The audiobook has quite a bit of redemption aspects that made me want to better understand the characters. She is quickly wed to the mayor and blacksmith of this small town which was a requirement of the plantation owner for her to stay and teach. Is she willing to learn or will she push back? The teacher often becomes the pupil on the way of the South. All of this could not be farther from the truth, and Amanda needs to be taught just how things happen in the South. Once planted in her new location, she naively thinks she will be welcomed with open arms along with her thoughts and beliefs learned in the North.

Yet, adding to the mystery, Amanda before leaving, uncovers some previous correspondence between her deceased farther and the plantation owner which comes to fully bloom as the story progresses. Take a newly educated black woman from the North and drop her in the middle of the South (Georgia) in a small town on a large plantation and you have quite a tale. To understand the difficulty of living, or just surviving, for all people during the time of the United States Civil War, imagine how much more difficult it would have been for a black person and even more a black woman. As I listened and took notes, the word wholesome kept coming back, and if this is your type of story, romance or not, I can highly recommend you give this one a listen. For those just starting out with this audiobook, note it is the first audiobook in a series, and I’m not sure how many books are planned by the author. Yet, I found the storytelling both engaging and compelling enough that I wanted to listen from start to finish, and I was glad I did. As I stated when I reviewed the prequel to this story, the romance genre is not one of my preferred styles. The story is written by Piper Huguley, who is a newer author to Audible, and it is wonderfully narrated by Shamaan Casey. However, the author weaves in elements of light-hearted humor making the characters feel alive and hopeful for their futures. If you are looking for wholesome historical fiction story that could be enjoyed by the entire family, I can say that I surprisingly found “The Preacher’s Promise” to be a well-written and encompassing story set during a time of great difficulty and struggles.

The Preacher's Promise by Piper Huguley