crissimarie 's review for:

An Honored Vow by Melissa Blair
3.5
adventurous challenging tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
I have to admit that I wasn't all that excited going into this book and it did take me a bit of time after this book came about before I finally decided to reread this series so I could read this book.  I think maybe I just lost interest in the series between the time I pre-ordered this book and when it finally released.  I think after reading this series in its entirety, I just don't find it all that fun to read compared to other fantasy books.  I don't think it's a bad series and I do appreciate Keera's character growth between the first book and the last but I also feel like I didn't get a good sense of the other characters.  I don't know if I'm completely satisfied with how everything played out in the end, and I almost feel like Riven's character deserved more.  I still think his character comes across a bit flat compared to other love interests I've read in other fantasy books and it doesn't help that he always seems like second best to Keera's first love Brenna.  Perhaps it's the romance lover in me, but I wanted more of Keera and Riven together, and I don't really like how things played out in the end even if they do end up together.  There were a couple of character deaths in this book, and I just felt like I should have cared more about their deaths, but I never really felt any attachment to any other characters even after four books.  I've read books where I cried when a character died in the first book because the author made me attached the the character in such a sort time but even after four books, the characters never really grew on me which is disappointing to say the least.  I think I just wish I had more fun reading this book, but I was more reading it to get the series done and over with, which is never a good thing.  I feel like there are elements that I enjoyed in this series but honestly I'm just glad to be done reading it because I prefer books that are more fun and have characters that I grow to love a bit more than these characters.