A Defense of Honor

Oh how I wish I could give this book 5 stars. Never have I so badly wanted to give a book 5 stars and not been able to!!

If you have some spare time coming up (I know that holidays are about to kick in around the globe) so if you are looking for something fresh and new to read, take a few minutes to read this and see what you think. I would love to hear what you thought of this book and totally recommend it!

This book follows the storyline of two characters, Kit and Graham, who grew up in the same world but experienced it in two VERY different ways. 19th Century London was not kind to deviant women, believing lies over truth.

Thirteen years ago, Kit and her best friend Daphne got caught by a rumour that sent them away from London for good. They managed to find some purpose in opening a home for women who ended up pregnant before marriage and the father wouldn't marry them. In order to protect their reputation, the women went on 'holiday' for a year until the baby was born and then it went into the care of Kit and Daphne. This plan worked for 12 years until one day, a women in need of help comes to Haven Manor without telling her loving brother, who makes it his mission to find her.

This man's best friend just happens to be Lord Wharton - Graham. Graham grew up on the other end of the spectrum, he had loving parents who loved each other and he grew up without problems. One of his best friends was illegitimate (hint hint) which seems to help with his understanding of Kits predicament. After following the story of a little boy, Graham stumbles upon Haven Manor and learns the (face-value) story behind how the children came to be here.

As the story unfolds, Kit is challenged to face her past and come to terms with her dishonesty. She learns to trust in God's plan rather than in doing things her own way. At the same time, Graham is challenged to look outside of his everyday life, he is dissatisfied but instead of dealing with it he begins to ask why? What is his purpose? What is God calling him to do?

This story is one of love, reconciliation, heartbreak and honour. Why do we do the things we do? What has our past forced us into? How much have we moved away from God's plan because we thought he had to make it on our own?

Now I must start off with the positives because there are MANY.

I will just a list a few though otherwise I could go on for hours. For one, I loved Kristi's writing style. This is something I am pretty critical of because I feel like it can really detract from the storyline and how engaged you get. Coming from a degree where all day everyday I am analysing how people convey their argument and writing styles in historical articles, writing style is something that either gets me or not in a book. Her description of characters and surroundings captured me. I loved it.

Furthermore, her storyline was actually believable. Too many times have I read a book where a concept just doesn't seem likely (especially if it is historical fiction) and I've had to push through it. This was a book that I believed. I believed that Kit felt drawn to the final straw, that she had to blackmail these men. I believed that these kids were left with no parents and that if they had of been their mothers would have ended up in a bad position (if they had of survived). I believed Graham's pain when he found out that Kit was lying to him, I believed Kit's struggle to open up and trust Graham when all the men she knew weren't honest. Though it wasn't relatable to this era, it was believable.

This book switched between two perspectives, I love it when this happens. If books don't, I often find myself wondering what the other character must have thought, how they would have reacted. This book gives you that!! It is so satisfying. You hear the struggle of both parties and understand the temptation at hurt. I often found myself screaming in my head "THEY ARE THINKING THE SAME THING!! JUST SAY IT OUT LOUD!!" so frustrating but so satisfying at the same time.

Finally, this was the first book in a long time that I couldn't put down. I found myself thinking about it whilst writing an assignment, or studying, in a lecture or watching another movie. Now I have to openly admit that I have a movie addiction. Any chance I get I will watch another episode (even if it means reading twice as fast or getting up an hour early). This is something I am not proud of but hey. I'm getting there. BUT, this book made me late for two episodes of #DesignatedSurvivor. I was sold, I just wanted to read all the time and it took SERIOUS self-control not to.

Now the reasons for the 4 stars...

There aren't many! And most people probably wouldn't mind, but considering that I work for a proofreading company and I'm spending my days in academia, I feel that I have PRETTY high standards.

I felt like it needed to go through a proofreader/spell checker. Many a time I found myself caught off guard with the spelling errors, doubled up words (like the, it, he) and not intentionally. I'm not awful enough to point this out in a book if it happens once or twice but this happened in almost every chapter and it is a long book. Not that it makes me dislike a book, it just find it silly. It's so easy to correct and you lose percentage in academia for spelling errors so I'm pretty critical when it comes to any writing.

Secondly, and I think most importantly, anachronism. Anyone heard of this word? Here, I'll post a definition because I had not heard it until studying history.

In particular, "the action of attributing something to a period to which it does not belong"

Now in all fairness, I did not have a problem with this thing or even notice it before studying history, but it certainly feels like some of the things Kit and Graham say would NOT have existed in this period. I understand that the theme of this book is VERY plausible, and I was certainly captivated by most of it but I caught myself a couple of times thinking WOOOOOH hold up, this idea wouldn't have even existed back then!! But hey, this is very nit picky and most people probably really don't care. Just beware if this is something you struggle with.

Overall, the book was beautiful. The love story was believable and captivating. I found myself wanting more and more. I really hope there is a part two. Thank you Kristi, I can't wait to see what else you come up with.

I would like to thank Bethany House Publishers for a copy of this book. I was given this book in order to write an honest review.

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