A Promise to Protect by Liz Johnson is a story about a who woman is attacked and stalked by an unknown assailant. Ashley Sawyer runs a shelter for abused women and she is devoted to what she does. When someone attacks her, her brother's friend Matt, takes it upon himself to protect her and try to find out who is after her. In the process he starts to fall for her but thinks that her brother will not find him good enough for Ashley so he keeps his growing feelings to himself. He made a promise to protect so he tries to put these feelings on the back burner. Ashley on the other hand is resistant at first to accept Matt's help but she also starts to have feelings for him. This story is filled with suspense as the person/s after her continue to torment her. The main characters are very likable and the story line is one that could happen to any woman. Liz Johnson's story's are sweet without being sappy and still keep the element of suspense. I enjoyed it thoroughly. ( )

I've read two of Liz Johnson's other novels before, and I have to say that each new one I read is so much better than the last. Given how good the first one was this last one was excellent. The story was exciting and emotional. Trying to protect women in a shelter has to be a difficult enough job, but add in the fact that one of the women was saved from something much darker than an abusive partner and it makes the job of protecting these women and their children that much more difficult - and dangerous. Even with the help of Matt protecting these women may be more than Ashley can handle.

Ashley was a good character. She wasn't just strong for herself she was strong for the many many women she's been entrusted to protect. Ashley runs a women's shelter and gives so much of herself to these women that once the story really started going I kept thinking "how much more can she give." But Ashley never even thinks twice about doing what's needed to protect the women in the shelter. Matt was also a pretty good character. He was the strength Ashley needed to keep herself going and keep her shelter safe. Even when things get a little out of hand Matt seems to always have a plan. He was the cool, calm, and collected type.

The writing was really good. Even when I realized just how dark the evil Ashley was trying to protect the women from really was I didn't feel like the story was dark. Liz Johnson has a way of writing that keeps things from getting too dark and depressing. Not that the story was happy and sunshine, but the story never really jumps too deep into the horrid crimes that are being committed So even though you're aware of what is going on, it's not the kind of story that pulls you into that same dark place. I think it's a great feat to be able to write about something so horrible without having to go too dark with the writing and still be able to convey the seriousness of what is going on. It made this a great book to read. It was exciting enough that I didn't want to put it down, but it wasn't depressing to where I had to put it down to get my head out of where the book was going. It was a bery perfect balance.

Overall it was a great read. It had great characters, a good romance, and an awesome story. ( )