The Trouble with Honor by Julia London

Narrated by Rosalyn Landor

The Trouble with Honor, the first book in a new series from Ms London, tells the story of the eldest of the four Cabot sisters. With their sick father not expected to live much longer and their mother gradually succumbing to what we would today recognise as dementia, Miss Honor Cabot has little alternative but to assume parental responsibility for her younger sisters.

She’s vivacious and beautiful, and has not been without male admirers. Having had her heart broken a couple of years previously by a young man who showed every sign of being equally smitten until he offered for another woman, Honor has been reluctant to look for a suitable husband. But now, with her family situation as it is, she is starting to think she has left it too late to make any match, for what man will want – or be able to afford – the burden of three sisters and a sick mother?

The difficulty of the sisters’ situation is exacerbated by the fact that their stepbrother is engaged to be married to Miss Monica Hargrove, whom Honor has convinced herself will use her influence over him to see them all turned out of the house before the ink is dry on the marriage license.

Honor needs to buy them all some time while she finds herself a suitably rich and biddable husband. The plan she comes up with is, to be honest, pretty daft; she thinks that if she can separate her brother and his fiancée, he will have nobody urging him to turn them out and shut their mother away in a home in the far wilds of Wales and they’ll be safe for a little longer. With that plan in mind, she approaches Mr George Easton, illegitimate – and unacknowledged – son of a royal duke; a man with a reputation as a gambler and risk-taker – and asks for his help. She wants him to “turn Monica’s head” – he’s handsome, charming and an expert in the art of seduction, and Monica is an attractive young woman, so it shouldn’t prove too onerous or difficult a task.

Honor has, however, reckoned without George’s perceptiveness. He may have a reputation for recklessness, but he’s no fool and immediately discerns the reasons behind Honor’s request:

“With [your father] on his deathbed, you fear that a new countess will not look kindly to keeping four stepsisters as they should like to be kept.”

She finds his insight more than a little disturbing – and for his part, even though he’s stunned by her audacity, George can’t help but be intrigued and admire Honor’s cheek… as well as other parts of her anatomy :P

But admiration wins out, and against his better judgement the deal is struck, with George agreeing to draw Monica into a flirtation at the next available opportunity.

Given the improbable premise and a heroine whose determination to destroy her stepbrother’s happiness seemed certain to make her unlikeable, I had a few misgivings about the story, and if it wasn’t for the fact that I’d listen to Rosalyn Landor read the phone book, I might have set it aside and moved on to something else. But her performance drew me in and kept me listening; and I ended up enjoying the audiobook more than I thought I would. The story has a few flaws, but none of them were so huge as to pull me out of it and fortunately, Honor does grow up during the course of the book and come to admit her plan was unkind and ridiculous. In fact, as her character is gradually revealed to be rather more than the spoiled, selfish young woman she at first seems, I found myself warming to her. She really doesn’t care about being able to afford fashionable clothes or hats – all she wants is to be able to look after her sisters and make sure their mother is cared for. Her options are limited – sadly typical for a young woman of the time – but she’s not one to sit back and take whatever hand fate deals her, and she goes for what she wants – even if her methods might be somewhat questionable. In that, she’s similar to George, who is also someone who is willing to go out on a limb for what he wants.

George is an attractive and charming hero, but has some deep-seated insecurities relating to his birth and to the precariousness of his social standing which lend depth to his character, and which are at the root of the conflict in the story in the later stages. The friendship that develops between the central couple is rather sweet, albeit very sexually charged, and the romance between them is well developed. If I have a complaint, it’s that George is a bit too much of a pushover when it comes to saying “no” to Honor. Otherwise, though, he’s rather lovely, wanting nothing more than to do his best by the woman he loves, even when circumstances take a turn for the worse.

As I said above, I ended up enjoying this audiobook more than I expected to, and that is in no small part to Rosalyn Landor’s excellent performance. She has a real affinity with this sort of material, and her delivery and manner of expression always strike the perfect note with me – somehow, her narrations sound exactly the way I hear books in my head when I’m reading the print versions!

As always, Ms Landor presents the listener with a rich array of vocal characterisations, each one clearly differentiated and easily identifiable. There are a number of scenes which feature all four of the Misses Cabot, and there is never any confusion as to which of them is speaking, from the softly spoken Grace, to Prudence’s sharper matter-of-factness and the more childlike tones adopted for the youngest sister, Mercy. The girls’ parents are heartbreakingly realised, especially their mother, whose gorgeous, mellow notes are so often – and so sadly – at variance with the words coming out of her mouth.

The male characters are just as expertly rendered. I know Ms Landor has her detractors in this area, but she has a wonderful way with the formal language and manners displayed by the gentlemen in historical romances, managing to strike the right balance between that aura of privilege so often associated with the hero, while at the same time making him sexy enough to set knees a-wobble. Her portrayal of George Easton is one such – he’s no pompous aristocrat, but he exudes confidence and sex appeal in equal measure, and Ms Landor captures both expertly.

If you can forgive a few flaws in the storytelling, The Trouble with Honor is an appealing story which is most definitely enhanced by Rosalyn Landor’s vivid characterisations and beautifully performed narrative.

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Caz

AUDIOBOOK INFORMATION

TITLE: The Trouble with Honor

AUTHOR: Julia London

NARRATED BY: Rosalyn Landor

GENRE: Historical Romance

STEAM FACTOR: Glad I had my earbuds in

REVIEWER: Caz [button type=’link’ link=’http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MOTCB1Q/?tag=audiogalsnet-20′ size=’btn-lg’ variation=’btn-default’ target=’blank’]Buy The Trouble with Honor by Julia London on Amazon[/button]