diff --git a/public/index.html b/public/index.html
index 699c003..4810f6f 100644
--- a/public/index.html
+++ b/public/index.html
@@ -94,7 +94,8 @@ <h1>Homer: The Odyssey</h1>
           relationVocabulary: [ 'isRelated', 'isPartOf', 'isSameAs ']
         });
 
-        r.loadAnnotations('annotations.w3c.json');
+        r.loadAnnotations('annotations.w3c.json')
+          .then(() => console.log('loaded'));
 
         r.on('selectAnnotation', function(a) {
           console.log('selected', a);
diff --git a/src/TextAnnotator.jsx b/src/TextAnnotator.jsx
index 02f18d4..d6523ba 100644
--- a/src/TextAnnotator.jsx
+++ b/src/TextAnnotator.jsx
@@ -307,7 +307,8 @@ export default class TextAnnotator extends Component {
     this.relationsLayer.clear();
 
     const clones = annotations.map(a => a.clone());
-    this.highlighter.init(clones).then(() =>
+    
+    return this.highlighter.init(clones).then(() =>
       this.relationsLayer.init(clones));
   }
 
diff --git a/src/index.jsx b/src/index.jsx
index f2b68a9..b846416 100644
--- a/src/index.jsx
+++ b/src/index.jsx
@@ -125,8 +125,7 @@ export class Recogito {
 
   loadAnnotations = (url, requestArgs) => fetch(url, requestArgs)
     .then(response => response.json()).then(annotations => {
-      this.setAnnotations(annotations);
-      return annotations;
+      return this.setAnnotations(annotations).then(() => annotations);
     });
 
   off = (event, callback) =>
@@ -146,7 +145,7 @@ export class Recogito {
   setAnnotations = arg => {
     const annotations = arg || [];
     const webannotations = annotations.map(a => new WebAnnotation(a));
-    this._app.current.setAnnotations(webannotations);
+    return this._app.current.setAnnotations(webannotations);
   }
 
   setAuthInfo = authinfo =>