Sunday, August 26, 2012

Honor Bound by Brenda Novak


To some men honor is just a word…

Jeannette Boucher, a young French beauty from a family left penniless by the revolution, must marry against her will to save them all from ruin. But almost immediately after the vows are spoken, she learns that her old English husband is impotent—and in his desire for an heir, he plans to compromise her in the worst way.

Determined to escape such a fate, she stows away on one of His Majesty’s frigates. But a woman alone is in constant danger.

To Lieutenant Treynor, honor means everything…

Born a bastard to a wayward marquise, Lieutenant Crawford Treynor was given to a poor farmer to raise and was maltreated until he ran away to join the Royal Navy. Treynor is determined to prove he’s as good as any other man and rise to captain his own frigate. But once he finds Jeannette aboard The Tempest he must decide whether to return her to the man he knows would abuse her—or risk everything, even his life, to keep her safe.


I’m so glad I live in a country where girls are no longer chattel to be sold to the highest bidder—not that Jeannette stood still for that once she discovered her groom’s friends had a pool going to see who would impregnate her for him after they gang-raped her on her wedding night.  But she didn’t feel much safer once she dressed as a boy and enlisted in the British Royal Navy hoping to escape to London.  Within minutes of reporting aboard The Tempest she realized cabin boys did not rate private accommodations.  Her secret would be discovered the first time she tried to use the, um…where were such facilities, anyway?  She tried to leave the ship but was caught, charged with desertion, and sentenced to several lashes.  Again, her secret would be revealed when they opened her shirt.  But Lieutenant Treynor took the lashes for her, and she became his servant.

Jeanette is a feisty young lady who overcomes her privileged upbringing and pulls her weight aboard ship, and then some.  She’s not very good at following orders.  Instead of staying in a safe place during battle, she makes her way to the main deck, helps a wounded sailor below and spends the rest of the battle assisting the ship’s surgeon.  No fainting flower, Jeanette.  I admired her, and enjoyed following her from one scrape to the next as she tried to conceal her identity aboard ship.

Lieutenant Treynor, of course is tall, handsome, and going crazy trying to protect the recalcitrant noble woman who should be hiding out in his cabin.  Unfortunately, he keeps tripping over her in parts of the ship where she doesn’t belong.  What is she doing in the armory?  Maybe making her spend a day working as a real sailor will teach her a lesson.  Even once they confess her secret to the Captain, why won’t she stay in the Captain’s cabin during the battle?  She’s driving him to distraction and then some.  He’s a man of the sea—he doesn’t need this.  Or does he?

Honor Bound grabbed me on page one and kept me reading right on through.  It was a bit of “It Happened One Night” meets “Pirates of the Carribean,” but they’re both really good movies.  You youngsters might want to look up the former.  It’s a classic, and one of my all-time favorites.  I highly recommend this book.

Length:  374 Pages
E-Book Price:  $3.99
Paperback Price:  $11.99
Buy Link:  Amazon.com

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like a good read!


    PS - I'm sobbing after the fifth time trying to post. If this does eventually post, then changing to a less restrictive screening system might gain more comments!

    ReplyDelete