A review by robin_is_me
Word of Honor by Hallee Bridgeman

emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

We met Bill “Drumstick” Sanders in the first book, and I liked him, despite his reservations about the hero and the heroine getting their happy ending. In fact, he was a bit rude to his best friend, basically telling him that marriage and the military is not a good mix and having a wife causes a man to lose his focus. So I was pleased that this second book was about Bill and eager to see him eat those words. 

Fittingly, the heroine is a woman whose heart he smashed into a thousand pieces ten years ago, after a year long relationship. Now she’s an FBI agent, whose partner was killed in a mission gone wrong. She’s the only eyewitness to the man heading up an ecoterrorist organization, and when Bill’s team is brought in to help with the investigation, she finds herself in Kuwait, working undercover – masquerading as husband and wife with Bill. 

There’s not as much actual action as in the first book, but again we get a great character study. When it comes to relationships, family or romantic, Bill has a lot of baggage to unpack. And even though it’s been ten years, Lynda still harbors a lot of anger over how Bill suddenly broke off their relationship, still not knowing why. The slower pace of this book provides more opportunity for Bill and Lynda to get to know each other again. Bill truly regrets how he handled things with Lynda when they were younger, and he’s grown a lot as a person since those days, but the issues are still in his head. If you read the first book, you already know that Bill and his team leader, Rick, have a close brotherly friendship, and I loved the few scenes between them here, as Rick gently supports and nudges Bill to some realizations about his life and what he wants. For Lynda, it’s about overcoming her hurt feelings and seeing Bill for the man he is today. The author did a wonderful job bringing these two together and having them slowly work through their painful past. 

Oh, and of course there’s the mission! While I said there isn’t as much action as the first book, there is still enough to keep the story moving at a decent pace. Lynda is very analytical, and watching her create her boards and piece together the events and the players was fascinating. 

And then, when they are back in the US, the danger suddenly ramps up to a shocking incident that took me completely by surprise. 

My only niggling complaint is that the characters point at each other a lot. I’m eagerly looking forward to the next book in the series. 

*I received a free copy of this book via the publisher and have voluntarily reviewed it*