Book Review: A Lady's Honor

I'm notorious for starting a book, getting hooked, and not being able to put it down until I've finished. That usually makes for late nights, which isn't ideal with kids who wake up at what I still consider to be "middle of the night."

That said, it took me almost two weeks to make it through A Lady's Honor by Laurie Alice Eakes. The book itself was fairly well-written, but the story and characters were a little slow and dull.

The book is set in 1811 England, and begins with Elizabeth Trelawney (known as Elys to her family), attempting to escape from Lord Romsford, a middle aged marquess who desires to court her against her wishes. A man, whom she suspects to be the brother she hasn't seen in 6 years, rescues her from the marquess and brings her home to her grandparents on Bastion Point.

Elys later finds out that the man who brought her home was not her brother, rather a Mr. Rowan Curnow, and she must keep it a secret from her family that she spent a night in the company of a stranger, though innocently. Rowan and his master Lord Austell Penvenan have recently arrived from the United States to help out Ely's friend on his property, next to Bastion Point. Austell is another middle aged man vying for Ely's attention, but Rowan also falls in love with Elys. Elys has to decide whether she will accept the affections from a man with good fortune and connections, or if she will follow Rowan and make a life with him, though he is merely a secretary to Lord Penvenan. Throughout the book, the characters are also trying to keep themselves safe from dangerous smugglers, as well as protect family secrets.

There were a couple things that bothered me about A Lady's Honor. First, while Rowan claims to be a wholehearted Christian, there are times that he seems to give into temptation and is not truthful about certain things. Yes, he's human, but I didn't get the sense that he was a very strong Christian, though the book portrays him to be. Elizabeth (Elys) goes through an "I love him, I love him not, I love him, I love him not" crisis throughout the entire book, which becomes a little distracting. I did enjoy the plot twists as the end, and I think the last 80 pages were my favorite part of the book.

Bottom Line: 6*/10*

I was provided a copy of this book from Zondervan Publishers and BookLook Bloggers in exchange for my honest review. The opinions are all my own.

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