Man of Honor by Sarah O'Rourke Pages: 576
Series: Passion in Paradise #4
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Goodreads
Sheriff Zeke Monroe loves one woman... Honor McKinnon. He is willing to stake his entire future on protecting her... no matter what the cost.
Honor McKinnon knows she is broken. Her body and soul had been shattered by a violent attack years ago, and no one... not her sisters or anyone else in the tiny town of Paradise, especially the Sheriff... can change that. Rather than dealing with her wounds, she chooses to protect herself from any further damage, even if that means that she avoids the one chance at love. But Zeke is determined to break down Honor’s walls... and to find the persons responsible for hurting her and make them suffer.
He’s already killed for her once... and is willing to do it again if it means she'll know safety and happiness.
What happens when Zeke refuses to allow Honor to ignore her past? Will Zeke’s love be passionate enough to break down her barriers? And can Zeke save Honor when her life is in danger once again?
Join Sarah O’Rourke in this epic culmination of the Men of the McKinnon Sisters stories... and find out how the Passion in Paradise series is always scorching hot!
Standalone, romantica suspense.
Man of Honor
Sarah O’Roark
Well, I wanted to like this book. I tried. But there were a few issues. 1st, you really can’t read this as a stand alone. I was hella lost trying figure out who these people were and what was going on. Then, as I read further and the characters were explained a little more I was a bit overwhelmed with Honor. Seriously-how much bad stuff can happen to 1 girl?!? It was kind of over kill in my opinion. Her luck was so shitty that 1 tragedy wasn’t enough. It just made me groan and kind of turned me off the story right away.
Having said that, if you look at the reviews on GR and Amazon, I am the only person who felt this way so you probably should take my thoughts with a grain of salt. Maybe I was just not in the mood for so much drama? Maybe I would feel different if I had read the previous 4 books and was more invested in the story? Maybe I am judgmental because I can’t stand that the family named all their kids things like Honor, Hope, Faith, etc. I hate that shit. And the guys were all biblical names like Cain, Abel, Zachariah, Ezekiel, etc. No, just no. I get equally annoyed with people who name their kids with all the same first letter (Stephanie, Sarah, Scott, Stacey-that is actually from a family in my home town. My sister is guilty of this too-all my nephews have ‘C’ names.) So, that tangent got wildly off point but really, I think it explains even more why I was less likely to give this book more of a chance. I’m apparently at pretentious, judgmental jerk! 🙂
“Not necessarily, but I wouldn’t mind,” Zeke replied truthfully. “Honor, darlin, you’re a gorgeous woman.”
“Not without my clothes,” she mumbled, bending her head to stare at her clenched fists. “Ugly,” she muttered. “I’m ugly.”
Tensing, Zeke’s jaw clenched. “I don’t know why the hell you’re saying that, but there’s not a single ugly thing about you. Not when you’re naked. Not when you’re tryin’ to bring yourself to release. Not ever, Honor Grace. You do not ever have to be ashamed of your body.”
Honor slowly lifted her mortified gaze to him. “You’ve never seen me without my clothes, Zeke. There are scars. So many scars. They’re raised and bumpy. Some are red and raw. It’s disgusting, Ezekiel.”
“Bullshit. Every single one of those marks remind me of one thing, Honor. One,” he growled, holding up a finger between them. “You lived. You survived. When all the odds were stacked against you, you defied modern medicine and every one of those damned doctors predictions, and you lived. And all those scars will ever do is remind me of how lucky I am to still have you. Don’t you ever tell me you’re ugly because you’re the most beautiful thing in my world. You wanna be scared to share your body with me because of what happened to you? I get that. I can accept that. But worrying about some marks on your flesh? I love you, baby, but that’s insane.”
Honor stared at him a long time, gauging his sincerity. “It doesn’t feel silly,” she finally grumbled.
“You need to reassess your feelings then because I assure you, it’s one of the silliest concerns you ever had. Christ, baby, how long have you been agonizing of a worry as pointless as your scars?” he asked, shoving a frustrated hand through his dark hair. “I could have put these fears to rest ages ago, Honor, if I’d known about it.”
“It’s hard to talk about,” she revealed in a low voice as her head twisted to look at him.
“Yeah? Is feeling like shit alone better than talking it over together with me?” he returned calmly, reaching up to tenderly tuck her hair behind one ear. “Baby, you gotta start getting this. When you hurt, I hurt. When you suffer, I suffer right along with you. Don’t make either one of us feel that way needlessly, Kitten. Just talk to me. I know you have scars. You’ve got them on your body, and you’ve got them on your soul. I’ve sat by your hospital bed too many times to count and watched you while you did your damnedest to heal them both. Those wounds are not new information to me and they don’t change shit. I still love you, and I don’t allow those scars to do anything other than remind me to treasure every day I have with you. Okay?”
Honor’s eyes were soft as they locked with Zeke’s. “You really do love me a lot, don’t you?” she asked in a small voice.
“So much that I ache with it, Honor.”
Uh oh… tell us how you really feel, won’t you? :p I haven’t read any of this author-duo’s books, but they are hilarious on FB. I guess this is one of those series that really has to be read in order, though – and that’s OK if it’s stated somewhere that you’ll understand things more if you already are familiar with the setting and the characters.
Yes, I have always loved these 2 authors but I apparently missed the part that said you had to read these in order!