Review: In Honor by Jessi Kirby

Title: In Honor

Author: Jessi Kirby

Published: May 8, 2012

Pages: 242

Source: purchased

Amazon Summary: 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?

**REVIEW**

I like road trip novels, I like how characters have a chance of connecting with each other on that special level that couldn't have been explored through a different way other than being trapped in a car together for days straight and only having an endless road ahead of you.

I was drawn to 'In Honor' all due to the part of "the last wish," of going out of your way to grant someone you've lost they're last wish.

I rarely cry when reading, and more often find books about loss to be poignant or serene rather than sad. 'In Honor' wasn't necessarily emotional to me. However, that does not mean I wasn't moved by it, or more correctly and specifically.. by Finn.

I loved Finn. I really did. I loved that he came alive through the pages even though you never got to meet him, and that he was in fact always thought of and never forgotten in the midst of the adventure Honor and Rusty found themselves on.

All that Finn did for Honor was beautiful and powerful and touching. I would even say a part of me fell in love with him which I have Kirby's exceptional skill of making the thought and theory of a character be so real.

Finn's "last wish" wasn't really his last wish. He'd sent Honor a letter that arrived months late with his last words being that he wanted her to tell Kyra Kelly about him. Now, this Kyra Kelly is a singer and Finn had sent two tickets to her last concert to Honor.

Of course Honor interpreted this as a wish of his she needed to grant to honor him. This, you'll find out within the ten pages or so and I was, frankly, disappointed that Kyra wasn't a girl Finn, perhaps, had had a crush on. At the moment I felt like that would've been a beautiful addition.

Now, let's talk about Rusty; he was meant to be this drop-dead gorgeous, bad boy type. I have to say it took a lot for me to warm up to him. It wasn't that I didn't like him, it was more that the impression of him being this rude, drunken mistake, stuck with me. I kept wondering what he was doing on the trip and why Honor would let him join her.

And oh, Wyatt. I want to ask Kirby more about Wyatt. I want to know her purpose of introducing Honor to sweet, adorable Wyatt and then giving the reader too little of him.

'In Honor' was a nicely realistic, sunset-filled read about coping, letting go, and finding that peace after having lost someone. 'In Honor' isn't a romance but I wanted to put it in that category because of all the nice, affectionate aspects in the book.

(3.5/5)