A Beauty So Rare (A Belmont Mansion Novel)
*Starred Review* After Eleanor Braddock’s brother is killed fighting for the South, and her father is institutionalized, she has no choice but to move into Belmont Mansion with her aunt, Adelicia Acklen, the richest woman in America. Adelicia is obsessed with finding a proper husband for her too-tall spinster niece and insists that Eleanor conform to society expectations. But Eleanor, who volunteered on the battlefields of the Civil War, feels called to establish a home for war widows and their children. Marcus Geoffrey is in Nashville to enjoy a respite from his duties and dabble in some plant breeding, and Adelicia has given him permission to perform his experiments in her greenhouse. When Eleanor has a run-in with Marcus, she has no idea that he is an archduke from the House of Habsburg, second in line to the Austrian throne, and under orders to marry Baroness Maria Elizabeth Albrecht von Haas. As Marcus and Eleanor strive for freedom from others’ demands, they grow close despite overwhelming odds. Alexander’s (Within My Heart, 2010) exquisitely written historical tale is filled with unforgettable characters, a romance that seems hopeless, and a close-up look at the aftermath of a war that nearly destroyed the country. --Shelley Mosley