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Her Enemy at the Altar Mass Market Paperback – July 19, 2016

by Virginia Heath (Author)

4.3 169 ratings

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An unexpected end to the WincantonStuart feud?

Scandal broke last night when Lady Constance Stuart was discovered in the arms of Aaron Wincanton, the son of her family's greatest enemy! But now we can reveal an even more shocking development. Our sources say a special license was obtained and the two were married before sunrise!

It's been confirmed that Aaron has stolen his new bride away to the country to begin their unexpected marriage. We'll be watching closely to see exactly what happens when a gentleman invites his enemy into his bed

From the Publisher

Be seduced by the grandeur, drama and sumptuous detail of Virginia Heath's regency romances


	HIS MADDENING MATCHMAKER	HIS MISTLETOE WAGER	THE VISCOUNT'S UNCONVENTIONAL LADY	HER ENEMY AT THE ALTAR	LILIAN AND THE IRRESISTIBLE DUKE	THE SCOUNDREL'S BARTERED BRIDE

Customer Reviews	64	204	152	169	56	85
Price	$6.99	$6.18	$5.99	$5.99	$10.38	$5.99
Escape to the past with Virginia Heath!	Opposites Attract	Secret Child	Scandalous Past	Enemies to Lovers	Hidden Romance	Marriage of Convenience


	OUTRAGEOUS CONFESSIONS OF LADY DEBORAH	HIS ACCIDENTAL COUNTESS	SCANDALOUS INNOCENT	THE EARL'S RELUCTANT PROPOSAL	A LADY RISKS ALL	CAPTIVATING THE CYNICAL EARL
					See Details
Customer Reviews	12	251	3	323	17	57
Price	$2.57	$16.99	$9.13	$9.90	—	$1.99
Discover more regency romances from Harlequin Historical!	Strong Heroine	Mistaken Identity	Family Drama	Relationship of Convenience	Forbidden Romance	Grumpy / Sunshine

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A mesmerising regency romp to fall in love with 5/5 stars" -Kraftireader

"Deftly combines wicked wit, heart-wrenching pathos and intense emotional drama in a mesmerizing Regency tale that ticks all the right boxes" -Bookish Jottings

"Simply brilliant! I absolutely adore Aaron who is by far one of the best heroes I come across in a long time" -Chicks, Rogues and Scandals

From the Author

Her Enemy at the Altar...I have a daughter. I very bright, very beautiful, very tempestuous teenage daughter who can, by her own admission, be a bit of ahandful. A lovely, thoughtful, funny handful- but a handful never the less. She's also, thanks to my giant husband and his equally giant ancestors, sixfoot one. She loves her height now, but during those tricky years of adolescence she loathed it, which by default made her an even bigger handful!

Such good times...

There's a great character lurking in all of that teenage angst whichI pinched and adapted to form Lady Constance Stuart, the temperamental, tempestuous but internally vulnerable heroine in Her Enemy at the Altar. She's very definitely NOT my daughter, but so many of her characteristics are, that Connie was a positive joy to write because I knew how she worked. I understood her thoughts and her behaviour because I had lived through it.

The history nerd inside of me had also just seen a fabulous documentary on the Wars of the Roses which prompted me to read around the topicfurther. I found the fact that this epic battle for the English throne was actually created by a family feud. Two warring brothers of the king- the Duke of Lancaster and the Duke of York- decided separately that the other really was not up to being the next king. As a result, all sorts of destructive shenanigans ensued. I definitely needed to write about shenanigans! So I created two feuding families. The Stuarts and the Wincantons.

I also have a thing for Kiss Me Kate, the glorious MGM Hollywood musical adaptation based on Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. There is a great deal of object throwing and wordplay in that film between the diva of a heroine and the arrogantly flawed hero. Yet another thing I could shamelessly adapt and use. I had my shrew in Constance, so I needed a hero to match her. Someone she would enjoy fighting with. A man made of seriously stern stuff but perhaps inwardly as troubled as Connie. Aaron Wincanton had to be tall. He had to be cocky and arrogant. I made him a soldier, which allowed him to have a tortured past to go alongside Connie's deep rooted insecurities about her looks.

Once I had my characters and my feud, I forced them to get married. It seemed the most explosive thing to do. I lit the fuse, stood back and happily watched the fireworks...

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harlequin Historical; Original edition (July 19, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0373307446
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0373307449
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.1 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.26 x 0.69 x 6.54 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #8,170,201 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #50,636 in Regency Romances
- #73,861 in Family Life Fiction (Books)
- #296,203 in Historical Fiction (Books)

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4.3 169 ratings

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Virginia Heath

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When Virginia Heath was a little girl it took her ages to fall asleep, so she made up stories in her head to help pass the time while she was staring at the ceiling. As she got older, the stories became more complicated, sometimes taking weeks to get to the happily ever after. Then one day, she decided to embrace the insomnia and start writing them down. Twirty Regency Romcom books, two publishers and three Romantic Novel of the Year Award nominations later, and it still takes her forever to fall asleep.

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4.3 out of 5

169 global ratings

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MM-E

Enemies to husband and wife

Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2018

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Compromised, a couple from opposing feuding families are forced to marry. He has returned from fighting Napoleon 's army and lives with what we now know as PTSD. In retaliation, her father has refused to give her money and forbidden her to have any contact with her mother and brother. She can never go home again. Both of them working through their emotional problems to eventually trust each other made it hard to do anything else but finish the book. It's been a while since I've read one of Virginia Heath's books, but this one is just a reminder of how good her books really are. I highly recommend reading this one.*****

Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2023

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The setup is awesome: super tall Connie with bright red hair is a social disaster being forced to marry a handsome but dishonorable man by her icy father. Aaron is the son of their neighbor and nemesis. The two families have been quarreling for generations.

Aaron is the most decent, charming man ever. He’s always fancied Connie and has wanted to end the family quarrel as it is costing them both. Aaron’s sympathetic nature as well as his simmering attraction leads him to compromise Connie while comforting her about her horrible fiancé. They are forced to marry and Connie is disowned.

I have a lot of sympathy for Connie and her insecurities, however I don’t wholly comprehend Aaron’s attraction. Rude, argumentative women are apparently fascinating? Whatever. A nice story though I would never have been attracted to her.

2 people found this helpful

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LauraJ

great characters

Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2019

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Although Constance and Aaron’s families have been enemies for several generations, they have been secretly attracted to each other. Caught in a compromising situation, they hastily marry and work together to tackle Aaron’s dire situation. Both of them are fierce, protective of the people they love, and very insecure. The characters are complex and interesting. This is the 2nd time I’ve read this book and I’ve enjoyed it as much the second read as the first.

In the next book, Connie’s brother, Henry’s story is also wonderful. Meeting Connie and Aaron several years later was delightful (and not the usual bland, “look how wonderful life for us beautiful people has turned out”, walk-on part characters from previous books are given).

One person found this helpful

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OLT

Welp, I guess they can't all be favorites.

Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2020

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I love marriage of convenience stories and this sounded like it would be a good one, especially considering it's by a new-to-me favorite HR author. Virginia Heath may very well be my favorite Harlequin romance author and she's probably even in my top 10 overall HR author list now.

But no author turns out a winner every time and this one disappointed me a bit. It's not that this is a bad story. It just has a few of my personal bugaboos that annoyed enough to make me feel impatient while reading.

Let's start with the heroine. She was the one causing me the most stress. Described as very tall (6 feet), slender, with abundant beautiful red hair, green eyes and alabaster skin, she focuses only on the "very tall" and believes herself to be shapeless and unattractive to the opposite sex. She develops a feigned I-don't-care attitude around others which makes her belief about her unattractiveness self-fulfilling. It doesn't help to have an unfeeling father who tears her down at every opportunity and has now "sold" her in marriage to a man who does not care for her but only for what the marriage will bring him.

Now, here it must be said that the Stuart family has been feuding with the neighboring Wincanton family for ages. Our hero, Aaron Wincanton, has arrived home from the Wars with PTSD and also a desire to bring the feud to an end. He would like Constance to be an ally in this but since some years ago he had created a teasing nickname for her (Ginger Amazon) which still smarts and still haunts Connie, she wants nothing to do with him.

However, wouldn't you know it, but circumstances find Aaron and Connie having to marry. A "marriage of inconvenience" to both. She because she detests him and he because the Wincanton family is in financial straits and he needs to marry money. (Connie has been disowned by her father and no dowry is forthcoming.)

This book had the bones of a very good story and every once in a while it was to my liking. Aaron's PTSD, for example, is treated realistically and well and Connie's poor self image and low self esteem makes one feel sympathy for her. However, Connie is just too touchy and abrasive and volatile. I found her lacking at times in even common courtesy to Aaron. And the Misunderstandings and Failure to Communicate tropes were out in full force in this HR. It took until the very last few pages for Connie to come to the realization that she was attractive and loveable. (I must say that Aaron's reticence didn't help her much either with this.)

Throughout the story, there were times that Connie would show moments of kindness and consideration for others. That just made her angry, unpleasant outbursts on many occasions that much more disagreeable to me. Also lacking in this story was the fun in the read that I found in the other two Heath HRs I've read. Those were romantic and humorous and witty and a joy to read. This one not so much and I guess I need to laugh or smile while reading nowadays.

9 people found this helpful

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Élodie Nicoli

Taming his bride

Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2018

One more nice read by Virginia Heath, I liked it but was some time annoyed by the stubbornness and miscommunications of the main characters.
They spent more time misunderstanding each other than trying to really communicate.
But years hearing about their families feud, can also bring to such incomprehension.
Sure, their union began the worst way, each one breaking their own commitment to get locked in a hopeless marriage.
Constance, too tall, too red haired, too clever was subject of the ridicule since her first season, thanks to her nemesis, the son of her family enemy.
Aaron, the darling of the ton, knows the nickname he gave Connie made her the target of many sarcasms and he is sorry but can’t change it.
So when because of him, she is one more time subject to gossip, he stands for her and offers marriage to save her.
But they are a long way from peace, each one unable to see nothing more than what it is.
Aaron is broken soldier, suffering from PTSD who hides his pain behind a careless facade, while Connie who grew up as a constant deception in the eyes of her father, uses her wit to rebuff people, plus they are collateral damages in their families feud, each one of their father’s using them as pawn to hit the other.
In all, it is a nice enemy-to-lover romance.
I’m a verified customer on amazon.fr

Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2020

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Another great read from Virginia Heath. Appealing characters and a fast moving plot kept me turning the pages. I loved how well developed the characters were and how I became emotionally involved in their lives. I could picture them easily in my mind due to the many detailed descriptions. Their was a lot of good chemistry and heated passion between the main characters. I am eager to read more from this author.

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Frances

A lively read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 13, 2018

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I did enjoy this book which moved at a cracking pace and kept my attention throughout. Virginia Heath's books are now amongst my favourites.
The principal characters had great chemistry and their lively sparring was amusing.
A generations long family feud means that Aaron and Constance are sworn enemies exchanging only barbed comments if their paths happen to cross. Constance has become engaged to a man who spends most of his time fawning over another woman, when she challenges him about it he tells her she is lucky that he's marrying her and she has no right to expect anything else. Shocked by his outburst she finds a quiet room to think about her situation. Her peace is shattered when Aaron Wincanton, comes in; he too, is looking for peace but is pleased to find "Connie" there and starts to tease her. Somehow they end up in one another's arms kissing just before her father, fiancé and assembled others burst into the room. Her father is appalled, her fiancé outraged and Aaron's father thinks it a great revenge as Constance will be ostracised and stay on the shelf.
The following morning Constance is summoned to her father's study where he informs her that Aaron has offered to marry her, and he has accepted. If she doesn't marry him she and her Mother will be thrown into the street with nothing. She has no choice, they are married immediately. And so it begins.
This story also highlighted the plight of most women in those times who went from being the property of their father to that of their husband, they had few rights and were used as pawns in the game to advance the family fortunes.
Constance is spirited, intelligent, challenging and very tall, traits she believes make her unattractive and unloveable. Aaron has always thought that Constance is stunningly attractive, but thought her out of reach due to their families feud. This is a well written story, full of lively exchanges and gradual realisations that relationships can change and even flourish in the right circumstances.

2 people found this helpful

Élodie Nicoli

Taming his bride

Reviewed in France on May 26, 2018

Verified Purchase

One more nice read by Virginia Heath, I liked it but was some time annoyed by the stubbornness and miscommunications of the main characters.
They spent more time misunderstanding each other than trying to really communicate.
But years hearing about their families feud, can also bring to such incomprehension.
Sure, their union began the worst way, each one breaking their own commitment to get locked in a hopeless marriage.
Constance, too tall, too red haired, too clever was subject of the ridicule since her first season, thanks to her nemesis, the son of her family enemy.
Aaron, the darling of the ton, knows the nickname he gave Connie made her the target of many sarcasms and he is sorry but can’t change it.
So when because of him, she is one more time subject to gossip, he stands for her and offers marriage to save her.
But they are a long way from peace, each one unable to see nothing more than what it is.
Aaron is broken soldier, suffering from PTSD who hides his pain behind a careless facade, while Connie who grew up as a constant deception in the eyes of her father, uses her wit to rebuff people, plus they are collateral damages in their families feud, each one of their father’s using them as pawn to hit the other.
In all, it is a nice enemy-to-lover romance.

KU fan

Good

Reviewed in India on August 20, 2016

Verified Purchase

Sweet story...

Carol Cork

I really enjoyed this enemies-to-lovers story by new-to-me author, Virginia Heath.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 24, 2017

Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed this enemies-to-lovers story by new-to-me author, Virginia Heath. It combines an engaging and well-written story, interesting characters and an emotionally satisfying romance.

The Stuarts and Wincantons have been mortal enemies for the past three hundred years and Lady Constance (Connie) Stuart has every reason to loathe Aaron Wincanton with a vengeance. After he scathingly nicknamed her Ginger Amazonian during her come out six years ago, Connie endured hurtful and humiliating jokes about her unruly red hair, tall, unimpressive figure and long legs. In her second year, she decided that, if she is going to be compared to a mythical warrior, she will act like one. A haughty air and a razor-sharp tongue become her chosen weapons of defence; even her dresses are a statement of defiance. Having always been self-conscious of the bump on my nose, I found it was easy to relate to Connie and sympathise with her insecurities and understand how much she was hurt and humiliated by the constant cruel barbs. I so admired her courage in facing her tormentors with defiance.

Connie is now engaged to the Marquis of Deal and, although it is an arranged marriage, she hopes to find a measure of happiness, until she discovers his true motives. Feeling hurt and dejected, she finds comfort in the unlikely arms of Aaron Wincanton but, when they are caught in a compromising situation, Connie finds herself married to her sworn enemy.

To everyone, Aaron appears a charming, flirtatious rogue, but this is a mask he wears because the war had left an indelible mark on him. He had seen too much death to remain the carefree young man he once was. He has personal demons to fight, ones that conjure up terrifying, tortuous nightmares, night and day, convincing him that he is slowly going mad. He is a desperate to find peace but unable to, believing himself unworthy of love or forgiveness.

Aaron is shocked to find that the Wincanton estate has been brought to the brink of bankruptcy by his father’s mismanagement. All his father’s decisions have been motivated by one thing only – revenge against the Stuarts – without thought for the consequences. All Aaron wants to do is put an end to the pointless and costly feud and restore the family fortunes by marrying a wealthy heiress. But his plans go awry when he is caught in a compromising situation with Lady Constance Wincanton and his strong sense of honour compels him to marry her.

I appreciated how Ms. Heath takes the time to build the romantic relationship between Connie and Aaron. At first, there are a lot of angry words spoken but gradually, they begin to discover more about each other.

Connie has always thought of Aaron as confident and charming- 'as though he tiptoed through life largely unscathed' – but realises that he has hidden depths and feels things as deeply as she does. While Connie was feeling sorry for herself, she never realised the sacrifices Aaron made by marrying her.

While society regards Connie as a social oddity, Aaron sees her as striking, intelligent and witty and finds he enjoys her company. Recognising that she has many conflicting and contrasting elements to her personality, I like how Aaron compares her to a rainbow…

'At one end of the spectrum she was indomitable, sharp-tongued and aloof. He had been on the receiving end of that with alarming frequency and they had only been together for such a short time. But then she was kind-hearted. Finally, buried beneath all of that, was a seam of vulnerability that she worked hard to hide—but he knew that it was there.'

Connie’s kindness, gentleness and compassion shines through in her care for Aaron’s dying father, and her desire to do everything she can to comfort Aaron and convince him that he has no reason to feel any guilt for his actions during the war.

I adore Aaron for realising the extent of Connie’s grief and sadness at the loss of her family and for arranging a secret meeting with her mother and brother. Whether it is standing up to Aaron’s irascible father or Aaron himself, Connie is definitely a force to be reckoned with!

The sexual tension builds up deliciously so that their falling in love feels genuine and when they finally make love, it just seems right. Ms. Heath writes such lovely, romantic scenes and I love this one where just a touch of a hand conveys so much. Sometimes, I find it far more romantic than an overtly explicit scene.

I also like how Ms Heath includes lovely touches of humour, and this is one of my favourites because it conjured up such a comical picture in my mind!

'The door edged open slowly to reveal him standing there with the handkerchief of surrender in one hand while the other hand held a bucket over his head like a helmet. He surveyed the room with exaggerated wariness before he gingerly stepped inside, still holding his bucket armour about his head and looking, much to her utter consternation, quite delightful. ‘I come in peace, Connie. Put down your weapons.’

The Earl of Redbridge, Connie’s father, is a truly despicable man. Not only does he threaten to put Connie and her mother out on the streets if she (Connie) refuses to marry Aaron, but he selfishly pursues his feud with Aaron’s father to the detriment of his daughter’s happiness. A thoroughly dislikeable character whom I’m pleased to say gets everything he deserves.

I was disappointed in the lack of an Epilogue because but I love seeing the hero and heroine enjoying their well-deserved Happy Ever After.

MY VERDICT: This was a lovely introduction to Ms. Heath’s books and I will definitely be reading more.

**I received a complimentary copy from the author in return for an honest review**

2 people found this helpful

Liz

She's done it again!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 4, 2017

Verified Purchase

What a wonderful story with a delightful setting and intriguing characters. Absolutely in love with this author's style! She guarantees to make you emotionally attached to every single character. And also sad when you finish the book cause you never wanted it to end!

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Her Enemy at the Altar Mass Market Paperback – July 19, 2016

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