Virtual Blog Tour: All That Was Promised by Vickie Hall

All That Was Promised by Vickie Hall


From the back of the book:

An encounter with a Mormon missionary and his unusual message of a “restored gospel” leaves Richard Kenyen, a young Methodist minister, questioning his life's work when he cannot deny a growing testimony of this peculiar American religion. But Richard soon finds himself struggling to recoginze the promiesed blessings of the gospel when violent persecution shakes the fledgling Church in Wales.

This is Vickie Hall's debut novel about the church in the 1840's and she has created some interesting characters. Probably for me the most interesting and layered is that of Meredith, a young bar maid who has survived by any means possible – Hall eludes to prostitution without going into detail – who is hired by John Morgan to infiltrate the Welsh Saints, become one of them, and then relate back to him personal details to enable him to persecute the Saints. It is unclear what John Morgan's motivation is, since he appears to be a man who would do things for his own benefit and there isn't any apparent reason why the Saints persecution is for his benefit. He just hates Mormons.

There is also the story of Richard's brother Robert, a successful business man, and his horrible wife Abigail who tortures their daughter Amelia. No, I'm not talking thumb screws and racks. She uses mostly psychological torture with a little violence thrown in.

At the heart of the story is Richard and his wife Leah. For Richard becoming a member means also abandoning his career, his livelihood, and his flock, a decision that can't be an easy one.

To be honest, I had trouble with the writing style of the book. I think it lacks a good editor. There are too many point of view changes within scenes, too many cliches, and the author gets in the way too much. Often Hall will show us a scene and then instead of allowing the reader to feel what is going on, she steps in and explains things. Hall needs to trust her readers more. This type of writing might work if the author creates a narrative character – such as in the Lemony Snicket books – or writes from a first person perspective, but she does niether. Instead she gives us an omnipresent viewpoint which works if you're presenting a scene the way you would watch a movie, but if you choose to do that you can't explain what just happened. You can't tell the reader what everyone is feeling. There is so much telling going on in this book when showing would have been far more effective.

The other problem I had was that the characters tended to be one-dimensional. In the book blurb it states that Richard finds himself struggling to recognize the promised blessings. In fact it seems that Richard doesn't struggle at all. His faith is unwavering as are everyone else's other than one couple. In this book Mormons are good and non-Mormons are bad. All Mormons forgive easily, all non-Mormons don't. It makes life easier when everyone is wearing black or white hats and you can tell them apart, but life is filled with gray. No one is all good or all bad. In fact in the case of Abigail she is almost a cartoon and you expect her to show up in a black dress and a witches hat screeching “I'll get you my pretty.”

Which brings us back to Meredith, the character in this book that does fall in the gray area. I liked how Hall allowed us to see how far Meredith had sunk. She shows us to a certain point without going beyond decency that she does have more than just a business relationship with John Morgan. In this respect she does trust her readers to understand what is going on without painting the picture in detail and without telling us. She shows us a little and lets us fill in the rest. I would have liked to have gotten into Merediths head more and seen more of a struggle, not just with her choices but with her own forgiveness and obtaining the foregiveness of others.

If you're looking for a book that supports LDS beliefs and gives a little history then this might be the one for you. There is violence here, but that is because its a part of history. The LDS church has a violent past, most not of it's own fault, and the fact cannot be glossed over.


It was interesting to get a peek into Wales. We were treated to some Welsh superstition (Leah's mother is another interesting character who firmly believes in the superstitions), some Welsh food, and a few Welsh sayings. If the author writes another book set in Wales I would love to have her incorporate more of the culture into the book for it is the Wales aspect that sets it apart from other books of the early Saints conversion.
 
By the way, the cover of this book is beautiful. I know that may not be important, but it is to writers. This cover has a unique overlay on top of the gorgeous artwork that makes the book unique.
 
To know more about Vickie Hall go to her website. There are links to her blog, Welsh recipes, and more information about the book.
 
To read more reviews of this book go to Tristi Pinkstons site. There are lists in the side bar of all blog tours and the addresses where you can read more reviews.
 
And to purchase the book: