One Little Sin (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "Upon returning to his town house in Great Queen Street, Alasdair waved away his butler's questions about dinner, tossed his coat and cravat on a..." (more)
Key Phrases: Miss Hamilton, Lady Tatton, Sir Alasdair (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With this intriguing sentence;"It was a sweltering afternoon in September when Sir Alasdair MacLachlan very nearly got what his Granny MacGregor had been promising him for at least the last three decades: his comeuppance";veteran Carlyle (The Devil to Pay) opens a trilogy of Regency historicals about three men;Alasdair, his brother and a friend;who flee an escapade gone wrong only to encounter a gypsy with dire predictions about their fates. It doesn't take long for Alasdair to discover that a particular sin of his has indeed come home to roost. The unsuspected toddler offspring of a forgotten dalliance arrives at his doorstep accompanied by her penniless but strong-willed sister, Esmée Hamilton. Before he knows it, Alasdair's world is turned upside down as the confirmed rake discovers that he does have a heart after all, even though he can't figure out what to do with it. The momentum of the captivating early chapters doesn't quite carry into the middle, but the author's sensual writing and some welcome twists toward the end more than redeem the story.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Alasdair MacLachlan has been told that one day he would get his comeuppance; he just never expected it would arrive in the form of a lovely young Scottish lass. When Miss Esmee Hamilton shows up on his doorstep one rainy night with a baby and some Banbury tale about him being the father, Alasdair is certain the girl is daft. The more Esmee talks, however, the more Alasdair reluctantly realizes there might be a grain of truth to her story. With no other place to go after their indifferent stepfather turned them out of their home, Esmee and Sorcha have come to London, where Esmee is determined that the rakish Alasdair is finally going to take responsibility for at least one of his sins. All of Carlyle's signature elements--deliciously clever dialogue, superbly nuanced characters, gracefully witty writing, and sizzling sexual tension--are neatly in place in the first in a new trilogy by this terrifically talented writer. John Charles
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Star (September 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743496108
• ISBN-13: 978-0743496100
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #66,580 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Really 3 1/2 -- Great Premise but the story takes forever to get going, September 25, 2005

By	ellejir "ellejir" (Virginia, United States) - See all my reviews

I unabashedly adore Liz Carlyle's books so I pounced on this book when I found it in the bookstore. "One Little Sin" is the first book in Liz Carlyle's new trilogy featuring Sir Alasdair MacLachlan and Quin Hewitt, Lord Wynwood (hero Devellyn's drinking buddies from "The Devil to Pay"), along with Alasdair's brilliant but morose brother Merrick as heroes. The set-up is wonderful with the three men being told by a mysterious gypsy fortune-teller that the sins of their pasts will be catching up with them soon. The three laugh it off but later that evening Alasdair is awakened by a thunderstorm and a knock on his door. Into his life arrives penniless Scottish-born Miss Esmee Hamilton and a toddler that she tells him is her half-sister and his daughter, Sorcha. Alasdair has no memory at all of the girls's recently deceased mother, Lady Archanalt, and only the vaguest drunken recollection of doing something behind the velvet curtains at the party in question, but Sorcha resembles his brother so he accepts Esmee's story. He panics when he realizes that Esmee intends to leave Sorcha with him and ends up bribing her to stay in the position of the child's governess.

Then begins a very long (and surprisingly uninteresting) section of the book in which Esmee and Alasdair are living in the same house and trying to deny their burgeoning attraction to one another. Alasdair is 36 years old and believes that he is too old and too jaded for the innocent 22 year old Esmee (besides the slight detail that he is apparently the father of her half-sister.) Esmee realizes that Alasdair is a shameless rogue and womanizer and worries that her attraction to him may be a sign of her mother's wild blood in her. This is a set-up that historical romance readers frankly have seen at least a hundred times before and there is nothing really all that new going on in this part of the book. Eventually the couple must part (a scene with overtones of Georgette Heyer's "Venetia") and with 100 pages to go the book finally catches fire (during a scene with an actual fire in a theater.)

Alasdair is such a charming, shameless ne'er-do-well that I found it impossible not to like him. He is a handsome, hopeless womanizer as established from the first scene in which he is caught with his pants down with the wife of a very large and angry blacksmith. He has a good head for numbers which enables him to make his living at the card tables but basically he lives for his own pleasure. Despite his charm and good looks, he has always felt like a misfit among his dour, brilliant Scottish family. Refreshingly, he admits that he has no dark secret in his past or broken heart in his youth to justify his bad behavior--he is a self-indulgent scoundrel and wastrel because that is what he chooses to be.

Esmee is a less compelling heroine, to my mind. She is your typical tart-tongued Scottish virginal heroine (why do all Scottish heroines have to be "tart-tongued", I wonder?) Her speech is liberally peppered with things like "Och!", "the wee bairn", "wee trootie", "dinna kin" to the point where I start feeling as though she is verbally interchangeable with Alasdair's Granny MacGregor. Of course, because this is a romance novel, Alasdair is enchanted by her shrewish plain speaking and his heart is softened by her love for her baby sister. Frankly, she never seems interesting enough to me to attract the long-term attention of a gorgeous, hardened rogue like Alasdair. She keeps inviting his kisses then berating him after he complies, never my favorite behavior pattern in a romance heroine.

Liz Carlyle's writing is top-notch as usual, and her sex scenes are wonderfully sensual. The plot twists can be seen coming a mile away, but the book is still very enjoyable. Despite the pacing problems with the first half of the story and a rather lack-luster heroine, the story is worth reading for the "comeuppance" of the charming, unrepentant rogue who is Alasdair.
Recommended.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I just love Liz's books! Great start to a new trilogy, September 24, 2005

By	baltimore0502 "Hon!" (BALTIMORE, MD USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

I am a huge fan of Liz Carlyle's books and this latest is no exception. It's the first in a trilogy of stories about three friends - two rakes (Alasdair MacLachlan & Quin Hewett first seen in THE DEVIL TO PAY) and one semi-recluse Alasdair's brother Merrick. Our story opens with the three in the tent of a gypsy fortune teller who makes dire predictions for all three about "making things right" and "redeeming past misdeeds". Though momentarily uneasy, our three friends quickly shake off their unease and make for home.

Sir Alasdair MacLachlan, at thirty-six is a known scoundrel who spends most of his time drinking, skirt-chasing and gaming. He's got a very good head for numbers and so usually wins big at cards. He's perfectly happy with his live-in-the-moment lifestyle - what else could a fellow want? And that gypsy and her "atoning for sins" rot. Which sin - there are so many to choose from? After passing out on the sofa after returning home he is awakened by banging on his door. Good Lord, it's midnight in the middle of a raging thunderstorm, who could it possibly be? My, my has one of his sins come home to roost?

The person at his door turns out to be Miss Esmee Hamilton, newly arrived from Scotland. She looks like a drowned wren, very young and vulnerable. But when she tells him that the little bundle in her basket is his daughter and that she is leaving the child with him to be raised in his home Alasdair is shocked and in denial. His little wren turns out to have a fiery side as she tells him in very tart language that little Sorcha is the product of a tryst with her mother two years past. When her mother died two months ago, her stepfather kicked both Esmee and Sorcha out of his home and now they have nowhere else to go. Alasdair has no memory of her mother, only the vaguest feeling that it could really be true. When he learns that Esmee has accepted a post as a governess and intends to leave the child in his most uncapable hands, he panics and tries to convince her to stay and act as Sorcha's governess instead. Though she knows it is wrong and that her reputation will likely be ruined, she agrees as leaving Sorcha would break her heart. And so, the MacLachlan household is in for some major changes.

Of course Alasdair and Esmee fall for one another but there are many twists and obstacles in the way. Both are appealing characters. Alasdair is charming and sexy with a suprisingly strong sense of responsibility. His growing relationship, not to mention patience with "terrible twos" Sorcha is very sweet to watch. Esmee is naive yet also smart and doesn't allow him to get away with too much. The only issue I had with the book was that, after the first rousing chapters, the pace seemed to get a bit klunky and uneven midway through. There are some amusing scenes, some surprising twists and the wonderful dialog that is standard in Ms Carlyle's books. I can't wait to read Quin's and Merrick's stories! Highly recommended.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A little icky, August 28, 2007

By	a Reader "who should be at the gym" (SoCal) - See all my reviews

A man who is pretty well content with his life loving larger, older women is suddenly attracted to his illegitimate daughter's sister. That's keeping it in the family, I suppose. I guess you can tell I'm not thrilled with the premise. If well done, I could possibly be convinced to let go of my initial revulsion. Yet I'm also not thrilled with the execution. The prose is fine, the structure makes sense, but it's lacking something for me.

For instance, the hero is set up as a total womanizer. I respect that the author does not gloss this over, as so many do when they write about rakes, but she does not make him likeable. Then the gypsy lady in first chapter was even more vague and useless than one would expect. I actually read the scene with her three times trying to figure out what she was saying, if anything, and didn't see the relevance to this story. Maybe to the friend Quin's story, but not this one. Probably one of the most boring gypsy visits ever.

Then I only kind of got the feeling that Alisdair really felt he *needed* to take on his daughter. He just isn't a guy to do the right thing because it's right, or because of family bonds. It seemed to be a whimsical decision that he agreed to take her in, like some sort of new sport. Then 2 days later when he's basically not seen the child at all, has carried on his life much as usual with the exception of finding out some information on kids and going on a fun shopping spree for the kid's stuff, he suddenly feels all stifled and put out. Whaaa? His life hasn't changed yet. It's still in the honeymoon/ novel period and this child has intruded on him NOT AT ALL, YET. What's with the angst?

And the sudden attraction to a 22 year old who he thinks looks younger than that, despite his preference for women 10-15 years older? On one hand, you know she's "the one" because she doesn't fit his usual mold. On the other hand, I don't see it in this case. The fact that he didn't remember *doing her mother* except to vaguely remember it took place amidst draperies didn't really make it better for me.

If you don't find the whole premise as icky as I do, and can get over the lack of real attachment between the main characters, the writing seems solid. I'm just not buying it enough to finish. I've made it past page 110 and the more I read, the less interested I am in continuing. It might rate a 3/5 if the rest of the book has more redeeming features, but I'm not likely to find out. I remember liking other Liz Carlyle books in the past, so I wouldn't count this one as representative of her work.