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By Honor Bound
Honneure Mansart, orphaned child of a lowly servant, never dreamed that she would one day find herself at the glittering palace of Versailles as a servant to the young and lovely Marie Antoinette, future Queen of France. Nor could she have imagined the love of her life would turn out to be her beloved foster brother Phillipe, who also served the young princess. Their lives were golden.But the young princess, Antoinette, has a mortal enemy in Madame du Barry, the aging king's mistress. And Honneure has a rival for Phillipe, a servant in du Barry's entourage. Together the women scheme to destroy both Antoinette and Honneure. Then Louis the XV dies, and his grandson inherits the throne. Marie Antoinette becomes the Queen of France.Honneure and Phillipe, their lives inextricably entwined with those of the king and queen, find a second chance together. Yet as France's political climate overheats, sadness and tragedy stalk both couples once again . . . tragedy, and a terrible secret that might lead Honneure to the guillotine in the footsteps of her queen.
469 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2003
7 people are currently reading
385 people want to read
About the author
Helen Rich
16 books24 followersHelen Rich is the founder and CEO of Medallion/Crixeo an award winning publishing house and media company based in Aurora, IL. Helen is also the founder of On The Wings Of Angels Rescue, a non-profit organization specializing in the rehabilitation and adoption of dogs. She is an award-winning author and an honored sponsor of Triple Threat Mentoring, a not-for-profit organization devoted to helping under-resourced urban youth gain confidence and life skills. She lives on a slightly dusty farm in Florida with a zoo’s worth of rescued or retired critters, including horses, rabbits, dogs, cats, pigs, and chickens. When not running Medallion/Crixeo, writing, or showing horses and dogs, Helen enjoys traveling to exotic locations across the world and rescuing animals across the country.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 20, 2008
Despite the cheesy cover, this is not a standard historical romance. However, it's not up to snuff to classify as historical fiction either. Honneure's mother dies and leaves her orphaned with no other family, and the Monsarts take her in as a foster sister to their son Phillipe, where they all work as servants for Madame Dupin at the Château Chenonceau. Honneure and Phillipe are raised as sister and brother, and their bond only grows stronger as they reach maturity. Phillipe takes a position as groomsman for Marie Antoinette's horses and Honneure also is eventually sent to serve in Marie's household as well. Honneure and Marie become close friends and confidants (!!!) as the intrigues and scandals of the French court threaten their happiness and security. When Honneure and Phillipe finally realize they are more to each other than brother and sister, a rival's jealous plot divides them and Honneure is sent away in marriage to an older man when Louis XV eyes Honneure. Years later, Honneure and Phillipe's happiness is threatened again by the French Revolution, especially the deep dark secret of who fathered Honneure.
OK, I guess that all sounds promising enough. The problem though is that our two main protagonists are separated so much and for so many years, along with very tame love scenes that most romance readers will probably be bored to tears. And those, like me, who want a believable tale of the French Revolution and The Terror, are just not going to find it here. Honneure and Phillipe are mere servants, yet Marie Antoinette takes them into her every confidence and they're treated like members of the family. When Honneure is sent away to marry the old man, she (a servant!!) corresponds with her family and Marie. Honneure can not only read, she can write at a time when only the upper classes had that skill. Better yet, she's always got paper on hand at a period in time where paper was not readily available and quite expensive. Even after three years into The Terror and she's living in a hovel of an apartment she's got quill and paper at hand to send a letter home!! And to top it all off, while I'm not up to snuff on the rule of Louis XVI and Marie, they are just too downright pure, perfect, loving, cost conscious (I think you're getting the picture?) to be real.
All in all, it's really far from the best in either genre. It just doesn't have enough romance and interaction between the two main characters to succeed as a romance and due to the historical inaccuracies it fails quite miserably (IMO) as historical fiction. Two stars.
OK, I guess that all sounds promising enough. The problem though is that our two main protagonists are separated so much and for so many years, along with very tame love scenes that most romance readers will probably be bored to tears. And those, like me, who want a believable tale of the French Revolution and The Terror, are just not going to find it here. Honneure and Phillipe are mere servants, yet Marie Antoinette takes them into her every confidence and they're treated like members of the family. When Honneure is sent away to marry the old man, she (a servant!!) corresponds with her family and Marie. Honneure can not only read, she can write at a time when only the upper classes had that skill. Better yet, she's always got paper on hand at a period in time where paper was not readily available and quite expensive. Even after three years into The Terror and she's living in a hovel of an apartment she's got quill and paper at hand to send a letter home!! And to top it all off, while I'm not up to snuff on the rule of Louis XVI and Marie, they are just too downright pure, perfect, loving, cost conscious (I think you're getting the picture?) to be real.
All in all, it's really far from the best in either genre. It just doesn't have enough romance and interaction between the two main characters to succeed as a romance and due to the historical inaccuracies it fails quite miserably (IMO) as historical fiction. Two stars.
January 17, 2013
BY HONOR BOUND by Helen A. Roseburg is a interesting historical romance set in 1760-1793 France. It is an epic story of love,sacrifice,tragedy, sadness,secrets and devotion. It is based historical facts,fiction with a romance between Marie Antoinette's maid, Honneure Mansart,and Phillipe, Honneure's her foster brother and servant to Marie Antoinette. With France's political climate heating up, both Marie Antoinette and Honneure are in danger. Tragedy stalks both couples.When Honneure's secret surfaces that even Phillipe doesn't know she could face the guillotine just as Queen Marie Antoinette and King Louis XV did. A fight for survival with many a sacrifice including the King and Queen's children, Honneure and Phillipe must hide their own child. A fast paced, sad story that will have you with tissues at your side,as your read this epic story of love and sacrifice. Received for an honest review from the publisher. Details can be found at Medallion Press, the author's website, and My Book Addiction and More.
RATING: 4
HEAT RATING: MILD
REVIEWED BY: AprilR, My Book Addiction and More/My Book Addiction Reviews
RATING: 4
HEAT RATING: MILD
REVIEWED BY: AprilR, My Book Addiction and More/My Book Addiction Reviews
May 25, 2018
I have been trying to read more romance lately. I am also a huge fan of 18th century France and have been on the lookout for books set during the reign of Louis XV, which is where this book begins. Imagine my pleasure upon seeing "By Honor Bound" upon the shelf. "How perfect!" I thought.
And then I began reading.
Although there must have been some research involved in this book, the setting never came to life for me. In fact, now that I think of it, NOTHING came to life for me. The characters are as flat as paper, the good ones so beautiful, so perfect, so noble, so long suffering as to be completely dull. The bad ones act as machinations of the plot-- evil when the story demands it, acting like villains in a soap opera, not like people with their own hopes and fears and goals.
Honneure, the female lead, is by far the worst offender of this Mary Sueism, but Marie Antoinette, whom she serves, is also depicted as being kindly to an unlikely degree. I just do not buy that the class structures of 18th century France would ever permit a queen-- the most notorious French queen in history-- to be best friends with her servant. But whatever, none of the characters were 3 dimensional anyways, so why not.
Moving on, Honneure has the hots for her adopted brother, Philipe. Ok, look, I know they aren't like blood relations. But this girl grew up with him since she was like 7 or something. She calls him "my brother." He calls her "sister." Um, no thanks. Maybe you could fool me with this one if they spent a lot of time apart growing up, or if they didn't endlessly refer to each other as family or talk about their shared parents. But they do. It's weird. And not in a fun way.
Add to all of this that the writing is extremely boring and that the plot plods along at a snail's pace. I did not buy the heat between the two leads, especially with this weird faux incest stuff. Literally any of the characters could have died at any point in the story and I would not have cared at all. I was literally praying for the French Revolution to start and put and end to the tedium. So I said adieu to this book before finishing it. Read at your own risk (of boredom).
And then I began reading.
Although there must have been some research involved in this book, the setting never came to life for me. In fact, now that I think of it, NOTHING came to life for me. The characters are as flat as paper, the good ones so beautiful, so perfect, so noble, so long suffering as to be completely dull. The bad ones act as machinations of the plot-- evil when the story demands it, acting like villains in a soap opera, not like people with their own hopes and fears and goals.
Honneure, the female lead, is by far the worst offender of this Mary Sueism, but Marie Antoinette, whom she serves, is also depicted as being kindly to an unlikely degree. I just do not buy that the class structures of 18th century France would ever permit a queen-- the most notorious French queen in history-- to be best friends with her servant. But whatever, none of the characters were 3 dimensional anyways, so why not.
Moving on, Honneure has the hots for her adopted brother, Philipe. Ok, look, I know they aren't like blood relations. But this girl grew up with him since she was like 7 or something. She calls him "my brother." He calls her "sister." Um, no thanks. Maybe you could fool me with this one if they spent a lot of time apart growing up, or if they didn't endlessly refer to each other as family or talk about their shared parents. But they do. It's weird. And not in a fun way.
Add to all of this that the writing is extremely boring and that the plot plods along at a snail's pace. I did not buy the heat between the two leads, especially with this weird faux incest stuff. Literally any of the characters could have died at any point in the story and I would not have cared at all. I was literally praying for the French Revolution to start and put and end to the tedium. So I said adieu to this book before finishing it. Read at your own risk (of boredom).
February 27, 2013
This is a love story and not just romantic love. It was weird for me to in the beginning with the foster brother and sister falling in love and eventually getting married. If you can overlook that it is a great love story. This story deals with love among parent child, siblings, family, friends, master servant and, ruler country and towards the end deals with Marie Antoinette, France, and her family.
August 20, 2013
I'm not big on history, I think I might have got this on Amazon because it was free or really cheap for Kindle. I'm glad I did though. Told from a different point of view, the rise and fall of the King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette is chronicled intertwined with a love story for the ages. I really enjoyed this. So much so, I think, that I plan on actually learning a bit about that period of time in France...since I slept through world history >.<
March 2, 2013
Excellent book. Kept my interest all the way through the book. Never a dull moment.
April 4, 2013
Good enough to read. Surprisingly, ended on a happy note.
May 6, 2016
Surprisingly captivating
A great historical fiction piece with some added drama because of the history. Love and honor conquer all. Recommend this book
A great historical fiction piece with some added drama because of the history. Love and honor conquer all. Recommend this book
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews