The Honor Trilogy: Books One, Two, and
Three by J.P Grider
Genre: YA/Fantasy/Paranormal
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: January 24th, 2014
WHAT WOULD YOU RISK TO SAVE THE ONES YOU LOVE?
Honor Stevens feels the pain of
the people around her. She thinks she is sick, that there must be something
wrong with her, until she meets Ethan.
Ethan comes to town to find the
empath that he knows is there. He never counted on falling in love with her.
Now that he has, he regrets telling her what she can do with her gifts. He
knows that with her empathy, using her gifts could cause her death.
Storm is Ethan's morally corrupt
half-brother who has a dark past. But when he meets Honor, he can't help but
fall in love with her as well.
Together, they will fight to stop
a group of evil empaths who are after Honor, as they also try to hide their
gifts from the Government. But...
Who will make the ultimate
sacrifice to save Honor?
A Touch of Honor:
Rating: 6.75/10
Series: A Touch of Honor (The Honor Trilogy #1)
Genre: YA/Fantasy/Paranormal
Publisher: Fated Hearts Publishing
Published: March 13th, 2013
Page Count: 224
Format: Digital Kindle Book
Goodreads Synopsis:
Honor hurts…all the time. The doctors say she’s fine – it’s all in her head. But Honor feels pain. What she doesn’t know is…it’s not her pain– it’s everyone else’s.
Seventeen year-old Honor Stevens is not an ordinary teenager. Sure, she looks like one on the outside…but on the inside, there’s a whole world of pain going on. Honor is an empath. That means she can feel other people’s pain – like that of the girl who is about to be raped in the woods, or the girl who is dying of cancer, or her mom…who is suffering a heart attack. What she doesn’t know is what Ethan Sutherland comes to town to tell her – she can save these people. But at what cost? For every life Honor saves, she knocks years off her own.
When Ethan comes looking for her, he isn’t counting on falling in love. Now that he has, he wishes he hadn’t told her about her abilities. Though he tries his best to talk her out of saving every soul, Ethan loses the battle – Honor’s too nice for her own good.
Then there’s the matter of Ethan’s estranged, morally corrupt half-brother, Storm – he loves Honor too. And because Honor is intrinsically empathic, she’s aware of Storm’s softer side and begins falling for him as well.
When the two brothers are forced to work together against a group of evil empaths who are after Honor, they need to put their differences aside and focus on saving the one girl they both love.
A Touch of Honor is a paranormal love story of a different kind. In a world gone mad with vampires and werewolves, A Touch of Honor tugs at the heartstrings with a girl out to heal the world…one person at a time.
Giveaway:
signed paperback copy of the whole trilogy, open to U.S. residents only AND a $50 Amazon gift card. Open to U.S. and CAN residents only. 
J.P. Grider (1966 – ) born in Paterson, New Jersey as Julianne Pellegrino, was raised in Haledon, New Jersey, the oldest of six siblings. Her love of writing started early in her childhood, when she started writing poetry in-between homework assignments. As part of a school work program as a Journalism major in High School, J.P. Grider worked as a freelance reporter for a local newspaper, writing feature stories about exceptional high-school classmates. She studied Television Production and Film Writing at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, where she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications.
Two of J.P. Grider’s novels have won awards in the Textnovel Writing Contest, with her first published book – Unplugged (A Portrait of a Rock Star) – reaching Semi-finalist position. Though Unplugged is not her first novel written, it is the first to be published. Her second novel, Maybe This Life, published in 2012, was actually her first attempt at writing a novel. After completing the whole manuscript, Grider decided to scrap the whole thing and rewrite Maybe This Life from scratch. In Grider’s opinion, the difference between the two was night and day.
After writing in the Contemporary Romance genre, J.P. wanted to try her hand at the Young Adult Romance genre – the result, The Honor Trilogy.
Always looking to challenge herself, J.P. Grider is now working on writing in the New Adult Romance genre with a novel called Calling California which should release in the Fall of 2014.
My feelings about this book are quite mixed in a semi-good way. We have all read the cliche paranormal romance where the girl finds out she has these magical powers and that she has to save the world from mass destruction on top of dealing with school and choosing between two swoon-worthy guys. I have read so many of those books over the years, but what I do know is that these books have to have some special quality that sets them apart from the others, at least in the beginning. The two aspects of A Touch of Honor I truly enjoyed was what made the book seemingly unique at the beginning, and the quotes. By now, I am pretty sure you're aware that of all literary devices, I value quotes. You can't really blame me, I spent the entire summer of sixth grade pinning quotes on Pinterest. I have come to appreciate the extreme wisdom that comes from quotes that manage to express all my feelings in less than 20 words.
What makes A Touch of Honor unique is how Honor, Ethan, and Storm, the three main characters of the story, are Empaths which means they are extremely empathetic, and can take away other's pain just by touching them, which is where J.P. Grider obviously got the title. A Touch from Honor will bring you back from the dead, and cure any cancer.
But not without a price.
As usual.
With every life she saves, she shortens hers drastically. Basically, she can cure people's cancer, and various ailments that seem unbeatable, but she is killing herself while doing so.
How convenient.
The concept of an Empath is extremely unique, and one that I haven't heard of before. There's been healing in books, and people with extreme compassion, but never something like this. Because of Honor being so compassionate with the ability to heal, that lead to the second reason I liked this book. I probably have two dozen quotes highlighted on my Kindle annotations. I never would have thought a Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy novel would have such good quotes besides, "His touch left a trail of fire," and "We talked about everything and nothing all at the same time."
One of the weird things I love doing is thinking about human ethics, and about God's work. One of the arguments Honor and Ethan have is about using their gift. Of course Ethan plays the annoying over-protective-boyfriend card and wants the two of them to grow old together. Which is a huge challenge when if one of them so much as touches a sick person has their lives shortened. Honor is one word; pure. She is a genuinely good human being (maybe no so human), that truly wants to use her gift for good, despite the consequences (how heroic of her). I am not certain where I stand on the whole God-sending-a-person-to heaven-or-hell thing. But I do wonder about if it is God's plan to save a life or God's plan to end a life. Honor, Ethan, and every other Empath have the power to tip the balance, or carry out God's will...whichever way you want to put it. I'm extremely conflicted with my own opinion, and I would love to hear yours.
"God put us here for a reason, Ethan. To help others. Yes, our lives are cut short, but we are doing God's work." "No," he insists. "It is not God's work to die saving others. It is His work to save them if they should be saved. Otherwise, it is their turn to die."
What comes with being an Empath is the choice to be distant from everyone, and to be isolated so as not to get hurt, or choose to feel pain every day of your life that others would be enduring. It's a tough choice to make. I think that closing your heart up to prevent being hurt is cowardess, but I also know that I probably wouldn't be brave or strong enough endure everything. Honor chooses to keep her heart open, to exude goodness, much to Ethan's dismay. It furthers my respect for the paranormal romance female lead. Usually they seem superficial, like divas, submissive, and all manor of negative character traits. I surprisingly liked Honor a lot because she was smart, independent, compassionate, and of course, empathetic.
"I've had eighteen years to get over that. You're just realizing what you're feeling - you'll learn to close your heart eventually."What I wasn't the biggest fan of in A Touch of Honor was the plot and the romance. The plot leaned onto the cliche side, and the love triangle was basically helpless Honor that needed to choose between nearly-identical brother hunks; Storm and Ethan. Nevertheless, I was able to stick with the book. It exceeded my expectations, and stood out among the thousands of paranormal romance novels. This book is fun, quick read that you're sure to love. I will be reading the sequel, A Man of Honor.
"It's not so easy," he laments, "but you need to fell the connection...between the pain, your brain...and your heart." Nodding my head, I lean my head against his chest - embracing the thundering heart beneath his chest...wondering, is it his passion? Or a reflection of mine?
"My natural inclination, now that I know what I'm capable of, is to take away her hurt, but I don't concentrate on that. My intention now is to show kindness and compassion...so that she may learn to do the same."
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