Bridgerton: The Duke & I by Kate Julia Quinn
Publication Date: June 27, 2006
Plot: In the ballrooms and drawing rooms of Regency London, rules abound. From their earliest days, children of aristocrats learn how to address an earl and curtsey before a prince—while other dictates of the ton are unspoken yet universally understood. A proper duke should be imperious and aloof. A young, marriageable lady should be amiable… but not too amiable.
Daphne Bridgerton has always failed at the latter. The fourth of eight siblings in her close-knit family, she has formed friendships with the most eligible young men in London. Everyone likes Daphne for her kindness and wit. But no one truly desires her. She is simply too deuced honest for that, too unwilling to play the romantic games that captivate gentlemen.
Amiability is not a characteristic shared by Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings. Recently returned to England from abroad, he intends to shun both marriage and society—just as his callous father shunned Simon throughout his painful childhood. Yet an encounter with his best friend’s sister offers another option. If Daphne agrees to a fake courtship, Simon can deter the mamas who parade their daughters before him. Daphne, meanwhile, will see her prospects and her reputation soar.
The plan works like a charm—at first. But amid the glittering, gossipy, cut-throat world of London’s elite, there is only one certainty: love ignores every rule.
MY THOUGHTS:
I absolutely love the Bridgerton show on Netflix, so when I found out that it had been based on a tv show, I HAD to add it to be TBR list! I finally got around to reading the first book, Bridgerton: The Duke & I, that the first season was based on, and I loved it!
Although the book and the show are a bit different, I feel as though seeing the show first made the book pretty predictable and took away the feeling of what was to come next. Other than that, I thought the book was so good!! It was a perfect blend of romance and spice. I loved the characters in the show and continued to love them in the book.
There is a very controversial scene towards the end - which most people are aware of if they’ve seen the tv adaption. For some reason, it felt much more intense in the book. I was rather shocked. For me, it felt unnecessarily added and the story could have still ended the way it did without it. There were some differences between the tv adaptation and the book. I think the tv series enhances the characters so you really get to know them all as we follow their stories, whereas it really was only all about Daphne and Simon in this book.
I loved the chemistry between Daphne and Simon. It seemed much more flirtatious and humorous and less enemies-to-lovers like the tv series. I just couldn’t get enough of them. With all that being said, I still prefer the Netflix adaptation to the book, simply because of how the relationship between Simon and Daphne was portrayed and the depth of all of the other characters (not to mention our beloved Lady Whistledown being revealed.) I definitely won’t hesitate to read the other books though!
☆ Rating: 4/5 stars
