Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Romancing Mister Bridgerton

I was super excited for this book! & with the new season coming out of the show following them I wanted to read it beforehand & give me something to tide me over until then. There was a lot I loved, & a lot of scenes I can’t wait to play out in the show.

But I’m not going to lie & say Colin’s temper didn’t really bug me. I understand him getting angry, especially when he finds out about the Lady Whistledown secret or when she’s caught reading his journal. But what I don’t like is the physical abuse that goes along with it, & yes I know it’s nothing giant, he doesn’t hit her or anything that horrible, but the little things can be bad too. Like the scene at their engagement ball with him holding on to her to hurt her instead of letting his temper blow up to the whole room, that is not an okay reaction & I have loved Colin so much throughout the show & the books too, but reactions like that piss me off & Penelope doesn’t know that it’s not okay. What’s going to happen when they have kids & the kids make him angry, will the violence get worse through the years? It’s such a little thing, but it really gets me, & I hope they rewrote that for the show, I’d hate to lose my love for Polin in the show too!

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sierrainstitches's review against another edition

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I simply cannot. Colin is so awful!! Penelope deserves better.

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annahamburger's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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ameydireads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

“Can one appreciate perfection when it is a constant in one’s life?”

A 3.5 out of 5 stars mainly because of Penelope!

Penelope has always been a wallflower and this was her moment to shine, to show the world what she was really like. A clever and funny girl. I loved that for her! Too bad that even her own mother couldn’t see how amazing Penelope actually is.

We already knew from an epilogue that Colin and Penelope would end up together. She has been in love with him (well okay, a perfect version of him) for many years now. Their story started off cute where they slowly go from being good friends to being romantically interested in each other. But there were so many red flags along the way. Colin was generally perceived as the perfect gentleman and of course it turns out that he isn’t perfect at all. That’s alright, everyone has some kind of flaw and red flags are not surprising in the Bridgerton series. But I found it difficult to accept that he had anger issues. It gets out of hand when he hurts Penelope, even if it was just by squeezing her arms very hard or yanking her arm. There are better ways to blow off steam so I don’t think that you should accept that from your partner. But that is what Penelope did.

“And if having to endure his anger and disdain at a time like this was to be part of marriage as well, then that would be worth it, too.”

It did get better of course. He does become a better and supportive partner and finds his purpose in life. But I hoped for a simpler story, one where I could still like Colin.

There are also some secrets revealed in this story, but unfortunately it was no surprise to me as I’ve already seen the TV show. IYKYK.

As usual, Eloise has some great remarks which are generally not accepted in that time period and therefore she is one of my favourite characters in this series.

“I hope he asks Felicity as well,” Eloise said. “I’ve often thought it foolish that a man asks a woman’s father for her hand before he asks her. The father doesn’t have to live with him.”

Well said, Eloise! She was acting very suspicious in this story and I suppose we shall find out why in the next book!

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booksbyantheia's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Sorprendentemente, me gustó. Recordaba haberlo empezado con pocas ganas. Sigo sosteniendo que es la proeza de la traductora el hecho de que pueda leer tan rápido esta serie.

Penelope es...Penelope. Pero no en el sentido idiota que le dió Colin por tanto tiempo. Sino que es un personaje muy bien planteado. Yo diría incluso que ella y Sophie son los personajes mejor logrados en lo que va de la saga. Simon y Kate son buenísimas creaciones, pero Sophia y Penelope simplemente se sienten más reales.

Probablemente porque se sienten mujeres reales, fuera del "wit" que Julia Quinn piensa que tienen las "mujeres feministas".

El orgullo de Penelope por su escritura también se siente muy bien. Es casi un mimo al alma para los que amamos el oficio.

La trama me gustó bastante.

¿Por qué entonces, las tres estrellas, en vez de cuatro?

Fácil. Colin Bridgerton. No voy a mentir, todos los protagonistas masculinos de esta serie son insoportablemente machistas, pero perdí la cuenta en la cantidad de veces mencionó ponerse "violento", la cantidad de veces que hizo referencia a lastimar a Penelope, o la cantidad de veces que incluso estuvo a un pelo de hacerlo. Fue como si hubieran puesto la violencia de Simon, el machismo de Anthony y la superioridad de Benedict en un cóctel del desastre. Sí, se marca un par de frases buenas, es romántico, bla, bla. Pero incluso Benedict, con su insistencia, es más superable que Colin.

Porque ni siquiera su búsqueda de un "sueño" se siente orgánica. A diferencia de Penelope, se siente como si Julia hubiera dicho "ah, necesita un problema personal. Hagamos la estupidez más sencilla, demos MIL VECES la solución".

Espacio para decir que el show no le hace justicia a Penélope, y sí a Colin. De hecho, lo deja mejor parado de lo que realmente es ese ZOQUETE.

En fin.

Odio que hayan arruinado a Penelope. La queremos.

En fin, parte dos.

Es un buen libro para pasar el rato. Creo innecesario decir que la serie Bridgerton no es una obra de arte, es más de aquellas obras que son buenas para ser malas.

A excepción de la primera novela, todas se sienten muy cozy hasta el momento.

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atkinsruby's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Honestly I love a rom com it's probably my favourite genre. But I cannot stand this book Colin is unironicly abusive the whisledown revail fell falt and the pacing was all over the place. Wish I had never bothered.

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