The Duke and I

Bridgerton, Book #1

By Julia Quinn

ISBN# 9780063078697

Author’s Website:  juliaquinn.com

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

Dearest Reader…

London has been quite aflutter with all the talk from the new gossip paper that has started showing up, Lady Whistledown.  Not only does it detail all the sordid details of what everyone is doing, but it lists full names.  There is no hiding from the talk and scandal now.

The large Bridgerton family seems to be a favorite topic of Lady Whistledown.  The oldest daughter, Daphne, still hasn’t found a husband and she is on her third season.  THIRD!  She is nearly on the shelf!  Her oldest brother, Anthony, has been kind letting her choose who she’s going to marry.  However, none of the men she finds suitable are interested.

The new Duke of Hastings has arrived in town and decides to stop in at Lady Danbury’s ball.  His plan was to make an appearance and leave as soon as it was proper.  However, he ran into a most interesting woman, who was having a bit of trouble with a suitor.  He went to assist the woman, but she took care of the matter with a powerful hit to the man’s chin.  Turns out she is the sister of his good friend, Anthony.

After being at the ball for a short while, Simon is flooded with young mother’s introducing him to their very available daughters.  He devises a plan.  Fake a relationship with Daphne.  It will get the mothers and their daughters off his back and will make her more desirable to the men of the ton.  Daphne quickly agrees.  However, the Bridgerton brothers, especially Anthony, does NOT approve of him courting their sister.

“There were rules among friends, commandments, really, and the most important one was Thou Shalt Not Lust After Thy Friend’s Sister.”

And, when Daphne and Simon find themselves in a scandalously compromising position the duke will have a decision to make.  Marry Daphne or be killed by his best friend in a duel.

Like so many others, I have seen the Bridgerton series on Netflix.  I knew this whole story going into the book.  However, when it showed up in Kindle Unlimited, I couldn’t help but give it a try. 

It was a little odd reading a book after watching the show, it’s usually the other way around for me.  It wasn’t too bad though.  I found that they did change quite a bit for the show.  Nothing that changed the storyline dramatically, but was definitely different.  It was Daphne’s third season, for one, she was nearing spinster status!  There was no queen in this book, so no diamond, no Prince of Prussia vying for Daphne’s attention.  Simon’s dad was still a douche though.

It was nice to get more details in the book.  We got to see more of what Simon was thinking.  And, we got to see Daphne’s brothers fly their protective big brother flags proudly.

And the two epilogues in this book gave us so much more than the show did, including a look at Polin and a future struggle for the couple.

This book started out a bit slow, but I did end up enjoying it.