Anne Stuart switches things up a bit here and goes for a hero with a conscience. Restraint and self-denial is the name of the game in Hidden Honor, and I can’t say it’s all that successful. Peter is a former knight of the crusades, and has been a monk for the seven years since he’s returned to England, having given up the ways of the world and all its fleshy temptations in a surfeit of guilt and penance for the sins he committed and witnessed in the Holy lands. It’s a fairly familiar story for a medieval hero – except for the becoming a monk part. I was impressed that Peter was actually tonsured in the book. So he’s at least superficially credible as a monk, and his religious devotion, his repentance seem sincere. All the same I just wasn’t drawn to him, and his character fell kind of flat for me. He ended up being moody and mysterious, but not that interesting.

But my lack of enthusiasm for the hero is nothing compared to my disgust of the heroine. Elizabeth of Bredon is annoying to put it mildly. All she does is moan about how ugly she is and constantly protest that the hero could never ever EVER be interested in someone as tall and clever and outspoken as she – even when he stares at her in THAT way and sticks his tongue down her throat and all other sorts of hanky panky stuff. That doesn’t mean she’s attractive. It’s just impossible. It’s inconceivable! It’s disingenuous is what it is, and tries my patience with every page. And believe me, her alleged physical shortcomings are brought up on practically every page. It detracted and distracted from the romance, and ruined the book for me. And I’m not overacting, I swear. The book is obsessed about how tall the girl is. It’s very weird.

As for what little romance is able to be squeezed in in between the exaggerated despair over Elizabeth’s height, it’s not that credible because most of the time Elizabeth, when she’s not acting like an idiot, is under the impression that the hero is someone else. He’s involved in an elaborate deception in which he has to pretend to be the Evil Prince William and the Evil Prince William has to pretend to be an angelic monk as Peter escorts the Evil Prince to a convent to do penance for killing someone (the Evil Prince, not Peter, killed someone that is.) Because William is such an evil bastard, Peter is his bodyguard and is there to make sure no one tries to kill William in revenge. They pick up Elizabeth on the way, because she’s going to be joining the convent herself. Peter keeps her in the dark the whole time, so the basis of their relationship is shaky at best. Not even Peter’s tortured resistance to his forbidden attraction to Elizabeth could move me – and he does try so hard to resist. His immortal soul is at stake, after all. Hidden Honor just didn’t work for me. It was not a fun read. ( )

The first word that comes to my mind is, “bravo”. Anne Stuart does a terrific job with Hidden Honor. The plotting is exceptional in its detail and consistency. Stuart reveals layer after layer of the most well written observations and insights you will find anywhere.

The story and the characters are highly developed. Elizabeth of Bredon is too tall and too red-headed, according to the male members of her family. She decides that men aren’t worth her trouble and makes the decision to join a convent. The “Dark Prince”, is an enigma with his complex, tortured soul and knowing smirk. He is on his way to the same convent, along with his entourage; apparently to do penance for various debauchery crimes, not the least of which is murder. Elizabeth finds him to be annoying but does not believe he is truly evil, despite what others say. Their back and forth banter is hilarious as they size one another up. Elizabeth would rather spend time with the beautifully sweet and less annoying Brother Matthew; or so she tries to convince herself. Suddenly the entourage is slaughtered by a hacking army and all hell breaks loose. Elizabeth’s reality is lost in a whirlwind of shattered emotions.

It’s hard to describe all the action without giving away the plot. Read this book! Basically, you have a heroine with the most unbelievable lack of self-confidence. There is the hero, who carries with him the most profound guilt imaginable. Then we have the villain who encompasses the most vitriol hatred and jealously I've ever come across.

Secondary characters take the novel to an even higher level. Dame Johanna is wonderful. She takes us on her own journey of discovery. Brother Adrian watches, waits and loves. He is the sweetest thing. Even the nuns show humility and good humor.

This book is all about perceptions, intuition, guilt, acceptance, sensuality and most of all love. Hidden Honor is pure romance. ( )

Take a feisty redhead who is continuously told that she's too thin, too red-headed, and too tall to be beautiful, and whose father used to mistreat her (until she discovered a combination of herbs that calmed him down) called Elizabeth of Bredon. Have her plan to go to a convent. Add in a Prince renowned for his wickedness, rumoured to have killed some women with his methods. Have the two of them head in the same direction. Add in some secrets and lies.

Yeah, it's pretty predictable, and there are times when it could have been more tightly edited but it's quite readable and I really enjoyed the characters.