“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.
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andrea's galley 