Monday, April 11, 2011

Romance Review: Challenge to Honor

Challenge to Honor
By: Jennifer Blake
Review: another meh

Unfortunately i think the meh review is more due to my raised expectations than the book itself.  i read a lot of regency romance and contemporary romance, and LOVE Gone With the Wind, so i feel that middle period is often missing from romance settings.  several austen fanfic writers are taking on WWI and WWII, a few have taken on the Old West in its various stages, but 1800's American New Orleans is such a mystical mix of creoles, spanish, french, americans, slaves and free slaves that still influence so many of its traditions today that the setting is ripe for culture.  i've read lisa kleypas' When Strangers Marry which is set in New Orleans and LOVED the story.  so when i saw a whole series (recommended through amazon's listmania which is awesome, i love the idea of recommending books based on categories that you self design.  its so interesting to see how people categorize, list and describe their own reading) about 1800s New Orleans i was super excited, so i bought the first one (YAY Kindle).  i had a really hard time liking the characters.  the culture, and the honor duels, and the training of swords men for honor duels, the lack of access to anything including money and choice of husband that the women had, the issue of slavery and the impending war with mexico for control of the south were amazing.  but the hero and heroine were so annoying and they just kept lying to each other.  fine, don't put your heart out there, by all means take a risk with losing your virginity outside of marriage in a time where your bride price is based on the existence of a hymen, but don't go so far as to tell that man you actually like him.  definitely get naked, and lie, always a good idea.  or just a way to annoy the reader.  so it took me forever to get into the story, i was about 75% done according to the kindle before i started to like them.  then there was a fire, the whole story came out, there was a kidnapping, sneaky maids, more sword fights, guns, parents standing up for their daughters, then it was over.  so i really liked 25% of this book, but the first 75 was a struggle.  the scenery, the food, the rituals and history of the area kept me reading the 75% because they really were amazing, but the hero and heroine were so blah and liars to boot.

No comments: