The Other Miss Bridgerton

by: Julia Quinn

I’ve said it before, but Julia Quinn is one of my favorite authors.  I was really excited to see she had another Bridgerton book out – this one a prequel to her original Bridgerton series.

The Other Miss Bridgerton follows the adventures of Poppy Bridgerton, a well-bred young lady on her second Season not quite actually looking for a husband.  She stumbles across a smuggler’s cave one day and ends up whisked away on a privateer’s ship with charming Captain Andrew Rokesby, bound for Portugal and adventure. The story is told from both Andrew and Poppy’s point of view, in third person.

This is, of course, a Regency romance, and it’s delightful and witty and incredibly fun to read. Quinn does such an amazing job of writing intelligent, fun, likable, and realistic characters – Poppy is perhaps my favorite character of hers so far!

Quinn easily takes the reader through the delightful twists and turns of an overly inquisitive mind. Nothing Poppy says is random to the reader, but it’s quite clear why it’s out of the blue for the other characters. Poppy’s train of thought is very similar to mine; I’m the kind of person who might be staring at a piece of abstract art and ask, “Why aren’t frogs a more accepted part of American cuisine?” In my head, there’s a clear connection between the art and fried frog legs, but to everyone else in the room, it’s quite the odd response!

I also love Poppy’s response to being kidnapped – she makes the best of the situation but she also doesn’t shy away from being honest about how crappy it is. I think this is probably my favorite part of the book, as Poppy always strives to be pleasant and kind while still holding Andrew accountable for his actions. What’s more, this is behavior that she has from the start of the book, not some grand climax where they communicate and make things all better.  From the very beginning, she expects him to deal with the fact that he has put her in a bad situation, and she never takes on responsibility for the guilt and shame he feels about it. Here is a relationship built on the premise that a woman shouldn’t minimize her emotions so a man doesn’t have to face his. Excellent.

TOMB has a lot more adventure than the average Quinn novel.  I didn’t think I was going to enjoy it, but I was quickly proven wrong. There’s tons of the usual witty banter between the characters and the action isn’t overdone or wildly improbable. It’s fun and fairly nicely balanced. (Plus, this is a romance novel. You know there will be a happily ever after.) The plot moves along at a nice clip but without taking away from the romance and character development.

The main characters fall in love rather quickly, but hey, it’s a romance novel. Quinn does not write super steamy books and this is no exception – there are a few sex scenes, well-written but not incredibly explicit (by romance novel standards, at least!)

If you’re into hot and steamy romance novels, with lots of dramatic and adventures on the high seas, then this book, alas, probably isn’t for you.  But if you want a feminist, fun read with lots of wit, characters you feel like you could be good friends with, and a satisfying happily ever after, then I highly recommend The Other Miss Bridgerton.

The Sum of All Kisses

by: Julia Quinn

I love Julia Quinn. She’s one of my favorite writers. I love her sly humor and witty dialogue; I love that her characters are people I could be friends with. I adore that if someone told me I seemed like one of her heroines, I would feel complimented.

The Sum of All Kisses is Quinn’s latest book and the third book in the Smythe-Smith quartet. The hero, Hugh Prentice, is a bit of an ass. It’s not his defining characteristic, by any means, but it is there. He’s truly nice, but sometimes says things that are a little mean.  And then he realizes he has done wrong and apologizes.  He doesn’t need to fall in love to respect others’ feelings; he just doesn’t always adequately consider his words before he speaks.

The heroine, Lady Sarah Pleinsworth, is caring, intelligent, and just a bit selfish.  Not a spoiled brat, completely oblivious to other’s pain; just a wee bit too focuses on how things affect her. (Also, she decides to work on this not because the hero teaches her a lesson but through an interaction completely separate from Hugh! Sigh…)

It’s so nice to have characters who are truly realistically flawed – good people who screw up sometimes.  So very nice.

The Sum of All Kisses is light and fun.  There’s witty banter, amusing situations, and great fun throughout.  I love that her characters seem to understand just how lucky they are.  Here, Sarah’s understanding that not everyone has a loving family dynamic – that her family is loving and normal but others’ may not be – is what sets her up to help (save) Hugh during a particularly sticky situation.  Without those moments of understanding, I don’t think I would have bought her kick-ass save the day moment – but as it is, I absolutely love it.

This book has a villian-esque character, different for Quinn.  I’m not sure if I like the way she handled it – on one hand, it was brilliantly over-the-top and on the other hand – well, it was over-the-top.  I can’t decide if it worked amazingly well or if it fell short of being brilliant.

However, Quinn does handle painful situations delicately enough to respectfully convey pain without darkening the light tone of the book. Shit may happen but that doesn’t mean your life is either dark and scary or transformative and healing.  Sometimes you work through your issues and have a rather normal story.

 Like many romance novels, TSoAK has a short timeline, yet at the end it’s hard to believe the characters have only known each other for a few weeks.  I attribute this to the conversations of the characters.  They don’t hold discourses on Plato, but they banter and converse and think.  The conversations hold unexpected depth, in that the characters truly connect through talking: through a shared sense of humor, point-of-view, or uncommon trait. 

As for the sex scenes, TSoAK had a fair amount of petting leading up to the main event, which I thought added some nice tension. Quinn’s not super-explicit – you know what’s going on but you’re not fed detail after detail.  And they do help the plot get along, rather than the plot revolving around them.

In short, if you like light and fluffy romance novels with unexpected depth here and there, or if you have a thing for witty, intelligent characters, genre aside, you should read The Sum of All Kisses, or any Julia Quinn.  If you like your books hot and heavy, or if you’re a big fan of action-y rescue plots, than maybe this isn’t the book for you.  (But! I encourage you to try Julia Quinn even if you don’t think you like romance novels. Don’t let hate of a genre keep you from an excellent author.)

So –

The Lady Most Willing

by: Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, and Connie Brockway

This is the second book co-written by these three romance authors.  (I enjoyed it more than the first, too.)  Julia Quinn is my absolute favorite romance author – and one of my very favorite authors – because of her witty writing, wonderful characters and the way her writing acknowledges the social pressures of the world she sets her novels in.

This story, set in 1819 in a Scottish winter, follows four girls who were kidnapped by an older laird, known around town for his drunken yet harmless antics, wanting to provide his nephews with potential brides.  And by kidnap, I mean Taran gets drunk and goes off willy-nilly to a ball and scoops up the girls, most of whom know him and are therefore rather more annoyed than scared. They then get snowed in at his castle with an assortment of eligible men and, well, romance happens.

I actually like this plot line as compared to the more often seen kidnapping plot lines: a) hero is angry and wants revenge and thus takes eligible woman or b) hero means to kidnap one woman and accidentally kidnaps another.  Here, the heroes are all rather embarrassed and/or amused by the circumstance.  The women, especially the heroine of the first part of the story, give Taran a good dressing down for his behavior and then wait out the storm with good humor and grace, free of fear or worry.  There’s a distinct lack of Stockholm syndrome – it’s known that as soon as the storm stops everyone is free to go – and it’s nice that nobody starts off with a grudge against anyone else.

Time-span wise, everything takes place in 4 days, which is rather short but well done. And it does lead to one of my favorite phrases from a romance novel, “Love at first meaningful conversation.” (Which is much, much better than love at first sight.)  I really loved Quinn’s story – she has, as I said, amazing wit. Her characters find humor in rather everyday things and nothing ever feels contrived.  I just really, really enjoy her writing, even in short-story format.  At some point, I’ll review one of her books and really explore why I love her novels.

Eloisa James wrote the second portion of the novel and I enjoyed it much more than I did her last novel.  Her heroine has a bad reputation, which is a theme she’s dealt with before. I liked how she dealt with it for the most part, and honestly, some of the things her heroine is dealing with women still deal with today. Her writing, generally, is best when she’s dealing with the relationships between the main characters and side characters, such as close friends and family.  Here, the heroine and her sister are constantly interacting and I think that’s part of the reason why I liked it better than her last novel.

Connie Brockway wrote the last third of the novel.  I don’t read her novels on a regular basis, but I did like her writing her better than the last novel in three parts.  She’s a decent writer overall but compared to Quinn and James her writing comes off as ever so slightly contrived and a tiny bit overly dramatic. Her hero was a little angst-y for my taste but I did like that her heroine, Cecily, was shy and reserved and completely okay with that.  Others find her quiet and reserved and she states that she only truly feels at ease enough to be herself around loved ones.  Regardless, Cecily is well-liked, popular, and self-confident.

All in all, this was a fun read and I was often delighted while reading it.  I smiled, I laughed, I snorted – it was good times, y’all.  Its worst fault is that it is the tiniest bit cheesy because of the short time span.  Definitely read it if you like charming and witty romances, novellas, love at first sight (or meaningful conversation!) stories, or if you’re looking for a fun light read (this one is bubble-bath recommended). If you like drama-filled romances, steamy ones full of people ripping off clothes at the slightest provocation, or ones where a deep love develops slowly over a long period of time, then alas!, this may not be the book for you.

Have you read it? Do you enjoy this format? Drop a line in the comments and let me know!