A Constant Heart

Title: A CONSTANT HEART
Author: Siri Mitchell
Publisher: Bethany House
2008
ISBN: 978-0-7642-0431-9
Genre: Inspirational/historical

Marget has been groomed for marriage to an Earl ever since she was five years old. And now, the time was approaching way too quickly. Who is the man she was promised to? Is he young or old? Will she be happy? Will he? Full of questions, she shares her concerns with her best friend, Joan, but Joan has no answers, except how can he not like Marget?

Simon St. Aubin, Earl of Lytham, is impatient. He had a disastrous first marriage that ended up annulled, and could hardly be bothered with a new bride, even though he’s happy that the father has agreed to the terms of the marriage. His only desire is to get his hands on his bride’s dowry so he can regain what is rightfully his.

The Earl is shocked to find that his intended bride is beautiful. He’d planned on marrying a horse-faced girl, one so ugly that he could safely hide her away and not deal with her. After one night, Marget is scared of the Earl. Is there any hope at all of her finding happiness?

A CONSTANT HEART is the first historical I’ve read by Siri Mitchell. I loved her contemporaries, and they did seem to flow much better than this book. It starts out a bit awkwardly, but by the time the marriage night is over I’m hooked and I want to see where the book will go, what will happen, and I hope that these two characters will find a happy ending.

Marget’s point of view is in first person, and the dominant story. The Earl’s portion is told in third person, but it doesn’t distract from the telling of the tale. I fell in love with the Earl’s right hand man, Nicholas. He was a sweetheart from the beginning of the book.
Fans of historical fiction will not want to miss A CONSTANT HEART. 384 pages. $13.99.