Macey and Ben, a married couple unable to start a family, have their lives change considerably after rescuing an extraordinary dog. Once Harper, a precocious little girl from the foster system came into the picture, I couldn't put the book down! 4 stars.
    • 5/5
      Just got it, excited to read it. How can you go wrong with anything that features a golden retriever?
    • 5/5
      A book that I was immersed in very quickly, one that I had to page turn to the end, and then wanted more.Loved this couple, they show the love they feel for each other in all their actions, and everyone would want a relationship like theirs.The one heart desire for both of them is a child, and so far, it has been denied, but God works in mysterious ways, and we get to see how, and it will bring tears to your eyes!What she wants is what she gets? Well, you need to read this one to see how a three-legged dog, a cat and a broken little girl fit into this picture, and add in a huge older home in need of repair.I can’t wait for the next book in this series!I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher HarperCollins, and was not required to give a positive review.
    • 4/5
      The Short of It:This story is full of heart. It’s a story about acceptance, new beginnings and continuing to have faith in what you cannot see.The Rest of It:Macey and Ben appear to have it all but the one thing they miss the most is a family to call their own. After several miscarriages, Macey is beginning to wonder if they will ever have a child of their own. Ben, although supportive, has his doubts too. Especially when Macey sets her sights on a three-legged dog at an adoption event, and then meets Harper, a little girl in foster care who is in need of a new home.I’ve read everything Nan Rossiter has written and enjoyed all if it. She has a way of pulling you in with likable characters, beachy settings, her extreme love of animals and food and drink! Promises of the Heart is a little different in that it tackles a topic she hasn’t written about before, the foster care system, but she does so through a hopeful approach while bringing the topic into focus.I enjoy books like this because it forces you to go a little outside of your comfort zone. There are so many children in foster care and many couples who are not able to have children of their own but deciding to foster is not an easy decision and Rossiter presents this doubt in an honest, realistic way.If you are familiar with her other books, The Gin and Chowder Club or Nantucket, you will notice a difference in tone with Promises of the Heart but the things that remain are still solid and true; wholesome relationships, steadfast faith, and relatable characters.For more reviews, visit my blog: Book Chatter.