Book Review: Romancing Mr. Bridgerton

Last week I read the 4th book in the Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn – Romancing Mr. Bridgerton. This one follows Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington’s romance. Since the Netflix show went out of order, their story has already aired on tv but like with Daphne & Simon’s and Anthony and Kate’s stories, it is different and a lot of changes were made.

The novel takes place over the course of about 10 years, but with the bulk of it in present day. In the book, Penelope and Eloise Bridgerton don’t become the best of friends until they are teenagers and out in society, attending the same balls together. It is then that Penelope meets Colin and develops a crush on him. In the show it is always implied that Penelope and Eloise have been friends since they were young and that through that friendship Penelope and Colin were friends. Anyway, Penelope develops a crush on Colin but figures he would never like a girl like her. Feeling restless and not ready to marry, Colin spends the next years traveling all over the world and occassionally stopping back home in London.

Now Colin is home for the forseeable future and his mother really wants him to settle down now that he is 33. Penelope is 28 and has come to terms with the fact that she is most likely a “spinster”. She hasn’t had any marriage proposals and attends balls now mainly to chaperone her younger sister, Felicity. She spends her time secretly observing society and all those in her social circles because she is actually Lady Whistledown – the writer of a society column that comments on all of London’s wealthy and elite – for the past 10 years! When Lady Danbury announces that she will give a thousand pounds to whoever unmasks Lady Whistledown, Penelope starts to get a little nervous that her secret will come out. Then, her nemesis, Cressida Twombley, announces that she is Lady Whistledown, hoping to collect the reward. Penelope doesn’t want to reveal her identity, but she also cannot let Cressida take the credit. And as she and Colin get closer together and spend more time together, he discovers her secret and wants her to leave Lady Whistledown behind for good. What will she do? Will she let Cressida take the credit? Will she say goodbye to Lady Whistledown in exchange for finally getting the guy she’s had feelings for since she was 17?

I liked this book, but didn’t love it. I didn’t think the chemistry between Colin and Penelope was very developed so it seemed like they just got together out of nowhere. One of my bookstagram friends, Eva from @bookish.you, recently posted on her stories about how the Bridgerton men are not written well and I have to agree. In all of the books, so far, the mmcs start off great, charming, witty etc. and then something happens halfway through that just ruins them and it always seems to come out of nowhere. All of a sudden, they’re a jerk or possessive or mean.

Spoiler Alert

The same thing happens with Colin. He starts off so charming and kind and then when he finds out Penelope is Lady Whistledown he demands she put an end to it. Even when she explains to him how much she loved writing and the freedom it gave her you would think he would come around and be like oh I understand now – you had something that was yours – but no. He’s like okay I understand, but you’re still done with it. And she really does give it up! It might just be me, but I find that really problematic – that she gave up something she loved for this guy. Sure, staying Lady Whistledown in the long run, may not have been feasible, but the fact that she gave it up because she didn’t want to lose Colin just didn’t sit right with me.

I’ll continue reading the series and we’ll see if the men get any better!

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