With her newest book She Walks In Beauty recently released, Siri Mitchell easily outdid herself. This turn-of-the-century novel is fabulous, with an amazing hero and beautifully spiritual core.

Siri writes a mix of contemporary and historical, in first person. To read more about her wonderful books, check out her website at www.sirimitchell.com

To read my review of She Walks In Beauty follow this link: http://pepperbasham.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/she-walks-in-beauty-by-siri-mitchell/

So…. What are Siri’s top hero characteristics?

 Here are my top three:

1)      Considerate

1)      Confident

2)      A Terrific Smile

 Hmmm, we’ve just talked about Clueless Cowboys and now we have a Confident hero? Can these two things coexist in one hero? 

Sure they can.

We’ve discussed a guy being competent, which builds confidence, but vulnerable with his lady love.

 Most heroes have an area of expertise, where they can shine as brilliant. All of Siri’s heroes breathe confidence onto the page, even her social fumbler, Harry in She Walks in Beauty.

Adrien, in Kissing Adrien, is fabulous and confident. Lytham in A Constant Heart is smart in business and in the workings of the court, but he is extremely vulnerable in his love for Marget. Beautiful.

 According to the dictionary, confident means “having strong belief or full assurance; sure of one’s own abilities.”

This does not mean arrogant, of course, but certain. Sometimes a person who is self-confident appears comfortable in their own skin. They like who they are.

Again, I refer to Siri’s character, Harry DeVries in She Walks In Beauty.

If I hadn’t loaned the book out, I’d give an excerpt from it or Kissing Adrien, but they’re both on loan. 🙂

 So… a character who knows who he is, but is vulnerable in some way – particularly toward the heroine. This vulnerability and growing love causes him to be considerate to her. George Knightly in Jane Austen’s Emma is a very considerate & confident man.

And, of course, the terrific smile is back. Boy, it’s quickly moving to the top 5 character slots. :0)

Hero Quote:

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

 Inspirational Quote:

From where does your confidence come?

In Christ.

Because of His love, His grace, we can stand before God – accepted. Confident that what Jesus did on the cross has paid our debt to God, IN FULL. Not our goodness, but Christ’s goodness.

2Corinthians 3:1-5

 1Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. 3You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

 4Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. 5Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life