Personal Rating: 2.5 Stars Goodreads Rating: 4.11 Stars Lady Sabine is harboring a skin blemish, one, that if revealed, could cause her to be branded as a witch, put her life in danger, and damage her chances of making a good marriage. After all, what nobleman would want to marry a woman so flawed? Sir Bennet is returning home to protect his family from an imminent attack by neighboring lords who seek repayment of debts. Without fortune or means to pay those debts, Sir Bennet realizes his only option is to make a marriage match with a wealthy noblewoman. As a man of honor, he loathes the idea of courting a woman for her money, but with time running out for his family’s safety, what other choice does he have? As Lady Sabine and Sir Bennet are thrust together under dangerous circumstances, will they both be able to learn to trust each other enough to share their deepest secrets? Or will those secrets ultimately lead to their demise? (goodreads.com) If you recall all the way back to July of 2016, my very first book review was for a novel by the name of An Uncertain Choice. I did that review because I had won an ARC of the sequel to that book (A Daring Sacrifice) in a Goodreads Giveaway and wanted to review both. The third book in that series finally came out last year and I have read it. And because I reviewed the first two I thought I’d better keep up the tradition and review the last one as well. As much as I love reading the cheesy love stories and pious adventures that occur in Christian young adult novels, I do understand when a book is actually good or not. Full disclosure: I enjoyed reading this book. I often have a good time rolling my eyes at less than realistic romance and just downright cardboard characters, I like reading this kind of book. However, I acknowledge the fact that this book was, frankly, not very good. If you don’t get down to the details then this book has pretty much the same plot as the first two. Or at least it felt the same. There’s a noblewoman who has a problem that she cannot trust anyone to help her with. There’s a nobleman/knight who also has a big problem. When they meet they second guess their love for each other for pages on end until they have a climactic problem that forces them to realize how much they actually do love each other. Happily ever after, the end. Meh! And the characters are always kind of blergh as well. Sir Bennet was in the first book of this series and I remember him having a bit of a personality there, but it seems to have vanished in this book. He’s just your average charming knight with a “perfectly sculpted nose” (that’s a direct quote). I felt like his personality was kind of parroting the heroine’s personality. Speaking of the female protagonist, Lady Sabine, she actually had a unique personality! That was a lovely, change from Lady Rosemarie in the first book and the stereotypical “strong woman” that we saw in Lady Juliana. Sabine actually said some witty things and could even be funny at times. It was sad to see her vibrant character squashed by Sir Bennet behaving in exactly the same way as she did, just more masculinely. Once again, we see a complete lack of interesting side characters apart from Sabine’s grandmother, who was a tricky lady who seems like she should have a book of her own - and not about when she was young either. I want a book about Sabine’s granny as a granny. I don’t know why, but I do. Sadly, the rest of the non-protagonist characters were mostly just there as plot devices and fillers. Not very interesting, not remarkable, just props. The series is called “An Uncertain Choice” after the first book, but that name kind of does fit all three novels. Every single chapter was filled with the guy and the girl being uncertain about whether or not they loved each other. They just kept thinking about it and nothing else. Every decision they made in their day-to-day lives made them think of each other for some reason and thinking of each other made them question whether the other person loved them or if they loved the other person. Over and over and over again. Nonstop uncertainty. To sum up this brief review: there isn’t much new material here. It is very much what I picture when I think of “YA Christian Fiction” in every way. Unrealistic romance (Sir Bennet was way too romantic to be real, I mean, the guy is supposed to be running a castle and it seems like all he ever has on his mind is Sabine - then again, I’ve never experienced any romance so maybe that’s what it’s like? idk), simple a predictable plot, mostly boring characters with no development, and a nicely wrapped up ending. But that didn’t stop me from enjoying it. If you read it I hope you find some enjoyment in it too, whether it be from actually liking the book or because you thought the cheesiness was entertaining. It is relatively short and not a bad way to spend your afternoon. Just be warned that toward the end there is quite a bit of smooching. Oh dear! My castle is under siege! I’d best go defend it! Fare thee well! Image source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30649325-for-love-and-honor
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