Sandy M’s review of To Sin With a Stranger (The Seven Deadly Sins, Book 1) by Kathryn Caskie
Historical Romance published by Avon 25 Nov 08
This is going to be a fun series. Seven children of a widowed Scottish earl run amuck when their father can’t get over the loss of his wife. They assign themselves a seven deadly sin each and then live up to that sin quite wickedly and wholeheartedly. Until their father finally comes to his senses and realizes what his grief and negligence have wrought. He banishes them to London until they can prove their worth to carry the family name. London is blindsided and can’t figure out where all the havoc has come from. What’s not to like about that?
Not much, I can tell you. This first book is about the oldest Sinclair sibling and the heir, Sterling. He’s always taken responsibility for his brothers and sisters, so when they find themselves in London on their own with only enough money to barely survive, he takes it upon himself to do what he can to hopefully make them rich and not need their father’s largesse.
The way he’s been doing that is with his fists in the boxing ring. He’s young and quick and somewhat skilled, mostly just lucky. It’s during his first fight in town that he meets Isobel Carington, a politician’s daughter who interrupts his fight trying to get contributions for her widows and children home. Taken with the young woman, Sterling hatches a plan that will definitely put him and his family back on the A list and rolling in the dough. He can’t know, however, how his idea will eventually backfire and cause more harm than good.
Wanting only to help those women and children left behind when they’re loved ones are killed in wartime, Isobel lets her anger get the best of her when she sees money being thrown away on the frivolous, thus her detour into a men’s fight club to make a point and perhaps receive some donations. What she doesn’t plan on is coming face to face with a rude and insulting Scot, and a fighter no less. But when word gets around that a wager has been anonymously made at White’s that Marquess Sinclar will wed Ms. Carington by the end of the season, she finds herself the star of polite society, much to her father’s anger and disappointment, but much to her surprise she finds Sterling not so bad once she begins to know him.
The Sinclair family is going to be giving us some great stories over the course of this series. They are all tall and beautiful, love a good time and each other. They stick together and try to be on their best behavior and finally do what’s right to re-earn their father’s favor. I like how Ms. Caskie gives each character’s personality a tad bit of the sin they’ve taken on, especially when they have to rein that sin in to get back into the Earl’s good graces. Sterling and Isobel are a delightful couple. They fall in love early, try to deny it, but when they can’t we get some wonderful scenes between them… And I like the fact they keep the faith in their love for one another even when misunderstanding comes around.
This is a very nice start for this series. I look forward to the next book, The Most Wicked of Sins, due to be released in August of 2009.
Grade: A-
Summary:
Meet the “Seven Deadly Sins”
The seven Sinclair brothers and sisters live for scandal and delight in disgrace . . . until their father decrees that they must reform. Propriety has never come easily, but now they have no choice. Marry in haste…Or regret in poverty!
The Sinclairs of Scotland are known throughout society as The Seven Deadly Sins. Cast out by their father and denied their inheritance unless they mend their wild ways, they travel to London to seek respectability. No member of the clan is more scandalous than Sterling Sinclair, the Marquess of Blackburn. The ladies of the ton are powerless to withstand his rakish charms…until Miss Isobel Carington comes along.
Ten thousand pounds if she marries Sinclair!
Isobel is horrified to learn that’s the amount wagered at White’s Club— and now all of London is eagerly betting on her future! She’s already publicly spurned the Marquess, a man she hardly knows, but she’s sure he is up to something as he launches a bold campaign of seduction anyway. But soon she is surprised to learn there is much more to this man than reckless adventure and bad behavior… and, against her will, she begins to relish the thrill of sinning with this stranger…
Read an excerpt.
I do like the premise. But what’s Sterling’s sin?
Well, I wasn’t sure if I should include that, it’s all part of what happens in the book and what he has to overcome to earn his father’s respect. The blurb doesn’t even reveal that!
I loved this book . . . it was such a fun, engaging read. It’s on the website, but Sterling’s sin is greed. But I really liked how Kathy Caskie played upon that theme. There’s a couple of scenes where “something” happens, and I figured it out but still my heart pinched when it was revealed.
God, I hated this book. I’m glad you liked it, but I couldn’t make sense of the characters’ motivations, and the revelation about Isobel’s father at the end was just plain creepy!