Review: In Honor by Jessi Kirby

In Honor by Jessi Kirby
Publisher: Simon&Schuster
Released: 8th May 2012
Source: Bought for Kindle
Rating: 2/5

Goodreads description:

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?

My thoughts:

I was insanely excited for this book, the cover the description, the road trip element, I couldn't wait for it. I preordered it to my kindle (never done that before) and eagerly counted down the days till release. Then, disappointment. I just didn't like it. Everything about the book felt off to me.

I really didn't like Honor. She was spoilt and selfish. Her grief for her brother never felt real to me, and though she left on the spur of the moment she was still woefully unprepared for the road trip.She didn't even put socks on for God's sake. I never felt any true emotions or growth from her character at all and I found this really disappointing. Everything about her situation felt cookie-cutter, like she was going through the motions of loss but none of it was real.

I really didn't like Rusty either, he wasn't the sort of 'bad boy' character I like, he was just a jerk. I seriously couldn't find one redeeming feature in him and his relationship with Honor never felt natural, and was very confused. To be honest, he kinda reminded me of Haymitch in The Hunger Games, only less charming and sneaky. 

One thing that really bugged me I mean really, really bugged me, was the lack of descriptions. Now, I don't need every minute thing laid out for me in paragraphs of endless description, but I don't even know what Honor or Rusty really looked like or anything! And Honor and everyone around her kept going on about her boots, but again I don't even know what the sodding boots looked like. It just made it really hard for me to visualise anyone or anything. Maybe the description was there and I missed it, it's kinda hard to go back and check on a Kindle, but either way there just wasn't enough general description for me which made it harder for me to get into the story.


The road trip itself was a pretty bleak one, not much music or snacking or chatting or anything really. There were the usual mishaps and side adventures that you get from road trip books, but overall I was a little disappointed by this element of it. 


The ending I found really predictable, and most of the revelations just highlighted for me how selfish and self-absorbed Honor really is. I kind of hated her in a way, and I didn't feel like enough was resolved to make this a book about growth or anything like that. So overall, I was just immensely disappointed. I expected a lot from this book and it just really didn't deliver for me. Having said that, there are many, many glowing reviews on Goodreads, so you should probably check those out before you make a decision about whether to read this!


Stop by Liz's blog today for a review of An Abundance of Katherines