Book review: And Only to Deceive and A Poisoned Season by Tasha Alexander

Ok first I'll tell you the story of how I found this series.  I had ordered the newest Lady Julia Grey novel and I was going to check and see if it shipped out yet. It was, but Amazon gave me suggestions on books they thought I would like based on my recent purchases. I just clicked on a few and the newest book in the Lady Emily series came up called "A Crimson Warning". I read some of the reviews and found out that this was the latest book to a 6 book series. So I went on Goodreads and looked up the name of the first one. It's looked pretty cool, and it kinda sounded like it would be like Deanna Raybourn's Lady Julia Grey series. I checked to see if they had it at my library and they had all the other books except the first one. So I downloaded the eBook and read it.

 Now, here's what it says on the back of  "And Only To Deceive":

"For Emily, accepting the proposal of Philip, the Viscount Ashton, was an easy way to escape her overbearing mother, who was set on a grand society match. So when Emily's dashing husband died on safari soon after their wedding, she felt little grief. After all, she barely knew him. Now, nearly two years later, she discovers that Philip was a far different man from the one she had married so cavalierly. His journals reveal him to have been a gentleman scholar and antiquities collector who, to her surprise, was deeply in love with his wife. Emily becomes fascinated with this new image of her dead husband and she immerses herself in all things ancient and begins to study Greek. Emily's intellectual pursuits and her desire to learn more about Philip take her to the quiet corridors of the British Museum, one of her husband's favorite places. There, amid priceless ancient statues, she uncovers a dark, dangerous secret involving stolen artifacts from the Greco-Roman galleries. And to complicate matters, she's juggling two very prominent and wealthy suitors, one of whose intentions may go beyond the marrying kind. As she sets out to solve the crime, her search leads to more surprises about Philip and causes her to question the role in Victorian society to which she, as a woman, is relegated."

I give this book 3 stars and I'll tell you why.   At first this book was interesting, and I had hopes for this book. I wanted it to be as good as the Lady Julia Grey series but sadly it wasn't.  The plot was good, and the story is interesting, but there was one thing I didn't like, at all, about this book: Lady Emily. 

I did not like her. It was cool that she wanted to be independent and not rely on anyone but herself. I also liked that she didn't want to follow the rules of society. She basically wanted to be a rebel. That sums it up. Which is fine because everyone needs to be rebelish once in a while, but she took it too far. She didn't listen to ANYone. It got really annoying to put it lightly. She got really braty at times, and I just wanted to slap her. 

Now, she didn't really get to know her husband while he was alive so she tries to find out new things about him and get to know him better. She ends up falling in love with her dead husband! She gets to know more about him and then shes crying all the time about how she never got to love him as he deserved when he was alive. Basically feeling sorry for herself, and deweling too much on the past. You can't change it so stop crying over it! UGH. It made me mad. Then (haha I'm not even done yet) she meets her husbands best friend Colin Hargreaves, and he's nice to her and comforts her while she's grieving. Which is awesome. I love Colin. I think he's great, but it's just her that gets me! She spends time around Colin and she starts to like him, but all she does is lead him on. She makes him follow after her like a dog, she doesn't make any decisions regarding him. Ugh. The whole time she was accusing Colin of doing stuff that he obviously didn't do! And she has it in her head that HE'S the one doing everything! She just got on my nerves in this first book. I like everything else but her. 

 So you would think that she would be too annoying to go and read the second one, but I decided to give it a chance and read the second one and see if it would be better than the first. So I went to the library and got it. Today I finished it. 

Here's what it says on the back of "A Poisoned Season":

 "London's social season is in full swing, and Victorian aristocracy is atwitter over a certain gentleman who claims to be the direct descendant of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Adding to their fascination with all things French, an audacious cat burglar is systematically stealing valuable items that once belonged to the ill–fated queen.

But things take a dark turn. The owner of one of the pilfered treasures is found murdered after the theft is reported in the newspapers, and the mysterious thief develops a twisted obsession with Lady Emily Ashton. It takes all of Lady Emily's wit and perseverance to unmask her stalker and ferret out the murderer, while faced with a brewing scandal that threatens both her reputation and her romance with the dashing Colin Hargreaves.

 Now, I give this book 4 stars.  I thought this book was WAY better than the first one. In this one, she's over her dead husband and moving on with her life. She's fine until one of her friends, Mrs. Francis comes up to Emily and asks her to solve the mystery of  her husbands murder. So she agrees to help her. On top of that, someone keeps breaking in to Emily's house and sending her love notes and roses. She has a secret admirer. So, she tries to figure out who he is. All the while, still leading Colin on even though she loves him. -sigh- Just marry the poor guy! Other than that I liked this book a lot better. She wasn't as braty and she finally came to a decision regarding Colin. It's about time!
The plot was good, the mystery was good also, and it was exciting. One more thing I didn't like, was that it was a slow read. It dragged on for a while. I thought that the romance in it was cute. The only reason I'm gonna read the next one is because of her relationship with Colin. Colin is a cool guy. I want to see more of him. Overall, a pretty good book.

These books are good, but I wouldn't say there great. Once I finish with the series, I'm not gonna read it again. Normally I would recommend these to you but, I don't think I would. The second one is good. but the first one is not worth reading a second time. I wouldn't have a problem with it, if it wasn't for Emily. She kinda ruined the series for me, and I didn't want that to happen. I wanted to like her but, I couldn't. Even though I like her a bit more in the second book, I still didn't really like her. And I can't really name what it is...
Well, I hope the second book will be good, but I'm not sure. I really hope that it will change my mind about the series.