For Honor's Lady by Rosanne Kohake - Book Review

From the Blurb:

A historical romance set amid the chaos of the American Revolution, For Honor’s Lady is a passionate tale of love, betrayal, and war.

The sounds of war echoed throughout the colonies, and the tempestuous love of Juliet Hampton and Alec Farrell raged with a passion that defied destruction. Even as Alec gave his heart to the Revolution, he was tormented by his longing for the beautiful daughter of a British loyalist. And Juliet endured her father’s wrath, cruel betrayal, and searing jealousy as she valiantly clung to her dream of the day she and Alec would at last quench the smoldering flames of desire with the glorious union of their love.

The Review:

For Honor’s Lady is the story of Juliet, a young lady living for her father’s approval. She is betrothed to Harold, a well to do gentleman who she has had little to do with, but who would be an excellent catch for the family. Despite her early years as a boisterous and independent child, Juliet is content to wed as her father wishes, until she meets Alec. Alec is her brother’s friend and the reason her brother joins the rebel army destined to win the American Revolutionary War, a fight to which her father is strongly opposed. Juliet and Alec contend with war and the hand of her father for love and honor alike.

I enjoyed the first third of this book, a tale of two lovers on opposite sides of a war. Both characters are stubborn and forceful, and their romance develops with the passion that is inevitable with such a match. I really liked Alex at the start. He is teasing and jovial, and just what Juliet needs to return to her once carefree self. There is a delicious scene in which Juliet dresses up as a man to seek out Alex, and I thought this was a perfect example of their hopeful relationship at this point of the book.

Unfortunately, despite seeming to reach a happily ever after between Juliet and Alex a third of the way through the novel, the story continues and I really wish it hadn’t. From this point both Juliet and Alex become increasingly tedious characters and the story becomes strangely farfetched, boring and ultimately disturbing. 

Alec leaves Juliet to go away to war and she proceeds to be as self-involved as possible, at one point dancing around in her room very shortly after she believes her lover has been killed at war – most confusing. Apparently when one’s lover dies, all you need is a good few parties and balls to make everything better. Equally, Alec becomes a total creepy psycho! As the story progresses he becomes controlling to the point of being very disturbing, even wishing that he had beaten Juliet to “within an inch of her life” in one scene. I found this really upsetting and really struggled to finish the story at all. 

This story would have been a lovely romance had it finished one third of the way through. As it continued, however, it was by turns a disturbing and boring story about a couple who seemed to lust for each other but have no actual devotion, trust or real love between them. 

I read the Audiobook, so what about the Narrator?

Susan Boyce is the saving grace of this story. She is an excellent narrator who captured each character to perfection. Her narration is smooth, with wonderful intonation, and is a pleasure to listen to.

For Honor's Lady, written by Rosanne Kohake and read by Susan Boyce, was published in 2013 by AudioGo (first published in 1984) and is 20.6 hours in length. It is available from Downpour (previously AudioGo) and Book Depository.

This book was given to Love Reading Romance in exchange for an honest review.