Book Review: The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
This The Viscount Who Loved Me review will give you all the juicy details about the second book in the Bridgerton series. While this one definitely wasn’t my favorite (you can check out my rankings to see where it fits), it was still a fun book. Bridgerton books are not books for people wanting deep, emotional reads. There more light-hearted, fun, and quick let-me-turn-my-brain-off-and-read books.
Book Information
Anthony Bridgerton has decided that it’s time to take a wife. He doesn’t want love—after all, that’s too complicated—but he does want someone to produce his heir. When he meets Edwina Sheffield, he is convinced that she will be the perfect wife for two reasons: one, because she’s the diamond of the season, and two, because he’ll never fall in love with her. As he begins courting her, he has to deal with Edwina’s over-protective sister, Kate. As Anthony makes his way to Edwina through Kate, he finds that it may not be so easy to avoid love, but to his surprise, it isn’t a love for Edwina. It’s a love for Kate.
Review | Heidi Dischler
I love Julia Quinn books. I don’t love them for their complexity, or their deep, moral lessons. I love them for their simple love stories and Bridgerton entertainment. This was exactly what I needed.
Anthony, first of all, drives me crazy. I found myself wanting to slap him more than once. I mean, the bee sting scene? I literally rolled my eyes (you’ll know what I’m talking about when you read the book). I’m not really complaining, though, because I totally listened to this book for the romance. Anthony and Kate both seemed complex to me in their characters’ personalities, which is always a plus. However, I did feel like a lot of this book was a repeat of The Duke and I. While I did really love reading Anthony and Kate’s story, a lot of it threw me off.
Spoilers ahead.
Anthony’s fear of bee stings was plausible. The thing that wasn’t? The fact that he would suck on Kate’s collarbone because of a bee sting. It felt so off to me and just put them in a situation where they were forced to marry because of Kate’s reputation being tarnished.
Kate’s fear of thunder and lightning also through me off a bit. It was totally understandable that she’d have PTSD from her mother dying, but the resolution to all of those years of hidden trauma seemed lackluster to me.
I’m not saying that I didn’t like it. Like I mentioned earlier, I read Julia Quinn novels for their escapism and romance. While this book felt a little underdeveloped in the plot aspect, it still gave me what I needed in the romantic, period-drama way that I was looking for. Of course, though—once again—Lady Whistledown stole the show.
Source: Audiobook from Overdrive local library
