I watched the first season of the Netflix show Bridgerton almost a year after it was released. This historical romance book, Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn, is the fourth novel of the series, but it is the third season. Since I planned to read it before the Netflix series dropped, but with no release date, I am just going to read it now.
Romancing Mister Bridgerton follows the story of Penelope Featherington and the third Bridgerton brother Colin. This is a friends-to-lovers historical romance. Penelope is such an interesting character. You don’t know much about her even though she is a part of the first three books. Colin seems like someone who is easygoing and charming. That’s all we really know about him.
The story begins a few years before, with Penelope describing falling for Colin. This is followed by the worst moment for her when Colin loudly declares to his brothers that he will never marry Penelope. Then, the story really begins. Penelope gets a rude shock on that dreadful day, but somehow, they both manage to ease back into a friendship after a while. Penelope and Colin have an easy friendship. He is one of the few people Penelope feels comfortable talking to, and she has been in love with him for years. Penelope is a wallflower, and she knows that being with Colin is a mere fantasy, and it will always remain this way. She keeps no expectations from him, but she holds him in very high regard.
Colin starts to realize that there is so much more to Penelope than he thought. He starts looking at her from a different perspective. Their romance builds slowly at first, but then they come together pretty quickly. They have chemistry, but Colin is clueless about Penelope’s feelings for him. These two make sense together. They have more in common than they thought, and I liked how they talked about things. We slowly start understanding these characters and their motivations. Penelope is Lady Whistledown, a writer who has been writing about the ton for years in an honest and witty yet critical way. Even though I knew this because I saw the show first, it was intriguing to see it unfold.
Penelope is such a relatable character. She is reserved and slightly awkward, so she is judged and not noticed by the ton. She feels out of place everywhere, in her family and the ton. Lady Whistledown is almost like a way of expression for her. I liked the journey Colin and Penelope go through as individuals and as a couple throughout the book. The setting of the novel is very typical of historical romances, but it is the characters and their dynamics, that make this series interesting. I enjoyed reading the first three books, but I was excited to read this one. It has a lot of tropes that I generally enjoy, especially if they are done well.
The story is engaging from the start, and I couldn’t put it down except when I had to finally sleep. I couldn’t wait to know what happens next and it kept me hooked. I enjoyed reading Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn and can’t wait to read the following books in this series.
*Click on the book cover above to get a copy.
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