In Honor's Defense

(Hanger's Horsemen #3)

Luke Davenport has been fighting all his life--for respect, for country, and most recently, for those unable to fight for themselves. But now that his Horsemen brothers are domesticated, he's left alone to battle the wildness within. When an opportunity arises to take a job on his own, he jumps at the chance.

Damaris Baxter has mastered the art of invisibility. Plain and quiet, she hides in books and needlework, content to be overlooked. Until her brother dies suddenly, leaving her custody of her nephew. She moves to Texas to care for Nate, determined to create the family for herself that she never thought she'd have.

When Nate stumbles into the path of the rustlers Luke is tracking, Luke acts to protect him and winds up gravely injured. Feeling indebted, Damaris nurses Luke back to health. But suspicions grow regarding the death of her brother. And the more questions they ask, the more danger appears, threatening the family Luke may be unable to live without.

My Review: 6.5/10

Damaris is an aunt / guardian with the patience and compassion of a saint. She's paired with Luke aka "Preach" who is the adult version of her nephew/ward. I've enjoyed Preach as a character in previous books for his steady, quiet nature and habit of being a vessel for the Holy Spirit by providing well timed Biblical verses. In this story we learn about his upbringing and more "wild" past and how he grew into a more mature, albeit adrift, person.

What I liked:
- the humor
-unique characters
-applicable use of scripture
-Damaris' private reflections on her values /adherence to them
-the story was different (murder mystery mixed in) and interesting

And not so much:
-I find self-described "plain" characters tend to fixate on their looks as much as their good looking counterparts. And it's undermined by the love interest privately dwelling on their attraction to said plain person. It wasn't over the top in the story, but still enough to annoy me.

-Damaris gives an impassioned speech about her desire to really know Luke, saying she is only interested in who he is *now* and won't judge him for anything he's done in his past. This is said directly after he says, "I served at Wounded Knee. My unit slaughtered women and children." He says NOTHING ELSE. And she just brushes it off. It's dismissive of his feelings and experiences WHICH SHAPED HIM. Her attitude rubbed me the wrong way. It felt like a missed opportunity at the very least and was very unrealistic in the way that she didn't really listen to him or ask any questions. Just offered general platitudes.

-The end of the plot went off the deep end for me. I'm looking at the villain and their motivations for their choices and thinking, this behavior no longer makes sense (again and again and again). Why does it always have to escalate to such extremes?

-As always, I think this story would have been stronger from one POV.