A great plot ruined by sub par characters. I really think the main characters needed to be re-written to make this book at all engaging or enjoyable. I finished this book but I did not really enjoy it. ( )

Original review can be found at Tina,The Bookworm

I received a copy in exchange for an honest review, this does not affect my review in any shape or form.

Imagine, you are sixteen on the phone with your parents probably rolling your eyes at whatever they just said and then you hear it. A voice, a chilling voice some arguing, some gunshots and you scream. The voice comes back on the phone threatening you, say a word and you’re dead too. He owns you now and you don’t even know his real name.

You can run, but he’ll always find you. You can change your name, you can move, you can work dead end jobs all you want but he will find you. You’ll always have to look over your shoulder. You think you can have friends, a relationship? Ha! Not gonna happen! His flunkies will make sure of that, and they’ll ALWAYS be around. Everywhere you go they go. You’re on your own, this is a war you are fighting by yourself. But how long must the war go on? That my friends is the story of Layna Blair.

The Warrior
Layna is a strong character. She's been under the watchful eye of Miami for over three years she's never once received help she's dealt with everything by herself. But there was times throughout the story that she gave me whiplash. She was timid one moment then the next she was rude. I understood why her character was portrayed this way because she was use to handling everything by herself and didn't want to drag another person with her into this whole mess. She was a bit naive but when you look at her life from the age of sixteen to the age of nineteen you understand. That didn't stop me from rolling my eyes, or wanting to smack some good sense into her sometimes. Overall, I have read books where the character's behavior and the circumstances don't flow right but in Impossible Promise that was not the case. I felt that Sybil Cartel did an excellent job of writing Layna.

They say if you want to meet a good man go to church.
We meet Blaze while Layna's in church. Everything about him screams MARINE not that the tattoo gave it away or anything. Blaze can tell that Layna's in trouble and can't help but involve himself [think Titanic...you jump I jump remember?]. He has the sudden urge to protect her from whatever it is that has her running, he just doesn't know how bad it is. I really liked Blaze's character and it wasn't just because he's a marine,I swear. He's caring [he's on leave awaiting for his mother's passing], he's loyal, he's also very protective and can cut off his emotions in seconds like Marines are suppose to. There wasn't much Blaze throughout the book, he was often leaving to care for his mother it wasn't until the end that you really got to see what type of man he was. I did want to slap him though but you have to read it to find out why.He's also a man of his word which is extremely rare now at days and he promises Layna he will help her find a way out of the situation she's in and he promises he won't touch her because then he won't be able to concentrate at the task at hand.

Or you could just fall for his best friend...
Blaze takes Layna to Talon's house and warns her DO NOT FALL FOR HIM. Needless to say I was pretty interested in this guy, I had sense that maybe a girl of Blaze's had once fallen for Talon but my theory was never proven. Talon survived along side Blaze in the Marines but he's out of the Marines already. But he's what I like to call your friend in low places for life meaning he's the one that you call when you need death threats to be made and instant bail money, you know the one friend who'd do ANYTHING for you.I mean ANYTHING. He agrees to help Layna and Blaze and begins digging for dirt on exactly why Miami is keeping Layna alive. His character is so hard not to like. I mean he's flirtatious, he's good looking, he owns a business pretty much the opposite of Blaze. And this is where the damn love triangle happens.

He loves me, he loves me not...
The love triangle, I hate them. I find it so unfair to the third person like either way somebody loses. In this case, I kinda understood the love triangle. Let me explain, Blaze is gone a lot because his mother is dying from cancer, leaving Talon and Layna by themselves. They get to know each other and one thing leads to another and a kiss happens. Not to mention Talon flirts with just about all the female species. Anyway, Layna has been by herself all this time so develops feelings for both men however her feelings for Blaze are stronger...but the feelings for Talon are different. And in the end she's not sure what to do. Talon tries to explain to her that she shouldn't mistake gratitude with love. Is she really feeling just gratitude with attraction and love? You can't really blame the girl for having feelings for both men. They are total eye candy of course, and not to mention it's the first time she's ever had male attention so of course the girl is a bit overwhelmed with two hunks helping her out of a very sticky situation.

At the end of the book, I still couldn't tell you if I agreed with her choice. Because Sybil made it extremely difficult to not love both men and to make them so different. It was so not fair. I even stayed up all night trying to decide who I would pick but yeah I came up empty.

The Truth Will Set You Free
I really liked how Sybil was able to not focus the story so much on the love aspect but really on the truth behind why Miami had Layna under such a watchful eye. I loved how she was able to bring out the truth behind why her life had turned out the way it did. I thought it was well played out, some parts were a bit cliche but overall I thought the story worked out well. There were definitely twists I did not see coming. Towards the end, I was at the end of my seat wondering what was going to happen and how was it all going to play out.

The story was a page turner for sure, I spent all Sunday reading it. I was so captivated by the story I loved seeing where this was headed. I just could not get enough. What I would have like was maybe Blaze's point of view or Talon's point of view. I think that part of the story would have been interesting to see. Anyway, Impossible Promise is action packed, page turning, gripping the edge of your seat kinda story. I for one, cannot wait to see where this series is headed. August cannot come quick enough. ( )