Keishon's Unofficial December Challenge

The unofficial challenge for December was Liz Carlyle. I read two of them.

One Little Sin:
I had bought this one when it first came out in September. I started it and read about 5 pages and wasn’t impressed. I was rather disappointed since I’ve been reading and loving her books since the first one My False Heart way back in 1999. I didn’t want to give up but I needed INCENTIVE. I knew December was "Read a Carlyle" so I wanted to give it another try when December rolled around. And I must say I’m very glad I did. Once I tried it again I enjoyed this one just as much as I have every other Liz Carlyle book I’ve read. It just must have been a mood the first time I tried it. Either that or I got confused at the beginning as it was a set up for a series and I couldn't keep who was who straight. Anyway, once I straightened the characters out, it was great reading from there. Alasdair MacLean had led a life of dissipation and it finally came back to haunt him when Esmee Hamilton showed up on his doorstep with his unbeknownst daughter on hand, Esmee’s much younger sister. Not knowing what to do with this child he knew nothing about, he hired Esmee to take care of her. In typical romance fashion, Alasdair has more to him then we firs suspect and the two gradually fall in love. While not anything really new, still this was a delightful book.

Grade: 4 1/2 out of 5

Two Little Lies:
I didn’t think I would get this one in. It’s a January release but luckily, it came out early and I squeezed it in for December’s challenge. The second book in the series, this is the story of Quin Hewitt and Viviana Alessandri. They had been passionate lovers ten years before the story begins. I don’t want to say too much to give the story away since it is just out and there are probably a number of readers who haven’t gotten to it yet. I thought it was interesting though when I read Tara’s blog. She mentioned she started it in the evening and ended up getting up much earlier than normal just to read. I did the same thing *grin*. While I really enjoyed this story, and I will be grading it high, I did find the heroine a bit frustrating with her continual lies. They caused great pain to the hero, pain I didn't think he deserved and I felt Viviana bordered on cruel. Yes, Quin made mistakes in the beginning. He was so wrong in what he did. But he did pay for it. And he was very young at the time. Still, I love Ms. Carlyle’s writing and she continues to be a very bright ray in historicals.

Grade: 4 out of 5

So thanks Keishon once again for challenging us readers. If it hadn’t been for your challenges throughout the year, I probably would have missed some great reads I had buried in my TBR pile. I hope you plan on doing it again next yearand