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alisonb's review
4.0
This is the first book I’ve read by Liz Carlyle and I enjoyed it. I usually finish one book to every 24 hours or less, but this book took me longer to get through. I thought the writing was well done, but perhaps there were just one too many monologues, or verbose internal ruminations that slowed my reading?
I found this book to predominantly focus on the arc of Elliot and his transformation from rake to happily wedded husband. The scenes at Chatham were pleasing to read and gave me a lot of cozy feelings. It seemed to do something similar for Elliot since from there on out he evolved into a different man.
I found this book to predominantly focus on the arc of Elliot and his transformation from rake to happily wedded husband. The scenes at Chatham were pleasing to read and gave me a lot of cozy feelings. It seemed to do something similar for Elliot since from there on out he evolved into a different man.
moviemavengal's review
4.0
Good book, but somehow didn't drive me to stay up late to finish it quickly.
una_macchia's review
2.0
A decent story that could have been better if it got cut to about 2/3 the size; ultimately I was disappointed that it didn't live up to the promise of the beginning.
abbythompson's review
4.0
Excellent debut novel from Liz Carlyle. She's a new author for me, recommended by my coworker Kim, so even though this series has been out for a while, I'm just discovering it.
Briefly, Evangeline is a Flemish refugee who escapes to England with the remains of her family and sets up a quiet life in the countryside where she supports her family by painting. (She's very talented and beautiful - of course.) Elliot, the very dissolute Marquis of Rannoch gets to know Evie by a long-winded case of mistaken identity. They fall in love, have one night of crazy-mad-passionate-sex, (Like damn and like whoa can Carlyle write a steamy love scene!), the truth comes out, but all is resolved, in pretty intersting ways, in the end.
What I loved about Carlyle's writing is that she doesn't cheat the characters any of their emotions. What they feel is logical outcomes of their actions and the actions of others around them. I also liked how Elliot was the first to fall in love and declare it. Traditionally it is the woman who is the first to recognize they are in love and make the verbal declaration. It was a nice, a fitting twist to put Elliot as the more emotionally vulnerable character.
Recommended for anyone looking for a great romance read.
Briefly, Evangeline is a Flemish refugee who escapes to England with the remains of her family and sets up a quiet life in the countryside where she supports her family by painting. (She's very talented and beautiful - of course.) Elliot, the very dissolute Marquis of Rannoch gets to know Evie by a long-winded case of mistaken identity. They fall in love, have one night of crazy-mad-passionate-sex, (Like damn and like whoa can Carlyle write a steamy love scene!), the truth comes out, but all is resolved, in pretty intersting ways, in the end.
What I loved about Carlyle's writing is that she doesn't cheat the characters any of their emotions. What they feel is logical outcomes of their actions and the actions of others around them. I also liked how Elliot was the first to fall in love and declare it. Traditionally it is the woman who is the first to recognize they are in love and make the verbal declaration. It was a nice, a fitting twist to put Elliot as the more emotionally vulnerable character.
Recommended for anyone looking for a great romance read.
theblisstour's review
3.0
It took me about 3 weeks to read this book. However I don't think the book was the real problem. I think the inauguration stole my concentration.
This is my second Liz Carlyle (the first was [b:The Earl's Mistress|20457104|The Earl's Mistress (MacLachlan Family & Friends, #10)|Liz Carlyle|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1396654462s/20457104.jpg|32202415] which has been on my re-read list for a couple of years now). Her novels have complex familial relationships, which sometimes I can't follow even though she explains multiple times.
"Oh you know how they're related: It's his first wife's brother's sister-in-law's cousin." Huh? Also, this is the way my momma tries to get me to 'remember' relatives on my daddy's side of the family. So maybe it's just that I can totally relate.
But Carlyle's stories have what I admire in the books of Sherry Thomas, Carolyn Jewel, Judith Ivory (hmmm... any contemporary examples here?). When these books end you know exactly why these people love each other. It's not just 'he's hot and he makes me laugh'. The love is complicated, random, specific. I like it.
This is my second Liz Carlyle (the first was [b:The Earl's Mistress|20457104|The Earl's Mistress (MacLachlan Family & Friends, #10)|Liz Carlyle|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1396654462s/20457104.jpg|32202415] which has been on my re-read list for a couple of years now). Her novels have complex familial relationships, which sometimes I can't follow even though she explains multiple times.
"Oh you know how they're related: It's his first wife's brother's sister-in-law's cousin." Huh? Also, this is the way my momma tries to get me to 'remember' relatives on my daddy's side of the family. So maybe it's just that I can totally relate.
But Carlyle's stories have what I admire in the books of Sherry Thomas, Carolyn Jewel, Judith Ivory (hmmm... any contemporary examples here?). When these books end you know exactly why these people love each other. It's not just 'he's hot and he makes me laugh'. The love is complicated, random, specific. I like it.
melissad75's review
4.0
One of the worst feelings in the world has to be believing you've made so many mistakes and taken so many wrong turns in life that you've irrevocably destroyed any chance for happiness you might've had. Elliot Armstrong, the Marquess of Rannoch, finds himself in just this situation in My False Heart, and watching him find his way out of the darkness and into the light is at the center of this really lovely book by Liz Carlyle.
Ten years before the story begins, Elliot was a naive young man from Scotland, come to London for his first Season in order to find a wife. He swiftly fell in love with and proposed to a young woman who deceived him into thinking she loved him too, but who was in fact looking for a quick marriage due to being pregnant by another man. Her deception snowballs into a scandal that leaves Elliot without the woman he foolishly loved and blamed by society for her downfall. Humiliated, angry, and disillusioned, he sets out on a path of dissipation and dishonorable behavior for a decade. Mistresses, dueling, gambling, cruelty to servants -- he becomes a genuinely nasty person. He has an 8-year-old daughter, his illegitimate child with one of his mistresses, and though she lives with him and he loves her, he neglects her upbringing and leaves her to live a lonely life with a string of governesses while he gallivants around wreaking havoc on the ton.
One rainy day, while traveling through the countryside in an angry search for his latest mistress, who has skipped town, Elliot stops for directions at a house belonging to Evangeline Stone. Evangeline is a half English, half Dutch artist who came to England from the Continent ten years before, fleeing the Napoleonic wars. Her parents are dead, and she's responsible for her younger siblings and a houseful of other relatives who live with her. She assumes Elliot is the man who had an appointment that day to sit for a portrait painting, so she brings him into the hectic whirl of her household before he has a chance to get a word in edgewise. Elliot finds himself so charmed by her, and by the warm, loving, relaxed atmosphere so different from his own wearying and unhappy existence that he can't bring himself to correct Evangeline about who he is. What harm can one night of being plain Mr. Elliot Roberts do, after all? He stays to dinner and spends the night, getting to know Evangeline as she begins painting his portrait. The attraction between them is strong, and when she invites him to come back soon to continue sitting for the portrait he agrees to return, setting in motion a months-long deception he'll come to regret.
Over the course of his visits as Mr. Roberts, Elliot finds himself not only falling for Evangeline, but rediscovering parts of himself he thought had disappeared - his kindness, decency, and ability to care for other people. Being around Evangeline's family inspires him to make more of an effort with his own daughter, Zoe, and to try and build his relationship with her before it's too late. He begins to treat his servants better, and to be less of a jerk in general when he's back at home in London. All the time he's enjoying these visits and falling more and more deeply for Evie, the truth is always hanging over his head. One day Evie is sure to find out that he's the infamous Marquess of Rannoch, and then his idyll of warm family life will end, and he'll surely lose her forever.
Evangeline has her own secrets. Her younger brother is the heir to an English title and estate, and her powerful English relatives are trying to take him out of her custody. She's been responsible for her family since she was nothing but a teenager herself, and she's given up any hope of one day finding a husband and having children of her own. Elliot's appearance in her life stirs up those buried feelings, although she believes she can never marry - her duty is to her siblings. Little does she know that plain Mr. Roberts is really a powerful aristocrat who could actually help her protect her brother. Of course she also doesn't know that the man who seems so kind and loving is the same man she is appalled and revolted by when she reads the gossip pages.
Inevitably, the truth does eventually come out, and it leads to heartbreak and loads of angst. Will Evie ever be able to forgive and trust Elliot again? Will he be able to truly turn over a new leaf and become the better man he wants to be?
I really appreciated the slow-burn of this book, especially in the first half when we're getting to know Evie and Elliot, and the cast of characters around them. This is a very character-driven story, and it spends a lot of time inside the hero and heroine's heads. Some people may not like that, but that kind of introspective writing is very much my cup of tea. I was reminded of Judith Ivory, Cecilia Grant, and other authors who take their time to get inside characters' heads and hearts as they tell their stories. Liz Carlyle's writing is insightful and really well done. Not only does she bring the characters to life, she brings the world they inhabit to life with well-chosen details and beautiful descriptions of people and places. Reading the book was a nicely immersive experience.
I was really impressed with this novel, and genuinely moved by the characters' plight and their search for happiness. This was the first book by Liz Carlyle that I've read, and I'm looking forward to reading others.
Ten years before the story begins, Elliot was a naive young man from Scotland, come to London for his first Season in order to find a wife. He swiftly fell in love with and proposed to a young woman who deceived him into thinking she loved him too, but who was in fact looking for a quick marriage due to being pregnant by another man. Her deception snowballs into a scandal that leaves Elliot without the woman he foolishly loved and blamed by society for her downfall. Humiliated, angry, and disillusioned, he sets out on a path of dissipation and dishonorable behavior for a decade. Mistresses, dueling, gambling, cruelty to servants -- he becomes a genuinely nasty person. He has an 8-year-old daughter, his illegitimate child with one of his mistresses, and though she lives with him and he loves her, he neglects her upbringing and leaves her to live a lonely life with a string of governesses while he gallivants around wreaking havoc on the ton.
One rainy day, while traveling through the countryside in an angry search for his latest mistress, who has skipped town, Elliot stops for directions at a house belonging to Evangeline Stone. Evangeline is a half English, half Dutch artist who came to England from the Continent ten years before, fleeing the Napoleonic wars. Her parents are dead, and she's responsible for her younger siblings and a houseful of other relatives who live with her. She assumes Elliot is the man who had an appointment that day to sit for a portrait painting, so she brings him into the hectic whirl of her household before he has a chance to get a word in edgewise. Elliot finds himself so charmed by her, and by the warm, loving, relaxed atmosphere so different from his own wearying and unhappy existence that he can't bring himself to correct Evangeline about who he is. What harm can one night of being plain Mr. Elliot Roberts do, after all? He stays to dinner and spends the night, getting to know Evangeline as she begins painting his portrait. The attraction between them is strong, and when she invites him to come back soon to continue sitting for the portrait he agrees to return, setting in motion a months-long deception he'll come to regret.
Over the course of his visits as Mr. Roberts, Elliot finds himself not only falling for Evangeline, but rediscovering parts of himself he thought had disappeared - his kindness, decency, and ability to care for other people. Being around Evangeline's family inspires him to make more of an effort with his own daughter, Zoe, and to try and build his relationship with her before it's too late. He begins to treat his servants better, and to be less of a jerk in general when he's back at home in London. All the time he's enjoying these visits and falling more and more deeply for Evie, the truth is always hanging over his head. One day Evie is sure to find out that he's the infamous Marquess of Rannoch, and then his idyll of warm family life will end, and he'll surely lose her forever.
Evangeline has her own secrets. Her younger brother is the heir to an English title and estate, and her powerful English relatives are trying to take him out of her custody. She's been responsible for her family since she was nothing but a teenager herself, and she's given up any hope of one day finding a husband and having children of her own. Elliot's appearance in her life stirs up those buried feelings, although she believes she can never marry - her duty is to her siblings. Little does she know that plain Mr. Roberts is really a powerful aristocrat who could actually help her protect her brother. Of course she also doesn't know that the man who seems so kind and loving is the same man she is appalled and revolted by when she reads the gossip pages.
Inevitably, the truth does eventually come out, and it leads to heartbreak and loads of angst. Will Evie ever be able to forgive and trust Elliot again? Will he be able to truly turn over a new leaf and become the better man he wants to be?
I really appreciated the slow-burn of this book, especially in the first half when we're getting to know Evie and Elliot, and the cast of characters around them. This is a very character-driven story, and it spends a lot of time inside the hero and heroine's heads. Some people may not like that, but that kind of introspective writing is very much my cup of tea. I was reminded of Judith Ivory, Cecilia Grant, and other authors who take their time to get inside characters' heads and hearts as they tell their stories. Liz Carlyle's writing is insightful and really well done. Not only does she bring the characters to life, she brings the world they inhabit to life with well-chosen details and beautiful descriptions of people and places. Reading the book was a nicely immersive experience.
I was really impressed with this novel, and genuinely moved by the characters' plight and their search for happiness. This was the first book by Liz Carlyle that I've read, and I'm looking forward to reading others.
chiaroscuro's review
4.0
So apparently this is the place to start if you want to read Liz Carlyle's books chronologically, and because I am not a heathen, that's the order I intend to read them in. I was prepared for this to be a bit underwhelming, because who does a good job on their first book? But actually my pragmatic pessimism was unnecessary, because this turned out to be so good.
I've had a brief scan through the other reviews, and this is one of the few times when I'm more positive about a book than everyone else. It gets much better in the second halfabout the point when it's revealed that Elliot is Lord Rannoch — so much better, that I'm going to throw logic to the wind and stick four stars on my review.
I think I was just convinced by the love story. I've been in a sentimental mood as of late, because my colleague told me recently that she fell in love with her husband (of many years) at first sight, and when I gave an enquiring look she just shrugged and said, "Who knows what draws one person to another?" So with that mentality in mind, I've lessened the relentless probing for why the hero and heroine are drawn to each other, in favour of probing for evidence that they are. Evie and Elliot provide this by the gallon. Now I'm forced to confess I haven't got any convenient quotes to illustrate this (because I was so absorbed in the story!) but take my word for it? There's such a harmony in the way they move around each other
which only intensifies after their marriage that I just — believe it.
Also Elliot's outraged ramble when Evie confesses she thought he'd take a mistress is SO GOOD I'm going to quote it in full.
The shape of the plot is really good. The romance is tense at all the appropriate times, with the Big Disaster exploding at the midpoint and then a more drawn out confirmation that not only are Evie and Elliot in love, but that their marriage will work running until the end. There's no prolonged drama for drama's sake (the fallout of the Big Disaster is made less painful by ensemble cast humour and a heap of passionate confessing). And the mystery plotline is pretty solid too, though I suppose the drama of that is easier to chart.
So as I say, the exchanges of love don't happen at the end (rather daringly) but Carlyle has quite a sophisticated view of marriage, and understands that love isn't infallible. People who are in love fall out of love all the time. Of course love is important, but even more important to the happy ending is the picture of two people who find in each other a secure, reliable, happy home.
Anyway, to jump to the end, I'm mighty excited about embarking on my Liz Carlyle journey, and I do hope that these characters crop up very often in later books. Particular favourites include Kemble, the valet with a mind like a Francis bloody Walsingham; Winnie Weyden, who was not at all afraid to stir the pot; and Wilson, whose inner monologue is the funniest thing I've read all week.
I've had a brief scan through the other reviews, and this is one of the few times when I'm more positive about a book than everyone else. It gets much better in the second half
I think I was just convinced by the love story. I've been in a sentimental mood as of late, because my colleague told me recently that she fell in love with her husband (of many years) at first sight, and when I gave an enquiring look she just shrugged and said, "Who knows what draws one person to another?" So with that mentality in mind, I've lessened the relentless probing for why the hero and heroine are drawn to each other, in favour of probing for evidence that they are. Evie and Elliot provide this by the gallon. Now I'm forced to confess I haven't got any convenient quotes to illustrate this (because I was so absorbed in the story!) but take my word for it? There's such a harmony in the way they move around each other
Also Elliot's outraged ramble when Evie confesses she thought he'd take a mistress is SO GOOD I'm going to quote it in full.
With a grunt of manly resignation, Elliot collapsed back into the pile of bed pillows and drew his arm over his eyes. He lay across the tangle of sheets for a time, then heaved a weary sigh. "Bloody hell, Evie! We've been married nigh a fortnight, and we make love every evening. Sometimes twice! I sleep like a dead man. I stagger when I walk. And I hardly stir from home." His Scots accent broadened as his words flew. "Lord, woman! We've got a gaggle of children who keep me worn to a frazzle — and I am not complaining, mind — But God's bones, I'm no' a young man! I'm all of five-and-thirty! Now you've taken to seducing me in the middle of the afternoon, right under the servants' noses. Now, do tell me, lass, just when, and by what miracle of nature, am I to service this — this mistress — or whatever it is you imagine I've the energy or interest left for?"It reminds me of that moment in [b:A Wallflower Christmas|3050104|A Wallflower Christmas (Wallflowers, #4.5)|Lisa Kleypas|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442883779s/3050104.jpg|3080930] when Marcus is similarly enraged at Lillian's suspicion that he's having an affair with Lady Kittridge. Maybe I have a thing for faithful men affrontedly declaring their faithfulness?
The shape of the plot is really good. The romance is tense at all the appropriate times, with the Big Disaster exploding at the midpoint and then a more drawn out confirmation that not only are Evie and Elliot in love, but that their marriage will work running until the end. There's no prolonged drama for drama's sake (the fallout of the Big Disaster is made less painful by ensemble cast humour and a heap of passionate confessing). And the mystery plotline is pretty solid too, though I suppose the drama of that is easier to chart.
So as I say, the exchanges of love don't happen at the end (rather daringly) but Carlyle has quite a sophisticated view of marriage, and understands that love isn't infallible. People who are in love fall out of love all the time. Of course love is important, but even more important to the happy ending is the picture of two people who find in each other a secure, reliable, happy home.
Anyway, to jump to the end, I'm mighty excited about embarking on my Liz Carlyle journey, and I do hope that these characters crop up very often in later books. Particular favourites include Kemble, the valet with a mind like a Francis bloody Walsingham; Winnie Weyden, who was not at all afraid to stir the pot; and Wilson, whose inner monologue is the funniest thing I've read all week.
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