UGH. Amazingly stupid in multiple dimensions. In the first part, the characters (particularly Sophie, but all of them) are jerked around to the author's requirements. I could maybe have swallowed a young woman talking herself around to accepting her father's choice of husband for her - but she goes out fiery in her refusal and the next depicted thought is "oh well, it will be all right...". Bleah. Then she goes off to be a musketeer - that part reminded me of The Three Musketeers. Unfortunately it reminded me of all the intensely stupid parts of TTM - especially the constant duels to the death over honor that are always stopped short of death, and usually short of wounding. And it's amazing how Gerard has stayed wounded all winter, with a wound that won't close - but mere weeks later he's fully healed, though his scar is still pink. Then we have the other two female musketeers suddenly showing up and - as happens far too often - both discovering Sophie's sex and revealing their own. The stupidity of Sophie and Gerard's marriage is pretty standard romance fare - "I must marry, because I promised (and I think you're hot, not that I'll admit that to you)" - on both sides. Then Sophie gets her Mission and goes off with the female Musketeers - and again, their sex is rapidly uncovered. Miriame manages to reveal Sophie's sex, the fact that Gerard knows of it, and Sophie and Gerard's relationship - in front of the king's men. Of course she does intend to kill them, but still (and she doesn't succeed, anyway). And somehow her taunting of Gerard gets all three of them rushing the door - why did the assassins not stand back and strike separately? They're certainly not angry at what she said. And...yeah. I could go on, but why? Poor characterization, heavy reliance on romance tropes of uncontrollable lust=true love, stupid situations...oh, one more I have to describe. So Sophie and Gerard are crossing to England. They have three horses - Sophie's Seafoam, Gerard's "fine Arabian mare", and a gelding they took from one of the king's men. They sell the gelding for their passage, Sophie being furious at the idea of losing her horse before Gerard diverts the buyer to the gelding. And then, later that same day, they go aboard ship. With no horses. The two good horses are never mentioned again. GAHHHH!!!!! Not thought through is the problem in the whole book. I don't have any other Kate Silvers, and I never will. ( )

RATING: 3 stars.

Sophie Delamanse always regretted being born a woman. While her twin brother Gerard got to go to the elusive and tempting city of Paris to become a musketeer for King Louis XIV, she had to stay home, learn how to sew and prepare to be married. For married she would be, to a man she'd never seen, Count Lamotte, a close friend of her brother.

When the plague strucks her village and kills her entire family, Sophie is left with nothing but an empty house and a promise from her brother's lips, that Lamotte would come for her. When that doesn't happen, Sophie, filled with sorrow and a desire for revenge on the man who betrayed her, does the unthinkable; she disguises herself as a man and enters the service of the king as... Gerard Delamanse.

A slightly different historical, "On my Lady's Honor" takes place in 17th century France during the reign of Louis XIV. We follow Sophie, who enters the musketeers (under the direction of D'Artagnan) pretending to be her brother. At first I thought it fun to follow Sophies struggles to adjust to the life in the barracks and being coached by Lamotte, the man she blames for most of her misery. After Lamotte discovers her identity it wasn't as interesting. It goes from historical romance to historical intrigue. And the intrigue is not very interesting, I must say.

As for the romance part, very little happens. There is not much tension between the protagonists and matters are settled very quickly. I didn't much like their interactions and thought this part of the plot very weak, which is bad, since this is supposedly an historical romance.

Also while this is not exactly historically accurate, the author managed to capture the mentalities surprisingly well and I liked that. The hero was definitely a product of the society of the time (although the heroine obviously isn't) and I liked how he struggled to accept Sophie as a warrior.

Overall, a nice read, but not very... romantic? ( )