SPFBO Review: The Honorable Con by Michele C. Shaw

Moving right along!! Today’s finalist review is for The Honorable Con by Michele C. Shaw!

Ailyanna was one good con away from her ticket East and escape from the looming war, and instead she’s locked in the palace dungeon staring at a lifetime sentence. You scam one prince and suddenly you’re the captain of the constable’s personal obsession.

While Captain Kresta would love for Ailyanna to rot in that cell forever, she cannot ignore the reality. To the North, the invasion of the magical empire Lamore creeps ever closer, and civil war threatens to tear her home apart before they can hope to defend themselves. Kresta must squash a duke’s treasonous plans, and to do so, she must release the thief she spent years tracking down. Through gritted teeth, Kresta offers Ailyanna a royal pardon, and her precious ticket East. Used to working alone, Ailyanna’s saddled with weapon obsessed twins, a locksmith too handsome for his own good, and the captain who’s promised to chase her to the ends of the earth.

Ailyanna needs that ticket to keep escaping Fate, but time is ticking, and the past never forgets.

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The Honorable Con is the story of Ailyanna, a con artist who gets captured and jailed by Captain Kresta. While Kresta would love for Ailyanna to stay in jail forever, the kingdom needs her help. In order to protect themselves from a looming war coming from the magical empire of Lamore, they will first need to avoid having a civil war on their hands. Kresta needs Ailyanna to con the duke and prevent him from the treasonous plans he has. Kresta puts together a team for this mission, consisting of herself, Ailyanna, a magical pair of Lamorian twins, a locksmith, and one of her constables. Ailyanna usually works alone, but this is her only chance to get away from the impending war, and her past.

I had a bit of trouble getting into this one. I think my main problem was that I was never a fan of Ailyanna or Kresta, and the story is told from their points of view. Every chapter starts with a little clip that shows part of their past, and they did give a bit of backstory for both characters but didn’t do much to make me like them, unfortunately.

It’s a fairly short book, and it reads easily, so despite not really jiving with the characters, I still read it in a couple of days. I didn’t dislike the book by any stretch of the imagination, but I didn’t love it as much as I was hoping to. I was anticipating more conning and less political maneuvering, but we don’t always get what we want I guess, lol.

All told, while I can see why people liked this book, I think it just wasn’t for me. It is my least favorite of the finalists so far, but historically, people have loved some of my least favorite finalists, so I’d recommend this one to people who like political intrigue. 6.5/10 stars.

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