Book Review: "Honour Among All" by Vivian Kay

Book Review: "Honour Among All" by Vivian Kay 

Genre: Contemporary Christian Fiction

Rating: 4 (out of 5) Stars

I read a copy of Vivian Kay's book, "Honour Among All" and I have to admit, it gave me a lot of food for thought. I had to read it one more time before I felt like I understood a lot of the complex issues the story was dealing with. It's a Christian fiction novella so it was written with Christian themes. The main premise of the book was about swinging (wife swapping) in the Christian community, but it was also much more than that. For me, one of the main issues was: how do we interpret God's word? Do we follow it to the letter, or do we twist it to fit our own agenda?

The story centres around Ladi and Moni, a Christian couple who have been married for about nineteen years, and they have a teenage daughter. As someone who is married myself, I dread that phase that is sometimes seen as inevitable in a marriage: when the excitement of the newly-wed stage goes away, when the couple are no longer spending time together, when pressures of career and raising children become the priority, when life gets in the way, etc and the whole thing fizzles out and starts to feel like a relationship of convenience rather than a fulfilling lifelong partnership. I get that, I really do. That keeps me on my toes because I never want to end up feeling like I lost the plot in my marriage. So I really empathise with Moni in this story. Her marriage is in trouble. Her husband had an affair. She's struggling to forgive him. Their anger and bitterness towards each other is affecting their daughter. There's no more trust, and pretty soon, other unresolved issues pile up until they are at breaking point.

Enter Ladi's friend, Debo who introduces him to swinging, promising him that it is fun, harmless and a marriage-saver. Apparently, swinging works for him and his wife, Adele. He convinces Ladi to give it a try. Ladi, who is desperate and bored, quickly agrees to it, but then straight-laced Moni (who only ever dated one guy her whole life) is reluctant and not easily convinced by it. Ladi practically had to manipulate and bully her into going along with the idea.

You'll have to read the book to find out how the story goes. But I have to say that I applaud Vivian Kay for bringing this issue up. I never knew it existed in Christian circles and I found it hard to believe that people could justify their lifestyles because apparently "God has more important things to worry about, than who we are sleeping with." Really?

I must also commend the author on the way she handled Moni's own issues, because she's not completely innocent either. Thankfully she had a wise mum that she could run to, who called her out and gave her advice when she needed help.

Vivian Kay handles all the different issues deftly and with maturity. The book is not longer than it needs to be, and the reader is reminded that all our actions have consequences, not just for us, but also for our loved ones. Highly recommended.

To purchase a copy of "Honour Among All", go to:
Amazon (Kindle) or
Barnes & Noble (Nook) or
Kobo

Vivian Kay is a debut Christian author weaving stories in Canada's banana belt. When she is not writing or daydreaming about writing, she's cooking, playing scrabble or snuggling up with a good book. Vivian loves to hear from her readers so please stop by at http://viviankay.wordpress.com/ or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VivianKayAuthor or on Twitter: https://twitter.com/VivianKayAuthor