In Honor (Jessi Kirby)

Title: In Honor

Author: Jessi Kirby

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Length: 235

Rating: 4/5

Three days after she learns that her brother, Finn, died serving in Iraq, Honor receives a letter from him asking her to drive his car from Texas to California for a concert. And when his estranged best friend, Rusty, shows up suddenly and offers to accompany her, they set off on a road trip that reveals much about all three of them.

This book is the perfect road trip read. It’s poignant and fun and ultimately adorable. You will inhale it and wish there was more (and then maybe book your own road trip- that’s what I did!). I loved that this book wasn’t just about a boy and a girl, thrown together and voila: romantic tension. It was about Honor’s relationship with her brother, and Rusty’s relationship with Honor’s brother, and eventually, the relationship between all of them.

Honor, who skips college orientation to fulfill what she thinks is her brother’s dying wish, is just at the right age to really discover who she is, and this book is all about that discovery. Rusty is a bit of a disaster after falling out with his best friend, and then losing him, and he is the perfect foil to Honor, who think she has her life perfectly together. And don’t worry, there is plenty of swooning over Rusty to be done by the reader- who can resist a mess of a Texas gentleman?

The only reason this book didn’t make it all the way to five stars, is that there were a few clichéd things in the beginning of the book that made it hard to get into the story. The start of the road trip was a little too similar to the start of any Supernatural episode (car and soundtrack included). And I’m pretty sure Kyra Kelley (the girl whose concert they’re going to see) was just a stand-in for Taylor Swift. But maybe I’ve just spent too much time listening to Taylor Swift. Let me know if you thought differently!

In the end, this book made me cry, and laugh, and feel along with Honor, and I would definitely recommend it.