I picked up Perfume & Promises by Ellen Faith having not previously read anything by the author and knowing very little about what the book was going to be about. I have to say right from the start of this review that Ellen has written a beautiful novel in Perfume & Promises. She has gone above and beyond to really spoil her readers with an incredible story and it’s an absolute privilege to be taking part in the blog tour for this book.
In Perfume & Promises, we first meet Chloe at a time when, having had more than enough of the drama that her life has become, has decided to pack up her bags and abandon the house in which she once lived with her parents who are now on the other side of the world. Getting into her car, starting the ignition and speeding out of her driveway she has no idea where she’s going until she meets Billy at a service station in the middle of nowhere. With his charm and good looks that Chloe instantly falls for, it doesn’t take Billy long to persuade Chloe to return with him to the village of Rosehip. Three years on and Chloe is in a relationship with Billy and is the owner of a successful perfume shop, but is everything about to change when her parents unexpectedly show up in the village?
Ellen has created a character in Chloe who it is impossible not to admire as after a difficult time growing up she is determined to put the past behind her and create a successful future for herself. Not many people would be able to show such strength and bravery if faced with even half of what Chloe had to deal with. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Chloe embrace every opportunity to create a new life for herself and go from strength to strength even when she had plenty of reasons to fall apart.
Perfume & Promises was a treasure of a novel that is full of beautiful description that was impossible not to love, I could picture absolutely everything that the author was writing about. The village of Rosehip sounded absolutely delightful, being portrayed as a picturesque place with few residents who are all dedicated to supporting eachother. It could definitely be described as a closeknit community and I have to say that the author has done a superb job at creating a place that I wish was real simply so I could pay it a visit.
At its heart Perfume & Promises is a novel that is about friendship, redemption, trust and never giving up. It was an incredibly emotive story that saw me laughing, crying, screaming at the kindle in frustration and gasping out loud in shock as the truth finally emerged. I don’t want to give too much away but my theory as to how things would turn out between Chloe and Billy couldn’t have been further from the truth.
You know you’re reading a good book when you pick it up with the intention of just reading a few chapters to then look down and see that somehow you’ve read over 50% of the book in one sitting. That’s exactly what happened here, but I have no regrets and have to say that Ellen is definitely an author whose future books I will be looking out for!
