I wanted to like this book; I really did. A secret heir and a rags-to-riches story set in England… Sounds great, right? “A Most Noble Heir” was written by Susan Anne Mason and published by Bethany House, but apart from a promising premise this story just had too many faults to be truly enjoyable.

The most glaring problems with this story are the numerous scenes and conversations between the central couple that are unquestionably inappropriate for “clean” Christian Historical Fiction. I found them very uncomfortable, and while it was not so indecent that I chose to stop reading (as I have before), I am unable to recommend the book for this reason.

Aside from the glaring issue of content that should remain private between married couples, I found the characters themselves to be hard to relate to and rather two-dimensional. The hero also had some major anger issues that were never really resolved or even addressed much in the story, and overall I did not find him very “noble”.

I do not mean to say the story was wholly unredeemable, however… On the upside, “A Most Noble Heir” was certainly interesting and contained some unexpected (and some pleasantly expected) plot twists, while several of the characters did undergo admirable growth in their faith and moral strength.

In the end, the primary reason I cannot recommend this book is because it does not align with my standards of what should and should not be included in Christian Fiction. The story was interesting, that cannot be denied, and the content was not so bad that I chose to stop reading the story, but it is not one I will keep on my shelf to re-read. Hopefully my thoughts will help you decide if “A Most Noble Heir” is a story you wish to read for yourself… or not.

“Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.”