I know this book is the unpopular one in the Bridgerton series around these parts and I am here to vehemently disagree. This is book 5 in the Bridgerton series, and was one of my two favorites the first time I read the series. That was pre-Cannonball for me, so I was very surprised when I came here and found it disparaged. I thought that maybe I wasn’t remembering it fully, so decided on a re-read. I stand by my earlier assessment – I am so very rarely wrong in these things ;) – and it held up really well on rereading.
Francesca Bridgerton is the 6th of the Bridgerton siblings, and is the quiet one who did not make much of an impression in earlier books. She has always felt a little separate from her siblings, but has found a happy life with marriage to her best friend. Her husband’s cousin, Michael Stirling, rounds out their three-some (not that way). Michael has been in love with Francesca for years, but he and his cousin are very close, and he does not resent their happiness. *Spoiler?* Francesca’s husband dies. Suddenly Michael finds he has inherited a title, the lands, and a woman he desperately loves who only wants to cry on his shoulder. Under the pressure of guilt he runs away for years to India, and just so happens to return right as Francesca decides that she is lonely and wants children, so she will go back in to so society in search of a husband.
This is not a typical Julia Quinn book. She usually does light and fluffy with a good heart and fun banter. This book took a darker turn, but I thought it kept the sincerity that grounds her stories. I think my enjoyment of this one mostly rests on genuinely liking both Francesca and Michael as characters and just wanting them to be happy. There is actually not a lot of plot here, and some of the emotion is overwrought, so the characters have to carry the weight.
I love a good friends-to-lovers story as well as an I-have-loved-you-from-afar-for-years story, so this one very neatly checked off both boxes. The weight of the emotion each of them feels about John’s death was so sad, especially when they did not have each other to rely on after Michael’s departure. Widows make many appearances in historical romances, but rarely do they ever give me a real sense of what it must be like to lose a husband so young. Often the deceased husband was hated, and I like that here he was loved by everyone and his loss was really felt through the whole book. Francesca’s pain is very relateable.
The only part of this story I find weak is that Michael is supposed to fall in to the Reformed Rake trope, only settling down when he can finally have Francesca. There’s only tiny anecdotes about his past that hint at this, and they never ring true for me. He is the most milequetoast rake to ever grace the pages of a romance. If I pretend that these characteristics are not being attributed to him I enjoy the story much more.
I forget why I read this one out of order, but I have been rereading a bunch of everything this year, and have plans to do most of the Bridgerton books. We will see how many get full reviews. And, I still have never read the final one, so that’s on the list too.
Once I pulled myself out of my ‘Bridgerton Expectations’ for this one, I also quite enjoyed it. Its probably top half of the pile for me. Quinn is best at character studies, and in this one we get two well studied characters.
I loved Michael as a hero, and in my head his “rake” persona was all an act to entertain Francesca, making him all the more endearing to me.
I LOVE this take on Michael. I think I am going to incorporate it into my own headcannon for this book. I was taking him as more along the lines of “I use other women and don’t take any of them seriously because they are not HER” type of rakes, but that never quite jelled with the rest of his personality. This is much better. With that interpretation I will take this up to a 5 star book.
I skipped this one because my library didn’t have it. Your review is making me want to track down a copy!
Ooh, they have it at my library now, and it’s the updated version with the second epilogue! Wooooo.
Jealous! I have the old version without the second epilogue. :( And my library only has an old copy in large print. Boo!
You almost make me want to read it again to give it another chance. Almost.
I also really like Fainting Violet’s take on Michael, but I’d like to add that none of Quinn’s rakes are particularly rakish, including Anthony who apparently kept two mistresses.
You already know how I feel about this one. I personally love it, and put it at number 2 or 3 in my Bridgerton list. It’s not as fun as most of the others, but I really adore Francesca and Michael as characters.