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A review by ferdireads
To Sir Phillip, With Love by Julia Quinn
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
phillip is so goddamn insufferable. he's a shit husband, a shit father, and a shit person overall. i was surprised, truly, that julia quinn could come up with an even more horrid man for her series (although, i'm sure she'll surprise me once more as i keep reading this series). eloise is also too lenient for someone who's characterized as "headstrong". like she rlly tried hard to be "im not like other girls đŸ™„", but failed instantly. yes, you are absolutely like every other girl raised in your time period & society, just as lenient, just as gullible, and just as stuck-up.
i really wish this series would've had a lgbtq+ sibling or family member, and somehow i hoped that would be eloise. bc there's no fucking way that between 8 siblings, not a single one is queer (and dont talk to me abt "but it's not period accurate!" i assure you, 100%, queer people have always existed, so yes, we can have a period accurate queer romance, bc yes, it would make fucking sense, bc, like i said, we've always fucking been here).
this book was definitely better than the others story-wise, but the characters drove me up a fucking wall. especially, as you may have guessed, phillip. now i know, he's a product of his father's abuse and society's failures, but holy shit—he was so misogynistic, always going on and on abt women's shortcomings and how much better it is to be a man and how women are the inferior sex and all that dumb stupid bullshit, and, the cherry on top, admitted to having raped his late wife. like how insane is that. how are we, as readers (who, in the majority, are females, female aligned or afab), are supposed to feel abt a man who plainly admitted he fucking raped his late wife? idc if he puked his guts out later from the guilt, he still did it! and to quote directly from the book, he did it bc "even though she didn't say anything, she didn't say no". im pretty sure that's fucking verbatim. and no im not tagging this as a spoiler, bc i feel like ppl need to be warned abt that before heading into this book. genuinely, what the hell was quinn thinking when writing this. like, no. i dont want this man near me, not even 10 ft away from me. like he needs to be at least 50 ft from me, and i have to have a restraining order against him. (and against daphne, too. we all know why).
i wonder how much shittier the men (and possibly other characters) will turn out in the rest of the bridgerton series...at this point i say: surprise me, julia quinn. surprise me.
i really wish this series would've had a lgbtq+ sibling or family member, and somehow i hoped that would be eloise. bc there's no fucking way that between 8 siblings, not a single one is queer (and dont talk to me abt "but it's not period accurate!" i assure you, 100%, queer people have always existed, so yes, we can have a period accurate queer romance, bc yes, it would make fucking sense, bc, like i said, we've always fucking been here).
this book was definitely better than the others story-wise, but the characters drove me up a fucking wall. especially, as you may have guessed, phillip. now i know, he's a product of his father's abuse and society's failures, but holy shit—he was so misogynistic, always going on and on abt women's shortcomings and how much better it is to be a man and how women are the inferior sex and all that dumb stupid bullshit, and, the cherry on top, admitted to having raped his late wife. like how insane is that. how are we, as readers (who, in the majority, are females, female aligned or afab), are supposed to feel abt a man who plainly admitted he fucking raped his late wife? idc if he puked his guts out later from the guilt, he still did it! and to quote directly from the book, he did it bc "even though she didn't say anything, she didn't say no". im pretty sure that's fucking verbatim. and no im not tagging this as a spoiler, bc i feel like ppl need to be warned abt that before heading into this book. genuinely, what the hell was quinn thinking when writing this. like, no. i dont want this man near me, not even 10 ft away from me. like he needs to be at least 50 ft from me, and i have to have a restraining order against him. (and against daphne, too. we all know why).
i wonder how much shittier the men (and possibly other characters) will turn out in the rest of the bridgerton series...at this point i say: surprise me, julia quinn. surprise me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Suicide attempt
Minor: Rape