The Viscount Who Loved Me

I’m glad my library ebook has the first three Bridgerton books or I might not be having this lovely little marathon. It’s funny, even though Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite books, I don’t ever seek out the enemies to lovers trope when I choose a romance. The animosity in this one made sense, and Anthony and Kate’s sparring was entertaining, though, and I was rooting hard for them (once again staying up past my bedtime to get to the happily ever after).

I’m trying to figure out how they’ll adapt this in the second season of Bridgerton, since so much of the conflict is internal, especially Anthony’s main barrier to allowing himself to fall in love. We shall see!

This three-in-one edition includes second epilogues show more that flash forward several years, and it was fitting that Kate and Anthony’s was a cutthroat game of Pall Mall with the family. Reading it did make me want to skip ahead to Colin’s book, but my brain is going to make me read them in order.

Great fun these Bridgertons—I’m looking forward to the next! show less

Time is ticking for Anthony, who believes he will die at the same young age as his beloved father (38), so he decides to marry - but, in order to protect himself and his future wife, he decides to choose someone who he will respect and admire but not love. He zeroes in on Edwina Sheffield, but Edwina has publicly proclaimed that her elder half-sister Kate will need to approve any suitor - and Kate, having heard rumors of Anthony's rakish ways, does NOT approve. Soon enough - though he's slow to admit it - Anthony realizes he has feelings for Kate, not her sister. But even when they do become engaged (after being caught in a compromising position at the Bridgerton country house party), he swears he won't fall in love with her. Naturally, show more he does, and Kate helps him through his fears as he helped her face her lifelong fear of thunderstorms (connected to her mother's death).

Anthony is more likeable in the book than in the TV show, and though the story hits the same beats, it's less repetitive. Edwina (and Eloise when she appears, briefly) is more lively, and the Bridgerton sibling banter is excellent. show less

Actual rating: 3.5 stars.

Anthony Bridgerton is a hypocritical piece of shit.
There, I said it.
As much as I loved him in the previous book, and still do, I simply can't write a review of this book without pointing that out.

The Viscount Who Moved Me is the story of Anthony Bridgerton (The eldest Bridgerton as his name indicates) and Kate Sheffield as they go through their hate to love journey.
Much like fake dating, this is a trope I truly enjoy, and it was beautifully done by Julia Quinn in this book. A trap most authors fall into when writing this trope is making the dislike or hatred unbelievable. But fortunately, that wasn't the case here, you could feel Kate's hatred through the pages and if you're like me, you'd agree with her.

The show more story starts with Anthony deciding that he needs to settle down and choosing Kate's sister as his potential bride. Kate however, was having none of it, and rightfully so, Anthony's reputation precedes him and she wouldn't let her younger sister marry such a notorious rake.
In his quest to convince Kate he isn't as bad as she thinks, the pair find themselves in such an tangled mess of lust and emotion and everything in between.

I really liked the depth both characters had, you could tell the author put so much thought and effort in the development of both Anthony and Kate.

I really liked the aspect of questioning one's own mortality because of a traumatic event situation Anthony had going on, it was the first time I ever read about such a reaction to traumatic events and I really felt like I emerged from this book with a new knowledge.

And although this was an overall good book, one thing that irked me was Anthony's hypocrisy.
The man almost killed his own best friend for touching his sister, and yet Mr. Viscount not only kissed Kate, but had the AUDACITY, to keep on courting her sister AND act all superior about it.
Like, dude if you are prepared to kill when someone does something similar to your sister, why on earth are you doing it???????

Overall however, it was a good book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Honorable mentions go to:
- Newton, the best character in this whole book.
- Colin Bridgerton because he's my favorite. show less

Getting your hands on the Bridgerton series these days in paper format requires patience, stealth and dedication and with good reason. These hilariously fun books are just what we need post-2020 to simply sit down and enjoy. So as we impatiently wait for Season 2 of Bridgerton on Netflix, we can get a head start on Anthony’s story and find out more about Kate. If the series is anything like the book, we are promised a hilarious scene involving an over-eager doctor, one compromising situation that was 100% innocent and one that will bring happy tears amongst the wit and costumes.

Anthony has always been a rake who refused to settle down, but something has changed this season. He’s now decided that it’s time to do his duty and get show more married. But not for love of course. His bride must be pleasant and tolerable and that’s where Edwina Sheffield comes in. She’s beautiful, sweet and sensible unlike her half-sister Kate who is not conventionally beautiful but incredibly smart and to the point. Edwina famously declares that she won’t marry without Kate’s approval, which has Anthony scurrying to charm her. But Kate is far too stubborn and clever to be charmed and she tells Anthony that directly. Her honesty and sharp tongue strangely captivates Anthony to the point where Kate is the only thing he can think about. Kate too, is thinking about Anthony in terms other than potential brother-in-law. It will take a country house party to throw them together, but a lot more for them to be honest with each other.

One thing I really like about Julia Quinn’s novels is that they are not just a lead up to a happy ending that stops with the wedding. There is just as much adventure to have after the wedding as well as character development. Of course, the witty dialogue is at its peak with Kate, who says what she thinks in the most perfectly barbed fashion. There are also plenty of scenes that will delight, and are just begging for a screen adaptation (we simply must see Bridgerton Pall Mall, if only to get a clear visual of Anthony and the pink mallet). Quinn’s scenarios are inventive, never staid. Keen eyed readers will also note that some of Anthony’s story described here was played out in Season 1 of the television series – I’ll be interested to see if that happens in any of the other books. But don’t worry, this book is truly for the Anthony/Kate lovers as their barbs/anger/romance are furiously worked across the page. It’s a great enemies to lovers story with the final dramatic scene coming with a later (but more realistic in my book) happily ever after.

Bring on Benedict (who doesn’t seem to get as much page time here, with Colin doing the cheeky job of throwing Anthony and Kate together!)

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com show less

This was a most interesting experience, because I did not really have fond memories of this book. It wasn't that I hated it, or even mildly disliked it...in all honestly, I couldn't really remember most of it. I remembered the ridiculous reason WHY Anthony and Kate had to get married (which is still ridiculous), and vaguely remembered the infamous Pall Mall game, but not much else sprang to mind. So, it felt like an almost new read - and, it turns out, a very satisfying one.

Daddy issues are at the fore again, this time with the stoic eldest Bridgerton sibling, Anthony - which immediately meant he burrowed into the soft spot in my heart already occupied by Simon Basset, the hero of the first novel in this series ♥ But unlike Simon, who show more loathed his father with every fiber of his being, Anthony has pretty much the opposite problem - his father was the most amazing man to have ever graced the planet (at least, in Anthony's estimation), and he died tragically young. Edmund Bridgerton was only 38 years old when he succumbed to a fatal allergy to bee stings; his oldest son was only 18, his youngest child not even yet born. Anthony just knows in the depths of his soul that he will never be as good a man as his father, and that he won't even live long enough to try. He is absolutely, irrationally convinced that he, too, shall perish at 38.

Anthony is forced to embrace adulthood perhaps before he's ready for it, but he steps into his father's shoes and shoulders his responsibilities in caring for his siblings and the estates he inherited, along with his father's title. He can be a totally overwhelming boor of a man, especially when it comes to his sisters, but his heart truly is in the right place. He's lived the wild young aristocrat's life, but at the heart of it all beats the heart of a somber, serious man who faces the scope of his own mortality on a daily basis.

As he nears 30, he reluctantly decides that it's time for him to marry, so that he might have at least one child before his inevitable death (by 38). He is bound and determined to take a practical stance with this; he'd like for his wife to be reasonably attractive, intelligent, and utterly ordinary - he very emphatically does not wish to marry for love.

Ridiculous, perhaps, but he has an honorable reason. He knows what true love looks like; his parents' marriage was full of it (quite obviously, with 8 children borne over 20 years), and he knows how difficult it was for his mother when the man she loved so deeply died. He does not wish that fate upon anyone, much less the mother of his children.

So, Anthony queries his brothers as to who the Incomparable of the Season is, and learns that it is blond-haired, blue-eyed, delicately featured Edwina Sheffield. Upon learning that she isn't a total airhead, he decides to set his cap for her.

Of course, as the Incomparable of the Season, Edwina Sheffield does not lack for suitors. She also does not lack good sense. She comes from a poor family, and knows that she much make a brilliant match in order to provide for her mother and her stepsister Kate, in the event that Kate doesn't find a husband herself. The family from Somerset had to scrimp and save for five years in order to afford a Season in London, and the girls make their bows at the same time: Edwina, a fresh young rose of 17, while Kate is on the wrong side of time at 21.

I really liked Kate. She is the older sibling, and she is fiercely protective of her younger sister. Her own mother died when she was a child, but she was taken under her stepmother's wing and raised as if she was a blood relation. It was really refreshing to see a blended family without the animosity and jealousy that this situation is so ripe for. Edwina and Kate are friends, and together with mother Mary, they face the world as a solid unit.

Kate is quite practical herself; she realizes that she is the sister of the Incomparable, but harbors no resentment towards her sister. She accepts the fact that she is older, taller, and plainer, and doesn't really mind lurking in her sister's shadow at the swirl of society parties that constitute the Marriage Mart. She is most amused by Edwina's declaration that she will not marry without Kate's approval - until Edwina's hordes of suitors begin falling all over themselves trying to impress Kate.

The Bridgertons are society celebrities, so everyone has an opinion about them, not the least of whom is the mysterious Lady Whistledown. Kate and Edwina discuss Anthony Bridgerton long before he even knows who they are. Convinced that his rake reputation has been well - and hard - earned, Kate declares that the Viscount would never make her sister a suitable husband. Edwina rather agrees; she'd much rather marry a mousy scholar instead of a dashing duke, though she convinces herself that she will settle for a scholarly-minded man of great means. She knows the burden she shoulders, but she does so without complaint.

When the inevitable happens - when Anthony Bridgerton meets Edwina Sheffield and decides that she's worthy of his pursuit - it turns out to be game on. Kate can't stand the sight of him and makes that rather plain at one of the balls, much to Colin Bridgerton's great amusement. She's even less impressed when Anthony Bridgerton deigns to call on Edwina the next morning, and does everything she can to get out of having to spend time in his presence. Anthony is not without his charms, however, and Kate melts just a little when she realizes that he's brought flowers not only for Edwina, but also for Mary and Kate. Anthony is struck when he realizes that its the first bouquet Kate has ever received herself, which softens his opinion of her just a smidge.

Mary, of course, is overjoyed at the idea that a Viscount is gracing her parlor, but their visit is cut short by Kate's overwager, overweight corgi, Newton. Newton just loves Mary and tries to jump on her every time she's in the same room. Mary wants so much to be rid of Newton that she shoos Kate away to walk him, and then suggests Anthony accompany her.

The two manage not to kill each other whilst in polite society, but Newton is having none of their restraint. He spots Edwina in the distance - she'd been out riding with another suitor when Anthony had called - and then all hell breaks loose, ending up with Anthony Bridgerton half-soaked in the disgusting waters of the Serpentine as he gallantly rescues Edwina from her bumbling suitor.

Anthony and Kate are very arch with each other; they exchange a lot of very witty repartee, but Kate is unmoved. She will not allow him to pursue his courtship with her sister because she is convinced he is a conniving jackass unfit to even kiss Edwina's slippers, much less any other part of her.

Things do not get better during a soiree at Bridgerton House; if anything, they manage to get even worse as Kate inadvertently stumbles upon Anthony as he attempts to have a lover's tryst with an opera singer. This does not raise Kate's opinion of Anthony one bit - her sister deserves a love match, not a man content to keep mistresses - but it does begin to make his blood rise for her. They have a very heated standoff - a passionate argument that leads to an equally fervent kiss. He only meant to scare her, but ended up scaring himself with the intensity of his attraction to her. She drives him to distraction with her pithy rejoinders and her sheer stubbornness in opposition to his suit of her sister, so when he starts dreaming about her, it only makes him more crazy.

It might all have ended there, if not for Lady Bridgerton's singleminded determination in marrying every single one of her children off in short order. She throws an impromptu house party at the Bridgerton's country home in Kent, Aubrey Hall, and invites the Sheffields along for the ride. Everyone knows of Anthony's courtship of Edwina, and lots of things tend to happen in the country that the rigid, formal rules of society would keep from happening in town, so everyone is expecting the two of them to emerge at the end of the week as betrotheds.

It's very difficult for Anthony to return to Aubrey Hall, because his family spent most of their time there when he was younger, as his father loved the great outdoors. It was here that his father was felled by that ridiculous bee as well, so it's not hard to sympathize with him (or his mother). Still, he puts on a brave face and accepts his role as host alongside his mother. He is pleased to know that Edwina and her family has come down, and determined to get the courtship well and truly finished.

He finds himself continually in Kate's company, however (partly due to the machinations of his shrewd mother), and as the two of them spend more time together, they begin to realize that they appreciate each other more than they dislike each other. They are participants in the infamous Pall Mall game (the Bridgertons play dirty, and they play to win - these chapters are absolutely hilarious and worth the price of admission alone), and encounter each other in the dead of night in the library. Kate, who is deathly afraid of thunderstorms, is caught there when one blows up during the middle of the night, and Anthony finds her cowering under the table in sheer terror. It is a moment of connection, and it's pretty much the catalyst of change in their mutual regard.

Kate remembers how he allayed her fears the next morning, and decides that no man that gentle and caring could be as horrible as his reputation paints him to be, and decides as well to tell him that she's dropping her opposition to his pursuit of her sister. Edwina could hardly do worse; it was obvious to one and all that Anthony had a genuine love and affection for his family, and he wasn't stupid. He would be kind to her, and maybe even faithful. It's enough for Kate, at least.

Anthony, on the other hand, is more intrigued by Kate than ever after witnessing her vulnerability during the storm. He seeks her out, wishing to apologize/explain about the night before, and realizes that he feels hollow inside when she tells him that she'll consent to him marrying her sister. He doesn't have much chance to contemplate this, however, because a bee has decided to make Kate its target, and Anthony loses all sense of reason. All he can see is Kate dying the same horrible death that his father did, and he tries rather urgently to get her away from the bee but she is totally bewildered by his reaction. They tussle, and make the bee mad, and it does sting her, rather badly in fact. Anthony makes it his personal mission in life to express the venom from the wound, even goes so far as to suck it out - when, of course, a trio of mamas stumble upon them:

Mary (Kate's stepmother), Violet (Anthony's mother), and Mrs. Featherington, the ton's reigning gossip queen.

They pretty much have to bow to societal pressure and marry now, and while neither one of them wanted it to happen this way, they are starting to want each other - they're just convinced their feelings are unrequited. Anthony feels free, because his hand was forced for a woman he could never offer for but so desperately wants to have his way with. Kate also feels that same intensely passionate attraction to him, but fears that he is merely settling for her because he's been forced to. She fears the repercussions of being a "fallen woman," and has a hard time adjusting to being the target of the ton's nasty gossip.

Mercifully, she is not as ignorant about sex as Daphne was; she is very pragmatic about it all, but is disheartened when Mary tells her that a man can find his pleasure in any woman, whereas the reverse is not necessarily true. So now Kate begins to feel insecure about Anthony's desire for her, convinced that he's picturing someone else every time he kisses her so passionately (and later, when he has sex with her). She even tries to delay the consummation of their marriage, though she can't put into words what, exactly, her objections are.

The sex scenes in these books are very intense and passionate because of the heady emotions of the characters. I really enjoy them because they are that wonderful mix of physical, sexual, and cerebral chemistry. These two have very intimate conversations - funny and serious - and it's just really lovely to read about. They are already in love but neither wants to admit it.

As the book winds down, it's time for the characters to face their demons: Kate and her terrifying fear of thunderstorms; Anthony and his growing dread at his inevitable death. They help each other through these situations in beautiful, thoughtful, subtle ways, ways in which their bond only strengthens. It isn't easy for either of them to face the things that hold them captive by their own irrational fears, but together, they manage to get through them. It felt very authentic and realistic and it hit so many of my squee buttons that I just kept re-reading certain passages and sighing.

One of the things I love about Quinn is that she does not take the easy way out - if she employs a cliche, it is only so that she might turn it on its head. Anthony falls in love in spite of himself, and that brings his greatest fear straight to the fore: how can he die and leave a wife that he loves so dearly and desperately? How is that fair to her - or to him?

Even when they reach their breaking point, it never truly feels like a break. There is no screaming hysterics, no weepy longing, no over-the-top grand romantic gestures. There are only two adults struggling against their own demons, each trying to hold the other close, with equal measures of failure and success.

I really enjoyed this book and the progression of their relationship. These two are really well suited, and had a love story worthy of their characters ♥

The 2nd Epilogues
Here is Quinn's introduction to The Viscount Who Loved Me's 2nd Epilogue:

Without a doubt, readers' favorite scene in The Viscount Who Loved Me (and perhaps all of my books) is when the Bridgertons get together to play Pall Mall, the nineteenth-century version of croquet. They are viciously competitive and completely dismissive of the rules, having long since decided that the only thing better than winning is making sure your siblings lose. When it came time to revisit the characters from this book, I knew it had to be at a Pall Mall rematch.

Well, another Pall Mall match was certainly warranted, I think, and this one did not disappoint :) From the scheming over who would win the coveted Mallet of Death to each player's hilarious running commentary on the game, this was a pure delight to read. I love the idea of the Pall Mall game becoming a tradition for the first erstwhile group of players, one that is fiercely guarded and gamely played year after year. The object is not always to win (at least, not in the traditional manner), but somehow, Anthony and Kate always manage to come out on top, LOL!! show less

“I desire you. I burn for you.”

I wasn't really a huge fan of The Duke and I and I'm pretty sure it took me an eternity to finish that one. However, I decided to give the series another chance and I'm really glad that I did because I absolutely adored this one. Anthony is probably the perfect rake. Kate and Edwina are an interesting dynamic. Kate, close to becoming a spinster, is more focused on helping Edwina find a husband. Mostly because it turns out everyone always notices Edwina first due to her beauty. I have at admit that I enjoyed the fact that Kate was just an average beauty and she was fully aware of this. I loved the hatred she had for Anthony and her insistence that he would never marry Edwina because she would never show more approve.
The fact that the two are busy denying their attraction to each other the whole time is perfection and makes for marvelous moments. I have to admit that a lot of the situations they found themselves in were rather humorous which I greatly enjoyed. The two of them are honestly my absolute favorite dynamic. I loved that they both had these moments in their pasts that impacted them on a fundamental level to a different extent. I loved everything about this one honestly. I don't know what else to say besides how much I enjoyed it. I have to admit that this one actually made me look forward to reading the next one so I can see which Bridgerton gets into trouble this time. show less

Very much enjoyed the tone that there was humor throughout yet the transitions into more serious moments were impressively seamless.

The pacing did occasionally feel a teensy bit sluggish maybe in part because the conflict/obstacle keeping these two apart wasn’t that strong considering the novel’s length, but Kate and Anthony’s chemistry was mostly enough to keep the pages turning as were their individual arcs illustrating and confronting their phobias, particularly Kate’s issues with storms and the story behind it.

Lastly, I think something that really needs to be emphasized here is that even though the premise suggests a triangle between Anthony and the two sisters, that doesn’t really materialize, instead of competing over a show more guy, Kate and Edwina are close and supportive, a lovely example of sisterhood. show less