Book Review - Honor Bound by Hallee Bridgeman

 

Honor Bound by Hallee Bridgeman is about a woman, Dr. Cynthia Myers, who flees across the world to heal her broken heart after her fiancé publicly dumped her. Cynthia is on a medical mission in a remote village in Katangela, Africa. She works as an OBGYN and helps women take care of their children. Everything is going to plan until a warlord’s dying son is brought to her doorstep. Before Cynthia can attempt to save him, she knows it’s a lost cause because the man is beyond saving.

Captain Rick Norton and his Army Special Forces are on a special top secret mission in the jungles of Katangela. He and his troops are tasked with finding and subduing the local warlord that’s been terrorizing and burning other local villages. However, Rick’s mission takes an unexpected turn when he receives word that the daughter of America’s Vice President is nearby and her life might be in danger.

Rick and his men have to use deadly force to subdue the warlord and his soldiers. It is the only way they can protect Cynthia and the local villages. Cynthia is upset that Rick is using violence to solve the problem and feels guilty that more people are being hurt because of her. 

Cynthia tries to keep her feelings about him to herself but she feels herself attracted to Rick. While Cynthia tries to work through her feelings for Rick, two members of Rick’s team are badly injured and they are being pursued by the warlord's soldiers. Will Cynthia be able to put aside what Rick does for a living and be true to her feelings?

I thought the book was an okay read. It had a lot of action but no unexpected twists or turns. The book was filled with action in the beginning but tapered down towards the middle and picked up slightly towards the end. I like that the author included a lot of details about the jungle and the animals. It made us feel like we were a part of their journey. 

The book had a lot of characters and it was hard to keep track of but I did like the friendly banter between Rick and his team. I liked Cynthia in the beginning because I thought her mission of helping the less fortunate to be admirable. However, when she kept pushing and needling Rick to be nonviolent, it got to be annoying. She witnessed the destruction and carnage the local warlord created but she didn’t want to use violence. It would be amazing if they could get the warlord to stop without violence but that didn’t seem like an option. Cynthia complaining and harping about something without offering another solution got annoying very quickly. At times, I was wondering how the two of them liked each other based on their interactions with each other and their conflicting personalities. This was my first book by the author and I would be open to reading more books by her.