With all the buzz around the new Netflix TV series “The Bridgertons”, I decided to read the books first (as usual) before attempting to watch the series. I read one of the prequels, “The Other Miss Bridgerton” (you can check out my review in “Book Reviews”) but realized it was a bad move so I dumped the prequels and will read the series in order of how they were written (if I get through to reading them all).
“The Duke And I” is a historical fiction/romance novel set in Regency England which tells the story of how Simon Basset, The Duke of Hastings and Daphne Bridgerton meet, get married and fall in love under very unusual circumstances.
Like most regency romance novels I have read, I loved the setting, the balls and the gossip that were common in those times and the writing was great. I also found “The Bridgertons” quite an interesting lot and I liked the family dynamics which reminded me of my siblings and I. The Duke of Hastings, based on the circumstances of his birth and childhood, I had a lot of empathy for and understood his disposition in adulthood and the build-up to their romance was interesting to read but after a while It began to feel that it was a bit stretched. Having read a good number of historical romance novels, I didn’t find anything spectacular about this story. It wasn’t bad at all but it wasn’t great either especially now that it’s been adapted into a series. This may be one of the rare occasions that I may end up loving the TV show more than the book (but I have to watch it first to make the final judgement).
I will conclude by saying, it was an okayish read and I would still recommend to historical fiction lovers but don’t get your hopes up like I did.
Rating: 3 Stars
Published: June 27th 2006 by Avon Books (first published January 5th 2000)
Pages: 384
Genre: Romance
The Author
#1 New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn loves to dispel the myth that smart women don’t read (or write) romance, and and if you watch reruns of the game show The Weakest Link you might just catch her winning the $79,000 jackpot. She displayed a decided lack of knowledge about baseball, country music, and plush toys, but she is proud to say that she aced all things British and literary, answered all of her history and geography questions correctly, and knew that there was a Da Vinci long before there was a code.
A graduate of Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges, Ms. Quinn is one of only sixteen members of Romance Writers of America’s Hall of Fame. Her books have been translated into 32 languages, and she lives with her family in the Pacific Northwest.
The Bridgertons, her popular series of historical romance, is currently in production by Shondaland as a Netflix original series starring Julie Andrews, Phoebe Dynevor, and Rége-Jean Page.
