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And Only to Deceive Lady Emily Lady Emily Mysteries Tasha Alexander Books

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And Only to Deceive Lady Emily Lady Emily Mysteries Tasha Alexander Books

Having just read both And Only to Deceive, by Tasha Alexander, and Silent in the Grave, by Deanna Raybourn, I wanted to compare the two, as they both begin with two newly-minted widows impatient with living in mourning and eventually deciding to investigate their late husbands' legacies. Lady Emily is the protagonist from And Only to Deceive, and Lady Julia is the protagonist from Silent in the Grave, but AOD contains many ancient Greek allusions, and its protagonist is also known as Kallista, so I'll call her that for the sake of clarity here.

Raybourn and Alexander's novels possess many similarities. Both authors do a fine job of evoking the social conventions and atmosphere of Victorian England. Neither one describes the setting so well that one suspects either is a literature or history professor, but both authors are gifted enough with description that the reader is able to feel comfortable in the time and place. Both main characters weren't particularly attached to their husbands, although interestingly enough one woman comes to dramatically despise certain aspects of her husband's character by the end of the novel, while the other woman comes to actually fall in love with her dead husband by the end of her story. One husband turns out to be a significantly more honorable human being than the other. Both widows, however, turn out to be rather similar. Both women aren't particularly thrilled about mourning husbands that they didn't particularly love, and both widows are wealthy and seek slightly more independence through choices of either friends, new clothes and hairstyles, etc.

As far as differences in plot and character change go, after the death of her husband, Kallista goes to the British Museum and discovers a newfound interest for ancient Greek art and literature. She cultivates this passion and accordingly makes scholarly friends, but her love interest, Colin Hargreaves, is always in the background running mysterious errands. Colin is an upper-class neighbor of hers who was her husband's best friend. Meanwhile, Lady Julia is contacted by the dashing but unpredictable Nicholas Brisbane and informed that her husband's death was murder. Lady Julia subsequently visits Brisbane several times in his rooms and endures several different interrogations. Both husbands, in the end, are (surprise!) found to have been murdered.

I found Kallista to be a more interesting character than Lady Julia, probably because I love most things to do with the ancient Greek world, and I liked how the Greek art and literature plot unfolded in Kallista's story. I thought that Brisbane was definitely a more interesting character than Hargreaves, however: it would seem that Alexander's female protagonist was more interesting than the love interest in her story, and Raybourn's male love interest was more interesting than her protagonist, at least in this first novel in the series.

What would Keats and Aristotle say? Both these novels were fun. I think the pace was a little better in AOD, but that novel also had a gaggle of anachronistic-sounding girlfriends that surrounded the protagonist as well, so there are points both for and against that novel's superiority. I liked how both authors genuinely attempted to show how both widows felt badly that they didn't mourn their husbands more, and that both women were able to become more themselves once their husbands were gone. Neither novel really seemed to contain magnificent greatness of either content or execution, but both were enjoyable and worth reading. If you're looking for a female protagonist in a series with more authentic period detail and somewhat better writing, as well as more humor but less depth, I'd suggest the Amelia Peabody series. That series, however, is set in Victorian British Egypt, not England.


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And Only to Deceive Lady Emily Lady Emily Mysteries Tasha Alexander Books Reviews

Though reasonably well written, 'Only to Deceive' bogs down from time to time under the weight the author's research of Greek mythology and literature. It just moved too slowly for my taste especially after I figured out the central mystery, which I did about 60% of the way into the story. After that it just became an exercise in tedium.

The best element of the story was the author's use of Lady Emily's deceased husband's journal to transition between chapters. Like Lady Emily, the reader falls a little bit in love with him. The author's character development is good, but I found the plotting excessively convoluted. Adherence to Victorian manners, mores and high interest in all things Classical appears to be accurate, but I struggled to maintain interest amid all the Hector vs. Achilles discussions. Unfortunately, I found myself too easily distracted as I read and struggled to maintain interest until the finish. I did finish it, but only by force of will. There are many books I was sad to see end. Unfortunately, this wasn't one of them.
While this is the first book in the Lady Emily series, it was the fifth one I read. It was interesting to see Lady Emily start on the pathway toward becoming the strong-minded woman she is today as she realizes after the death of her first husband that being a widow in London society affords her more freedom than she could ever have had as a wife.

At the same time, there are some problems-- it is disjointed in some places, I could have used a cast of characters, and I felt as though the story line involving her husband's journal was dropped very suddenly. My husband tried to get me to read this book when it first came out, and I tried, but didn't enjoy it and put it aside. Since I am now binge reading through the books, I found it much more enjoyable after already having some knowledge of Lady Emily.

My suggestion would be that this NOT be the first Lady Emily book that new readers of the series read. Get a few others under your belt. You'll enjoy this one much more!
Having just read both And Only to Deceive, by Tasha Alexander, and Silent in the Grave, by Deanna Raybourn, I wanted to compare the two, as they both begin with two newly-minted widows impatient with living in mourning and eventually deciding to investigate their late husbands' legacies. Lady Emily is the protagonist from And Only to Deceive, and Lady Julia is the protagonist from Silent in the Grave, but AOD contains many ancient Greek allusions, and its protagonist is also known as Kallista, so I'll call her that for the sake of clarity here.

Raybourn and Alexander's novels possess many similarities. Both authors do a fine job of evoking the social conventions and atmosphere of Victorian England. Neither one describes the setting so well that one suspects either is a literature or history professor, but both authors are gifted enough with description that the reader is able to feel comfortable in the time and place. Both main characters weren't particularly attached to their husbands, although interestingly enough one woman comes to dramatically despise certain aspects of her husband's character by the end of the novel, while the other woman comes to actually fall in love with her dead husband by the end of her story. One husband turns out to be a significantly more honorable human being than the other. Both widows, however, turn out to be rather similar. Both women aren't particularly thrilled about mourning husbands that they didn't particularly love, and both widows are wealthy and seek slightly more independence through choices of either friends, new clothes and hairstyles, etc.

As far as differences in plot and character change go, after the death of her husband, Kallista goes to the British Museum and discovers a newfound interest for ancient Greek art and literature. She cultivates this passion and accordingly makes scholarly friends, but her love interest, Colin Hargreaves, is always in the background running mysterious errands. Colin is an upper-class neighbor of hers who was her husband's best friend. Meanwhile, Lady Julia is contacted by the dashing but unpredictable Nicholas Brisbane and informed that her husband's death was murder. Lady Julia subsequently visits Brisbane several times in his rooms and endures several different interrogations. Both husbands, in the end, are (surprise!) found to have been murdered.

I found Kallista to be a more interesting character than Lady Julia, probably because I love most things to do with the ancient Greek world, and I liked how the Greek art and literature plot unfolded in Kallista's story. I thought that Brisbane was definitely a more interesting character than Hargreaves, however it would seem that Alexander's female protagonist was more interesting than the love interest in her story, and Raybourn's male love interest was more interesting than her protagonist, at least in this first novel in the series.

What would Keats and Aristotle say? Both these novels were fun. I think the pace was a little better in AOD, but that novel also had a gaggle of anachronistic-sounding girlfriends that surrounded the protagonist as well, so there are points both for and against that novel's superiority. I liked how both authors genuinely attempted to show how both widows felt badly that they didn't mourn their husbands more, and that both women were able to become more themselves once their husbands were gone. Neither novel really seemed to contain magnificent greatness of either content or execution, but both were enjoyable and worth reading. If you're looking for a female protagonist in a series with more authentic period detail and somewhat better writing, as well as more humor but less depth, I'd suggest the Amelia Peabody series. That series, however, is set in Victorian British Egypt, not England.