This is a Julia Quinn Book. If you have read more than one of her books you know exactly what I mean. Julia Quinn has a brand of romance that is nearly uniformly; light, sweet, full of banter (some of the best in the business), recurring characters, and close-knit families. Julia Quinn is synonymous with ‘comfort read’ in my world. There is nothing wrong with this, and many things right with it. I would say this book falls squarely in the middle of the pack of her books. Nothing amazing, but nothing off-putting either.
Quinn is best known for her Bridgerton series of 8 books that follow the eight Bridgerton siblings. She took a break from that series to write her most recent series and has now returned to the Bridgerton world. This book is not technically a prequel, but the heroine is Billie (Sybilla) Bridgerton, the aunt of the eight siblings. So, we get to go back in time and have a Georgian setting instead of Regency. (I honestly could not tell. There are actually very few details given in any of these books that would place them in a particular historical period other than Long Ago).
Billie is a tomboy who loves her life in the country. She basically runs the estate for her father while waiting for her younger brother to grow up and take over. She knows about agriculture, is an excellent horsewoman and is completely indifferent to traditional ‘women’s interests’ like helping her mother plan a house party. (If you feel like this is practically a caricature, then your feelings match the ones I had while reading the book.) The Bridgerton family’s estate is next to the Rokesby family’s estate and the families are best friends with the children acting as cousins if not siblings. George is the oldest Rokesby by several years. He is the heir to the earldom and has always been treated that way, which goes along with his reserved and serious demeanor. His two younger brothers have been best friends with Billie since they were children. Billie and George get trapped on a roof together (because this is the kind of thing that happens in romance novels) and from there slowing decide they have feelings for each other. That’s about it. Nothing else really happens.
This book clocks in at BARELY 300 pages. I think it was pretty ballsy to put it out in hardcover and charge $20 for it. I read a library copy so I’m not mad, more in awe of the publishing industry than anything else. What it really is is a prequel novella to what is obviously going to be a series about the other Rokesby siblings (and maybe the younger Bridgerton sister). It even ends with a cliffhanger. Seriously. Someone is just cashing in by calling this a novel and charging as such.
Billie and George think they have nothing in common and snipe at each other for a large portion of the book. There are romantic rivals for the affections of each of them, but they barely get any time on the page, and therefore are not really rivals. Almost immediately George and Billie start talking and realize that they actually do have more in common with each other than they previously thought, and just really understand each other. This progression had to move fast since the book is so short, and I had trouble buying it. I can’t believe that they have not interacted enough to discover these things previously.
What was strong here were the family ties and relationships, as usual. The sibling interactions are always some of the best parts of a Quinn novel, and this is no different. The set up was good enough that I am looking forward to the rest of the series, with the hopes that they will be more fully fleshed-out novels.
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