A Promise Given picks up six months after A Promise Kept and focuses on Cooper Thomas. Cooper is still working through the traumatic events that took place in the first story and the sudden reappearance of the man that broke his heart ten years ago. Emotionally fragile, Cooper just wants to put everything behind him but with more young gay men being murdered, even though their primary suspect and the man that tortured Cooper is behind bars, that just isn't possible. Will Alec and Cooper be able to discover who this mad man is and resolve their personal issues, or will this be the end of the road for them, perhaps fatally?

I eagerly looked forward to reading the follow up to A Promise Kept. A Promise Given is a pretty decent mystery but more importantly it's a great story of love and healing. Cooper has lost so much of himself from his kidnapping and sadistic torture that Alec's reappearance is even harder for him to face. He is not at his strongest emotionally and the loss of Alec left a void that has never been filled. The angst and tension that I felt while the two men worked through their issues left me tense and drained at times. I wanted so hard for them to find a path through their pain and to find happiness. As for the murderer plot, it was a bit hard to believe at times, as was Cooper and Alec's actions at times while on the case, but this is fiction, erotic fiction at that, and I for one was very happy for those hot and heated moments. I have my fingers crossed on who the characters might be in a future book in the series and can't wait to see if they get their own story.

Reviewed by: Hayley