A good portion of my reading this year has been overtaken by Bridgerton...I suppose quantity wise it isn’t really that good of a portion but it did occupy quite a bit of headspace for awhile. My main comment on the whole series is 1) the Netflix adaptation is incredible and when I first saw it I was obsessed and I think 3 episodes in had already ordered the first book. 2) The books are even better. Every single one of them is even better than the series.
A quick warning to anyone who may not have gathered from the Netflix adaptation, these are not innocent books, there is a lot of steam and descriptions so if that’s not your thing in books. Skip this series and wait for me to gush about something else.
I reviewed the first novel “The Duke & I” which follows Daphne, the fourth oldest of the Bridgerton
children and the oldest girl in her romance and marriage to the Duke of Hastings back in January. I’ve held off on writing about the other novels until I finished not only the series but also finished processing it.
So buckle up because here we go:
After Daphne the books mostly go in order of the siblings. Book two, “The Viscount Who Loved Me”
follows Anthony Bridgerton (it’s been hinted that season two of netflix will follow him as well). The eldest of not only the brothers but all of the siblings. The one most affected by their father’s death and the one who is not in fact looking for a love match.
Anthony has sworn that love is the issue with marriages and will have nothing to do with his selection of his life long partner (like nothing will go wrong with this plan). He returns to London for the season and requests to know that season’s Incomparable. Setting out like every other man in town to woo her. As a Viscount he is expected to go after the best and given his personality, status and wealth it should be no issue achieving his goal. However he has also been informed that this season’s Incomparable has made it very clearly known she will not marry without her sister’s wholehearted approval. Kate (the sister in question) is also out for the season though as the Incomperable’s sister most of her attention has been in attempts to reach her sister. Much as Anthony does, the two fall into a bit of friendship and a hilarious romance ensues. My favorite part is the act that forces them into marriage. Kate is stung by a bee, a simple thing to most people and she is completely unalarmed. Anthony who watched his strong healthy father die of a simple bee sting goes into immediate panic, attempting to suck the bee venom out of her...unfortunately he is seen doing this and unfortunately the bee happened to sting her chest. Obviously it’s for the best though as clearly Anthony is in love with her given his reaction and Kate given the fact that she didn’t backhand him across the damn country and her private thoughts that we are privy too is in love with him too.
The third novel “An Offer from a Gentleman” focuses on Benedict, the second oldest sibling. Benedict
has no interest in all of the socialites throwing themselves in his path. While he is not the Viscount, he still holds a powerful family name and connections. At his mother’s masquerade party he meets a mystery woman who no one knows and who after that night he cannot find no matter what he does.
The mystery girl is Sophie, the bastard daughter of an earl. Raised as his ward, treated with every care and consideration by the staff though given no genuine affection from her father. Her life is thrown into chaos when her father marries a widow with two daughters of her own. The girls are not allowed to play with or be kind to Sophie and the earl’s new wife is a hideous pig towards her.
As Sophie gets older the earl passes leaving her in the care of his widowed wife. She must keep Sophie and care for her until Sophie is 18 or lose a substantial portion of her yearly salary left by her husband. Begrudgingly she keeps Sophie fed and housed though treats her as a slave working her harder than the rest of the servants and paying her nothing.
This story reminds me a lot of Cinderella, it’s definitely a different version of that archetype. While Benedict is not a prince. Sophie meets him at a ball and then disappears back to her horrible life slaving for her wicked stepmother and stepsisters.
Unfortunately for Sophie, the wicked stepmother finds out that Sophie went to the ball because a pair of her shoes was borrowed. She abuses and locks Sophie up, when Sophie gets the chance she escapes and becomes a maid in a country estate, running into Benedict when she attempts to leave and is almost assaulted by her benefactors’ son. Benedict falls ill after getting caught in the rain driving away from the estate with Sophie. Sophie nurses him back to health and of course he falls in love and marries her...the end haha.
I really enjoyed this one and at that point Benedict was my favorite of the siblings. Even now after finishing all eight of the novels he’s still one of my favorites. Of course I have a soft spot for the artist haha.
Novel four “Romancing Mister Bridgerton” follows Colin the third oldest sibling (right before Daphne)
. His love story with Penelope….yes that Penelope. I love Penelope...I know the novel is technically about Colin, though it switches back and forth through their perspectives, but for me this one is all about Penn. Penelope is the most badass beautiful soul. She is constantly on the fringes as she is a little heavier, entirely kind and constantly embarrassed by her overbearing Mamma. As a general rule her entire family is pretty overlooked, though as the youngest and least attended to daughter she has never received an offer of marriage. She lives with her mother as her mother reminds her constantly what a comfort it will be to have Penelope there to take care of her in her old age. Penelope has been in love with Colin since she first met him. Only to find that he’s the older brother of her closest friend Eloise. Penelope keeps her feelings firmly to herself through all of Colin’s polite requests to dance, his very effusive declaration that he is not in love with her (it’s a horrifying but hilarious scene). Until one day Colin realizes, damn him, he is in love with Penelope.
Number five, “To Sir Phillip with Love” follows Eloise in the wake of learning that Penelope and Colin
are to be married. Eloise and Penelope are much past typical marriageable age and have both been written off as spinsters. Penelope as mentioned above for complete lack of offers, Eloise for refusing to accept anything less than true love as her four older siblings and one younger sister found. Therefore she has refused quite a few offers and is content to be a spinster forever, at least she has Penelope...until she doesn’t. Eloise spirals a little and we find out that she’s been secretly writing to her distant cousin’s widowed husband. What started as a simple condolence note in the wake of her cousin Marina’s death, has turned into a beautiful long distance friendship. Phillip makes a bold offer, asking Eloise to come stay with him for a while (chaperoned of course) and determine if she could be happy marrying him and being a stepmother to his two young twins.
Eloise accepts but fails to send any communication to that effect as she is spiraling a bit and knows that her family will never agree. She sneaks away in the middle of a ball and disappears. Leaving only a note so that her mother will not worry.
Unfortunately the note gets mixed in with calling cards and Violet never receives it. Throwing the entire family into a tizzy until they discover a letter from Phillip and ascertain where Eloise has run off to.
Phillip has all but given up on his twins. Marina was never supposed to be his wife. Engaged to his older brother. Phillip married her upon the death of his brother to make good on his brother’s promises, but Marina never recovers from her grief over her intended. She continually withdraws into herself until she attempts suicide. Following her death the twins become out of control and antisocial Phillip is at his wits end.
Unfortunately the twins meet their match in Eloise. With so many siblings she quickly begins to anticipate their pranks and knows intuitively how to retaliate without stooping to childish pranks herself.
My favorite part of the book is at the very end when all is said and done, Eloise and Phillip in love and married. The families satiated. When Violet Bridgerton refers to the twins as her grandchildren. There are so many instances where step-children are treated differently, either by the step parent or by the step parent’s family and I think it is utter shit. If I didn’t love this entire family of characters so much already they would have had my heart at that one simple statement.
Book four through six all occur almost simultaneously. Francesca, while younger than Eloise, was
married to a scottish earl. Their love story infamous, how they instantly fell for each other and married quickly. John’s cousin Michael was raised like his brother, turned out from his father’s house after his mother’s death Michael grew up in John’s house. Michael and John are brothers in every way except blood, the closest of friends. Michael is constantly at John’s home with Francesca, the three of them making a perfect trio of friendship. Except for one very important and painful part, Michael has been in love with Francesca since the moment he laid eyes on her at her and John’s engagement party. An infamous rake, he spends most nights sitting by the fire in his cousin's home telling wicked tales to his cousin and the woman he loves. After John’s death tension begins to rise between Francesca and Michael, Michael actually escapes the country to avoid her, his hatred for himself for coveting John’s wife after inheriting his wealth and title unbearable. Francesca is devastated as she lost not only her husband but her best friend as well.
This novel is the steamiest of the series, if you don’t like a bit of spice in your novels, this one is not for you. If y'all thought Anthony and Simon were rakes, they were tame little kittens compared to Michael.
Book seven “It’s in his Kiss” follows the youngest of the sister’s though not the youngest of the siblings
Hyacinth. Hyacinth may have beat out Eloise in my favorite of the girls. She is beyond feisty. I suppose after having both Daphne and Eloise as older sisters, especially Eloise, she was bound to turn out that way. Hyacinth also grew up being closest in age and friendship with Gregory. She has no shame, she is full of life and ready to take on everything. Unfortunately this makes her less than popular with the boys, they are scared of her and honestly consider her one of them. Enter Gareth St Clair, he is instantly intrigued by Hyacinth who views his every comment as a dare. Their love story is super cute, and possibly my favorite.
Book eight: “On the Way to the Wedding” follows the youngest Bridgerton boy Gregory. He is
determined that his match shall only ever be a love match. His seven siblings have all found the loves of their lives and are happily married. He will settle for no less. Begging his siblings to tell him how to fall in love. Their answer is that it simply happens, you’ll know when it happens. At a party in the country Gregory thinks it happens. He sees Hermoine and is instantly smitten. He believes he has fallen in love. Hermonie is constantly pushing suitors towards her best friend Lucy. Gregory plays along because it can’t hurt to win over the best friend.
Lucy confides in Gregory that Hermonie is already in love with a man her parents will never approve of and that Lucy is worried for her. She agrees to help Gregory win over Hermione in order to save her friend from shame. What blooms is a beautiful friendship between the two.
Hermonie eventually gets caught with Lucy’s older brother and Lucy falls in love with Gregory. Gregory unfortunately is an idiot and doesn’t realize he is in love with Lucy right away. This one pulled on my heartstrings a lot y'all.
And 20 pages later...kidding, I think, I didn’t count the pages, but that sums up the entire series. If you like romance, whether historical or not I think you will love this series!
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