Siri L. Mitchell Books In Order

Publication Order of Against All Expectations Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Author Siri L. Mitchell writes romantic, general, and historical fiction; she has also used a pen name (Iris Anthony) to write some of her work. She has lived all over the world (places like Tokyo and Paris) because she is a military spouse and she likes learning about all kinds of cultures. She speaks French fluently and enjoys eating sushi. She graduated from University of Washington, getting her business degree, and has worked in various levels of government.

She is a novelist, which is a strange breed of human. They listen to someone or take notes, and usually come up with a great piece of dialogue or plot. If they shake their head when they hear a profound statement, they think to themselves that one of their characters needs to hear that. While editing their manuscript, they cry during a sad part, or laugh at something funny. At times, they have been known to talk to one of their characters.

Before getting signed by a publisher, she racked up 153 rejection notices and wrote four books. During the time of all of her rejections, she ate a lot of Ben and Jerry’s, and vowed that she would never write another word. Mitchell also went on writing strikes, and went so far as to threaten to shred her own manuscripts. The first novel she had published was called “Kissing Adrien”, which was released in 2005, and is from the genre of contemporary romance fiction.

“She Walks in Beauty” won the first INSPY Award for Historical Fiction in the year 2010. “Love’s Pursuit” was a finalist for ACFW Carol Award. “Chateau of Echoes”, “She Walks in Beauty”, and “The Cubicle Next Door” were all finalists for Christy Awards.

“A Constant Heart” is the first novel in the “Against All Expectations” series and was released in the year 2008. Marget Barnardsen has been fortunate her entire life, after being born with an angel’s face. Her dad is a knight, and she has gotten a small fortune. Now, she will be wed to an earl. Her security is in place, and her future guaranteed. That is what she hopes, anyway.

Earl of Lytham has been married once before. That beautiful woman only left him with a taste of betrayal and a broken heart. The only thing that he wants from Marget is to help him win some favor with the Queen.

Marget fears that she has lost her husband forever after her introduction is met with the envious queen’s wrath. She is desperate to honor the man, and will risk it all to get the man’s heart back, one who is bound to a Queen in a world where the only luxury forbidden to those who live there is love.

Some felt that the book has a lot of angst in it, and is so well written. Fans of the novel felt this story blew them away, and it evoked many different emotions in them. It is because of the characters, who are so believable that you feel what they feel. Readers were able to learn quite a bit about sixteenth century English royalty, as well as the bad dynamics that royalty had on the lives of the citizens.

“Love’s Pursuit” is the second novel in the “Against All Expectations” series and was released in the year 2009. Susannah Phillips is a stand out in the tiny Puritan town of Stoneybrooke, Massachusetts for both her beauty and character. She wants to live only the simple life, but is soon wooed by the wealthiest bachelor the town has and by a rogue captain for the military that was sent to keep them safe. One is a lot more than he would appear, and the other is not at all what he would appear to be.

As Susannah tries to find the path of true love, she gets helped by a very unlikely ally, a wounded woman that has been living both ignored and invisible in the town. She sees love’s depth, sacrifice, and passion, and starts to wonder about the regulations and rules of the faith from her childhood. What price is she going to owe for embracing love, in a place where no one knows grace?

This one will make you think quite a bit as you read it. Somehow, the author is able to take a story that does not have a happy ending or a story that is not warm and fuzzy still have a lot of hope to it. Fans of the novel found this to be anything but typical of a read. Mitchell’s writing is quite beautiful, the story is full of depth. Some were pulled right in to this story, as it is complex; there is nothing fluffy and light about this romance story.

“She Walks in Beauty” is the third novel in the “Against All Expectations” series and was released in the year 2010. So much depends on the social season debut for a young woman in society looking for a favorable marriage. Clara Carter has just one goal: get the affection of the most eligible bachelor in the city. Debuting is going to mean a lot of work; dances to learn, manners will have to be perfect and corsets must be fitted. The training she gets quickly pays off, as celebrity turns her into a darling in the society world.

She starts to wonder, however, if this is really the life that she wants, especially when she finds out that her very best friend wants Franklin De Vries for her own. A man turns up that seems to love her just how she is, and the backlash from some gossip gets ugly. Clara finds that it is not just her heart on the line, but her family’s future is dependent on how she is able to play the game.

Readers found each page of this novel to be simply a treasure, and every time they got pulled away, they would come back to the story as though they were meeting with a friend of theirs. Fans of the novel liked the message this book sends to people, as it is a positive one. It promotes female empowerment, and shows the high price that beauty can come with for some women.