The Viscount Who Loved Me

Bridgertons, Book #2

By Julia Quinn

ISBN# 9780380815579

Author’s Website:  juliaquinn.com

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

Review

*Beware of possible spoilers*

Dear Gentle Reader …

There comes a time in a man’s life when he has to finally quit dodging the relentless mamas and actually take a wife.  And, it appears that time has come for the Viscount Bridgerton.

The entire Bridgerton family was rocked in the most devastating of ways when Edmund died from a bee sting at the age of 38.  Anthony was very close to his father and from that moment Anthony knew that he too would die at an early age.  Surely, he wouldn’t be able to outlive such a bigger-than-life man.  Anthony saw how the family mourned his father and did not want that for his future family.  So, he has decided that he will take a wife and have the heirs he’s expected to have.  However, he will not wed anyone that he could ever fall in love with.

This year’s Incomparable is the beautiful Edwina Sheffield.  She’s attractive and smart and would make a serviceable wife and mother.  Even better, she elicits no feelings from Anthony.  She will make the perfect wife and Viscountess.  However, if Anthony is to wed Edwina, he must get the approval of her older sister, Kate.

Kate despises Anthony and wants to keep him as far away from Edwina as she can.  As she is forced to be near him, she realizes that she may have judged him too harshly.

Anthony thought gaining Kate’s approval for him to wed her sister was what he wanted.  Then, why does he feel so hollow, when he finally gains that approval?  And, why does he feel things around Kate, but not Edwina?

None of that ends up mattering though.  When Anthony and Kate are caught in a compromising position, the choice is made for them both.  Can Anthony stick to his guns of having a loveless, but respectable marriage with his new bride?

I’ve watched the show and have started reading the books.  Anthony is probably my least favorite Bridgerton in both.  This book may have actually made me like him even less.  This whole loveless marriage and his talk with Kate prior to the wedding was a joke made by a full-of-himself Viscount that thought he could force it to be as he wished.  And, he seems quite the little hornball too.  He’s always wanting to find ways to get his wife to bed!

At least all the stuff that happened in the show with Edwina didn’t come to pass.

Obviously, Anthony did get better as the book progressed, but I never really cared for him that much even when he was at his best.

Also, when did Simon become such a bore?  I didn’t even recognize him in the few scenes he was in during this book.  He was so obviously not a Bridgerton.  However, he didn’t seem like the duke from book one either.

And, surprisingly I didn’t care for the epilogues in this novel.  I felt the first one gave the conclusion the book required, but wasn’t all that exciting.  I thought the second one was a complete snoozefest and wholly unnecessary.  It also didn’t improve my opinion of Anthony.

This book did have a good pace though and it didn’t drag in the beginning like The Duke and I did.  It was an okay read, but nothing all that spectacular.

You have to live each hour as if it’s your last and each day as if you were immortal.