A Defense of Honor: a book review

A Defense of Honor. Kristi Ann Hunter. 2018. Bethany House Publishers. Pages: 352. [Source: Netgalley/Bethany House Publishers Review Program]

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When Katherine "Kit" FitzGilbert turned her back on London society more than a decade ago, she determined never to set foot in a ballroom again. But when business takes her to London and she's forced to run for her life, she stumbles upon not only a glamorous ballroom but also Graham, Lord Wharton. What should have been a chance encounter becomes much more as Graham embarks on a search for his friend's missing sister and is convinced Kit knows more about the girl than she's telling.

After meeting Graham, Kit finds herself wishing things could have been different for the first time in her life, but what she wants can't matter. Long ago, she dedicated herself to helping women escape the same scorn that drove her from London and raising the innocent children caught in the crossfire. And as much as she desperately wishes to tell Graham everything, revealing the truth isn't worth putting him and everyone she loves in danger.

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Rating: I'm gonna have to give it a 5/5

When I saw this pop up in my email in May, it was the most interesting of the stories that Bethany House Publishers offered to me for that month. I don't think I was that enthused when I chose it, because I didn't feel that I was being given much of a variety to choose from.

All I can say is that I'm so, so glad that I chose this one.

The story begins with handsome Graham at a ball in a lavish ballroom, talking to a couple of "friends" who only seemed interested in gossiping. Then—there! He spots it—something interesting! A flash of green fabric—a hand snaking out between the plants to snag a treat from a passing platter—he gets up to follow, thankful to separate himself from those two.

He finds her in the garden—and thus begins one of the most interesting chapters of his life.

This has to be one of the most original ideas I've come across. When I think about history, about the Regency era, I never thought about what happened to the illegitimate children or the women who were intentionally ruined by greedy men who were only after the biggest dowry available.

The fact that the main character was working to protect those children made me really excited because there's so much that could go wrong when she's going out there and getting those irresponsible men to pay for their mistakes.

I don't think I've ever felt such rage about the unfairness of something since I watched the episode of Blue Bloods where a young man came and punched a pregnant woman in the face, knocking her out so she landed on her front and crushed her baby. I wasn't as violently angry about the injustice as I was then, but it was close.

The book made me think a lot about how tough women have had it for centuries. Yes, there have been powerful queens, women leaders, etc., but when it comes down to it, women have always been the more vulnerable of the two sexes. Kit knew this, but she was able to take advantage of what had happened to her and her friend and do something good, even though it ended up morphing into something not good (i.e. blackmail) until a new face came along and helped her right her ways.

I'm honestly excited for Haven Manor - 2 to come out next year. And once its out I'm definitely going to start collecting the Haven Manor book as paperbacks.

Book Review: The Artisan's Wife

The Artisan's Wife. Judith Miller. 2016. Bethany House Publishers. Pages: 333. [Source: Netgalley / Bethany House Publishers review program]

Ainslee McKay's world is shaken when she discovers her twin sister has not only eloped with a man she barely knows but now Ainslee must fulfill their obligation at a tile works in Weston, West Virginia. Ainslee must learn the ropes and, if she can keep the tile works profitable, her brother will help her sell the business. 
When Levi Judson arrives and shows Ainslee his designs for new tiles, she's impressed by his skill and passion for the business. But he's hiding his true reason for coming to Weston. And Ainslee knows he'd be crushed to learn his plans for a long career at McKay Tile Works are in vain since she intends to sell. Can the growing feelings between them survive if the truth comes to light--or is a future together as untenable as the future of the tile works itself?

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Rating: ★★✩✩✩

I was sorely disappointed with this novel. At points I thought the story was going well, but then the jumbled plot soured my opinion of the story. When I chose to read and review this novel, I expected that the story would revolve around Ainslee and how she struggled to keep the fact that she wanted to sell the tile works from the man she fell in love with. Instead, Ainslee's older brother drops the bomb in front of the man she loves, a man who is one of her employees (that's why she was trying to keep the secret from him). And she wasn't madly in love with him at the time - yet.

I couldn't get into this novel, and not because it was the third novel in a series (something I didn't know when I requested the novel). The interactions, reactions, and the way the characters felt stilted, unrealistic to me. I know that Judith Miller put a lot of time and energy and thought into the story, but I didn't like it.

The plot felt strung out. The tension that could have been gained was let go half-way through the novel (the secret about wanting to sell the tile works), and the sudden appearance of "awful" Aunt Margaret and subsequent death seemed unneeded and pointless to the story - it probably would have seemed less pointless to me if I was forewarned about the novel being the third in its series and I had read the first two instalments. There wasn't enough forewarning about Aunt Margaret for her part to mesh with the rest of the story. 

I wish I liked the story more, because I really did like Ainslee. And I really felt for her when her twin sister took off on her and eloped. But that wasn't enough.

Book Review: Playing the Part

Playing the Part. Jen Turano. A Class of Their Own Book 3. 2016. Bethany House Publishers. Pages: 352. [Source: Netgalley/ebook from Bethany House Publisher's book review program]

Lucetta Plum is an actress on the rise in New York City, but is forced to abandon her starring role when a fan's interest turns threatening. Lucetta's widowed friend, Abigail Hart, is delighted at the opportunity to meddle in Lucetta's life and promptly whisks her away to her grandson's estate to hide out.

Bram Haverstein may appear to simply be a somewhat eccentric gentleman of means, but a mysterious career and a secret fascination with a certain actress mean there's much more to him than society knows.

Lucetta, who has no interest in Abigail's matchmaking machinations, has the best intentions of remaining cordial but coolly distant to Bram. But when she can't ignore the strange and mysterious things going on in his house, it'll take more than good intentions to keep her from trying to discover who Bram is behind the part he plays.

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When I requested Playing the Part, I was wondering if I would get the same satisfaction I would get from reading a novel such as Julie Klassen's. Jen Turano's Playing the Part did not disappoint, even though her writing style took me a bit to get used to.

Right away I fell in love with all the characters, though I did become a little annoyed at Abigail for trying to hook Lucetta up with someone. I speak from experience when I say that I understand why she wanted to run from Abigail's matchmaking attempts, since my mom and grandmother used to tease me about any cute boy I came across when I was younger.

Bram Haverstein was such a realistic character that I could almost see him standing on the pages. I enjoyed his character, his personality, and found that if I knew him in real life I would assuredly have considered him a good friend of mine.

It's so refreshing to come across a historical fiction novel by an author who isn't one that you're used to. It's also refreshing to find an interesting story that takes place post-Civil War that doesn't take place in the Wild West (no offense, those can be good too if they pique my interest).

Playing the Part was sprinkled with just the right amount of humor, mystery, and suspense that was where it was supposed to be. I would be extremely interested in looking into more of Jen Turano's books once I've worked through my To Be Read pile.

Congratulations, Jen Turano, I think you just gained a new fan!

Book Review: Cold Shot

Cold Shot. Dani Pettrey. Chesapeake Valor Book 1. 2016. Bethany House Publishers. Pages: 336. [Source: Netgalley/ebook from Bethany House Publishers' review program]

In college, Griffin McCray and his four best friends had their lives planned out. Griffin and Luke Gallagher would join the Baltimore PD. Declan Gray would head to the FBI and Parker Mitchell would go on to graduate school as a crime scene analyst. But then Luke vanished before graduation and their world - and friendship - crumbled.

Now Griffin is a park ranger at Gettysburg, having left life as a SWAT-team sniper when a case went bad. The job is mostly quiet - until the day he captures two relic hunters uncovering skeletal remains near Little Round Top. Griffin just wants the case to go away, but charming forensic anthropologist Finley Scott determines that the body is modern - a young social justice lawyer missing since spring - and all evidence points to the work of an expert sniper. When FBI agent Declan Gray takes over the case, past and present collide. Griffin soon realizes he'll need to confront some of the darkest days of his life if he - and those he cares about - are going to escape a downward spiral of murder that crosses continents. - Synopsis

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Cold Shot is the first novel I've reviewed for a publisher in many years. Did I love it? Unfortunately, no. It was an interesting story, but I found many faults that impeded on my ability to enjoy it.

The characterization was pretty good, and I was able to picture the characters as living beings. The relationships were real between Griffin, Declan, and Parker, but I found the relationship between Griffin and Finley to be a little bit strange.

Once they realized that someone was after them, the moments of suspense were impeccable - my chest tightened whenever Griffin and Finley stepped out into the open with the prospect that a sniper might be watching them through a scope from a thousand or more yards/meters off. That's one of my greatest fears - the fact that someone could be watching you, but you don't know where they are or if you're even being watched at all.  It doesn't allow you to relax.

But I'm afraid I'm going to have to be a bit of a grouch now.

There were several aspects of the story where I felt a little bit irked at how it was put together. For one, Finley seemed a little too perfect for me. At one point Griffin and her go out to a shooting range and every man turns to look at her and gawk over her beauty as if she was God's gift to men. Then, when she shoots at a target, she hits the bullseye with her first shot, even though she's never picked up a gun or shot one before. And Griffin seems to stop and think: "Wow, she's hot" (in general terms) as soon as he lays eyes on her. I honestly have to say that it almost feels like the author forgot that "love at first sight" is more like "infatuation at first sight" - which is really how Griffin felt about her and how it was described. In my opinion, it wasn't all that realistic with how Griffin seemed to like every aspect about her almost right away.

In my opinion, she teeters too close to point of being able to achieve the label of "Mary-Sue". I'm sad to say that I didn't seem to read about enough of her faults to help balance out all of her attributes.

I found Griffin's desire to resist temptation revolving around Finley's beauty to be rather admirable, and the Christian message contained between the lines was powerful. It screamed to me: this is a story about trusting in God to protect you and guide your paths. God protected Griffin, Finley, Declan, and Parker in this novel.

There were some plotholes in the story, but I'll leave it to you to find them for yourselves, lol ;)

One more thing bothered me - in a scene where Finley is running an autopsy of sorts on the body found on Little Round Top, I found the examination to be a little plain and rushed. But that could be just me and the fact that I took Forensic Science in high school. 

As a note, I would like those who read this review to know that you, yes, can find the gender of the skeleton through the shape of the skull and the pelvic bone, but you cannot simply find out the race of the individual through the shape of the face of the skull (though it is possible). According to my FS textbook, there are three types of skull characteristics: Negroid, Mongoloid, and Caucasoid. 

The victim in Cold Shot was most likely Caucasoid, as it was described in the book, but there is a chance for Mongoloid to be mixed in since Native Americans are descended from those who came over from Mongolia and the Asian continent. All I am saying is that the author should have been a little more specific since Finley is a forensic anthropologist. It could have been a little more specific without being gory or gritty.

All in all, Cold Shot was okay (in my opinion), but wasn't what I was looking for when I wanted to read a mystery/suspense novel.