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 This movie is not much like the book, but I really loved it anyway! I got really involved in the story and the characters. All the actors/actresses did great, especially Logan Bartholomew! I would definitely recommend both the movie and the books!
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I don't understand why moviemakers pick out a book with a fantastic story and loyal following to make a movie from and then completely invent their own story. I am a huge Janette Oke fan. I own all her books and have read the Love Comes Softly series until I've about memorized the books. I was so excited that they were being made into movies. Love Comes Softly movie wasn't too bad. Love's Enduring Promise, however, was a huge disappointment. It was nothing like the book at all. The books are supposed to be about Clark and Marty and Marty had hardly any role in this one at all. The acting seemed weak except where Clark needed his leg cleaned and bandaged after a logging accident and then everyone over-acted. I wondered if they were going to amputate his leg (a scene from a later book, following an extremely serious cave-in). The sets were not at all real looking. I hope the little plot of land being plowed was just one of many fields, because that was not big enough to sustain a family of five. The plot seemed to jump around and not make sense. Missy teaches school, but there's only one small school scene. She has two younger brothers -- Aaron (Marty's son from her first marriage) and Arnie (Clark and Marty's together), yet they were hard to tell apart and had very little purpose in the movie. While Clark is healing, a young man is hired to take over his chores. Once Clark figures out who the young man is, the whole movie is diverted to talk about his story. There weren't really any peripheral characters in the movie -- they didn't run into people in town, go to church, have visitors over for tea. It was like they were the only people in town. When Missie and Willie headed west, I hope they weren't going far. That wagon was tiny (the prairie schooners used by pioneers were pretty large) and hardly had anything in the back of it. I don't think they were prepared to spend up to a year living out of it. Missie's explanation of the phrase "love's enduring promise" was way out in left field. The book's title refers to Marty saying that Missie and Willie's "love had promise, enduring promise." 
There are very few Christian based novels that I actually like to read but all of Oke's are at the top of the list. I was so excited when I found out recently that some of them had been made into movies and I can't wait until I can add these to my collection. I just wish that there were more movies this clean out there that actually told a good story as well. They are becoming fewer and fewer every day. I do agree that Landon shouldn't have removed the word Jesus entirely from the story but that is the world we live in. People work too hard to keep from offending anyone else. However, someone brought up the point that good Christian women never wore pants in that era and I would like to correct you. MOST women did not, but you certainly could find women wearing pants on the Prairie. At times, that was the only way they could do their work. They would only hold to convention when going into town or to Sunday service. Someone also mentioned that although they hadn't actually read the book, they still expected this movie to revolve around Marty & Clark. You really should read the books, or at least what they are about before forming expectations. Although her books keep the same characters throughout the series, everyone has their own story and their roles change in each book.
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| This movie is not much like the book, but I really loved it anyway! I got really involved in the story and the characters. All the actors/actresses did great, especially Logan Bartholomew! I would definitely recommend both the movie and the books!
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