One Little Sin by Liz Carlyle

Well, it took a full moon cycle but I finally finished this book. I have to say I am glad that I forced myself to sit down and finish it because I was considering just moving on but I'll get to that.

Cindy Blurb: Okay, this is more of a thumbnail sketch because the story is really quite basic. You have Alasdair MacLachlan who is a manwhore but you know, not the paid kind, just the 'can't keep it in his pants' kind and he is wholly unrepentant. Frankly, I don't find this attractive in a man who is 36 years old but hey, it's the opening scene and I'm hoping for some serious character growth. After all, I don't wish to follow the hero from bed, to hayloft to whatever other droll place he can think to have sex.

The heroine is one Esmee Hamilton who bursts into Alasdair's life toting her two year old half sister who is Alasdair's bastard daughter. *re-reads sentence to see if all relationships are straight* Yep.

Alasdair in some drunken state knocked up Esmee's mom (Esmee's 22) who was a married woman who enjoyed some tupping on the side. Since her mother died and her step-father knew that the two year old girl wasn't his, he threw them out of his house. The only place Esmee can go is to the actual father of the child to get him to step up while she moves on to be a governess.

Alasdair, in shock, asks Esmee to remain as Sorcha's governess and she exacts a huge settlement and wishing to remain with her sister, takes the job.

What happens from there is not rocket science. Right down to the noble sacrifice of the hero sending the heroine away to make a better life with someone else. The whole thing is quite familiar except for the little girl who was not only a pain in the arse to read about but was also an 'ick' factor for me. C'mon, the H/H get together and there are some serious ramifications to the family tree.

For me I would say this book rates as a C- in enjoyment but probably more of a B- in execution. By this I mean the story is well written, and the heroine at least is very likable. The hero isn't bad either and maybe that is what rubbed me wrong. Alasdair was boring and we all know I like my men with a little dark meat. Being a rampant sperm donor doesn't make you dark, just an oversexed manchild.

By the end of the story, and I mean the end, the 'ick' factor is taken away but by then, I just didn't care whether these two would put a crimp in the family tree. The H/H certainly didn't care about the health of their potentially nut bearing family tree so why would I as the reader worry about their future kids? So the ending was just meh.

Just as a note, I read to the 3/4 mark before putting the book down for a good 4 or 5 days. Like I said above, there were no surprises here so I had no incentive to finish the story. I decided tonight that I could at least skim to the end because I know that not finishing books can bring on a slump and I so don't have time for that! I did skim it for the most part (I'm a newbie) and am pretty proud of myself for having finished the book. *pats self on back*

That said, I don't think I will read the rest of this series until I try the 'Devil' series. That one seems to be the series that readers like so Carlyle gets one more chance from me and let me tell you that is a record!