All the Reads: Julia Quinn
If you watched Netflix’s “Bridgerton,” you already know how much Daphne “burned” for Simon…though we all tend to get it wrong and only remember Simon saying it. Once Quinn’s saga about the Bridgerton family gets its hooks in you, you’ll want to know what happens to ALL the siblings AND to the “mallet of death.”
Book 2, focused on Anthony Bridgerton, the eldest of the siblings is currently being made into season 2 of the Netflix hit. But…why wait. He’s decided to marry but obstinately determined it will not be for love, just for image. So he sets his sights on young Edwina Sheffield. And it doesn’t quite turn out the way he thinks. You know where the story is headed - but it’s not about the ending - it all’s about how you get there. Anthony’s journey is just as fun and unexpected at times as Simon and Daphne’s road to love.
The third book from Julia Quinn in her beloved Bridgerton series has a Cinderella spin - a young woman who has been forced into service as the poor relation ends up waltzing through the ballroom for a few enchanted hours in the arms of Benedict Bridgerton. But when the hour get late, she flees and the narrative takes a few twists and turns to bring her back into the second Bridgerton son’s life.
I don’t like to pick favorites among the Quinn characters but…if I were to pick one, Penelope tops the list. Book 4 contains a big reveal that was much awaited reading the series…one that’s disclosed in the first season of the Netflix show. And I won’t ruin it here. If you know, you know. Let’s just say Lady Whistledown has more of an, ahem, starring role in this novel. And it’s all got to do with the will they, won’t they of long-time friends Colin and Penelope. He headed abroad, she stayed behind and yearned for him to return…this book is, what happened next. It does not disappoint and might be my favorite of all seven novels.
“To Sir Phillip, With Love” is the unexpectedly charming story of the unexpected Eloise who charges headfirst into an ill-advised correspondence and courtship following only her own heart and wishes…and how it will turn out, it’s hard to tell. But it’s an enchanting journey with a pair of prickly characters who may be destined to be together…or are they? Quinn delights in turning the tropes of Regency romances inside out and this is a fun journey with the most vivid of the Bridgerton sisters.
Francesca is away for many of the earlier Bridgerton books but comes racing full-tilt into the heart of one of London’s most infamous rakes as our story begins. Only it’s not to be. She marries someone else, he’s pining for her without saying anything - and just like that, you’re up way past your bedtime waiting to see what happens with Francesca and Michael.
The youngest of the Bridgertons are all grown up in our last two novels. Hyacinth - the youngest sister - is finally ready to come out in society and she meets Gareth at the annual (and running Quinn joke through many novels) Smythe-Smith musicale…an event that’s a crime against music and Mozart. One diary, one translation, at least one kiss and a number misunderstandings later…a happy ending…or is it?
Gregory - Hyacinth’s sibling companion running around in the first few books - is now all grown up and with his own story to end the series. Gregory, Hermione, and Lucy…all in a story with a few echoes of “The Graduate” (but no “plastics”) and some good quotes. Lucy in particular is a heroine worthy of the Bridgerton women weighing in with Gregory on her upcoming marriage to…someone else.
“‘I make the best of things,’ she said. ‘Always.’”
“‘It’s a commendable trait,’ he said softly.”
“And at that, somehow, she was angry. Really, truly, beastly angry. She didn’t want to be commended for knowing how to settle for second-best. That was like winning a prize for the prettiest shoes in a footrace. Irrelevant and not the point.”
Gregory, Hermione, Lucy…and one very wise mother. (I love when Violet Bridgerton makes an appearance.)
