by Julia Quinn

“Anthony Bridgerton leaned back in his leather chair,and then announced,
“I’m thinking about getting married.”
Benedict Bridgerton, who had been indulging in a habit his mother detested—tipping his chair drunkenly on the back two legs—fell over.
Colin Bridgerton started to choke.
Luckily for Colin, Benedict regained his seat with enough time to smack him soundly on the back, sending a green olive sailing across the table.
It narrowly missed Anthony’s ear.”

This was pretty good for a historical romance. If you love historical romance and romance for romance sake you would probably love it. It doesn’t bring too much more to the table other than the usual steps of working out their relationship from antagonism and misunderstanding until they get to their happy ending. One of my least favorite tropes is when a couple like and admire each other, have great sex and have a great relationship in every possible way, but somehow are miserable because “he/she doesn’t lo-o-o-o-v-e me.” This one has that for sure, but it doesn’t take it too far. They work out the few problems they have fairly quickly and don’t allow the “love” question to bust them up. They both know they have a good thing going with each other, and I really appreciated that.

I first read 4 or 5 in this series when they first came out. Like many, watching the mini-series inspired me to give them another try. I loved the family dynamic and will probably re-read a few more in the series. The writing was good. Not great. It was amusing in places. Not witty or funny. I liked the characters but was not invested emotionally. Frankly, I think the gorgeous but bookish sister’s romance with the scholar would have engaged me more. It was fun though.

January 12, 2021