Going off schedule for a while. Sorry guys. 🙂
Title: A Constant Heart
Author: Siri Mitchell
Series: Against All Expectations, #1
Genre: Historical Romance (with Christian themes)
Age-Range: 14+ (mature teens and adult)
Era: late 1500s/Elizabethan
Setting: England
Publisher: Bethany House
Source: bought (with birthday money) on Kindle!
Rating: 4/5 stars
Content: 3/5. This is so hard to describe. There was sexual content, but nothing (not even kisses) was described! However, this is an arranged marriage story set during Elizabethan times. If you’ve studied that era … well, it was crude and people were … painfully honest about the marriage bed, etc. So … ask your parents, I suppose. It depends on the teen’s maturity level. No violence or cussing.
Cover: 3/5. That … is an interesting pose. And I’ve never loved when the author’s name is bigger than the title. But otherwise, good!
A Constant Heart by Siri Mitchell
What Is the Cost of Love and Beauty?
Marget Barnardsen has always been fortunate. She was born with the face of an angel. Her father is a knight, and a small fortune has been lavished upon her. And now she is to be married to an earl. Her security is fixed, her destiny guaranteed. At least, she hopes.
The Earl of Lytham has already been married once. But the beautiful woman only left him with a broken heart and the bitter taste of betrayal. Now, his only demand of Marget is that she help him win favor with the Queen.
But when Marget’s introduction to court is met with the jealous queen’s wrath, the young bride fears she’s lost her husband forever. Desperate to honor him, she’ll risk everything by doing whatever it takes to recapture the heart of a man bound to the Queen in a world where love is the only forbidden luxury.
Buy on Amazon ~ Add on Goodreads
AAAAAAH MY FEELINGS ARE SO MIXED UP HOW CAN I EVER DECIDE ON THE RATING OR WHAT TO WRITE IN THIS REVIEW OR ANYTHING?!?!?!
I guess I’ll just go with 4 stars. I mean, in some ways it’s a five star book, but in others it’s a three, so … there you go.
Okay, let’s see … rushed ending. No epilogue (what the what? How do I know if? … and if? … etc.) The rest of the story was pretty good.
The content is probably not best for younger teens. In fact, I’d maybe say “PG-13” would be a good rating for this book because of sexual content. However, it wasn’t the kind of sexual content that bugs me a lot. I know that sounds weird and not very godly … but what I mean is, they didn’t describe kisses or anything else in detail. In fact, they didn’t really describe it at all.
But … guys, it’s the Elizabethan era. If you’ve studied it, it’s just so immoral! Sex was used as a tool to manipulate people. Virgin Queen. *quiet laughter* So yeah. I was prepared for that, though, and wasn’t too surprised. I think it was handle relatively tastefully while still staying true to the era.
Anyway, the historical research seemed pretty impeccable to me. I really got immersed in the era. I just finished studying it for school, actually. 🙂
So. Loved the characters. Although they were so stubborn. Usually their back-and-forth-ness didn’t last too long, though.
Overall, I will read it again, but probably not for a while. It’s a lot to take in! It got me so emotional! I should have listened to Lady D’Winter. “There can be no love in court except for the Queen.”
~Kellyn Roth
