The Promise She Made by Nicholas Pearce
Living in 2016, we are used to so much advanced technology. Being 21, I have had to adapt to these technological changes that are happening in my life – my friends and I were first introduced to the idea of Facebook when we were 14. Now, children are growing up with smartphones and tablets in their hands. It only makes sense that an author would notice these changes happening in our world and create a story about it. And that is exactly what Nicholas Pearce did with The Promise She Made.
Little does Evelyn Barnes know that her life will soon be consumed by these powerful feelings. In a desperate attempt to fix her broken relationship with her boyfriend, Evelyn begs him to join her in using a revolutionary piece of technology that clears the path to a better future – LoveBite.
She says it will change their lives forever. She’s not wrong. The question is, in an age where it’s possible to have everything she wanted, should Evelyn risk everything she has?
Ok, so reading this book just put everything into perspective for me… There is waaayyyyy too much technology around young kids today. I know that this book centres around two adults but reading about what technology does to them, made me realise how it could affect children in the next ten years, and let me tell you now – it ain’t good. I loved how Pearce wrote about the technology aspect of these characters lives and how they would notice everyone looking down at their phones 24/7, how people would feel uncomfortable with face-to-face interaction; they only felt comfortable if you texted them or messaged them on social media. I found it to be a really interesting concept to read about.
However, I do feel like this book would have worked better in the 1st person instead of 3rd. There was too much of ‘she thought’ and ‘he thought’ paragraphs going on, whereas if it was in the first person, all of the characters though the process could have just been integrated within the chapters rather than having their own.
I also felt like there was no need for the epilogue. Yes, it was good to see a chapter from the creator of LoveBite’s point of view, but it wasn’t needed. I feel like the book would have had a more impactful ending if Pearce had just left it where Liam is in the flat.
Apart from being in the third person and the storyline feeling rushed, Pearce has a good writing style and the way that he described the outside world really made you think about the current environment that we are living in and how it is changing us in our social environments.
This is a good debut novel from Nicholas Pearce and if you are interested in how technology is changing the world, I recommend you give this a read.