Customer Reviews

Gentleman's Honor

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I have read all Stephanie Laurens' books. Some have been hits, some have been misses. This one is a hit!

Book One of this new Bastion Club series was a good story and a good heroine. Book Two combines a great heroine and a sensuality that begins in chapter one and doesn't miss a beat throughout the entire novel.

The series revolves around seven English spies, now off-duty, who bond over finding their own wives instead a letting society matrons manipulate their choices. Naturally, each book will be about one of the men, his wife search, and a mystery he solves using his spy skills. It works for me!

The only three drawbacks of this novel are characteristic Laurens' style: the "mirror sex," the heroine's "teach me" excuse to have sex, and a mystery that takes a little too long to resolve. With that said, however, the mirror sex in this novel does not seem contrived as in some Laurens' novels, and the heroine's confidence and ability to defend herself against the villian is inspiring. I liked Alicia's spunk, resourcefulness, determination, self-preservation, leadership, and tenderness -- a great character!

This book even brings back Jack and Kit from "Captain Jack's Woman" -- a book that causes second-degree hand burns while reading it! Laurens gives "A Gentleman's Honor" the same sizzle treatment...minus "Jack's" table sex!

"A Gentleman's Honor" is the 2nd Book in the Bastion Series. Though I enjoyed the 1st book in the series, A LADY CHOOSEN there was alot of background needed to get the reader up to speed. I feel with the second book, this book, that SL was able to focus on the story line and the hero and heroine more.
As always Alicia is a strong and independent SL Heroine and is not likely to let our hero Tony come in and just save the day, not with out her knowing what is going on. We get to know more of the members of the Bastion club, sort of wetting our appitites for the books to come.
SL also brings back characters from her Cynster series, nice to see characters we love before they are married, as well as the hero and heroine from her book "Captain Jacks Woman" Though its nice if you have read CJW it is not nessesary to enjoy "A Gentleman Honor." If you like SL you will more then like enjoy this book too.

Stephanie Laurens keeps concentrating more on the sex scenes than in the actual plot of her novels. I don't have anything against the sex scenes, actually, I think she writes some of the best ones in the genre, but they would be much better if they complemented a strong plot, instead of just being the plot.

The intrigue was entertaining enough, nothing too deep, but I wasn't expecting that, after all this is a romance novel, not a mistery one, but the problem is that there is not any other plot in the novel. There is no conflict between the main characters, no emotional tension, no heart wrenching separation, no fear of loss, not even a small misunderstanding that would cause a rift between them. The only problem to work out was catching the killer of Ruskin. Other than that, there was only the sex scenes to keep the book going.

I'm not saying that the book was bad. Stephanie Laurens is a great writer, and the book is amusing, but I know it could be better, I know this author could give much more. Her heroes are delightful, without exception, I just know that if she spent more time in the relationship between the hero and heroine, she could create a great novel.

One thing I did like about this book, is the presence of characters we know from her other novels. I hope the Cynsters continue to appear throughout this series, and maybe even have a bigger role, like Jack Hendon had in this book. I'm thinking he is from the book "Captain Jack's Woman". I haven't read it yet, since other experiences I have had with Laurens' pre-Cynsters books are not good, but now I think I might go and read it.

And there is Dalziel. This character gets more interesting by the minute. He really reminds me of the Marquess of Rothgar, from Jo Beverley's Malloren series. I would like to read his story soon, but I realize it may be some time before it is released, since probably all the Bastion Club members have to come first, and now Laurens is going back to the Cynster series with the story of Michael, Honoria's brother from "Devil's Bride". This I don't understand. Why writting the story of Michael while in the middle of another series? He is a likeable character, but not one that was screaming for his story.

Anyway, if you are a big fan of Stephanie Laurens, and enjoyed the Cynsters books, you probably will like this one too. I will certainly continue to read her novels, as they are better that most of the stuff out there.

Tony meets Alicia over a corpse, not the most auspicious beginning, but definitely a grabber for the reader.

Alicia is a poor but ingenious 24-year-old spinster, masquerading as a widow for propriety's sake. The family keeps up a pretense of genteel wealth while living on borrowed money for one London Season in order to launch Alicia's lovely younger sister. In addition to the two young women, there are three engaging younger brothers.

Tony, who has newly inherited the title of Viscount, is recently returned from Europe where he spied behind enemy lines, not the most well-accepted form of service for a gentleman at the time. He's a typical SL alpha male, and I don't mean that in a bad way!

Tony quickly decides Alicia is The One, and goes about to fix her affections. He plans to propose after he's cleared up the murder. Alicia is disinclined to resist Tony's seductions even though she's mistakenly sure Tony's intentions aren't honorable. While Tony hunts the murderer and seduces Alicia, Alicia's sister falls in love with a suitable young man, and the reader is treated to all these stories intertwining in a very satisfactory way.

The Bastion books are set just before the Cynster books. None of the Cynster men is yet married, which gives Tony a chance to glare territorially at Demon Cynster. (Devil got elbowed out of the way in the first Bastion book.) Old favorites like the Dowager Duchess of St. Ives and crotchety Lady Osbaldestone help drive the plot along when the story shifts to the ton. Tony made his bow in Captain Jack's Woman, and Jack returns the favor by making an important appearance here.

Altogether, a delicious foray into post-Waterloo era romantic suspense. Oh, and it's pretty dang sexy, too!

I just got done reading "A Gentleman's Honor." I love the characters, Stephanie Laurens did a great job with Alicia and Tony. Alicia longs to follow her dreams to be married to a man who loves her in return. But she puts that aside for the sake of her 3 young brothers and her sister who are left improverish. They made it to the balls by luck and wit, dressing to the next fasion and a false pretense of Alicia being a widow. Only Tony seem to get close to her emotionally and physically. Tony, who assume Alicia is a widow, sets his mind to seducing her into passion. Alicia finally accepts herself as a mistress for Tony. Along the way they are very attatched to each other emotionally. From the first time Tony sees her, he protects her from start to end. There are several scenes of sex, just to give a little warning.

The only thing that I really don't like is the story behind it, it seems her new series is more into mystery than romance. The book is so longwinded that it takes forever to finish a paragraph and so long to finish the book. It's a good thing she made the characters very likable else I wouldn't have finish the book.

I believe the next book will be about Charles St. Austell who goes out to find out the second traiter who is worse than A.C

The sex is sizzling in this lovely second installment of the Bastian series. Although Alicia appears quite reckless in her decisions, Tony appears to be a man for whom any woman would bend the rules. There really isn't much else to say that hasn't already been covered in a review here. The book is a good one to curl up with on a cold winter night. Nicely done and fun to read.

Basically, if I like something, I know that the majority won't, and vice-versa. This book has been fairly well panned, but is one of my favorites by this author. The plot is pretty standard (for ANY Stephanie Laurens book) and you can get details anywhere.

I liked this book for a variety of reasons, but in a lot of ways I enjoyed it for the very reasons that others did NOT like it. I found the focus on the romance to be a change of pace from more "plot" driven romance novels. The story-line was almost secondary to the romance. I liked Anthony because he was, despite being a typical Laurens alpha, a more human and caring hero. I liked Alicia because she was more normal than most of SL's heroines, and her "faults" were of a nature that were fixable (she was not as worldly as is typical, and definitely less knowledgeable of the Ton's ways, as opposed to the almost high-nosed way some SL heroines are).

I also liked Alicia's family (Adriana especially). I liked Geoffrey. I enjoyed Anthony's interactions with Alicia's 3 younger brothers. I liked that Alicia took care of her family and looked out for their best interests. I found Anthony's insecurities to be a lot more endearing than the behaviors of the average romance novel "hero". It is always a pleasure to read about the antics of the other members of the club. As another example of the differences that I have (taste wise) with most readers, I prefer The Bastion Club books over the Cynster books (of which Scandal's Bride was a favorite).

While she's not a favorite author of mine (although one I do recommend), I consider her to be an eloquent writer and to be exceptionally skilled at hot sex scenes. She is very consistent, if not downright formulaic. Her heroines vary a little, but the heroes are all cut from the same cloth. The plot lines of each series are very similar to each other (all Cynster plots are basically identical, all Bastion Club plots are basically identical). But there are no abusive heros, there's no conflict of desire (that's the one thing that's always there). There's no attempted rape. Things like that are hated plot devices of mine, and found in way too many novels. It's nice, as a change of pace, to read an author who doesn't rely on those cliches.

I especially liked the one unique part of this book, one that is almost non-existent in any of SL's books, or most others for that matter. Anthony says "I love you" before Alicia. It's a nice change, and an endearing quality in a hero. Heck, in some of her books, the hero NEVER says it. Just had to give a "way to go" for that to this book.

This book had more sympathetic characters than most. The secondary romance (Adriana and Geoffrey) was particularly nice. And the sex scenes... well, let's just put it this way: not just anyone can make a kiss last 4 pages or a sex scene last 10. If you find that level of detail to be distasteful, I doubt you'll enjoy any book by this author, so please be forewarned. Some of us, however, know the difference between detailed sex scenes and pornography, and can enjoy them for what they are.

Loved this book!! This is an awesome series. Very HOT!! This book brings back Tony that you meet in the prequel Captain Jack's Woman!!

Ms. Laurens does an awsome job at keeping you reading this book. I couldn't put it down. I enjoyed every plot twist and change. The love scense are great. She keeps you guessing till the very end! I highly recommend this book.

I really enjoyed this story. I'd rate it up there with DEVIL'S BRIDE. Anthony is very alpha. Alicia is smart and effective.