Anything new from Mimi Matthews is reason to celebrate, and Fair as a Star might be her most accomplished yet. It's a simple story of a young woman preparing for her marriage — or so it seems. Because Beryl Burnham, despite her engagement to the wealthy Sir Henry Rivenhall, is hardly as happy as someone in her enviable position should be. She is back from Paris with little to worry her but her upcoming nuptials. Slowly, peeling back the story in a delicious manner, we begin to understand that Beryl's life is more complicated than it appears. The trip to Paris was not a pleasure jaunt. Sir Henry is a fine man, but what about his younger brother, Mark, the local curate? Through this love story, Matthews takes the reader through an understanding of the complexities of depression and the attitudes toward it in the Victorian Age (surprisingly, not as different as we might think). We see a hero who is determined to act with honor but who struggles to see where that honor will lie. He is the spouse everyone must want — someone who loves his partner as is, not to fix, mend or otherwise improve, but to support. It is a really moving love story, one in which the characters are not at odds, don't have silly misunderstandings and act with good sense even as they struggle to find their way. It is testament to her skill as a writer that she resolves the love story with no betrayal or bitterness. This is a story that will stay with you, and be read again. (I received an ARC from NetGalley. Opinions mine.)

Mimi Matthews is one of my favorite authors. Her books are full of characters who draw me in and make me care about them. They are often vulnerable, have experienced pain or heartache, but they are never bitter or selfish. They are worthy of respect and admiration for their goodness.

Beryl and Mark have been friends (and soul mates) for years. They both want to do the right thing, and thus have made sacrifices to please their families. It was sad to feel the pain and secret love they shared, but it kept me engaged to find out if and how they would get together. I love that it happened without hurting those they loved.

The setting and historical details are lovely. The secondary characters were well developed, even though it was a short book. I enjoyed every minute of this book!
#FairasaStar #NetGalley

This is a gentle love story. It surprised me at first, because Mimi Matthews is quite capable of riveting the reader from the first sentence. She didn't do that here. Instead, the reader edges into the story. It is low key from beginning to end, and about a fourth of the way in, I begin to appreciate what she was doing. Not to give away too many spoilers, the heroine's experience of life is blunted. This was especially apparent in scenes where her polar opposite sister, horse mad, impetuous, and passionate in everything, appears.

This is a surprisingly deep story. It turns out that the heroine has some serious problems to overcome. She and her affianced husband, Sir Henry, are not a good match. Her mother and sister's futures depend on her marrying well. She is much more comfortable with Sir Henry's youngest brother, the curate in the village church, than with Sir Henry, who is obsessed with managing his estates and has little interest in Beryl. I fell in love with Mark, the curate, who is strong, compassionate, unselfish and that rarest of things - a good listener. I was happy to see Sir Henry come through for his brother at the end of the book.

I am sincerely hoping that Beryl's headstrong, horse mad sister Winnie gets her own book, and also would love to see Sir Henry find someone who will shake him up. He reminded me a little of starchy Wuldric from Mary Balogh's Bedwyn series.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book. This is my honest opinion of the book.

With each and every Mimi Matthews story that I read, I am more impressed with her writing. I am generally not a huge fan of novellas because I always want more and they always seem too quick - the romance, the conflict - everything. While Fair as a Star is a novella, it did not read like a one. It had so much more depth and emotion than what you would normally find. I mean I did want more when it was done, but I was also completely satisfied.

Oh my - Mark - moral, upright, kind, understanding, patient, do you get where I’m going here? What a wonderful character! I also really liked Beryl. I loved her strength and her depth. Beryl suffered from depression and I loved how Ms. Mathews handled this subject.

Don’t miss this wonderfully written romance or any other Mimi Mathews stories! They are all excellent!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

DEEP HISTORICAL ROMANCE FOCUSED ON MENTAL HEALTH

Now. I read a lot of Historical Romance okay. Like. A lot. So I think I am allowed to say that often, HR isn't all that deep. It's a lot of romance (maybe even some erotica) perhaps a bad childhood or two. But never before have I read an HR novel that featured mental health so prominently. And I loved it. I myself suffer from depression and anxiety. Mental health is underrepresented in most genres, so it was nice to see it spotlighted in HR.

👍 WHAT I LIKED 👍

Mark: When you suffer from mental health problems, all you really want is for someone to accept you as you are. Not someone who tries to fix you or cure you - just someone who accepts your good as well as your difficult sides. Mark was just such a man. Gentle, understanding, caring and supportive. Perfect hero for this book.

Beryl: Like I said earlier on, I myself have mental health issues and I actually saw a lot of myself in Beryl. She tried so hard to be 'right', to be what she thought everyone wanted her to be. I related to her and her struggles and I think many others, who suffer from mental health issues will be able to do the same.

Mental health: We need more focus on mental health in all genres and I sincerely hope this catches on in more HR novels. It gave the genre a new depth that I had been longing for.

Fair as a Star by Mimi Matthews is an excellent historical fiction romance that was stunning from beginning to end.

Set in the the 1860s countryside England, we are introduced to many characters within a small, local village. Here we get to experience the very awkward and difficult dilemma between brothers Henry and Mark and a woman that both are interested in: beautiful,complicated, and golden Beryl, albeit for different reasons. All have their own difficulties and secrets that they are each grappling with, and it all comes to a head, and yet also a beautifully satisfying resolution and conclusion by the end.

Getting to experience the alternating thoughts of Mark and Beryl, the reader feels as if they are actually there amongst the blossoms and the summertime breeze of the village. The author created such beautiful visions of landscapes, and also brought forth such forces of emotions that at times rendered me nervous, excited, saddened, but ultimately happy. I loved the growth of the characters involved, and I loved Mark and Beryl, faults and all.

Such a beautiful and heartwarming story about love, sacrifice, faith, loss, acceptance, forgiveness, duty, loyalty, and also mental illness.

Such a wonderful book.

5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Perfectly Proper Press for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon and B&N accounts upon publication.

This is my first book that I have had the privilege to read by this author, and it has made me most certainly a huge fan!

“I like things that change into other things...that have the ability to transform into something beautiful.”

A sweet, eloquent romance from Mimi Matthews! I discovered Matthews’ books a few months ago, and I have thoroughly enjoyed them all. Fair as a Star already holds a special place in my heart, as it discusses mental illness, specifically depression, in an era when those illnesses were not understood. There were times where I was angry while reading this story, but I also experienced moments of great hope. Mark is a wonderful, uplifting hero, and Beryl will be a relatable heroine for many readers. Although depression, or “melancholy,” is an important and pervasive element of the novel, Matthews’ sweet and swoony touches of romance are still there. 4.5/5 stars.

Review also posted on: BookBub

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Gossip swirls around the countryside village of Shepton Worthy when Beryl Burnham finally returns from an extended stay in Paris. Dressed in couture dresses by her generous aunt and engaged to Sir Henry, the lord of the local manor, Beryl has nothing but happiness looming in her future. What then could have made a young woman stay away from home for close to a year? (Or was it nine months?) And why is it that she continues to mope about? What could she possibly be running from? And why is it that the only person who seems to understand is Sir Henry's younger brother, the curate?

Mark Rivenhall never yearned to enter the Church, but his compassionate nature makes him a sympathetic friend and a wonderful counselor. When he sees Beryl back in Shepton Worthy, he can barely hide the beating of his heart under his black cassock. Still, it's impossible to be more than a friend to her--older brother Henry has made clear his claim on her. Concealing his affections, Mark determines to find a way to support Beryl in her melancholy, not to "fix" her as so many others seem determined to do, and the first step on his plan is to give the woman a dog... 

This short but perfect novella has an understated hero that is nothing like the alpha males of most romances. Mark Rivenhall is thoughtful, kind, restrained, and yes, romantic. His sincerity and empathy contrast with his brother Henry's callous and calculating nature (and yet Henry is a well-rounded character despite that, as so many of Mimi Matthews' secondary characters are). Mark is the man you rarely meet in the pages of a historical novel, but also the man that you would actually want beside you "for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer." In short, Mark Rivenhall, Victorian curate, is the man real romances are made of. Recommended.


Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Mimi Matthews’ newest Victorian romance, “Fair as a Star” is a little shorter than some of her other novels, but her characters and their emotions and struggles shine through every page perfectly. This is the story of Beryl, a young woman who will shortly marry Sir Henry, the local magistrate and major landowner. She accepts it as a marriage of convenience, believing that making her family happy and doing her duty must be enough. Henry’s younger brother Mark has always loved Beryl, and must now try to Balance his close friendship with Beryl with his duty to his brother.

This is a romance, with two people clearly unsuited for each other and two people who clearly belong together, sorting out what is the ‘right’ thing to do. But it is also a wonderful and touching story about Beryl dealing with acute melancholy and how this effects her relationships with the people around her. Chronic depression wasn’t understood during this time and treatments ranged from quack drugs to asylums. Matthews does a wonderful job of helping readers unfamiliar with chronic depression see its effects on Beryl, the shame she feels about her condition, and how differently her family and Henry treat her- possibly making readers consider their own reaction to people they know with depression. Mark’s instinctive reaction to help Beryl cope instead of trying to ‘cure’ her, his willingness to understand her instead of assuming he knows best, were exactly the kind of supportive actions one would want from a friend, family member, or husband. I thought Matthews did an excellent job of helping readers understand Beryl and also did a wonderful job of naturally letting Beryl accept Mark’s support and begin to fight for what control she has over her own life.

A lovely, well-written romance.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest reviee

I discovered this author earlier this year and so happy I did. Her writing is absolutely exquisite. I have loved every book I've read of hers and still am trying to catch up! This one is a bit shorter than her others, but no less full because of the word count. It deals with a subject that was thought quite odd in Victorian times: clinical depression. Even the 'treatments' at that time would render the sufferer even more pain. I was so impressed with Matthews' handling of this subject. The hero in the story was just completely amazing. I loved this book so much. Highly recommended.

*My thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book via Net Galley. The opinion here is my own.

Fair as a Star by Mimi Matthews is a superb Victorian romance. I’ve been dealing with a bit of depression lately and hit a slight reading slump. The cure for both my depression and reading slump apparently was to read this book! I actually laughed out loud when I got a few pages in and realized that one of the main conflicts in this story is depression. My husband chuckled when I told him and said, “Sounds like the book was written just for you.” Mimi Matthews has no idea who I am, but I do believe that when authors write the stories they do it’s because God has a reader in mind. Fair as a Star was a book God wanted me to read!

There is so much to love about this story. The plot is highly engaging. This is one of those books where you say to yourself, “Just one more chapter. Oh! End of the chapter. I can do one more.” The characters are superbly written. I especially relate to Beryl and her emotional issues. In fact, there are moments in this story where Beryl’s inner dialogue and her confessions felt like deja vu. I know what this character is going through because I’ve been there! I appreciate the historical illustration of how Victorian society felt about depression and the various methods to effect a “cure,” but it is Mark’s strategies for helping Beryl that I truly love. Not only do his strategies show common sense and selflessness, but they also illustrates what a superior hero Mark is in this novel. And ladies, Mark is a superior hero! Boy, did I swoon a few times. Which leads me to what I love the most about this story — the relationship between Mark and Beryl. It’s perfect. They are longtime friends who slowly figure out that they are more. I found their progress from friends to lovers perfectly paced and quite believable.

In roughly 200 pages, Matthews is able to pack quite the punch. She delves into such topics as depression, gossip, faith, societal expectations, friendship, love, and respect. My favorite discussion is in regards to personal flaws. Beryl is very honest about her flaws, but she is a bit presumptuous in that she believes she needs to be flawless in order for someone to love her. She tries so hard to hide the dark side of herself and only show the light side that she runs away from home for one year so no one sees her personal battle. That’s quite an extraordinary length to go to to prevent others from seeing a character flaw! Yes, it is good for us to recognize our sins and shortcomings, and it is excellent of us to try to rectify those issues. But to pretend at perfection is never the answer. Being the “perfect” person we think society, family, and friends want is exhausting. The only being ever to be perfect is Jesus. We can do our best to emulate Him, but we will never be able to be perfect this side of Heaven. If someone cannot accept you for your good AND bad, then that someone isn’t capable of loving you. It’s the one who can accept your bad with your good who is able to illustrate true love. Remember, love covers a multitude of sins. Love doesn’t ever throw your sins in your face. Not only is this a great lesson for Beryl to learn, but it’s a great reminder for us readers, too!

Fair as a Star is a superb novel that I cannot recommend enough. This is another home run by Mimi Matthews; one you won’t want to miss!

I received a copy of this novel in eBook form from Perfectly Proper Press via NetGalley in order to review. I also pre-ordered an eBook copy of this novel from Amazon.com as well. In no way has this influenced my review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Fair as a Star is a gentle, beautiful love story between a troubled young Victorian woman and her childhood friend, a clergyman. Matthews is to be commended for her nuanced handling of what modern doctors would call clinical depression and what the Victorians called melancholy. There is no anachronism in sight, in language or attitudes, and there are some delightful surprises as Matthews subverts the reader’s expectations of certain romantic tropes (I won’t mention them specifically in order to avoid ruining other readers’ enjoyment). This novella is worthy of a Dickens story like The Pickwick Papers, which Matthew’s hero and heroine bond over as youngsters and which the author uses to good effect in her depictions of light and dark (the symbolism works on many levels but is never heavy-handed). At the same time, the different attitudes characters have about mental illness offer much that is relevant in today’s world. With a delicate touch, Matthews offers a timeless parable about loving and accepting others for who they are, flaws and all.

Mimi Mathews is a personal favourite in the historical romance genre. While her stories are romantic, she always presents her characters with real life issues. This novella engages in the subject of mental health or melancholy, an affliction so well understood today but in this period piece an unknown quantity. Her heroine suffers from this affliction and although this is a short book Mathews manages to give us an idea of the difficulties women faced in the Male dominated world of medicine. This book is a lovely story for all that.

This review will appear at All About Romance closer to the release date.

Grade: A

Have you ever finished a romance novel and needed a few moments of quiet reflection before you can rejoin ‘the real world’ again? Time to sit and savor the pleasures of a well written story? If you haven’t - or, if you’re eager to do it again - I recommend you read Fair as a Star. Gentle, tender, poignant and deeply romantic, it’s the best romance I’ve read this year.

After a year’s sojourn in Paris with her Aunt Hortensia, Beryl Burnham is returning to her home in the small village of Shepton Worthy, near Somerset. The year away was meant to help her recover from the periods of melancholy that have plagued her since childhood, but Beryl knows the sadness - the unhappiness - is never far away. She’s anxious about her return and ruminating on whether she’ll ever truly be well again, when she spots the local chapel in the distance. When she spies the doors to the chapel thrown open, she impulsively orders the carriage to stop. Ignoring her aunt’s admonishments to remain inside, she jumps out and tells her she’ll walk the remaining distance. Surely, if the doors to the chapel doors are open, Mark Rivenhall, the village curate, must be nearby?

Mid-conversation with a parishioner, Mark stills when the woman calls out a greeting to the person behind him. It can’t be Beryl - his older brother would have told him if she was returning earlier than expected. But it is. Momentarily thrown by her sudden appearance, he can’t control his smile as she happily greets him and admits the chapel was her first stop. Beryl never revealed what led her to leave Shepton Worthy so quickly, and Mark ignored the rumors - that she was pregnant and/or was nursing a broken heart after his brother Jack was killed in Bhutan (he knew for a fact it wasn’t possible or true) - but he worried about her. He also hoped he might finally stop loving her while she was away. He didn’t.

When Mark first sees her, Beryl thinks for a moment that he’s angry, until he smiles and offers to walk with her to the Grange. She thanks him for his letters during her year abroad, and apologizes for not telling him she was arriving home sooner than expected. They enjoy a companionable walk until they reach a fork in the road; Mark proceeds on to Rivenhall and a visit with Sir Henry Rivenhall, his brother. Beryl walks home to her family at the Grange, and contemplates her own delayed visit to Rivenhall and Sir Henry… her fiancé.

Beryl tries to reacclimate herself to life in Shepton Worthy. Although the local doctor recommended more aggressive treatment and suggested she ‘acted sad’ to gain attention, her mother and aunt disagreed. The trip to Paris was meant to give her time to recover - and she did - but Beryl worries what might happen if she succumbs again. Her horse-mad younger sister Winnifred is a happy and welcome distraction, as is her friendship with Mark, and her volunteer work at the church. She tries to ignore the gossip and rumors about her abrupt departure, and is hopeful neither her mother or Dr. Cooper shared the true reason for her absence. But when her mother reveals that she spoke to the vicar about Beryl’s condition, she mistakenly assumes Mark must also know. The news sends her in a tailspin. She’s weeping, hidden away off the beaten path, when Mark discovers her.

When he follows the sound of someone weeping during his walk home from the chapel, Mark is horrified to discover Beryl in tears. After she reveals the cause of her upset, he assures her he didn’t know anything about her reasons for leaving the village, and then asks her why she’s so unhappy. When she reveals that she’s been unhappy for a long time and that she doesn't know why, his heart breaks for her. He gives her solace and a shoulder to lean on. Mark doesn’t try to fix her or tell her she’ll get over it, but offers to help whenever, and however, he can.

“This burden of yours - this sadness - I want you to leave it with me for a day or two.”

Her chest constricted. She was grateful for his kindness. It was well meant, however wrong-headed. “It’s not something I can hand off at will. And even if I could…” Her eyes met his. “You can’t fix this, Mark. You can’t fix me.”

He gave her a brief, lopsided smile. “Of course not,” he said. “You’re not broken.”

Le sigh. Mark is so lovely and wonderful, and he’s deeply, irrevocably in love with Beryl. He tries valiantly to repress his love because he knows it's wrong… but he can’t. Instead, he’s a stalwart friend who looks for ways to support and help her, and tries to provide the light Beryl needs to see her through her darkest moments. Reader, I want to marry Mark. Unfortunately for me, he finds his perfect match in Beryl. Beautiful, generous and good, Beryl hides her sadness behind a happy facade. With Mark’s support, she begins to believe her sadness doesn’t define her, and that it isn’t something that needs to be cured, or fixed. He encourages her to seek out things that lift her spirits, and to ignore outdated advice that suggests she’s selfish or damaged. With his encouragement, she embraces the people and things that make her happy, and stops pretending her sadness isn’t sometimes overwhelming. Friends, Mark makes her happy. His affection and tender regard remind Beryl why she loves Mark, but as they grow closer over the course of this novel, Beryl slowly realizes she’s fallen in love with him, too.

I want to tell you more about this charming pair, but though the central relationship is rich and satisfying, there’s so much more to Fair as a Star. Matthews does a superb job rendering Shepton Worthy - an idealized imagining of rural country life - and the interesting secondary characters who inhabit it, and I especially loved her characterization of horse-mad and headstrong Winnifred, who falls passionately in love with a horse (while the new local doctor not-so-secretly pines for her), and of Henry. While most writers would be quick to paint him as the villain of the story, Matthews takes a much more nuanced approach. Henry is a product of the events and experiences that shaped him, but he also loves his brother and wants the best for him. By the end of the novel, I liked him, too.

Fair as a Star is a deeply romantic, low steam love story that captured my heart. Profoundly moving, tender and lovely, it’s one of the best books I’ve read this year.

5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved it!
Mimi Matthews writing is always richly detailed and resonant with period details. She captures my heart. Drawing me into the story as if I’m there.
Besides being honorable, charming and romantic, this story is about so much more. It’s about melancholy and the myths of a cure.
I struggled with depression for years and didn’t want to tell anyone. It was a secret. People will treat you different, judge you. And it’s something everyone seems to have advice about, especially those who don’t suffer from it. ✋🏼🎤
I had all the feelings in this one and still got the HEA.
I highly recommend this book because it reminds why I still read.

I’ve already purchased this book but this was a NETGALLEY gift and all opinions are my own.

With her usual brilliance for drawing the reader into both her story world and her characters' unique voices, Mimi Matthews has placed herself at the top of the list in her genre. Each of her books has captured me from Chapter One and Fair as a Star is no exception. I found her depiction of the hero, in particular, to be so honest and freshly crafted, not like the caricatures of pastors so often found in similar period pieces. And her honest, yet sensitive handling of mental illness in the heroine was especially moving. The only complaint I have is that since I read it the same afternoon it hit my Kindle I have to wait so long for her next offering!

Mimi Matthews' latest work, "Fair as a Star" is a touching and altogether satisfying read chronicling Beryl Burnham's struggles with chronic depression and others' reaction to it. From outward disbelief and preposterous cures (having babies, really?), the condition known as melancholy then was little understood.

The hero Mark Rivenhall is, in my opinion, a SUPERhero. A compassionate and thoughtful man, he is perfectly suited to his profession as curate. His delicate and intuitive treatment of Beryl and her illness brought literal tears to my eyes more than once. While Ernest would probably win a "World's Ugliest Dog" contest today, he is endearing and his misbehavior is rather humorous. Beryl and Mark's romance unfolds gently and believably.

All characters are pleasantly nuanced. I love Matthews' writing style. This novel is clean. The skill known as "whitework" is recounted here, Beryl's particular talent. Although I don't know if this will be a series, Winnie and Dr. Black deserve their own tale. Sir Henry merits one too; he totally surprised me near the end!

Thanks to NetGalley and Perfectly Proper Press for a copy of this wonderful novel.

4.5/5.0
This is historical romance at it’s ultimate best! And I’m most usually not a fan of unrequited love stories. But, this story is just so endearingly lovely that I couldn’t help but be touched, softened and delightfully enchanted.

I think Mimi Matthews can write a romance with a wonderful and natural flow to the story. Plus, make the story rich in historical detail while not being cumbersome. I feel as if I can step back in time when I read a Mimi Matthews historical novel. The Victorian times were a hard time to be a woman and this story does address that. However, there is still hope in the story and a hea. We get a glimpse into history with beliefs and attitudes of the day. There is great dialogue. Thought this was a novella I still felt I got a complete story without any part of the storyline being rushed. In the begining the H & h stories were in quite a pickle. I wondered how the author would untangle it all in a satsifying and believable way. I feel she very much so achieved that end. I love this quote and think it a beautful sentiment. "All the beauty you see before you is on account of the flaws. Were it perfect, it would have no color at all. No value, certainly not to me."

Mimi Matthews’ writing is sublime. This one deals with a heavy subject yet it’s worked into the story with ease, never overwhelming the romance aspect.

Mark is as good as they come; supportive, loving, assertive when needed. He doesn’t “handle” Beryl’s challenges, preferring to help her manage them. Beryl finds courage during her journey in understanding herself.

“All the beauty you see before you is on account of the flaws.”