A review by pensnfeathers
Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn

4.0

This was by far the best of the first four Bridgerton books, and the only one that I would describe as "good" as opposed to "good enough." It does suffer from some of the same problems as the previous three, mostly in the form of insufferable male characters, but beyond that pretty much every aspect is improved.

First, the plot. This is, of course, a romance. And in that sense the plot is pretty predictable. But while the previous three books made the romance the distinct A-plot, this one has two A-plots. And the one that isn't a romance is a lot of fun and ties into the rest of the series really nicely.

Second, the characters. Of the eight leading characters in the first four Bridgerton novels, Penelope is my runaway favorite. It's not close. But beyond Penelope, I love the way that Eloise and Hyacinth are developed. They're both very, very fun characters. And while there were hints of that in the first three books they didn't get a spotlight until this one. I also really enjoyed the slightly increased role of Lady Danbury, who has always been a fun character, in this book.