Constant Heart

by Eleanor Farnes

There were three conflicting loves in Alex's life; two men and - her career as a dress designer. Could she have the career and a personal love as well? And would it be the kind of love she wanted? Something must be sacrificed, but what - or who?

Genres: Harlequin Romance

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Eleanor Farnes is a British writer, who wrote over 60 romance novels at Mills & Boon from 1935 to 1979. Eleanor Farnes lived in England, but her family had a home in Spain, where she also spend part of each year. She also traveled widely in Europe, South Africa, and North America. She started to write after marrying and having 2 children. Her hobbies included the restoring of old houses and traveling, that had brought the charm and beauty of exotic locales to her novels, like Spain, Italy or Switzerland, that she knew personally. She also wrote doctor/nurse romances.

Reviews

[Margo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Eleanor Farnes seems to specialize in various kinds of clueless H's who have no emotional self-awareness. This one is drawn to the h but only wants to make her his mistress. She is miserably unhappy, but fights it off and moves on with her life. Meanwhile, the H has finally come to his senses, and it's a brutal shock to him to realize that she has moved on.

I still have to keep it at 2 stars because the h suffered so much, and because the sleaziness of his initial mistress offer, and because while he was figuring out that he loved the h (after she'd cut him out of her life), he went back to his active dating life, which the author described thusly:

"After Alex, he had turned to various young women of his acquaintance, escorting them to
dances or theatres, dining with them, receiving from them varying degrees of favours, but not one had aroused in him any interest that could survive. "

I mean, there is nothing wrong with him dating or even receiving varying degrees of favours, but there was just a level of cold oiliness to him that never quite washed off, and sentences like this typified that.

[Bryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those Harlequins that is *really interesting* but not particularly fun -- in part because I think Farnes is very realistic about the impact that Alex's past has had on her, and there is a lot of unhappiness in Alex's life on the way to her HEA.

As for plot -- it is a much longer arc than the usual Harlequin one of this period, which was also interesting! Alex Paul grew up in a dysfunctional family, but thankfully her friend Cicely's parents were great people who gave her enough stability and structure that she was able to figure out what she wanted in life -- which is to be a fashion designer! As the book begins, Alex is working for another woman, but she's ready to start her own business, so she very deliberately picks out a man who she thinks is rich enough to provide capital and intelligent enough to do it as a business investment rather than as a personal relationship. The man in question, Charles, is a handsome playboy but also a good guy in all the important ways -- he sees that Alex is talented and ambitious and likely to succeed, so accepts the terms of their relationship and enjoys a friendship with her while helping her business grow. As the years go by Charles falls for her, and she eventually falls for him, and they have a wonderful romantic kissing scene, but when they talk over their future the next day it's a disaster -- she won't be his lover, she wants marriage, and Charles isn't interested in marrying anyone, he likes being independent. Charles tries playing a waiting game, and I was impressed that Farnes never has him making the first move -- he's just there, continuing his financial support of the company without any strings, and indeed, eventually Alex seeks him out again because she's so attracted -- but although she's tempted to change her mind, she eventually comes to the conclusion that EVEN THOUGH nobody else might judge her, she wouldn't be able to live with herself.

Meanwhile, Alex has spent time visiting her friend Cicely, who is now happily married and living in the country, and Cicely's neighbour Terrence has fallen hard for Alex -- he'd love to marry her and wants her to keep her career, saying she could come down to his farm on the weekends and live in London working the rest of the time. Alex appreciates his many sterling qualities but she's just not in love with him, plus she thinks that he'd end up lonely and unhappy with a wife that he only saw on the weekends, no matter how much he wanted to make it work out. Eventually, of course, there is a HEA in which Charles realises that he'd rather have Alex than keep being a bachelor, and so they will have a wonderful companionate marriage plus (without question) she'll keep her career.

What fascinated me about this one is that Farnes is walking a line around pre-marital sex here that is not so surprising for 1968 (although still rather surprising in a Harlequin of the period), but is a lot more surprising to me for 1956, when this was first published by Mills & Boon! Alex has decided against premarital sex *for herself* but neither she nor Farnes' narrative voice condemns the characters who decide differently. Alex doesn't think she's better than Charles, or better than the women he sleeps with, she just thinks it would be immensely wrong for *her* -- and part of why it would be wrong for her is that she and Charles would have to pretend not to be a couple, and she feels like the sneaking around and lying would eventually change their feelings for each other.

So, yes, interesting! But not *fun* so I will probably eventually free my copy to the wild, because I can't really see reading it again.

[Andi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unusual story that doesn’t follow the arc of your typical romance novel. I particularly appreciated how the h is honest and forthright about the importance of her career, and there’s never any question of her giving it up after marriage. The attitude towards sex (though this is never directly mentioned) was also more progressive than one might expect for a 50s romance, especially considering the prudishness of many later Harlequins.

I was unfortunately less enamoured of the actual romance between the h/H, and never warmed to the H. Rather, I spent most of the novel feeling sorry for the OM, who was really a gem and deserved a HEA of his own.

[Last Chance Saloon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this. Not M&B/Harlequin style whatsoever, even for the 50s. He is defined by his sex drive and foul, and she is driven by her dress designing, dull and dumb to want a happy ending with this kind of man(whore). I was very surprised as I had just finished another of her stories, Secret Heiress, where the main characters are both extremely likeable.