All That Was Promised by Vickie Hall

I was asked to read and review this book by Tristi Pinkston.

First of all, I loved the premise of this book in that, I come from in part, Welch, Latter Day Saint converts.  Not only did several of my ancestors come from Wales but one of them returned and died there as a missionary, so this story immediately grabbed my attention because of my personal family history.

Like most early church missionary tales, this story is full of plenty of sadness.  The early days of the LDS church was fraught with persecution, and this tale has plenty of examples of it.  Almost immediately, the "persecution" part of the story begins and I will admit, it gave me pause to continue reading.  It is often very difficult to learn of such acts and I was fearful to see where this story was heading.  As I continued reading, I was drawn in by the story and found it compelling and a good read.   I was touched by the humble examples of faith and perseverance shown in this book by the characters.  It was realistic without being too maudlin or forced.

The author does an excellent job establishing relationships in this book and I found as a whole, I was drawn in by her character development as much as anything.  The book ends with many of the character's considering changes in their lives.  I am curious if the author plans on writing a follow-up to this book, so we learn what happens to everyone later on.  It ends like there will be at least a second book.

One wish:  Many historical novels give an Author's Note at the end, where the author explains what is fact and what is fiction and some background information as to why the book was written.  I missed that in this book and I wish it were there.

All in all, a good read.