For Love and Honor, (Paperback)

It's been such an honor and a blessing to get to see how Jody Hedlund mature as a writer and a storyteller as she wrote and published this series. With each progressing book, I have enjoyed the plot and characters more fully and this book is no exception. The plot in this book is fun and full of twists, and as usual Jody Hedlund delivers a positive message for young women. There are a lot of body positivity books out there, but I feel like every single one is so important because it's an issue that I feel almost everyone struggles with. The romance in this was was sweet and while a little insta-love-y, I did find it very shippable and the characters very well suited for each other. I love how this series always focuses on strong women, but not women who are so "strong" that they completely lose their feminine and romantic side. Also the romance was a little heavy for the era? There's quite a bit of kissing. I'm not saying this is bad--I enjoyed it, but it might be construed as historically inaccurate. This book is so well written. Some of the scenes are just so beautiful, because of how they're written. Jody Hedlund's writing has matured so well over the course of this series. In the first book, the POV changes are abrupt and sparse, in the second, they're a little better. In this book, I feel like Jody handled them really well. This book is a bold and romantic end to what was a really enjoyable YA historical series. Full of twists, turns, and a powerful message, it will keep you spellbound until the last page. CONTENT GUIDE - Sexual - kissing Cussing - none Violence - the last fifty pages are pretty intense. Intoxication - drinking of mead

When I read Jody Hedlund's An Uncertain Choice, where three knights vie for the hand of Lady Rosemarie, I fell hard for Sir Bennet. While he was not ultimately the knight for Lady Rosemarie, I couldn't wait to read the rest of his story, which has finally arrived in For Love and Honor. Sir Bennet is driven by the need to right the wrongs committed by his brother, which is why he leaves the service of the Noblest Knight and returns home, and it's why he agrees to a match with Sabine. Though Bennet's motives for marrying Sabine have to do with responsibility and duty, the reader (as well as the other characters in the novel) quickly sees that Sabine is his perfect match. She is witty, smart, and caring, and she shares Bennet's love of beautiful artifacts. She is not afraid to assert herself and stand up for those she loves, even at risk to her own safety. Yet she is also horribly insecure about her appearance, a fault which leads to some of the major conflict in the novel. Bennet is a lover of beauty. This can be a weakness, as I pointed out after I read An Uncertain Choice: "While he appreciates beauty, he has an aversion to things (and people) that are not beautiful. Rather than showing compassion to a young boy with a deformity, he appears repulsed and then shifts his attention away from the boy." This aspect of Bennet's character certainly comes into play in For Love and Honor as he is tasked with wooing Lady Sabine. Though he does not know of Sabine's blemish at the beginning, he can tell that she is not physically stunning. Yet as he gets to know her, she becomes more beautiful to him. While much of the book is about Bennet and Sabine's courtship, there is also plenty of action, adventure, and peril. The book is written for teens (presumably girls), and it contains powerful lessons about body image, confidence, and being who God made you to be ... yet it's also enjoyable for those of us who are well past our teen years! I would hand this book to any girl at my school without reservation—teenage Becky certainly could have benefited from a book like this a few (I won't say how many!) years ago. 5 stars. Note: This is the third novel in Hedlund's An Uncertain Choice series, but it stands alone. Disclosure of material connection: I received a copy of this book from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review, and the opinions expressed are my own.