The Promise

There are several tings that, for me, this author does really well: tell stories set in NYC, where the City is more than just a setting, portray Jewish characters front and center, with all their cultural diversity, and tell love stories about adults who, even though past their 30s, are still trying to figure out how navigate romantic relationships. [b:The Promise 52187084 The Promise (Lost in New York, #2) Felice Stevens https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1583590842l/52187084.SY75.jpg 77127558] delivers on those fronts and I liked it but I couldn't love it. Why? I spent a good portion of the book wanting to smack Monroe “Roe” Friedman, one of MC, upside the head.Ezra and Roe were high school sweethearts who got separated when Ezra's parents moved their family from NYC to California. Plans to keep in contact and eventually have their own HEA are sabotaged, they lose touch for 23 years until Ezra moves back to NYC and tries to reconnect with Roe. I LOVED Ezra. So hard. I liked his resilience, his dedication to his friends and clients (he's an agent), his willingness to put himself out there even though he's up to the brim with fears & self-doubt. He persists. He's a good person. Monroe? Maybe not so much. Monroe is the therapist who leads the support group Lost in New York where Presley & Nate, from [b:Fool for Love 50992941 Fool for Love (Lost in New York #1) Felice Stevens https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1580785181l/50992941.SY75.jpg 75519104], met. He's a psychologist counseling people on grief and loss and yet he's totally myopic when it comes to his own relationships. I know that this is a THING and why doctors & attorneys shouldn't care for their own or themselves but IMO Roe takes it a step too far. He's perpetually judging, second guessing, and undermining anything Ezra says. Unwilling to see the other side. The “woe is me” song and dance goes on a bit too long and it just made me wonder if Ezra was just hanging on to an adolescent dream. Eventually he sort-of-kind-of came around but his “poor me” stretch just gave me a chance to remember that I didn't quite like him in the first book where he flirted with Presley who was going to his support group for grief counseling. Uh ... NO. On the plus side the rest of the characters, the setting, and Ezra are great. There are appearances and mentions of characters from other series by the author but it's not necessary to have read them to enjoy this one.