An Offer from a Gentleman

This Cinderella story stars Benedict Bridgerton and Sophie Beckett. Sophie is the illegitimate daughter of the Earl of Penwood who took her in as an infant, called her his ward, and treated her with benign neglect. When he marries a widow with two daughters, Sophie hopes they will be sisters to her. But the new Lady Penwood hates her on sight and the daughters treat her badly. When the Earl dies, she's left in Lady Penwood's care and treated as an unpaid servant.

The servants conspire to send her to a Masquerade Ball hosted by Violet, Lady Bridgerton, where she meets and falls in love with Benedict. But she flees at midnight leaving him to search for her. But the evil stepmother throws her out of the house when she learns that Sophie show more went to the Ball.

Two years elapse with Sophie working as a housemaid for a family in the country and Benedict trying to move on but still having dreams about the mysterious woman in the silver gown and still looking for her. They meet again when he rescues her from the lecherous son of the house.

They spend some time together and he proposes that she become his mistress. She declines. He brings her home to his mother where she works as a Lady's Maid to his sisters. Lady Bridgerton suspects that Sophie has a hidden past and knows that her son loves her.

Great romance. Great characters. Both humor and heart and the realistic problem of social class differences and their effect on one's range of life choices. show less

I dropped the Bridgerton series a long time now because I was getting the feeling that they were all alike but I was surprised when I realized that this is a classic Cinderella retelling and I can say it was very well done.

I enjoyed this one a lot, it's been a while since a book made me feel all warm and fuzzy reading it. Sophie and Benedict caught my attention since the very beginning of their story and I loved it.
I liked Sophie a lot and as the book went on, she grew on me more and more. I have mixed feeling about Benedict tho, I liked him for the first half of the book but in the second half he started acting like an arrogant insensitive asshole and I don't know how to see him even tho he admitted to be wrong at the end and show more redeemed himself.

My absolute favorite thing tho is the dynamic of the Bridgerton family, the banter between the siblings, Violet unrequited but still appreciated nosiness and just their love for each other.

This book was a solid 5☆ until halfway through it when the author made Benedict do and say some unforgivable things (at least for me).

Maybe it's an unpopular opinion but An Offer From a Gentleman is my favorite Bridgerton book so far. show less

I read and loved the first two books in this series a couple of years ago. Then the TV adaptation threw me with its not-the-way-I-read-it interpretations and promotion of inconsequential characters to central roles. But I digress.

As its cover declares, this is Benedict Bridgerton's tale, and its narrative delves into the life of the second-oldest Bridgerton and the woman who captivates his heart. It's a modern-day Cinderella story, with a first act that mirrors the classic fairy tale, and experiencing Julia Quinn's ingenious adaptation of this familiar story to her world was an absolute delight.

As always, the dialogue is vibrant, but the most poignant moments are found in Sophie and Benedict's innermost thoughts, a treasure that can't show more be fully captured in a screen adaptation. And there is a sizzling, kindle-melting, intimate scene between the couple, an element I always enjoy more in writing.

If you've read and liked the first two books, you'll know what you're in for, and you're sure to enjoy this instalment. If you know the series from the TV adaptation, it's highly recommended to go back and read the books from the beginning, as the differences are substantial. In this reader's opinion, the written originals are the definitive version of these stories. show less

An Offer From a Gentleman is the third book in the Bridgerton series, telling the story of Benedict and his path to true love. It’s very different to the preceding two books, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t any less fun. In the first series of Bridgerton, we didn’t learn too much about Benedict other than he enjoyed art and wasn’t quite as worldly as he thought. So I went into this not really knowing what to expect of Benedict.

The story of Sophie Beckett is somewhat of a Cinderella tale. The illegitimate daughter of an earl, she lives with him as his ward and is schooled alongside her stepsisters, much to her stepmother’s dismay. When the earl dies, Sophie is relegated to their maid and is treated very cruelly. But one show more night, the servants conspire to send Sophie to the Bridgerton’s masquerade ball where she meets Benedict. It’s love at first sight, but Sophie has to be home before the rest of her family. She leaves Benedict with a glove, which doesn’t really give him any further cues to her identity. Unfortunately Sophie’s stepmother finds out and kicks her out. Fast forward a few years and Sophie is now a maid, who Benedict rescues from being attacked by several drunken men. Benedict, who has been nursing a candle for his mysterious woman in silver from the ball, likes Sophie and they even share a few kisses at his country home. But then it gets messy as he asks her to be his mistress, not seeing any kind of permanent future with a maid. This is where is gets messy through a modern lens (especially in relation to the recent March 4 Women protests in Australia). Benedict doesn’t see Sophie as an equal due to her work and she refuses to reveal her true identity which might have helped a bit. He’s adamant that he can’t marry her because of his love for his mystery woman/her social status. But it’s quite OK to use her for sex. These scenes show Sophie for the strong woman she is, not wanting to have children that end up ostracised like her and choosing relative poverty over comfort.

In fact, it’s the women who shine in this book. Violet Bridgerton, mother of the Bridgertons, is portrayed as a caring employer and woman who is not afraid to speak her mind. She also gets involved in a little blackmail in the showdown scene between Sophie and her family which happens to take place in gaol. This Mrs Bridgerton is closer to the wise woman that’s portrayed in the TV series and even manages to bring Benedict down a peg or two when he decides he wants to marry Sophie, servant or otherwise. Sophie is a champion, who trudges on with living her best life but being realistic in that she often wishes things could be different. She’s not afraid to stand up for her beliefs, and she won’t be swayed by anyone. She’s strong, independent and not swayed by those who hold more power. Is she too good for Benedict? The answer is possibly, but she helps redeem him somewhat (as an Australian, being transported there isn’t such a bad thing y’know…). I loved the Cinderella aspect, and Sophie’s character. Benedict was an idiot at times, but it’s nice to know that the Bridgertons aren’t perfect. And of course, Lady Whistledown is always catty fun!

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com show less

I LOVED the fairy tale aspect of this one and I really hope there are similar "themes" in some of the upcoming installments. The third book focuses on Sophie Beckett, the bastard of an earl who was horribly mistreated after his untimely death. Being forced to act as a maidservant to her stepmother and stepsisters is unbearable and one night the other servants convince her to dress up and sneak to masquerade ball where she meets the man of her dreams, Benedict Bridgerton. She doesn't even know who he is but they are both captivated by each other. She flees at midnight and doesn't encounter him until years later. Her circumstances haven't improved much and he doesn't recognize her. But is there a spark of interest. Could a member of the show more ton have feelings for a lowly servant girl? Fun, witty, and sexy. Give me more please! show less

A classic Cinderella story, complete with absent father, wicked stepmother and stepsisters, and handsome not-quite-prince, but a Bridgerton is close enough. Sophie was, officially, an earl's ward, but everyone in their house knew she was his daughter - including awful Araminta, her beautiful and cruel elder daughter Rosamund, and her kind but weak younger daughter Posy. Sophie toils for Araminta, but spends one magical night at a Bridgerton ball, and falls in love with Benedict, who is also entranced by her. She flees at midnight, leaving behind an embroidered glove; cut to a few years later, and Sophie has left Araminta's house and is working as a maid at a house where Benedict attends a party and rescues her from certain harm.

He show more doesn't recognize her from the ball, but of course she knows him - and knows they cannot marry, and she refuses to be his mistress, due to the pain being a bastard caused in her own life. Benedict's family is unusually supportive, especially his mother Violet and brother Colin, and after a suspenseful scene in which Araminta has Sophie thrown in jail for theft, and Benedict (and Posy, and Violet) play a role in freeing her and setting her life back on course.

Quotes

She'd fallen in love with the wrong man. She could never have him on her terms, and she refused to go to him on his.
It was hopeless. (ch. 14)

Now she was forever stuck between two worlds, with no clear place in either. (ch. 15)

But if she was so certain that she'd done the right thing, why did it hurt so much? It was as if her heart were perpetually breaking. Every day, it tore some more, and every day, Sophie told herself that it could not get worse, that surely her heart was finished breaking... (ch. 18)

Love could not conquer all. At least not for her. (ch. 18)

"Nothing is ever as complicated as it is in one's mind." (Colin to Benedict, ch. 21) show less

The third installment of the Bridgerton series of romance novels, whose Netflix adaptation has been a bit of a phenomenon. Here we have Benedict Bridgerton, or Number 2 as he's generally known to members of the ton, who is in no hurry to find himself a wife until he is struck by love at first sight of a mysterious young woman at a masquerade ball. They are separated before he can find out who she is, and he spends the next six months searching everywhere for "the woman in silver" to no avail. The depth of his feelings for her are so emphatic in the narrative that it's hard to believe when he finally comes face-to-face with her three years later, he doesn't recognize her at all. Then again, it would be more of a short story than a novel show more if he did...

Sophia, illegitimate daughter of an unloving earl, is left to fend for herself when her father dies and her evil stepmother (the stepmother is always evil, if you're new to romances) throws her out into the street, where she finds work in a series of lowly maid positions until meeting Benedict again by chance. Unlike Benedict, Sophie knows exactly who he is but doesn't spill the beans. This leads the two on a merry dance, as Benedict repeatedly muses about how he could have met yet another woman who affects him in exactly the same way as the mysterious woman in silver. Oh, Ben, you sweet dim bulb.

You know what they say: It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt, and the course of true love for Sophie and Ben does not run smoothly, but it does eventually splash down in the requisite happy ever after, so all's well that ends well. I enjoyed reading this one more than the second book about Number 1 Son Anthony, and can only hope that the fourth is better yet. show less