Romancing Mister Bridgerton

I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher (Avon) for promotional purposes.

I just want to preface this review by saying this is only the second Bridgerton book I’ve read. I previously read The Duke and I (which I enjoyed). I have watched the show and at the time of writing this review, have watched the first half of Season 3. Because of that, I obviously knew some of the big plot points (i.e. Penelope being Lady Whistledown).

I ended up loving Colin and Penelope’s story!

First off, Colin calls Penelope “the most remarkable woman in the world” (pg. 423). I whole heartedly agree. The fact that she was Lady Whistledown for 10 years is impressive. What a smart woman!

I liked Penelope and Colin together. The fact show more that they were both writers was really cute and I loved how Penelope encouraged Colin to pursue publishing his work. Colin definitely lacked a purpose in life until Penelope came along and guided him.

Additionally, I loved Lady Danbury and Penelope’s interactions. Lady Danbury took a liking to Penelope which helped her come out of her wallflower shell more.

The pacing of the story was good and the drama surrounding the unmasking of Lady Whistledown made for an interesting and fun read.

Overall, I really enjoyed this installment to the Bridgerton series and look forward to seeing the rest of it play out onscreen. show less

So far, this was definitely the weakest instalment in the otherwise amusing Bridgertons series.

The story isn’t really that interesting and the narrative dragged on rather uninspired so that I was actually bored at times which isn’t exactly my intention when reading a fluffy easy-to-read romance.

What annoyed me the most, though, and made me almost quit this book was Colin Bridgerton himself. So, you know, this series of books is set in the early 19th century and, fortunately, as a society we’ve made a lot of progress - Women’s suffrage, emancipation, feminism, and so on.

And I’m really happy about that.

Thus, I already have to temporarily suspend a lot of truly heartfelt convictions and disengage large parts of my brain in order show more to be able to enjoy this kind of book: I have to completely disregard more than 100 years of social, societal and emancipatory advances.

I do so and, consequently, tolerate a whole lot of outdated nonsense and I find that all the more difficult if a book isn’t truly worth it. I can do it because I love to giggle at amusing, witty bantering in a love story which, fortunately, happens a lot in the Bridgerton series. I can do it because I truly hope that any reader will know that the story is set in the bad old times and that times have greatly changed for the better.

And I do temporarily suspend my convictions because I crave happy endings - sorry, can’t help it.

How dare you, though, Colin Bridgerton, to be angry at your love interest because she's acting on her own, because she’s at least somewhat independent?! How dare you berate her for having a secret?!

How dare you, Julia Quinn, to belittle your cast and, in extension, yourself and your audience like that?! (Not to speak of actually harmfully influencing younger, impressionable readers.)

At the one major altercation between Colin and Penelope, I was about to rage-quit because I just couldn’t stand that level of drivel.

And it went on!

»The shock was gone, replaced by a simple, primitive need to claim her, to brand her, to mark her as his.«

Excuse me?! He wants to “brand her”, like cattle?! And how does Penelope react only a little later, thinking about herself?

»She had been born for this man«

Again, I was about to quit when things evened a little out at least and this possessive crap was slightly reigned in.

Ultimately, though, Colin Bridgerton turns out to be just the despicable guy I had him pegged for:

»She had no right to put herself in such a precarious position without consulting him first. He was her husband, or would be, and it was his God-given duty to protect her whether she desired it or not.«

I just hope this series doesn’t get any lower than this because I don’t think I can take much more of this kind of backwards madness.

Two out of five stars.


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Me estoy haciendo adicta a esta serie muy rápidamente, no es nada difícil tomarles cariño a esos Bridgerton.
Ahora le ha tocado el turno a Colin y no es que me sorprendiera que terminara emparejado con Penelope, al final de cuentas la autora nos dio un guiño de esto en el libro anterior, pero si que me ha sorprendido que finalmente he podido conocer la identidad de Lady Whisteledown, aunque no me sorprendió mucho saber quién era realmente, si no finalmente saber quién es, me da algo así como penita que no volverá a aparecer en las siguientes entregas, era algo así como un sello de la autora el ir leyendo los chismes de su columna mientras se avanza en el libro.
No es que queden muchos Bridgerton solteros, así que ya veremos show more como nos va en las siguientes entregas, pero por lo que refiere a esta, me ha gustado mucho, creo que la pareja que hacen Colin y Penelope es muy bonita, nada excesivamente romántico, ni tampoco un romance muy de esos apasionados, pero si que me ha gustado bastante.
Como siempre Julia Quinn, le pone su sentido del humor a la historia que también la hace más divertida, ligera y me encanta eso de estos libros, es verdad que son de esos libros de corte romántico que hay a montones, pero se agradece mucho que los haga realmente entretenidos, con personajes que es fácil querer y de vez en cuanto soltar alguna risita por algunas situaciones. show less

"I love you with everything I am, everything I've been, and everything I hope to be.”

I'm still slowly making my way through the series and I swear I'm trying. I have to say though that this one has been my favorite of the bunch so far. I really enjoy Penelope's character and I feel like she is the most relatable of all the one's that I've read about so far. I loved that in all the other books we got this mild wallflower version of her, which really shows how everyone perceived her, but in this one we really get to see that there is more to her. Penelope hides on the outskirts of society but she is such a strong and vibrant character when given the chance. I love Lady Danbury and the way she encourages Penelope to come out of her show more shell. I think this one might have been the most scandalous of the bunch considering it's a regency romance. The carriage scene was completely unexpected and I loved the book for it. Colin and Penelope have an interesting dynamic that I enjoyed and it's full of all kinds of tension. I loved the focus on revealing Lady Whistledown and how the reveal was handled it made things even more interesting. I just wish things moved a little faster in these books I think... sometimes it feels like forever before we get to the plot. show less

This is my favorite of the Bridgerton books. I just love Colin and Penelope. Colin really grew on me in the first three books. I love that Colin is so human in this book: he's petty, he's jealous, and he has a temper.

I think Quinn knew what she was doing when she wrote Colin this way - Penelope kept saying that she had built him up and he would never live up to the dream she had created in her mind. I feel like the readers have done that as well (I know I did). There was no way that anything that JQ wrote would like up to the expectations some readers (me) demanded. I also love that Colin doesn't fight his feelings. He leans into them. Yes, he questions what they are, but he accepts and nourishes them.

And Penelope - man I love her. show more I'm going to pat myself on the back and say I figured out the big mystery in a prior book. But she just kicks butt. She doesn't change from the shy person who doesn't want the spotlight, but she does grow. She's one of my favs.

I also love that they communicate. Yes, it takes a bit of time, but they are a unit and work together to solve their problems. show less

I came to this book slightly irritated that the first season of the Netflix Bridgerton dramatisation had spoiled a critical plot element. But that was a minor quibble, as I loved every page of Penelope and Colin's story.

Colin Bridgerton, the "nicest man in London", can be a bit of a douche. Like Simon in the first book, he annoyed me through much of this story - unlike Simon, I felt he redeemed himself at the bottom of the ninth.

If you've read and enjoyed the first three books in this series, you'll like this one. While it can be read as a standalone, there are cameos from family members and other characters introduced in previous books, and Penelope's ascension will be best appreciated by readers who have followed her journey as show more written thus far. show less

Ever since the first book, I declared Colin my favorite Bridgerton brother and boy was I not wrong!
I absolutely love him!
Penelope is an absolutely adorable cinnamon roll and I just cannot explain how much I love her!

Give them a book together and it results in me fangirling my heart out every two seconds.

This was so far my favorite book in the series and I believe I would be revisiting it at some point even if I don't reread the entire series.

I really enjoyed reading from both Pen and Colin's points of view, and I feel like there wasn't a dull moment in this book, although I had moments where I wanted to whack Colin on the head for being too thick!

One of my favorite elements in this story was Colin's struggle to find himself and him show more dealing with his jealousy of his wife because she did find her calling and was great at it!

I do hope that at some point in the next books, we get a glimpse of what happened after Colin's announcement at Daphne's ball.

Overall this was a very enjoyable book and I'm pumped to read the rest. show less