MICHAEL'S PROMISE

In Hay’s novel, a young man moves from Oklahoma to California and begins working at a bank, where he meets and woos the woman of his dreams.

Twenty-nine-year-old Michael Pilgrim feels lucky to have landed a job at SoCal Federal, where he has his own office, a great salary, and hits it off with the fun, flirty, female administrative staff. It’s the late 1980s, and bankers in coastal cities are living large. When he’s introduced to interior design consultant Kathryn Summerfield at a party, he’s instantly smitten, and she seems to return his affections; however, Kathryn’s roommate, Zeta, isn’t fond of him. He and Kathryn begin dating, and she eventually invites him to her firm’s annual client dinner and Christmas party. He gets stuck working late on an important loan closing, though, so he’s forced to cancel, and Kathryn is devastated. She’d been with other men who’ve let her down; she’s not sure she can handle another disappointing relationship, and Zeta seizes the opportunity to fan the flames of doubt. Michael hopes to find a way back into Kathryn’s heart, but he wonders if he’s already lost her. Hay’s novel follows his Oklahoman protagonist as he navigates the emotional rollercoaster of a new life on the West Coast. However, the third-person narration provides such specific details about Michael’s comings and goings that it reads a lot like a police report at times—outlining the main characters’ whereabouts, what time they arrived, how long they stayed, and where they went next, without regard for whether this information is relevant to the overall plot. Similarly, the author provides detailed explanations about technicalities of loan documents that feel more like a business lesson than a work of fiction. The worldbuilding is also lacking, with little character development and scantly described settings. Even so, the love story at the novel’s center is sweet, and there’s a pleasant undercurrent of optimism that readers may find endearing.

A gentle SoCal love story that’s hampered by awkward execution.