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adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
3.5 Stars! This was... A LOT in the most melodramatic of ways. The premise is that youngest Bridgerton son, Gregory, is a romantic and is looking for love, when he meets Hermione at a house party. Unfortunately, Hermione’s heart is “inappropriately engaged” with someone “ineligible” and so her best friend, Lucy, bands together with Gregory to get Hermione to notice him as a far more eligible match. But then Gregory and Lucy catch feelings (after lots of sideways hijinks happening with Hermione) but by this time she’s engaged to an Earl and her uncle won’t let her back out. But Gregory won’t take no for an answer, not when he knows Lucy loves him too. Wedding crashers, please apply!
This book had a lot of very dubious consent issues. Not in the sexual way, that was fine with consent. But consent issues in the sense that the hero frequently inserted himself into spaces where he wasn’t welcome. When a heroine said what she wanted (like “go away,” of if she wanted to be left alone, he frequently tried to convince her otherwise. He wasn’t aggressive about it but he was somewhat spoiled and didn’t understand “no.” To me, that’s not cute, even when it’s clearly for the heroine’s “own good.” I can’t go into how deeply troubling this gets without giving away spoilers but suffice to say, it is a little more uncomfortable than cute.
What I did like was the fact that for once we got a historical romance hero in love with the idea of love, someone who is looking for a match and wants to be married and have a family - not for money or convenience, but because he actually believes in the magnificence of love and wants that for himself. It’s so rare to get a hero in romance that has that goal. I liked that the hero is protective of the heroine but also respectful of her strength and not ashamed to acknowledge her superiority in many ways. I feel like this wasn’t one of those where he liked the heroine because of her looks but because of her unique personality and things he had gotten to know about her.
I found Lucy to be an interesting enough heroine, though I think she could have been firmer with Gregory. I think she could have shown a lot more agency in her story but I did really relate to her people-pleasing personality and her wanting to smooth things over with everyone and keep the peace and order around her. But she might not be for everyone.
The epilogue and second epilogues which look at Gregory and Lucy’s family and their more than 8 kids were really good and indeed the 2nd epilogue is a real high point to this book. The pain and dangers for regency era women related to childbirth are explored in a really sensitive way and I’m in awe of what this author has created, having read the 8 books of this series in the past 2 weeks, they’ve all been ace and they are favourites!
This book had a lot of very dubious consent issues. Not in the sexual way, that was fine with consent. But consent issues in the sense that the hero frequently inserted himself into spaces where he wasn’t welcome. When a heroine said what she wanted (like “go away,” of if she wanted to be left alone, he frequently tried to convince her otherwise. He wasn’t aggressive about it but he was somewhat spoiled and didn’t understand “no.” To me, that’s not cute, even when it’s clearly for the heroine’s “own good.” I can’t go into how deeply troubling this gets without giving away spoilers but suffice to say, it is a little more uncomfortable than cute.
What I did like was the fact that for once we got a historical romance hero in love with the idea of love, someone who is looking for a match and wants to be married and have a family - not for money or convenience, but because he actually believes in the magnificence of love and wants that for himself. It’s so rare to get a hero in romance that has that goal. I liked that the hero is protective of the heroine but also respectful of her strength and not ashamed to acknowledge her superiority in many ways. I feel like this wasn’t one of those where he liked the heroine because of her looks but because of her unique personality and things he had gotten to know about her.
I found Lucy to be an interesting enough heroine, though I think she could have been firmer with Gregory. I think she could have shown a lot more agency in her story but I did really relate to her people-pleasing personality and her wanting to smooth things over with everyone and keep the peace and order around her. But she might not be for everyone.
The epilogue and second epilogues which look at Gregory and Lucy’s family and their more than 8 kids were really good and indeed the 2nd epilogue is a real high point to this book. The pain and dangers for regency era women related to childbirth are explored in a really sensitive way and I’m in awe of what this author has created, having read the 8 books of this series in the past 2 weeks, they’ve all been ace and they are favourites!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Blood, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders