In Honor by Jessi Kirby

Published: May 8^th, 2012            

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Pages: 240

Rating: 2/5

Hours after her brother’s military funeral, Honor opens the last letter Finn ever sent. In her grief, she interprets his note as a final request and spontaneously decides to go to California to fulfill it.

Honor gets as far as the driveway before running into Rusty, Finn’s best friend since third grade and his polar opposite. She hasn’t seen Rusty in ages, but it’s obvious he is as arrogant and stubborn as ever—not to mention drop-dead gorgeous. Despite Honor’s better judgment, the two set off together on a voyage from Texas to California. Along the way, they find small and sometimes surprising ways to ease their shared loss and honor Finn’s memory—but when shocking truths are revealed at the end of the road, will either of them be able to cope with the consequences? [Book Description from Goodreads]

Review:

            To be honest, I really wished I could have liked this book more than I do. I absolutely love the concept of grieving baby sister going on a road trip to fulfill her late brother’s last wish (and her brother’s buddy tagging along). It could have been so much more enjoyable if it weren’t for…the language. Yes, the language. There was too much of it. Period. And it was unnecessary. *sigh* And it bothered me enough to taint my perspective of this novel.

            I’m not a big fan of contemporaries, but I do pick one up ever so often. And sometimes I enjoy it. And sometimes I don’t. I usually enjoy them more when they’re clean. Sadly, a lot of them aren’t. This was one of those. Honestly. It seemed like Rusty cussed nearly every time he opened his mouth. Yeah, I get it. He’s a bad boy. But all that language was unnecessary. As were some of the other dirty insinuations and implications. I really hate it when authors stuff all that cussing into their books, because it means they aren’t going to get good reviews from ME. Others might be able to overlook it, or it may not bother them, but it did me.

            So, I’m sorry to say I can’t recommend In Honor. The language really bugged me, if you haven’t gotten that point yet (hehe). I probably should have stopped reading it once I realized all the cussing there was, but it was like a bad car accident- you know you should look away, but you have this curious desire to see more. Again, I loved the concept, but in my opinion, the author butchered the idea with all the bad content. Such a shame.

Quick Content Review: *may contain spoilers*

Language: Heavy (Rusty has a mouth on him, and swear words fly around like crazy.)

Violence: None-Mild (Honor’s brother is killed in Iraq)

Sexual: Moderate (one or two kisses and several dirty insinuations- not going to list them here, just take my word for it.)

Other: Rusty’s mom, Celia, is really into New Age stuff. Bru, Celia’s boyfriend, takes people up to “vortexes”, or places where the universe speaks to people through vibrations (or something like that…*rolls eyes*). My opinion: craziness.