Official Review: Upon Your Honor by Marie Lavender

[KAV]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Upon Your Honor" by Marie Lavender.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Upon Your Honor by Marie Lavender is a romance novel based in the late 1800’s. After Chloe Waverly’s father suddenly fell ill and passed away, she is forced to be engaged to the vile Lamonte Beckett based on her late father’s living will. Desperate to escape the control of her cruel fiancé, Chloe stows away on a cargo ship, La Voyageur, in seek of her grandmother. After several days secretly aboard the La Voyageur, a terrible storm tosses the ship and knocks Chloe out. She is then found by Gabriel Hill, the captain’s son. Instead of making her walk the plank for trying to deceive the crew, Chloe is treated with respect and care. Being the gallant gentleman that he is, Gabriel vows to protect Chloe on their voyage and see her safely to her grandmother’s estate even without knowing the true reason for her departure. What he doesn’t realize is that Chloe’s fiancé has unlimited resources and has danger following closely at their heels. As the adventure continues the attraction between Gabriel and Chloe intensifies just as the peril might cost one of them their lives.

I rate this book a 2 out of 4 stars. I felt like it has a good plot and kept my interest; however, it had several major flaws that I can’t overlook. First of all, the book was pretty long-winded. When I pick up a romance novel that is roughly 450 pages, I am expecting a lot of romantic scenes or a very intricate plot. This book had neither. There were a lot of excess scenes that didn’t progress the plot and tended to repeat themselves.

I felt like many of the inner thoughts of both Chloe and Gabriel could have been limited to make the book more concise and still portray the same feelings. While some scenes were too long, others needed a little bit more explanation. I found it odd that all of the sudden there is a horrible rain storm with a rogue wave threatening the two main characters to be pulled off the side of the ship when seconds before nothing was amiss. A lot of the danger in this book came out of nowhere, without much explanation.

I also felt like Chloe was very naïve for such a smart woman who planned a calculated escape. It is obvious that her fiancé has hired multiple people to find her at whatever cost, yet she still doesn’t explain the situation to Gabriel. If she was really worried about her safety and the safety of the crew that she is putting in danger, then wouldn’t she be better protected by people who knew what they were up against? She is worried that Gabriel won’t love her after finding out the whole truth about her running away and yet he keeps risking his life to save her. At one point in the story Gabriel’s father and a complete stranger are telling her that he is in love with her and yet she still doesn’t believe them. People don’t risk there lives multiple times unless they at least have feelings for you. Also what makes her think that once she gets to her grandmother’s house, that her fiancé is suddenly going to stop coming after her?

With that being said, the book did have potential. I can see where people who like to read romance novels would enjoy this book. The characters slowly grew affection for one another. There were kisses here and there with a lot of longing glances. Even though I thought there should have been more sexual encounters, there were two sex scenes in the novel. One of them was sexy and drawn out, while the second seemed rushed and lacked description. Although, I would be willing to give Marie Lavender’s books another try, I probably wouldn’t recommend this book specifically.

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Upon Your Honor
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[kimmyschemy06]

That was a very honest review. The premise sounds promising. Too bad about the flaws, though. Chloe sounds like a complicated character, daring yet naive. Good job on the review.

[KAV]

That was a very honest review. The premise sounds promising. Too bad about the flaws, though. Chloe sounds like a complicated character, daring yet naive. Good job on the review.

Thanks. I had trouble rating this book because I really did enjoy the premise of this book. It wasn't until I actually wrote the review that I decided on the rating. I would definitely consider reading another one of her books.