Matched Pearls
byGrace Livingston Hill

3 out of 5 stars

Constance is happy with her flippant social life, until she meets Graham Seagrave who is a devout Christian. Constance’s grandmother has promised to give her a valuable family heirloom, a pearl necklace, if she joins the church, so Constance stands up to join the church and proclaim she is a Christian. Later she is hounded with guilty feelings, knowing that she is a hypocrite and doesn’t really believe in Christ. When her best friend dies in a car accident, Constance turns to Graham with all her questions about death and heaven, desperate to live her life in a more meaningful way than just the parties and tennis and golf that have filled her days until then.

There is actually very little focus on the romance in this book. Most of the time we are following Constance’s journey through guilt and grief, as she begins to realize that she is a sinner who needs a Savior. Graham and Constance only have three scenes together, but they are very meaningful since they talk about spiritual things. It is definitely insta-love, but I didn’t mind it too much, since they do have a deep connection through their spiritual journeys.

I really loved the sub-plot involving Constance’s little brother, Frank, who also begins to realize that Christianity is true and puts his faith in Christ. It was so interesting to see their different conversion stories, and how they help each other and get inspired to seek out other Christians. Frank was such a funny and light-hearted character, and I loved all his crazy shenanigans. This book needed that comic relief in the midst of Constance’s grieving for her friend’s death.

The best part of the book is Constance’s conversion to Christianity. She realizes that the whole world is full of glitter that fades and leaves you with nothing. Only in Christ can we find real life and happiness!
However, because of the heavy focus on Constance’s inner spiritual journey, the plot is quite slow and nothing much really happens. It’s all about Constance’s inner psychological musings. When something finally does happen in the plot, we get several chapters of Constance reacting to what happened and wondering how this fits in with her concept of her own life. I didn’t mind the slow plot though, because it was fascinating to see how Constance gradually lets go of all her pride and fear, and embraces Christianity.

Christian journey: 5 stars
Slow plot: 3 stars
Insta-love romance: 2 stars
Average Rating: 3 stars