Julia Quinn goes Georgian

3.5 stars

Sibylla “Billie” Bridgerton has always been a tomboy. As a girl, she ran wild with the neighbouring Rokesby children, and it’s been long expected that she’ll end up marrying either of the younger sons, Edward or Andrew. She’s doesn’t really mind the idea herself, but marriage is the furthest thing from her mind, even after her best friend, Mary Rokesby goes off to marry her eldest brother George’s best friend. After all, if Billie gets married, whose going to oversee the running of the Bridgerton estate? Her brother Edmund is still away at Eton, far too young to take charge. The only Rokesby Billie doesn’t really get along with is the heir, George Rokesby, Viscount Kennard. He’s always so serious, clearly disapproving of her un-ladylike ways.

So when Billie falls out of a tree, twists her ankle badly and ends up stranded on a deserted cottage roof, having tried to rescue a stray cat, she really wishes that anyone else in the neighbourhood except the supercilious George is the one to come to her rescue. Things do not improve when circumstances cause the ladder he’s used to get up on the roof to fall over, stranding them both. While no one in their right mind would think that George Rokesby had compromised Billie Bridgerton on a roof in the middle of the countryside, propriety would demand that the Viscount offer for her hand if they are stranded there for too long. Luckily, Andrew Rokesby, home on leave from the navy with a broken arm, comes along and rescues the two of them, but is very amused by the predicament they’ve found themselves in. George also insists on chivalrously carrying the wounded Billie back home, and after their little adventure, the two suddenly see each other differently.

As the son and heir, George has never been allowed to go off and see the world. His brother Andrew is in the navy, while Edward is over in the Colonies, scouting in the Revolutionary War. As the eldest, he has always observed his younger siblings and the vivacious eldest Bridgerton daughter run around and cause trouble. Even now, although Billie is universally loved in the neighbourhood, she has a tendency to get into unlikely scrapes, and it annoys George immensely. Almost as much as the thought that she may some day end up marrying one of his brothers. After their little interlude on the roof, George suddenly finds himself very bothered by the idea of Billie marrying anyone…except him. Could he be falling in love with the exasperating Miss Bridgerton?

Full review here.

As of me posting this, the book appears to be on sale at Amazon for $1.99 (if you live in the US, that is, in Norway they want $7.40 for it). For that price, it’s absolutely worth a read. At full price, not so much.