A review by gloriamontagov
Above All, Honor by Radclyffe
2.75
➥ 2.75 Stars *:･ﾟ✧
Cam leaned back, a soft smile on her lips. "Then it appears we have a problem, Ms. Powell. If I can't guard you, what excuse do I have to be with you?"
Blair took a deep breath. "How about because you love me?"
She kissed Blair gently on the forehead, and whispered, "Well, there is that."
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Kelly look away 😞💘. Sadly, I wasn't quite blown away by Above all, Honor, the first book I've read by this author. But, I consider that this was written in 2001 and that I saw someone say that this author's other books are far better. So, although I didn't adore this one, I'm still looking forward to reading more of this author's work.
The premise was strong. Cameron (h), a serious no bullshit bodyguard gets assigned to Blair (h), the daughter of the president of the USA, who promiscuously escapes her protection and goes to gay bars.
The writing was blunt and simple, I like it that way. But the actual development of the romance lacked. These women have had maximum 7 conversations by the end of this novel, and I think that was the main issue. Up until 40%, these women have not spoken seriously once. It was only that Blair had started to make sexual advances on Cameron, but I unfortunately found those to be quite jarring and out of place. For example, a led to b and they were fighting in a ring, Blair mainly attacking and Cameron mainly deflecting, and Cameron does an attack that lands Blair on the floor. Blair convinces Cameron to teach her how to do it, but after she does, she shoves her knee between Cameron's while there are MEN WATCHING. Keep in mind that these women don't know anything about the other. I feel that, if this had been more of a private moment, and it had been once they'd known each other better and could mess with each other a little, it could have been really good, but since I hadn't seen these characters developing their feelings for the other, I couldn't really root for them. Instead, the advances seemed random, ineffective and not really romantic.
What goes hand in hand with that is the lack of intimacy and vulnerability. There are about 3 times where Blair says "thank you" sincerely and supposedly vulnerably, but that's all we get in terms of the characters softening for each other. I was waiting for there to be a moment of high stakes, where they were seriously worried for the other, or where one broke down and the other listened to her patiently. And there were hints of that going to happen, but it never felt fully developed to where it actually felt like the relationship between them was growing. Although the featured quote is cute (the cutest I could find), I was pretty shocked when it was said because I didn't see them being at the "I love you" stage at all. I think that, in this book, Radclyffe failed to really show emotional connection and development of feelings. Sometimes, Cameron would say that Blair was so beautiful that she was attracted to her more than sexually. But then...what? Emotionally? Because that's unfortunately not evidenced at all.
There was one moment that got near to what I'd wanted, where they were both tired and the slept with their head on each other's shoulders while on a private jet and they woke up in a bit more disarray and comfort than usual. But even that moment wasn't lingered upon enough to make significant.
The third person narrative was another slightly jarring aspect of this book, because it was sort of omniscient? It would swish from perspective to perspective but it was hard to know who's? Sometimes we were in a side character's voice while they observed the two women interacting, but these changes were not smooth and clear enough.
Blair was an incredibly underdeveloped character. Her struggles are hinted at but we never see an exploration of what she goes through. Her voice, when we're in it, was shallow. Similar to Cameron, as we are told Cameron has had to grieve the loss of her lover but we don't see her talk it out with Blair or process her emotions in general. It's like it was just a fact added to her character profile.
Also, Blair's sleeping around started to seriously rub me the wrong way. I understand that as the presidents daughter, she couldn't do much. But in her acquisition of her "conquests" she would be sort of malevolent about it. It just made me uncomfortable, but maybe that's just me. She spoke about wanting to humble young butches? Because that was apparently really satisfying? When reading the sex scenes between her and her conquests, there's just such a lack of respect and care, which I found to be quite alarming. One time, Blair ties one of the said butches up with ties. And that's. Fine. I guess? But there wasn't any emphasis placed on consent at all and it felt as though the women she was with had just been naive and clueless about what she was going to do to them. Which was especially strange when she would continuously imagine they were Cameron? I just think having sex with a person and imagining them as someone else is seriously low.
And, this encounter had been when Cameron and Blair's relationship had become slightly (!) more established, at the 75% mark. So it was really jarring to read about her having sex with a stranger (again) while entwined with Cameron.
At the end, Blair gets really worried about Cameron, though I won't spoil why, and that's presented as being the epitome of love, or at least her realisation. But, that should have just been the start, in my opinion. Hoping that someone doesn't die is not a strong determinant of true love.
Overall, although the premise was strong and this author has clear potential, the romantic element was so severely lacking, in ways that even bad romances still achieve sometimes. So, hopefully her other books are better, because (if I'm not wrong) this was one of her first.
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