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A review by ladynovella
A Terrible Beauty by Tasha Alexander
3.0
That was... weird. And I can't talk about it without spoiling it, so under the "Spoiler" buffer it goes.
I didn't hate it. But probably not my top favorite of the Lady Emily books. After the initial shock of Emily's dead first husband showing up, that aspect of the story was kind of awkward. And Philip expected her to still be in love with him, when she never really was (at least, not before he died). She just married him because it was the thing to do (also, to appease her overbearing mother). But Philip's adoration of Emily was too much (with that irritating nickname he has for her - sorry, but after eleven books plus a couple of short stories, "Kallista" just does not suit Lady Emily as a nickname. It's way too pretentious for her. I've never bought into it, outside of Cecile using it. And that's because Cecile does what she likes). It's like he was expecting an unchanged statue to come running back to him, never mind that ten years have passed in the story and Emily's moved on and has her own little family.
Nope. I firmly ship Emily and Colin. That could be why I was uneasy with this story and why I felt such relief and finding out that "Philip" wasn't actually Emily's deceased first husband - he was actually an impostor. I wish Team Emily had figured that out before and tried to work it out. Though I suspect Colin was doing so behind the scenes and Emily was too shell-shocked to follow that line of thinking herself (can't blame her, honestly. She may be intelligent and fiercely independent, but there's is only one response to someone long thought dead walking back in the door. Well... two responses, but this isn't a zombie story).
It was fine enough for what it was.
I didn't hate it. But probably not my top favorite of the Lady Emily books. After the initial shock of Emily's dead first husband showing up, that aspect of the story was kind of awkward. And Philip expected her to still be in love with him, when she never really was (at least, not before he died). She just married him because it was the thing to do (also, to appease her overbearing mother). But Philip's adoration of Emily was too much (with that irritating nickname he has for her - sorry, but after eleven books plus a couple of short stories, "Kallista" just does not suit Lady Emily as a nickname. It's way too pretentious for her. I've never bought into it, outside of Cecile using it. And that's because Cecile does what she likes). It's like he was expecting an unchanged statue to come running back to him, never mind that ten years have passed in the story and Emily's moved on and has her own little family.
Nope. I firmly ship Emily and Colin. That could be why I was uneasy with this story and why I felt such relief and finding out that "Philip" wasn't actually Emily's deceased first husband - he was actually an impostor. I wish Team Emily had figured that out before and tried to work it out. Though I suspect Colin was doing so behind the scenes and Emily was too shell-shocked to follow that line of thinking herself (can't blame her, honestly. She may be intelligent and fiercely independent, but there's is only one response to someone long thought dead walking back in the door. Well... two responses, but this isn't a zombie story).
It was fine enough for what it was.