Review: Bridgerton – The Duke and I

After watching the sensational Netflix Series Bridgerton, I decided to check out the first book in the series, it was based on. The first book ‘The Duke and I’ focuses on the eldest Bridgerton fighter Daphne and the recently returned Duke of Hastings, Simon Bassett.

Simon and Daphne come up with a scheme, they will pretended to form an attachment and pretend to everyone that they are courting. They believe this will put an end to Lady Whistledowns rumours, and she’ll perceive Simon as unavailable, so other mamas will leave him allow and potential suitors will see Daphne as desirable. It seems a win for both of them, what could possibly go wrong?

As the whole of society is fooled by the couple, Daphne and Simon begin to have real feelings for each other, but they never planned for anything real to come out of their schemes. When a moment of passion ensures their scheme can never end or risk being outcasted, a chain of passionate and dramatic events is set off that neither Daphne or Simon could have predicted.

This sensational period romance series from Julia Quinn has been around, since the turn of the February but the Netflix series had reintroduced readers to this underrated novel. It has the flair, laughter and scandal that comes with the society the Bridegertons inhabit. Not to mention it has all the elements of a romantic, passionate and slightly raunchy (especially if the Netflix series is anything to go by) period novel. This also perfectly describes the relationship of Daphne and Simon, when they realise their scheme may be more than just a scheme.

One of our protagonists, the feisty, stubborn yet demure Daphne is truly one of the highlights of both novel and series. She actually wants to do as society expects to marry and have a big family of her own, but she wants to do it on her terms. It’s her choice to be the lady of the house, but she wants to chose whose house it is, disregarding society’s and at times her brothers’ comments on the subject.

She strives to be an elegant strong person who’s capable of making her choices, in 19th century London, which resembles a modern attitude in Quinn’s female characters, whilst representing the challenges and experiences that Daphne goes through as a young high society woman, who knows herself but has been kept in the dark about how to handle herself in the outside world, because 19th century society favoured men more than it did women. In a way, Daphne is sort of an example of an early feminist, in a time when women wanted men to know they are capable of making their own choices and opinions of what they want, and not what society thinks they should want.

Even if period romance novels aren’t your cup of tea, you’ll get hooked with Daphne and Simons frenemies to lovers romance, interludes by scandalous updates from the society opera of Lady Whistledown. Clever sarcastic comedy, modern themes and those ‘steamy’ passages, will make your choice to read this novel, won’t be something you regret.