Genre: Historical Romance Actual Rating: 2 stars Spicy Meter: 2 fire emojis Content Warnings: Discusses parent death, unhappy marriages, and bastard son abuse.
“It’s In His Kiss” is the seventh book in the Bridgerton series, and it follows Hyacinth Bridgerton, the youngest of eight Bridgerton siblings, as she falls in love and solves a mystery. It also follows Gareth St. Clair, the legitimate (born in wedlock) but bastard (not sired by who is supposed to be his father) son of a very rude man.
I hated every moment of this book, it took me forever to read—it’s almost encouraging me not to read Bridgerton #8, but at this point it’d be sad if I didn’t push through. “It’s In His Kiss” could easily win the title to my least favorite Bridgerton book… it’s definitely in the running.
Hyacinth was irrevocably annoying and Gareth was rude and off-puttingly insecure. There wasn’t even that much there with the sexy scenes, Hyacinth was annoying all the same, with some repetitive thing she would bring up whenever they were close.
I would recommend you just skip this book altogether, but maybe that’s just me.
Genre: Historical Romance Actual Rating: 5 stars Spicy Meter: 5 fire emojis Content Warnings: Discusses spouse and parent death.
“When He Was Wicked” is the sixth book in the Bridgerton series, and it follows Francesca Bridgerton, the sixth of eight Bridgerton siblings, as she is widowed extremely young. It also follows Michael Stirling, Francesca’s husband’s cousin, who is set to inherit her husband’s title after his untimely death. But Michael wanted anything but this. He loved Francesca in secret and he never wished for the title, but what if now he must have both?
I think this will be the winning underdog of the Bridgerton series. I haven’t bonded with Francesca, not through the books nor through the Netflix series. I was completely impartial to her, as I am to the other two younger siblings. But oh how I loved this book and the complex feelings it brought on. It felt like a forbidden romance even though it wasn’t. It felt like friends to lovers even though that felt wrong too.
Francesca is lovely and Michael is as wicked as the title suggests. I think this was my favorite Bridgerton book where spice is concerned. But it also broke me to see the player get played. Players are entitled to have true feelings, you know? And then there was Michael, being broken down time and time again, until he finally allowed himself to be happy.
I would recommend this book to lovers of the friends to lovers and widowed tropes. Naturally, if you’re a fan of the Regency Era, you’ll enjoy this too, but I feel like this story was a bit more timeless than the rest. I would highly recommend resorting to “When He Was Wicked” if you’re looking for a spicy read where the woman in the relationship takes a bit more initiative (given the context).
“Why? It’s because I love you, damn me to hell. Because I’ve always loved you. Because I loved you when you were with John, and I loved you when I was in India, and God only knows I don’t deserve you, but I love you, anyway. (…) How’s that for a witty little joke? (…) I love you. I love you, my cousin’s wife. I love you, the one woman I can never have. I love you, Francesca Bridgerton Stirling.”
“I had to do something, (…) I couldn’t just sit and wait for life to happen to me any longer.”
Genre: Historical Romance Actual Rating: 4 stars Spicy Meter: 4.5 fire emojis Content Warnings: Discusses suicide, parent death, child abuse, and grief.
“To Sir Phillip, With Love” is the fifth book in the Bridgerton book series, and it follows the fifth out of eight Bridgerton siblings: Eloise. Eloise Bridgerton is already considered a spinster, unmarried at 28 years of age, when she starts to correspond with her distant cousin’s widowed husband, Sir Phillip Crane. After a year’s correspondence, and right after her best friend Penelope marries her older brother, she decides to run away to meet him and properly determine if he could be the one for her.
If you’ve seen the Bridgerton Netflix series, you’ve actually met Sir Phillip Crane already, he is the one who’s married to Marina, who’s portrayed in the Netflix series as a Featherington cousin and is a prominent character in the first season, while she’s written as a Bridgerton cousin in the books and hadn’t really been mentioned until now.
This book is sweet and gentle, filled with suspense, as we never know what Eloise might do with her volatile nature. Through this story, we get to see sides of her, both maternal and affectionate, that we haven’t really seen before. It was truly a wonderful read.
I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy Regency Era romances, and who like the idea of pen pals falling in love, sight unseen. Also, it gave me some Sunshine meets Grumpy trope vibes, but take that with a grain of salt.
“I love you with my past, and I love you for my future.”
Genre: Historical Romance Actual Rating: 4 stars Spicy Meter: 3.5 fire emojis Content Warnings: Discusses parent death, fat shaming, and bullying.
“Romancing Mr. Bridgerton” is the fourth book in the Bridgerton series, but will actually be the third season for the Netflix series. It follows Colin Bridgerton, the third of eight Bridgerton siblings, and Penelope Featherington, the third and youngest daughter of a family that continuously diminishes her. Penelope has had a crush on Colin ever since they met, but after 12 years of their acquaintance, she believed he was meant to be with someone else, most definitely not her… right?
In this book we finally get a glimpse at who Lady Whistledown is (although if you’ve seen the Netflix series, you already know). It was a somewhat dull book in the beginning but then it became more and more interesting and engaging as it went.
Although perhaps I’ll blame it on the high expectations I had for the book. I loved Penelope in the Netflix series, but she was even more lovely in the books. I feel like the series portrays her as a villain, when she’s really not.
I really thought this would be my favorite book, but it wasn’t. I would still thoroughly recommend this series to readers who like Regency Era dramas and this one in particular if you like the friends-to-lovers trope.
“It suddenly made sense. Only twice in his life had he felt this inexplicable, almost mystical attraction to a woman. He’d thought it remarkable, to have found two, when in his heart he’d always believed there was only one perfect woman out there for him. His heart had been right. There was only one.”
Genre: Historical Romance Actual Rating: 4.5 stars Spicy Meter: 4 fire emojis Content Warnings: Discusses parent death, child birthed out of wedlock (in the regency period), child labor and mistreatment, classism, and attempted rape.
“An Offer From a Gentleman” follows Benedict Bridgerton, the second eldest of the Bridgerton siblings, and his one true love, Sophie Beckett, who’s the bastard child of an Earl. These two meet one night at a masquerade ball, fall smitten in love with their masks on, only to not see each other for years—that is because Sophie has been working as a servant to her stepmother ever since her father died, and she had only been in that ball as an act of rebellion. Fast forward a few years, and Sophie is working for another family after her stepmother kicked her out, when the son of said family and his friends are set on raping the young maid, who is then saved by the brave Benedict Bridgerton. He gets a feeling that they’ve met before but doesn’t really recognize her, all he knows is that he doesn’t want to part ways from this clever girl dressed in maid’s clothes.
If we don’t get to see Benedict’s story on the Netflix series I will be royally pissed. I know they’ll be making Book 4 instead of Book 3 into Season 3 of the Bridgerton series, but God will I riot if we don’t get this happily ever after for Ben. The only reason I didn’t give this book the full 5 stars was because it was extremely predictable, in true Cinderella fashion.
I felt like the connection between Benedict and Sophie was explored better than the romantic connections in the previous Bridgerton books, but I think it had to do with the fact that Benedict and Sophie were in a secluded cottage for half the book, rather than in the middle of the London season as we saw with Daphne and Simon, and Anthony and Kate.
This is a truly lovely book. I would recommend “An Offer From a Gentleman” if you’re looking for a regency era romance where the main characters are from different social classes. A.k.a. if you’re looking for a spicier version of Cinderella, grab this book.
“I shall have to make sure you take me up on my offer to find you employment with my mother. You do bring out the best in me, Miss Sophie Beckett.” “This is the best?” (…) “I’m afraid so.”
“You have to live each hour as if it’s your last and each day as if you were immortal.”
Genre: Historical Romance Actual Rating: 5 stars Spicy Meter: 4 fire emojis Content Warnings: Discusses parent death and describes panic attacks.
“The Viscount Who Loved Me” follows Anthony Bridgerton, the eldest of the Bridgerton siblings and the one who inherited the viscountcy after their father’s death, and Kate Sheffield, the orphan (and the eldest) daughter of a modest family who’s in London for the season in hopes of marrying off her little sister. Anthony wants to marry Kate’s little sister but she is completely against it, given his reputation as a rake—or is it because she’s called to him as well?
Anthony, oh how I love you. Julia Quinn really did go for my heart with this one. We get to see Anthony’s inner monologue and repressed guilt, which is something that they tried to portray in the series, but in the book it’s even more intense, more heartbreaking. But not only that, we get to see Kate’s trauma up close, and we get to love her through it all too.
There is no real love triangle in this one, which I much appreciated. Anthony and Kate end up together under extremely different circumstances as those portrayed in the series. Anthony recognizes his love for Kate at another time and for another reason as well.
I would recommend this book a hundred times more than the first book in this series. It is the perfect book for fans of regency period dramas and romance book. If you’ve seen Season 2 of Bridgerton, the Netflix series, expect to be surprised. “The Viscount Who Loved Me” is almost nothing like Season 2, making it even better.
“Listen to me, (…) and listen well, because I’m only going to say this once. I desire you. I burn for you. I can’t sleep at night for wanting you. Even when I didn’t like you, I lusted for you. It’s the most maddening, beguiling, damnable thing, but there it is.”
“His mouth captured hers, trying to show her with his kiss what he was still learning to express in words. He loved her. He worshipped her. He’d walk across fire for her. He— —still had the audience of her three brothers.”
Genre: Historical Romance Actual Rating: 2.5 stars Spicy Meter: 3 fire emojis (but -10 on one scene) Content Warnings: Sexual climax without consent (I consider it rape but others disagree).
Set in the Regency period, “The Duke and I” follows Daphne Bridgerton, the fourth of eight Bridgerton siblings, and Simon Bassett, the Duke of Hastings, as they meet and conspire to make their season more pasable. Daphne is looking for a love match, but no prudent gentleman is interested in her much, while Simon is looking to never marry but wants the mother of all eligible ladies to leave him alone—and so they come up with an agreement: they’ll fake a connection. Men will find Daphne more suitable if a Duke is after her, and some mamas will lay off on the matchmaking if they believe Simon is already claimed. Sounds like a perfect plan… as long as they don’t fall for each other.
This is the novel the first season of Bridgerton is based on, and it shows. The series is almost a scene by scene retelling of the book, with some very minuscule exceptions. I mean, physically the actors match nothing of how the characters were described, but other than that the plot stays the same. Simon is easier to forgive the unforgivable. We get to hear Daphne’s inner monologue when she pretty much rapes her husband, and italia aa horrible as that sounds. I don’t feel like she deserved that happily ever after. But maybe that’s just me.
I would recommend this book to fans of regency period dramas and classical and historical romance books like Pride and Prejudice or Jane Eyre, but making those a little more spicy.
andrea's galley 