Narrated by Nick J. Russo
Nicky James takes a break from romantic suspense to write a complex and emotional contemporary romance. Promises of Forever is a character driven story about two men who formed an unusual friendship in their youth and are now meeting again thirty years later.
Koa Burgard is a traumatized ten-year-old attending camp for the first time when he meets Jersey Reid. Jersey is reluctantly drawn to the odd boy who talks to an imaginary friend and sometimes has “blank fits” where he zones completely out for minutes at a time. No one else at camp wants anything to do with the “weirdo,” and while Jersey is afraid the other campers will harass him, too, if he associates with Koa, he finds he wants to anyway. So he befriends Koa when others aren’t around, playing Huck Finn to Koa’s Tom Sawyer and sneaking out at night to find “hidden treasure” on the camp’s grounds. The two even become pen pals during the rest of the year, which serves as a kind of lifeline for Koa, who is isolated and controlled by his domineering grandfather, with whom he lives. During their last day together when they are aging out of the camp at fourteen, a disastrous decision leads to a complete estrangement between the boys who, when the book opens, haven’t been in touch for three decades.
Jersey returns to his childhood home twenty years after becoming estranged from his parents. He grew up to be the professional hockey player he’d dreamed about and worked for his whole life. He married and had a son and everything was looking good until a freak on-ice accident cut his career short. When Jersey was let go from his contract he became addicted to painkillers which cost him his marriage and son, and eventually his parents as well after he refused to get help. Jersey cut them out of his life, and even after he was clean and had established himself in a new, successful career as a physiotherapist, he stubbornly refused to reconnect. Now a drunk driver has taken away his chance to ever make amends, and Jersey is back to clear out his parent’s home and take care of their estate. While looking through the attic he finds a box full of all the letters he’d received from Koa over those four winters many years ago. Rereading them sparks a deep desire in Jersey to find and reconnect with Koa and apologize to him for how he had simply disappeared from Koa’s life.
Koa grew up under the thumb of his harsh and demanding grandfather, but left as soon as possible to go to college and become a teacher. Now he teaches philosophy and literature at an elite private school not too far from Jersey’s parents’ home. Koa’s childhood trauma, which we get hints of but no details of until the end, have left him with a nihilistic life-view: there is no god, humans have no more importance on earth than the algae, and life is meaningless. But as we learn more about Koa, it’s obvious the dissolution of his friendship with Jersey has had a deep and lasting effect on him. He deals with his past by locking down all emotions and emotional attachments. He doesn’t trust anyone and won’t let anyone into his life in more than a superficial way. Even his fellow teacher and former lover, Niles, finally gave up on him when it became clear Koa was never going to be able to love him back. Fortunately for Koa, Niles was prepared to continue to be his friend. Niles is there when Koa receives a letter from Jersey wanting to meet with him again and notices something he hasn’t previously seen in Koa, a genuine emotional response towards someone. Niles insists Koa accept the invitation and offers to go with him.
Nicky James does an excellent job with the dual timeline, interspersing scenes from the four summers at camp with Jersey’s attempts to reconnect with Koa in the present day. These show not only the differences in the boys, one a fairly typical adolescent and the other dealing with serious trauma, but they also chronicle the development of their unusual but strong bond. In the present day Jersey realizes he still cares for Koa and sets about trying to love the prickly and walled-off man, and while it’s obvious Koa still has an emotional attachment to Jersey, it’s just as obvious he’s fighting it. Koa believes he is both unlovable and unable to love and that he will eventually drive off everyone who tries.
Nick J. Russo narrated the entire Valor and Doyle series by the same author, so I knew from the start the narration was in good hands. Even having experienced Mr. Russo’s great character voices, I was especially impressed here with how well he does the voices of the main characters as children. They sound convincing and age appropriate, and I never once felt like I was listening to an adult imitating a child. Mr. Russo also beautifully conveys the deep emotional content of the story, making me tear up on more than one occasion. My only quibble is that there are a few mispronounced words that temporarily took me out of the story. It would have been nice if those had been caught in post production.
Promises of Forever is a standalone novel about grief, friendship, healing and finding love. It hit a sweet spot for me by being deeply moving and emotional without being overly angsty. The emotional punches are real and at times raw, but serve to illuminate the characters and their growth and feel appropriate for the story. Nick J. Russo’s excellent narration adds depth to the story making this an audiobook I can highly recommend.
Carrie
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