Rating: 3 Stars
Description: Honor Cabot knows that she and her sister will be in a tricky situation when her stepfather dies and her stepbrother takes over as Earl and marries Honor's former childhood friend turned enemy.
Genre: Romance
My Impression: When I started reading romance novels about 100 years ago (okay 15 but it's still been awhile) Julia London was one of the authors I read. Her books were so different from the some of the light funny romp style books that I was mostly reading. These were darker, heavier and more complex. They involved characters who weren't always wealthy and beautiful and they frequently experienced real tragedy. Somewhere along the way I stopped reading London but I was thrilled when I saw this new historical from her on netgalley. London stays true to creating unusual characters. Honor is a completely unique character - she is flawed, strong willed, yet aware of the importance of her reputation. She is impulsive but admits it. George Easton is the unclaimed illegitimate son of a Duke. He is neither a perfect gentleman nor a rake to be redeemed. He is a survivor who has seen parts of the world aristocrats have never seen. I really liked the first half of the book and then it started to slip a bit. Honor becomes so set on a ridiculous plan that it becomes annoying. She's an intelligent quick thinking woman but she seems unable to recognize that her plan to stall her stepbrother's wedding isn't working and unwilling to try a new solution. It's hard not to be sympathetic to her situation but her attitude makes me want to shake her. I do like George. He comes off as a decent guy who takes risks. He came up from a hard upbringing and has a lot of frustration mixed with embarrassment with how society treats him. He is attracted to and intrigued by Honor but also has quite a bit of disdain for her that I don't really enjoy in a romance despite that the disdain may be a misunderstanding. I like that London stays away from a typical one note villain with Monica and Augustus. They're not evil, they're not even really mean spirited. Monica is insecure around Honor and isn't always the nicest to her but Honor isn't entirely innocent and gives as good as she gets.
Rating Explanation: The Trouble with Honor earned 3 stars for being a well written enjoyable read with interesting and unique characters. I didn't give it 2 additional stars due to the main character's focus and inability to change plans for far too long as well as the fact that I didn't care for George's opinion of Honor for much of the book. I thought his opinion was justified but it just was't what I look for in a romance.
Would I Read More of this Series/Author?: Yes definitely. Honor's 3 sisters are introduced here and I'm very interested to read about Grace, the next oldest sister who seems far more level headed and reasonable than Honor.
Would I Recommend this Book?: I'm not sure I'd recommend this particular book but I'd definitely recommend the author.
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