The Viscount Who Loved Me
Ratings237
Average rating3.7
This was another great book in the series.
Again, the world-building is very well done, and Lady Whistledown has become a favourite character. The romance is another slow-burn type and the enemy to lovers is very well done. Every scene with the male lead being called out by the female lead was a volley of great dialogue.
I was worried about the romance with the sister as part of the story, but the bond of sisterhood is endearing in this book. I am happy the sister isn’t hurt in the making of this romance. The Bridgerton family is also fun to read, and the mother is marriage-minded and understanding of all her children.
This book was better than the first book and worth the read. You don’t have to read the first book, but it does have some history from the first book.
Meh. I don't understand why the show made so many changes but couldn't change the rape-y part in season 1. This book was okay. Wanted to stop, but figured I'd finish reading it because I like the show and I especially like these two characters together. Oddly liked the book plot better than the love triangle in the show. I'm not gonna continue the series though, I just can't.
I'm so disappointed because I actually enjoyed this book...UNTIL I realized it was the exact same plot as the first book with the gender roles reversed. There was literally a point where I predicted what was going to happen next in this book based on what had happened in the first book, and that is just simply unacceptable. The only reason I didn't give this one star is because I love Anthony and Kate; I think their character development is fantastic and the tension between them was H O T. But I simply could not get past the fact that this is just a role reversal of the first book. I'm gonna continue on with the series still, because I really want to experience each story, and I'm really hoping that I enjoy them more than I did this one.
Dear Reader, where do I even begin?
I can't get enough of Kanthony and their chemistry, reading this book made me take the show version of their characters and place them in an idealized perspective of the book.
Last month Ashley and I read The Duke and I by Julia Quinn. I've been wanting to read this series for a while now and I've even owned the first 2 books for a while but I kept putting off reading them. This month we decided to continue on with the series by picking up The Viscount Who Loved Me. This is Anthony Bridgerton's story. He is the oldest Bridgerton boy. This is another one where the MMC really got on my nerves. I know the behaviors and the way things are handled are a product of the time period but I was really hoping we would get something different because the way things happened really bugged me at times. That being said I did still end up enjoying this. It was funny at times and of course it had some steam. Looking forward to picking up the next book soon.
A quick read. I loved the competitive nature of the Bridgertons during the pall mall game. The book was enjoyable with plenty of good desire and romance with that Bridgerton wit. Not as hot as the first book (if I remember correctly), but some good scenes and overall the enemies to lovers slow-burn was good and cute.
Now, that was painful.
I HATE humiliation romance. I can't forgive Anthony for the study scene. You don't kiss a 21-years old girl and then mock her for responding. She has never been kissed, and certainly not like that. A gentleman would not behave like Anthony did. Kate was 100% right when she said he has no honor. Then, to turn on a penny and claim he is the kindest, most honorable, best man ever because he rescued Penelope... Yuk, yuk, yuk!
And how people can't understand how good-looking people can feel ugly... It takes years to get through that muck. It's not something you can manage in a couple of weeks.
Maybe I'm just projecting, maybe the themes and tropes got too close to home, but I don't like this book.
Also, I don't like Winston. Fat pets are legal animal abuse, and Winston was basically just a plot problem. I find it interesting that no one mentioned him after the carriage accident. He just vanished.
Julia Quinn writes well, the book is easy to read, and there are plenty of delightful scenes in here. Like the pall-mall game :-D
Rounding up from 2.5 stars. I just did not like Anthony in this. Granted I watched season 2 of the show before listening to this and maybe I'd have like him if I wasn't constantly comparing to show-Anthony but I felt he just wasn't that likable which took away from the story. Also honestly? The second epilogue had wayyyy too much pall-mall.
I will say that the story wrapped up very well and I like how Kathony got together in the book (not as much as the show but what can you do).
Mais uma leitura deliciosa sobre os Bridgertons, desta vez Anthony. Que personagem maravilhosa, cheia de humor, elegância e personalidade.
Kate uma amante à altura do nosso visconde. Amei ler este romance e sobre este casal lindo, ver a forma como superaram os seus medos, as suas dores sobre o passado e isso os uniu e os tornou mais fortes juntos.
Adorei!
4,5/5
This was another fun one when I need something easy to read. Having watched the show, I was left wondering what would happen when it diverged from what I knew in the show. I appreciated Kate's and Anthony's growth. Some of it was a bit silly, but of course.
I'll get the positives out of the way first.
(Spoilers)
I, like many who read this book, lament the absence of the library scene in the show. Not only did we get the true reasons why Kate hated storms, we also got a genuine emotional connection between the two as Anthony realizes that they both feared mortality. We also got a scene at the end of the book of Anthony explaining to Kate how much he believed that he would die young, much like his father, and it was a fact that it would come to pass. We didn't get those scenes in the show, but I would've liked it all the same.
Now for the negatives...
God was Anthony literally a chauvinistic arse this entire series except when he was sweet to Kate in the handful of times. There were times he kept gripping Kate, dragging her, etc. and I was not comfortable reading it. Was it supposed to be some masculine show of romance? Don't understand, but moving on.
I think having the sister as a ‘rival' of sorts was kind of useless? She barely spoke to Anthony, and their interactions so brief and shallow (I'm sure on purpose) that I wasn't quite sure why she was even there. Yes, it was to get Anthony interested in the Sheffield family in the first place because Edwina is beyond beautiful, but I couldn't understand why Kate kept comparing herself or even convinced herself that Anthony truly desired to marry Edwina when he wasn't even seriously courting her LOL.
Comparing to the TV show...
The TV show, though annoying that they focused WAY too much on the Featheringtons, did a GREAT job in incorporating story elements in a way that was just much more tasteful. They got rid of the almost weird marriage = sex with Husband as a right scene and kept Anthony a charming gentleman until you could literally feel that his patience wore down and he had to do something. The book focuses way too much on lust being the first stage of attraction and then moving on to the emotional bond, whereas the TV show did a great job on having that lust simmer in the background but focus more on each characters' dynamic to build that up as well.
The Writing...
Weird. Bad. I've never read Regency romance novels but I think Cassandra Clare did a much better job with Clockwork Angel. Like it didn't read forced, and it certainly wasn't reminiscent of how authors would write during that age, but you don't necessarily need to unless you've done your research and can fully commit. Which Quinn didn't.
Julia Quinn has a fun writing style, but her characters are wretched human beings. Anthony treats Katharine abominably, and I nearly threw my Kobo across the room in one scene.
I barely made it through this book, and I have no desire to read any other books by Julia Quinn.
I have read 2 Bridgerton books. The thing that stands out most clearly to me after 2 books is that in order to be the male romantic lead the guy has to be an absolute idiot. Does this continue in the rest of the books? I have yet to decide if I'm going to read more.
This is the kind of book most of my fellow males will avoid like the plague. All the more so if they ever - by accident, of course! - happen to come across the “Author's Note” in this book which explicitly states “Since my readers are almost exclusively women”...Well, here I am, and I profess: I greatly enjoyed this book despite knowing that it most certainly is (mostly) literary fast food - good to sate ones primal desires but not really nourishing.And I couldn't care less.I really enjoyed the lovely family dynamics between the Bridgertons and I loved the witty bantering between Anthony and Kate. I just can't help but root for such wonderful characters and their relationships, their eccentricities and how they overcome them.Is it realistic? Not at all. Historically accurate? Very unlikely. Romantic, cute and thoroughly enjoyable? To me at least, absolutely.You'll have to be able to generously ignore macho “gems” like this one...»It was as if a certain side of her were visible only to him. He loved that her charms were hidden to the rest of the world. It made her seem more his.«... which this book features in numbers. The men are “real men” (and hardly stop short at clubbing their female prey and dragging them to their cave), the women are kind and gentle and it doesn't take much to dishonour a lady for life... If you can stomach that, you might find yourself actually enjoying it. Four out of five stars for this guilty pleasure. Blog Facebook Twitter Instagram
I absolutely loved this book. I listened to it on audio from my library. The banter of Kate and Anthony was amazing. It kept me intrigued the entire time. The fact that Anthony had to sway Kate in order to win her sisters heart was the moment I realized that Anthony and Kate would actually fall in love. The one scene that made me gasp was the carriage ride scene. OMG. I couldn't imagine the horror and pain Anthony was feeling at the time, hearing his wife was under the carriage! Oh dear! I am thankful that Anthony managed to buck up and tell Kate his true feelings so they could live happily.
This was a really good book. First off: I think I actually liked this more than ‘the Duke and I'! Second off: I am enjoying these Bridgerton books a lot more than I thought i would and ya girl has NO SHAME. ZERO!
Anyways, this book follows the life/love of Anthony Bridgerton, which given if you watched the show also, was a great way to sequence because through Daphne finding her love in the first book, you find out a lot about Anthony.
Anthony meets Kate aka the BEST woman so far in the series (except Violet. Personally I like how the show version of her is more casual but I admire her strength and fierce loyalty to her family.) Kate is incredibly down to earth and I am sue that every women who reads this book will find at least 1 characteristic of Kate relatable. This to me is a big thing because these [eriod dramas (at least to me) can be rather cold. Meaning, there isn't but character to viewer kindship. Yes, we watch and all admire the characters for who they are and how they fit in the story, but I haven't found someone as relatable as Kate.
Modern twist on a tale as old as time. He finds her the annoying sister of the girl he is courting based off his “standards”. And she finds him to be a total ass. Thy get into it and possessive over the girl in question and then end up being frenemies. Th smolder burns and from there the fire takes root and the rest is history. There are several twists and turns along the way.
Like I said earlier, I have been finding these to be incredibly satisfying reads partially because I have no expectations for romances/historical fiction like I do my psychological thrillers. These have been nice breaks from the drama that is the world and my usual reading hit list. Would highly recommend (especially now that the show has been renewed to season 4! This means we get breath quickens Benedict (swoon) and Colin (which is you all have been reading the second epilogues in the book and know what went down in season 1 finale of the show, SHOULD BE A TREATTTTTTT).
I don't know why I'd only rated this 4 stars before. Must have been a moron then. This is one of, if not THE best Bridgerton books. Anthony is perfect, Kate is perfect. The best.
Re-reading the bridgerton series and I almost forgot how much I liked Anthony's sorry behind. Such a great story (much better than Daphne) and I can't wait to see it on the telly as a part of the show's second season.
Si se lee con mente abierta y con el fin de pasar un buen rato, no está tan mal.