My False Heart

Lorimer Family & Clan Cameron #1

by Liz Carlyle

My False Heart is the luminescent love story of a chance meeting between two strangers one dark, rain-swept night in the English countryside. From that moment on, their destinies are forever changed.
When Elliot Armstrong, the dissolute marquis of Rannoch, pursues a spiteful mistress into the wilds of Essex to sever their relationship, he is surprised to find himself hopelessly lost -- in more ways than one. Inexplicably drawn to a warmly fit house along an isolated country lane, he is mistaken for an overdue guest -- but he dares not reveal his identity for fear of being tossed back out into the torrential rain, a fate he admittedly deserves. The loving family that innocently welcomes Rannoch into their midst soon challenges his cynical convictions, and ultimately, resurrects his shattered dreams.
The beautiful Evangeline van Artevalde is an artist of exceptional talent and extraordinary secrets. Isolated from society by choice, the half-Flemish refugee has fled her homeland in search of a secure haven for the children in her family. But even the Essex countryside, she finds, is not without danger. As the clutches of her aristocratic English relatives tighten, Evangeline holds them at bay by sheer force of will, unleashing her emotions only within the walls of her studio. The furthest thing from her heart is desire -- until a drenched, strikingly handsome man shows up at her doorstep late one night. Soon, Evangeline finds she can no longer confine her passions to oil paint and canvas.
Drawn by desire, Elliot and Evangeline discover a powerful love neither thought possible. But malevolent forces surround them, and soon their secrets will be exposed and their hearts tested to unthinkable limits. Only if they can forgive the past will they have a future....

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical, Regency, Fiction, Regency Romance, Mystery

480 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 1999

About the author

Dear Readers,

The awful truth about novelists is that we are mostly dull, introverted homebodies who only write in order to live our fantasies vicariously. I came to writing rather late in life, and I’m still amazed I can get paid for doing something I love, and that I get to stay home while I do it.

My favorite comedian Steve Martin once said, "I believe entertainment can aspire to be art, and can become art. But if you set out to make art, you’re an idiot." I have never tried to create art, but I do try to tell one heck of a good story. Yes, I try to write with a hot iron, while the heat of the story is in me. And I try, always, to entertain my readers.

Regards,

Liz

Reviews

[Bubu · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is what happens when I reread a book I could only vaguely remember. I thought it would be better. I was wrong.

Reading My False Heart was a chore. It started promisingly and there were some truly interesting moments, on Elliot's part. Evangeline, the heroine, too perfect to be true, the plot stuttering all over the place, Elliot a man in dire need of redemption of his dissolute life. A subplot that was unnecessary and took away quite a chunk of the actual story. That could have been used to show why Evangeline was such a speshul snowflake. But I guess that being simply perfect in every imaginable way is enough. B-b-b-b-boring!

Actually, Elliot was the only interesting character but even he got on my nerves. And the old-skool-ness of the characters was tiresome.

How dare she refuse to hear his explanations? Didn’t she know that he loved her?

No, she didn't know because he hadn't told her yet. But yeah, she should have known, shouldn't she? Add to that moments of non-communication and I chewed my way through it.

Anyway, I'll continue to be wary of books I liked so many years ago.

[Preeti ♥︎ Her Bookshelves · Rating 4 out of 5]

This began so beautifully - as the H puts it he feels he has slipped through the proverbial rabbit hole into a halcyon world so very alien to him - full of warmth, love, innocence and normalcy.
For a cynical, raging and dark soul like him it’s completely foreign but alluring as well. And the reader gets lured in as well!

*With spoilers* He’s been mistaken for a gentleman from London who wants his portrait painted by the artist h. He doesn’t correct them but accepts the hospitality of the h’s family and stays for few days and not only falls for the atmosphere but also the h. The h also feel the attraction - unwanted but undeniable.
While he has a tortured past turning him into a misogynist, she has duties and responsibility of her younger siblings and others weighing on her shoulders.

He returns again and again and they fall for each other. She fights it while he falls in headlong.
He wants to marry and she just wants to roll in the proverbial hay. So role reversal is okay but the heart does go out to the person wearing his/her heart on the sleeve.

The two lose their connection in the later half. First as the h discovers his ‘treachery’ and boots him out and the h/H spend a lot of time apart. Even later when they do marry and live together, the author fails to recapture their special intimacy and I was left wanting.

No other H has groveled or changed himself more than this guy here.
He wants to make her happy and give her back a girlhood unburdened by duty and obligations. While she’s more concerned with not getting hurt or betrayed as she believes him incapable of fidelity.
A man who was boorish, self-centred and uncaring of others’ feelings or opinions turns into a lost, penitent boy who does everything to woo his girl but at no point gets angry or blames her for not accepting his apologies. He was just amazingly sweet and endearing. Though I cannot judge the h for not being able to trust him again, I did resent her unbending reserve even after they wed. He lays his heart out for her to trample and she does it. He reveals his feelings to her again and again with actions and words but she’s uninterested. Even when he lies there shot and dying, her reserve and lack of real warmth is mean-spirited to say the least.

He so obviously loves her more. The power equation was way off and there were times I almost pitied him and that’s not what I want to feel for a H.
So yeah, this went southwards for me.*sigh*
Sad as it has not only a wonderful world building and great secondary characters but some beautiful writing as well.

[Keri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this! I really enjoyed Elliot and Evangeline's story. Elliot decides one night that he is going to break it off with his mistress that night. Only problem is, she is in the country and it is pouring rain. No matter, he takes off on his horse after her. Once he realizes he is lost, he decides to stop and ask for directions.(This is where you know it is fiction, because as we know, men don't ask for directions, when they can drive around and waste gas instead.)

When the door is opened they have mistaken Elliot for someone else. So begins the rest of Elliot's life. He falls in love not only with Evie, but her life, the kids, the house and the paintings. He wants this life and begins to change in order to make it his. Of course his past keeps coming back to bash him over the head, but he keeps getting up and fighting for Evie. This was a sweet read and I loved Elliot from the beginning.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reread after some years. I'd forgotten almost everything except that Evie was a talented painter, so it was like a new read.

Elliot's back story was quite sad. As a naive young man fresh to London from Scotland, he was shamelessly taken advantage of by a very unpleasant young woman, and he then becomes bitter and cynical. It's not a spoiler, because these events happen in the book's opening pages. The whole, somewhat convoluted plot is not fully unraveled till the very end though, and (as usual for me LOL) I didn't know whodunnit.

It's not till Elliot and Evie meet that the real story begins. They each have their own secrets, but in spite of all, they slowly fall in love, along with Evie's motley family. The children are well-depicted and believable.

I liked Evie, a non-traditional HR heroine, with her Flemish background and her brilliant painting ability. She was no shy young debutante, but neither was she a puppet for the author to push a feminist agenda, as sadly is seen in some more recent HRs. I'm not a fan of romance books that proselytise or push an agenda. Evie's character was believable, a caring and clever woman of integrity who fitted credibly into her times.

I liked Elliot as well. He had behaved badly over the past few years, but his horrid initiation into the ton, and the scurrilous gossip and lies that followed, made his behaviour understandable at least. He genuinely loved Evie, and through their relationship began to find the parts of himself he had lost.

Once again, an enjoyable and well-written read from Ms Carlyle.

[Gloria · Rating 3 out of 5]

*upon reflection, edited to raise rating from two stars to three to more accurately reflect the quality of the book

As a debut novel, it’s pretty good. As a novel, it’s uneven, undisciplined, and occasionally unpleasant.

First, though, the prose was excellent. While some aspects of this book screamed “first time author,” the writing skill is front and center. An example:

It was astonishing when one now considered it, but in his youth Lord Rannoch had been worse than unsophisticated. He had been recklessly naïve. By the close of his first year in town, Rannoch’s reputation lay in ruins. The young lord then set about worsening matters by steeping himself in that most volatile of concoctions: alcohol, mixed with heated despair, topped by a froth of high-stakes gaming.

The plot was interesting, although so convoluted the author lost focus on the main story as she followed story threads down alleys and riverbanks. The interminable interior monologues of the two main characters comprised 80% of the book, or at least it felt that way. EVERY SINGLE INTERACTION between them prompted a chapter of each one analyzing, extrapolating, fretting, justifying, denying, examining what just happened. A little of that helps the reader truly understand a character; a lot of that is just annoying.

When Evangeline discovers who Elliott really is, the reader not only gets treated to full-blown flights of imaginative world-building—Evangeline builds entire, fully-detailed, and entirely false motivations for Elliott’s subterfuge, pages and pages of them—but acts like a spoiled, immature brat. She refuses to ask, refuses to listen, preferring instead to throw heavy metal objects and paint pots at him. This is the woman who has held her family together for ten years?

In spite of a complicated storyline, the main plot driver of this book is an aggressive and deliberate lack of communication. Even when it defies logic, even when communication is blatantly called for, this is a “don’t ask, don’t tell” zone. Until we get to the end of the story and, bizarrely, a barely seen side character shows up to blurt out the whole story for the flimsiest of reasons.

So, while this book hints at better works to come, I can’t recommend it.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried. Really, I did. I am definitely not one to endure pages and pages of a character pondering all their conflicting thoughts. It's confusing. I definitely like to get into the head of a character to understand where they're coming from but this read didn't give me that. I was like "OK, already!!"

This was also one of those where the hero was huge, in all respects, and the heroine, a small wee thing, realized that if she were to get close, her head would match the place where his heart was and she could hear it beating. Maybe it's me but I got this vision of Bigfoot rutting around with a fairy sprite. Whatever. This one was ok, but perhaps my expectations were set too high.

[Monty Cupcake ☠ Queen of Bloodshed ☠ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the plot, but it took forever to read. The writing style is very slow and laborious.

[🐝 Shaz 🐝 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story with a lot happening. Nice couple, with problems from years earlier, following them and coming to a head.

[♥ℳelody · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Very strong writing but Liz Carlyle did too much in here and it got in the way of the pacing and my overall enjoyment. I love a good slow burn and this is exactly that with two complete opposite people from different worlds and lifestyles falling for each other with a lot of trepidation, weariness, insecurity and curious hope between them. So I understood why the gradual build up. However, even so, the pacing is horribly slow especially in the second half with excess ruminations and navel-gazing that are disruptive in scenes. It felt like every hour was covered in this book. Characters keep going off on tangents internally right in the middle of a scene for a few pages which makes it hard to stay engaged. That and there are constant breakaways to secondary character POVs and the murder mystery side plot. There are just too many characters in here to keep straight. Too many POVs, too much internalized angst, too much exposition. Also the 2 ex-mistresses who I kept confusing up got annoying. Jeannette and Antonnette. So confusing that at one point I thought one of them came back from the dead and I was utterly confused that I had to go back and double check names. :/

This could have been a 5 star read if Carlyle didn't pad the story so much. She's very detailed and an intricate writer which is usually a big plus for me but I feel that worked against her here with a plot such as this. I found the dissolute rake hero Elliot really intriguing given how messy and awful he started out. He's not a very nice person but he's very aware of that and has his reasons for being so jaded and distrustful but he tries to do better. Carlyle did a nice job of setting up the opening prologue scene to explain why he is the man he has become now and what made him go down that path. Elliot is the very definition of a HR cynical rake whose life is a mess with carousing, petty revenge, mistresses, whoring and countless duals which sullied his reputation to the point of no return. He's not favored or liked in the ton for good reason and even his own staff fear and hate him. Which I honestly got a kick out of cause again it underscored his awful treatment of others and volcanic temper and to see that slow progression of him trying to be better I thought that was great to see. I love character explorations like this so so much when it involves grey anti characters. Messy characters coming into their own and evolving is hard to pull off and the author did a fairly good job of it here.

In contrast, Evie the heroine I thought was drawn a little too perfectly that at times she bored me with how many times and ways she's described as everything perfect and angelic and pious in comparison to Elliot who is a man slut with a black heart who doesn't deserve to touch her. Evie and her stitched-together family are Flemish foreigners living in the English country in their own little world in their quaint 3 story cottage. I loved that she was a painter (a successful one at that!) and made a point of making sure her younger siblings and cousins were educated and learning the arts and history. Elliot is immediately intrigued and charmed by this lively family when he accidentally shows up on their doorstep during a rainstorm. He's not used to such warmness and kindness and he just wants a little piece of that. I think what would have really made this story hold is if more time was spent with the hero and heroine getting to know each other outside of his false identity (yes it's that trope) and if the MOC (marriage of convenience) that played out in the last 100 pages happened a little sooner. There were moments I did enjoy in this. I honestly loved the MOC part of the book the most for obvious reasons cause you got to see these 2 finally bring their walls down and be vulnerable together and openly vocal/demonstrative about their feelings and being all domestic and cute. I loved that. And Elliot's Scottish brogue coming out when he's flustered or angry had me snorting a few times. So hilarious! LC's touch at humorous moments is well done. Seeing a huge, world-weary, rakish Scot being all soft and in love was sweet to see.

Seeing Evie interact with Elliot's adorable little girl Zoe was sweet but I thought that relationship should have happened sooner for instance. Especially considering how guilt ridden Elliot is over not spending enough time with his shy daughter who he adores and clearly yearns to make happy. It didn’t really speak volumes about his character when he kept leaving his little girl in his big “lonely house” as he put it to go spend time with Evie and her family for weekends. Like sir….you have a lonely child at home who wants to spend time with her Papa. GO HOME. It almost felt like Carlyle kept forgetting that beat in the story to make up for all the endless pages the hero and heroine aren’t spending time together (see comment on doing too much) and in the process made her hero look like a hapless knave in the process. :/

So points for effort and thoroughly fleshed out writing and an extremely compelling complex hero but the execution wasn't fully there for me in parts. I would still recommend this for those who love slow burn and strong crisp writing. You just need patience.

[Julianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed for www.thcreviews.com

"4.5 stars" My False Heart was the first book Liz Carlyle wrote and the first book by her that I have read. All I could think of throughout the story and especially after finishing it was that if this is her debut novel, I can't wait to see what else she has to offer in her later works. Ms. Carlyle wrote two absolutely wonderful characters in Elliot and Evangeline, as well as a full complement of secondary characters from friends and relatives to servants. I loved watching Elliot change from a bitter, vengeful, unhappy man to one who had finally found his heart's desire, as well as watching Evie finally learn to rely on someone else instead of feeling like she was all alone in her responsibilities. Elliot was made even more appealing by the inclusion of his daughter, Zoe, and the fact that he loved her deeply, but didn't know how to show it until he met Evie. His interactions with Zoe after that were endearingly awkward, and full of humanity. I adored Evie's eclectic family unit. It was easy to see why Elliot's cold heart was so warmed by all of them. Ms. Carlyle's characterizations made me wish that such a place and family actually existed, so that I might become a member of it too. I found the children to be particularly delightful, and there were even a few adorable pets who played minor roles in helping to set the tone.

All the characters, including the secondary ones, were amazingly well fleshed out. The author makes liberal use of lengthy passages of prose to give readers thorough insights into the characters thoughts and feelings, and to explain their back stories. Ms. Carlyle is masterful at creating truly romantic situations and sexual tension. Even the simplest of kisses became a thoroughly sensual reading experience. The author gives a believable interpretation of two people slowly falling hopelessly and desperately in love. Ms. Carlyle is also masterful at writing completely beautiful and romantic love scenes. She gives the reader the sense that Elliot and Evangeline truly love one another and are not merely lusting after each other in a physical way, as is unfortunately the case with many romance novels. I felt that the characters gave their initial decision great care and consideration and truly gave more of themselves to each other than just their bodies when they made love.

Often, stories that rely on secrets and misunderstandings to create conflict between the hero and heroine can become tedious and annoying, but I found that Ms. Carlyle does such a wonderful job with these elements that they became a believable part of the plot. I like the way that the author slowly feeds the reader bits and pieces of back story as well as the mystery element. It made me keep wanting to come back to the story to find out more about the characters and what happened next. The mystery was done so well that I did not figure it out until shortly before it was revealed in the story and even then, I wasn't sure I had it right until I actually read it. I loved the way that Ms. Carlyle intricately wove many of the secondary characters into the plot, much the way that a spider weaves her web. This made the story much more interesting, as they would often pop up in unexpected places, sometimes adding to the mystery. I really appreciated the author's use of intelligent, as well as historical, words and phrases. I like a story that makes me think, and this one certainly kept me on my toes, with not only it's rich vocabulary, but also it's extensive cast of characters and intricate plot. Ms. Carlyle's use of lush descriptive details transported me to another time and place, making me feel like I was right there watching the events unfold and could feel every emotion that each of the characters felt. Occasionally, I thought that some of the detailed prose could have been pared down just a bit for the sake of conciseness and to pick up the pacing just a little, but overall, I enjoyed the languid nature of the story. I think it really helped to build a believable illusion of the hero and heroine falling in love instead of rushing into it.

While Ms. Carlyle does not seem to officially consider her books to be a series, many of her stories, not surprisingly, have interconnected characters. My False Heart introduces us to Frederica d' Avillez, Evangeline's cousin, who is just a little girl in this story, but who grows up to become the heroine of her own novel, The Devil You Know. It also introduces readers to George Kemble, Elliot's intriguing multi-talented valet, who has such a vast network of acquaintances that he can find out almost any piece of information his employer or anyone else might want to know. Kem currently appears in five more of Ms. Carlyle's novels including A Woman of Virtue, No True Gentleman, The Devil You Know, A Deal with the Devil, and The Devil to Pay. My False Heart was a wonderful book about which I can find little to criticize. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and am anxiously looking forward to reading more of Ms. Carlyle's books as soon as possible. This story was a truly phenomenal first effort from a writer who is clearly incredibly talented, and the book has definitely earned a place on my keeper shelf.

Note: While none of Ms. Carlyle's earlier books seem to be officially considered a series and each seems to stand well on it's own story-wise, I would caution that reading her later books first may give away spoilers to her earlier books. Such is the case when I skipped one book and was left wishing that I had read it first. My suggestion for readers like myself who don't like any spoilers would be to begin with My False Heart and continue reading the books in the chronological order in which she wrote them. It is also my opinion that the reading experience would be greatly enhanced by doing this, because Ms. Carlyle's character web is so complex. The entire backlist, in order, can be found on her website.

[Crista · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have heard raves about this book and this author. I bought this book and several others by Carlyle "knowing" that I had found another gem author. Boy I tried to like this book...I struggled through each chapter hoping the next would get better...it didn't. I read for enjoyment and the words "struggle" and "tried" should not be on my radar when I am reading for an escape!

I love this book premise. Reformed Rake stories are my favorite and the premise of a disillusioned Lord finding a family is a notion that appealed to me greatly! Here are some of the things that I couldn't get passed:

1. The writing in this book seemed overly complicated to me. Long drawn out descriptions and "thoughts" that failed to help move the story along quickly enough. The story seemed to get "bogged down" and the pacing never really recovered.
2. I had trouble connecting with any of the characters.....none seemed "real" to me.
3. The plot was very slow to develop and I think there were to many people introduced in too short a time. It became very distracting!

I'm wondering if Carlyle's writing isn't to my taste of if I just had an isolated disappointment. I'm hoping is it's the latter. I still have several more Carlyle books in my TBR pile!

For an EXCELLENT book with a similar plot try
Red Roses Mean Love by Jacquie D'Alessandro

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Liz Carlyle's first book and one of my favorites. I read this first and am glad I did. Many of the characters appear in her later works. I loved the whole story of Elliot and Evangeline. You could feel the warmth that Elliot felt when he stumbled upon Evangeline's house. I found myself rooting for Elliot, that he would become part of this loving family, something he desperately needed.

[Corduroy]

I should probably stop trying to read books about men with scandalous, dark pasts who fall in love and try to reform. That whole trope is really my catnip, but I find the execution often not what I want. I want the hero to actually be dissolute and scandalous and dark and I want him to actually be tortured by his past and how maybe that makes him unworthy for TWU LOVE. Instead very often the hero is not that dissolute or unworthy. Part of why I think this trope is potentially compelling is that you'd have to feel the lightning strike of Cupid's Arrow felling the guy when he meets and falls for the heroine. You really want to understand - why this lady, out of the many, many ladies this guy has known in all sense of the word? Instead I think it's often not really that specific or interesting. She's tiny and cute and he's huge and instead of getting the good angst and male moping and self-recrimination you get a lot of cutesy giant families and I just - ??? Not for me.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember LOVING the first part of this book, when the hero — wet, cold, hungry, and totally lost — sits on his horse looking at the glowing windows of a country estate. A portrait of yearning.

Dare he approach the strangers? Surely they might offer him directions, soup, and a bed for the night? Perhaps some space in the barn?

He's a lonely man, and when this warmhearted woman and her fun-loving family welcomes him wholeheartedly, (mistaking him for another) he cannot resist.

If memory serves, the first half of the book is better than the second half, but it's all good. Wonder if it's available on Audible?

[Dangermousie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am growing quite attached to Carlyle's stuff. This one involves the Earl of Rannoch, a bitter and disillusioned man with an awful reputation who accidentally stumbles over the rambling, warm, loving house of Evangeline, a portrait painter (and her eccentric family), is mistaken for a client, and cannot help but want to be drawn into all that warmth. It's just so darling and lovely and I love the hero and heroine and want them to be happy so desperately. It's really good!

[Fiordiligii · Rating 5 out of 5]

So beautiful. I just LOVE Elliot's and Evangeline's story. I have a weakness for broody moody Scottish noblemen. A+

[Faye Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some sleeping dogs will not lie still!

Although this dog of truth took ten years to out, but fate took a hand in the life of a wronged young man with the loyalty of friends and a adopted family to provide a happy ever after! A well written novel, I highly recommend!

[Bianca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the beginning of this book. But by the middle I just started skimming whole pages. There was way too much time spent in characters heads. Sometimes the characters would get so lost in the own thoughts that I would forget they were in the middle of a conversation and what that conversation was about! I did really like all the characters and I wanted to see them all happy! It was just a little (or a lot) boring in parts!

[Sonia189 · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's good but there's too much time spent on things that could have been summarized. Some parts were a little bit boring.

[Mclaudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unequivocal five stars for this sweet story of finding love and redemption even though you have a "false heart" and made a couple of wrong turns in life. Reminded me of Judith Ivory at her best.

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Books I Own. HR. Trope: Regency Romance, Romance Mystery, Disguise (Mistaken Identity), Love at First Sight. (#1 Lorrimer Family & Clan Cameron)
MC's h Evangeline Stone, 25, artist of renoun, orphan and responsible for her brother, sister and cousin living a quiet life in the country. H Elliot Robert Armstrong, Marquis of Ronnach, 34, aka Elliot Robert to Evie and family, father to a illigitimate daughter Zoe, 7 years old.

Elliot meets Evie by accident during a rainstorm when he happened upon her place and instantly was enchanted with the home and her. They were expecting someone else and he went along with it. He introduced himself as Elliot Robert whom apparently had an appointment to have his portrait painted by Evie. Living all under one roof at Chatham Cottage were her brother Michael, sister Nicolette, cousin Frederica, her friend/old governess Mrs. Weydon (now widowed with a sons Gus, Theo) also Mr. Stolely the tutor, servants and a dog. There was an instant attraction between Evie and Elliott and an instant acceptance of the entire family and friends even the dog of Elliott. He didn't want to go back to his real life. It was like coming home a fairy tale come true for him. In Elliot's life he had two best friends, Aiden Lindon, Lt. Michael Winthrop and a retrobate 58 year Uncle Hugh plus his 7 year old illigitimate daughter Zoe. He was known as a Rakehell, Scoundrel and a victim to Scandalmongers. He was not proud of his reputation but also didn't care until her met Evie and her family/friends. Things were going great for the couple until an old adversary vying for his fiance 10 years before came back and challenged him to a duel over their old flame Cecily Forsythe, niece of Lord and Lady Howell. Elliott was shot in the shoulder during the duel and his challenger Baron B was shot in the leg. The next incident was Baron B was beaten and stabbed in an attempted murder and he pointed the finger at Elliott as the attempted murderer. (However Elliott was at Evie's during thist time). Following that unfortunate event, Elliot's ex mistress Antoinnette Fontaine a Drury Lane actress was found strangled with the Ruby necklace Elliot had given her. Gossip mongers also pointed the finger at Elliot. Meanwhile Evie's estranged Grandfather the Earl of Trent passed away and his wife Evie's evil step-grandmother, her Uncle Stephen and Aunt Jeannette showed up at her Chatham Cottage while Ellott was there. Well low and behold they knew Elliot Roberts as the Marquis of Rannoch. He also was shot in the ass by Stephen as Elliot was escaping his wife Jeannette's bedroom window. Jeannette was trying to produce an heir for the Trent title. After this Evie kicked him out. They had just made love and he had proposed marriage to her prior to the exposure. Oh the trouble we weave when we practice to deceive! Read the rest to find out who is the murderer and will Elliot gain Evie's trust and love back?

Review I liked:"4.5 stars" My False Heart was the first book Liz Carlyle wrote and the first book by her that I have read. All I could think of throughout the story and especially after finishing it was that if this is her debut novel, I can't wait to see what else she has to offer in her later works. Ms. Carlyle wrote two absolutely wonderful characters in Elliot and Evangeline, as well as a full complement of secondary characters from friends and relatives to servants. I loved watching Elliot change from a bitter, vengeful, unhappy man to one who had finally found his heart's desire, as well as watching Evie finally learn to rely on someone else instead of feeling like she was all alone in her responsibilities. Elliot was made even more appealing by the inclusion of his daughter, Zoe, and the fact that he loved her deeply, but didn't know how to show it until he met Evie. His interactions with Zoe after that were endearingly awkward, and full of humanity. I adored Evie's eclectic family unit. It was easy to see why Elliot's cold heart was so warmed by all of them. Ms. Carlyle's characterizations made me wish that such a place and family actually existed, so that I might become a member of it too. I found the children to be particularly delightful, and there were even a few adorable pets who played minor roles in helping to set the tone.

All the characters, including the secondary ones, were amazingly well fleshed out. The author makes liberal use of lengthy passages of prose to give readers thorough insights into the characters thoughts and feelings, and to explain their back stories. Ms. Carlyle is masterful at creating truly romantic situations and sexual tension. Even the simplest of kisses became a thoroughly sensual reading experience. The author gives a believable interpretation of two people slowly falling hopelessly and desperately in love. Ms. Carlyle is also masterful at writing completely beautiful and romantic love scenes. She gives the reader the sense that Elliot and Evangeline truly love one another and are not merely lusting after each other in a physical way, as is unfortunately the case with many romance novels. I felt that the characters gave their initial decision great care and consideration and truly gave more of themselves to each other than just their bodies when they made love.

Often, stories that rely on secrets and misunderstandings to create conflict between the hero and heroine can become tedious and annoying, but I found that Ms. Carlyle does such a wonderful job with these elements that they became a believable part of the plot. I like the way that the author slowly feeds the reader bits and pieces of back story as well as the mystery element. It made me keep wanting to come back to the story to find out more about the characters and what happened next. The mystery was done so well that I did not figure it out until shortly before it was revealed in the story and even then, I wasn't sure I had it right until I actually read it. I loved the way that Ms. Carlyle intricately wove many of the secondary characters into the plot, much the way that a spider weaves her web. This made the story much more interesting, as they would often pop up in unexpected places, sometimes adding to the mystery. I really appreciated the author's use of intelligent, as well as historical, words and phrases. I like a story that makes me think, and this one certainly kept me on my toes, with not only it's rich vocabulary, but also it's extensive cast of characters and intricate plot. Ms. Carlyle's use of lush descriptive details transported me to another time and place, making me feel like I was right there watching the events unfold and could feel every emotion that each of the characters felt. Occasionally, I thought that some of the detailed prose could have been pared down just a bit for the sake of conciseness and to pick up the pacing just a little, but overall, I enjoyed the languid nature of the story. I think it really helped to build a believable illusion of the hero and heroine falling in love instead of rushing into it.

While Ms. Carlyle does not seem to officially consider her books to be a series, many of her stories, not surprisingly, have interconnected characters. My False Heart introduces us to Frederica d' Avillez, Evangeline's cousin, who is just a little girl in this story, but who grows up to become the heroine of her own novel, The Devil You Know. It also introduces readers to George Kemble, Elliot's intriguing multi-talented valet, who has such a vast network of acquaintances that he can find out almost any piece of information his employer or anyone else might want to know. Kem currently appears in five more of Ms. Carlyle's novels including A Woman of Virtue, No True Gentleman, The Devil You Know, A Deal with the Devil, and The Devil to Pay. My False Heart was a wonderful book about which I can find little to criticize. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and am anxiously looking forward to reading more of Ms. Carlyle's books as soon as possible. This story was a truly phenomenal first effort from a writer who is clearly incredibly talented, and the book has definitely earned a place on my keeper shelf.

Note: While none of Ms. Carlyle's earlier books seem to be officially considered a series and each seems to stand well on it's own story-wise, I would caution that reading her later books first may give away spoilers to her earlier books. Such is the case when I skipped one book and was left wishing that I had read it first. My suggestion for readers like myself who don't like any spoilers would be to begin with My False Heart and continue reading the books in the chronological order in which she wrote them. It is also my opinion that the reading experience would be greatly enhanced by doing this, because Ms. Carlyle's character web is so complex. The entire backlist, in order, can be found on her website.

[Gisele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Libertinos também tem coração
Começei esse ano com o pé direito nas leituras! Só livros ótimos :D

My false heart, é de uma autora que nunca li nada na vida, peguei a dica do livro dela no mesmo lugar que peguei a indicação de To Have and to Hold, no blog da Rosario (http://rosario.blogspot.com/) blog em inglês, que só tem dicas porretas!

Mas voltando ao livro, aqui temos a história de Elliot, Marquês de Rannoch - escocês, lindo, rico e enooorme - que na sua juventude amou muito uma mulher, mas foi enganado por ela. Depois dessa decepção ele se entregou a dissolução. Um um libertino da pior espécie, que vivia pra beber, jogar, se prostituir e arruinar os seus inimigos. Assim, sem dó nem piedade, até porque nunca tiveram piedade dele.
Elliot tem uma filhinha, de uns 8 anos, Zoë, que é o amor da vida dele, mas ele como se fechou para os sentimentos a muito tempo, não sabe como demonstrar o seu amor para com as pessoas.
Resultado? Os criados, as pessoas em geral e a própria filha tem medo dele. E em um certo ponto de sua vida ele se cansa da vida que sem sentido que ele está vivendo, mas ainda sim, não sabe como mudar isso.

Essa situação meio que muda quando ele - tentado achar sua amante para terminar seu relacionamento com ela - acaba se perdendo no interior da Inglaterra no meio de um temporal. Elliot encontra a casa de Evangeline Stone, Evie, uma artista, com uma familia linda e acolhedora. Tudo o que Elliot semppre quis ter...

O povo da casa de Evie, confunde Elliot com um cliente que estavam esperando para Evie e ele acaba se sentido tão bem acolhido e se sentindo tão querido pela primeira vez na sua vida, que ele não tem forças para desfazer o engano.

Daí você já deve imaginar o que acontece.. Elliot se apaixona por Evie, e ela por ele. A convivência que ele tem com a familia dela, o afeta de muitas maneiras e ele começa a rever o seu relacionamento com as pessoas ao seu redor, como Zoë e os seus empregados - mudanças que rendem ótimas cenas!!!!

Mas ninguém acredita na mudança de Elliot. Principalmente quando a verdade vem a tona. É ai que temos uma das cenas mais tocantes que eu já li em livrinhos - no que diz respeito a um mocinho arrependido.

A fama dele é ruim demais, mas o amor eventualmente vence. Tem algumas coisas que não pegaram muito bem pra mim. Elliot é muito arrogante, e as vezes manipulador e por mais que Evie tenha também um gênio muito forte e seja bem decidida ela captula. Eles se casam e sempre eu fiquei com a sensação de que ela se abriu mais que ele. Um detalhe, em momento algum você duvida do amor de Elliot por Evie, até porque ele não para de falar isso, mas a relutância dele em revelar o seu passado à Evie, enquanto ele exigia nenhum segredo dela, me incomodou um pouco.

Mas nada que tire a beleza dessa história de amor e redenção. Evie é como um balsamo para o coração ferido de Elliot, o texto da autora faz você sentir isso - todo o desespero e necessidade que ele tinha de ser amado de verdade, é muito bonito. E mesmo que eu tenha esses pequenos pontos, eu recomendo demais. Tenho certeza que assim como eu, você também vai se apaixonar por esse escocês arrogante e cabeçudo!

[MK · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's begin.

We have Elliott who's introduced as this charming young man who is completely besotted with his betrothed.

Like annoyingly so.

I almost chose not to read this book because the characters in the first chapter were so outrageously cheesy with their need for each other.

We then find out Elliot's betrothed is preggo with someone else's child and obviously the engagement is called off.

Thus leads to Elliot's debauched life where he's constantly whoring & drinking.

In an attempt to find his last mistress to pay off her contract, he stumbles upon this charming estate & falls madly in love with our girl Evangeline.

Evangeline is an angel come to life. She is a skilled painter, beautiful & the perfect mother to her siblings & cousin. She is domestic bliss at its finest. And even more amazing (in Elliot's eyes) is her ability to share control of the children & house with her old governess Winnie.

Let me say Carlyle does not paint a favorable picture of women. The motive behind 90% of the women in this novel is greed. All of the prostitutes were shown in a negative light. The only good women in the novel were Winnie & Evangeline.

In any other novel Elliot would have been the bad guy. Look peeps, if we didn't have his side of the story, it looks like he conned this family into letting him hang out with him, he's a manwhore who will sleep with anyone (even their Aunt!) and he's wanted for murder.

But aside all that, he dismisses one of their servants, even though he's only a guest in their house & after he sleeps with Evangeline he tries to get her uncle to force her into marrying him because now she's a fallen woman.

That was my favorite part of the novel when Uncle Peter was like "You think because your dick has been inside my niece she's a fallen woman? Nah she's still the same person & she doesn't need to marry you if she doesn't want to." Totally paraphrased there but seriously Uncle Peter for the win!

I'm all for alpha male leads but Elliot was a conniving asshole.

I also really enjoyed Evangeline's character. She was so levelheaded & engaging, until she wasn't! Yes after she finds out Elliot lied to them she goes on a rampage. Constantly shrieking at him & throwing things.

Gone was our smart thinking heroine. In her place was a crazy shrew.

Listen, I'm all for a good row but when you have the guy shouting but the woman, yes the woman, she doesn't shout she doesn't yell, she shrieks. That bothers me. Men don't shriek & I feel like the word shriek is used exclusively for women in the worst possible way.

I just felt like that type of crazy was out of character for Evangeline. She has the patience to deal with any age of children but confronted with a grown mans lie's and she goes batshit crazy.

So yeah, this story was a little bit of a let down.

[Ceki · Rating 3 out of 5]

The whole book could have been better if the family dinners and boring stories had been avoided, and if more attention had been paid to the main characters. I didn't really like Elliot Armstrong, but probably because he wasn't even presented as a likeable character - he left his 8-year-old daughter to live on her own while he was pursuing whores and gambling the nights away. Then he accidentally finds himself in the sweet and warm home of a talented artist Evangeline whom he ends up deceiving and seducing (not as if she didn't want that). However, he was so annoying that I just wanted to slap him, it was probably the way he took everything for granted. He changes towards the end, but I guess it wasn't enough for me.

[Sabrina Jeffries · Rating 5 out of 5]

You won't find more well-developed characters anywhere. Liz's lush style captivated me from the beginning, and I adore her characters, especially the intelligent and strong-willed women.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good lord, this one gave me ALL THE EMOTIONS. It was fantastic, epic even.

[Mskychick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely a debut book. The writing is awfully florid.
And Elliot Armstrong is an ass.

[Leonora · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to give this book every star that ever existed.

Lord Rannoch, our ML, is a terrible guy who was traumatized by a woman (former fiancé who did him wrong and died shortly thereafter) in the past and has been very mean to everyone for a long time since. At the start he's trying to track down his current mistress so he can properly give her the boot but on his way back to London the weather turns dire and he winds up at Chatham Lodge where he gets confused for a person come to get a portrait from the artist who lives there.

The artist in question is Evangeline, the young (28ish) matriarch of a family that came back to England from the Continent (Flanders, specifically their residence much of the time) about 10 years ago following the death of her mother. Her father, a disowned member of an English Noble family was also an artist and passed away a few years before our story begins in earnest. The Lodge is a loud family home with her young siblings and several cousins in residence.

Rannoch, confused and perhaps amused, decides to go along with it because Evie is very nice looking and gives a false name "by accident"--as he is about to give his full name there is a child-noise-related incident and he's cut off) and doesn't do a follow-up. The family doesn't really know much about what's going on in London (intentionally) and never go themselves so nobody knows who he is. He leaves after the initial sitting and says he'll come back though neither Evie nor himself really think he will.

Except he does. And he loves it there and he probably loves Evie and he uses the portrait sittings as a reason to keep going to visit. And Evie is taking longer with her portrait than necessary so he has reason to do more sittings. Rannoch continues to not tell anyone who he is while knowing it's a bad idea and that he has to own up to it because his name is very notorious (because he has been an absolute cad for 10 years) but doesn't know how to do so.

While this is all going on the events from 10 years ago that set Rannoch on his current course have come up again in London as a rival suitor for his former-fiancé has returned and that's all got to be resolved of course. Figuring out what really happened there provides some important "see what a jerk ML is outside Chatham" context plus intrigue, emotional resolutions and so on.

I'm sure see where this is all going, and it's spectacular. If you like seeing naughty MLs suffer this is a great one.

[Laine · Rating 2 out of 5]

A flawed aristocrat embittered by his fiancée's betrayal descends into a dissolute life, then meets a perfect heroine under deceptive circumstances. The rest of the book is his painful metamorphosis into someone he hopes is worthy of her, a caterpillar trying to achieve butterfly status spiritually (he's physical perfection already, drawing the heroine's artistic eye and hunger).

However, Evangeline is too perfect - a stunning beauty, a super talented artist, mainstay of a house full of dependents including a younger brother in danger. But she turns into a shrieking harpy on discovering Elliott's relatively harmless deception. Instead of realizing that he wields influence as a marquis that could be used to allay her fears for her brother she lets loose like a demented banshee. Guess this is the artistic temperament she kept under wraps before but adults who throw things just seem like brats with no mental discipline. Has any reader met anyone in real life who does such a thing? Why is this such a common trope in books, plays and movies?

Instead of running in the opposite direction, Elliott redoubles his efforts to woo exercised emoting Evie while she plays hard to get even within their marriage.

The secondary cast in this book is too large and unwieldy, too many minor relatives and even servants given speaking parts. Though the aim may have been to contrast Evangeline's earth mother personality treating even servants as family to Elliott's sterile home and difficulty achieving warmth even with an illegitimate daughter he loves, the result is tedium and skimming for this reader. Who cares that the younger son of Evie's governess/companion breaks windows or that his older brother is too good at the card table? This is boring detail without purpose except as stuffing.

Apparently this is Ms. Carlyle's first book. Having read other books by her, my impression is of an uneven body of work ranging from very good to this rather irritating snore fest. Choose carefully.