"A Beauty So Rare" by Tamera Alexander

A Beauty So Rare (Apr. 1, 2014) by Tamera Alexander.*

One might as well declare Eleanor Braddock an “old maid.” About to turn 30, she has no marriage prospects, and even if she did, she has no dowry. She may turn heads because of her height, but she’s no Southern Belle beauty. Eleanor is plain and practical, and that suits her just fine. She’s been through a war (American Civil War) as a field hospital volunteer, but still has her own battles to fight. Her father, a renowned attorney, is ailing, which prompts Eleanor to move him to [what was then called] an insane asylum. It is costly, and Eleanor is all-but-destitute, even as she takes temporary residence with her aunt, Adelicia Acklen Cheatham, the richest woman in America. As much as Adelicia loves the finer things in her life, she also believes in being charitable toward the less fortunate, though it doesn’t extend far enough that she’d be okay with Eleanor being a cook, yet that is what Eleanor wants. Or so she thinks.

            Marcus Geoffrey, hailing from Austria, likes living the life he wants to in Nashville. Nashville isn’t permanent, though. Come next summer, he’ll have to return to his homeland to fulfill his royal duties as Archduke Gerhard Marcus Gottfried von Habsburg. No one in Nashville knows of his royal bloodline. There, he’s simply an architect with a passion for botany. He’s a pretty good under gardener, too. His passion for creating beautiful landscapes and architecture from nature clash with Eleanor’s sensible ways. He’s never been attracted to someone like Eleanor, yet he finds he values her friendship. He values her. But Eleanor is wary of handsome men like Marcus, because men like that can’t see past physical plainness to appreciate inner beauty. Can they?

            Tamera Alexander writes a lovely Christian historical fiction story of the upper crust and those down on their luck, cautious love and adamant denial of, euphoria and heartache. Alexander’s “A Beauty So Rare” is a tale of status, expectation, battle (though not necessarily in the context of war) and taking the time to hear God. It’s a tale of hope amidst darkness. This was the first book I’ve read by Alexander, and I enjoyed its charm and how much I connected with it, even if I did feel like it was one hundred pages too long.

            I appreciated the character of Eleanor Braddock because she’s like most women in the sense that she feels plain over beautiful. I’m also a woman in her age group, and while I don’t have the pressure to marry and settle down that she has on her from her aunt, I understand some of the chatter that goes along with being single “at my age.” And I will admit that I did like the character of Marcus Geoffrey. Although I accept my probable single-for-life-ness, that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate a good-looking fictional character that is of good character!

* Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions are expressly my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”