To what are we most committed?
Commitments is my 42nd child – but every single child of mine is special to me. Their birthdays are cause for celebration, which is what I’m doing today. I’m celebrating the birth of Commitments as an eBook.
It’s about time! Commitments was first published in 1988 and has been issued in every other format but digital. Why? For one thing, because eBooks didn’t exist in 1988, when “electronic rights” weren’t even on publishers’ radar screens. For another, because more and more of you are reading electronically each year. And for a third, because my current publisher agreed that publishing Commitments digitally is long overdue.
1988? That’s an old book, you say. Not so, I say. Yes, it was written back then, but it deals with the same kind of timely issue – namely, how committed we are to those we love – that I write about today. Blueprints and Sweet Salt Air both deal directly with this, as do so many others of my recent books. And now there’s Commitments.
Commitments was actually a pioneer. It was my first full-length book to deal with life changing on a dime after a single, tragic event – now a hallmark of my work. It was the first one to deal with one of the toughest decisions a woman can make. And the first one to have a main character in prison. Injustice is one of its themes, and, in that, Commitments is perhaps more of a mystery than most I write.
Of the many strong woman who populate my novels, Sabrina Stone, the Commitments protagonist, ranks high. From the novel’s onset, she is alone in dealing with her brain-damaged child, when her husband finds every excuse not to help.
And yet Commitments isn’t a downer. Sabrina does have a family that loves her, parents and a brother so bizarre and heart-touching that I marvel now at my own imagination then!
And forbidden love? Oh, there’s that aplenty. And good, sweet sex.
Those of you who loved Blueprints and Sweet Salt Air will love Commitments. If you haven’t read it, try it now. If you have read it, why not splurge on a re-read? At $4.99, the price is right, and in digital format, it’s the perfect book to read while commuting, vacationing, or simply escaping the onslaught of fall’s endless football.
So. What do you think of Sabrina’s husband? Is he an aberration, or is he typical? Would your significant other step up to the plate if the going got rough?
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I don’t need to repurchase. I keep all your books and reread them whenever. Keep up the good reads!
Ditto to what Adrienne said!! I have every book you’ve EVER written..:-D
I absolutely love Commitments! I bought it in paperback years ago and have re-read it many times. The prison yard “almost” sex scenes are some of the hottest I think I’ve ever read. And I adore Sabrina’s family. All those authors on one family tree!
In answer to your question above – Sabrina’s husband is a weakling parading in he-man clothes. Reminds me of a used car salesman – all flash and no substance. As you wrote him, I think he’s typical of the type. But there are many others out there to counterbalance him.
COMMITMENTS was the first book of yours that I read and it and FOR MY DAUGHTERS are still among my favorites. I’ve now read everything you’ve written and have not been disappointed but those two are my favorites. One reason but not the only one is that you gave us a peak into her life after she found her ‘happy ever after” instead of stopping it there. Her husband was so typical of many men who can’t handle perfection in others.