The Bridgertons Series – Warm and Witty

After “Edge of Never” I did a couple of other books. But never felt like writing anything about it. Since it is my season of romance books, I wanted something light again, but wasn’t sure if I can pick up historical romance, well after spending already a month and a half on them. But then nothing else interested me and so I went ahead with the series of Bridgertons and boy! I am glad I picked this up.

The overall rating for this will be (***1/2) but I am not going to each of them in the order of the books but in the order of the Bridgertons. This is about Violet Bridgerton and her 8 children (who are named alphabetically (that was really cute)) and how each of them find their soul mates and overall its about the whole family (and extended family too). 8 children !!! Thank God this happened in 19th Century and the world was much less populated. Nowadays, even 2 is a crowd. But there is always something nice about having siblings. Lets get back to the series  now.

Antony (The Viscount Who Loved Me (Bridgertons, #2): No easy joke being the eldest.. trust me I know. But as much as it brings the responsibilities and all that crap that comes along with it.. its also fun. You get to boss around everyone and that is so much fun at times 😀 Anthony is your typical eldest brother. Stubborn, I-know-all attitude. But he is always sweet. Spouse: Kate

Benedict (An Offer From a Gentleman (Bridgertons, #3): The one with the fairy tale. May be because he is an artist by nature, he ends up falling in love cinderella style. The story is also more like Cinderella’s but do we ever get bored of it? Naaah!! Spouse: Sophie

Colin (Romancing Mister Bridgerton (Bridgertons, #4): My favorite sibling of the lot (even though I like all of them, this one is little different). He is slightly dramatic and more wittier than the rest and can make you laugh in the most frustrated moments. I always like people who can smile and laugh a midst troubled times. Its a rare gift, according to me. He does fumble when it comes to his own emotions, but he gathers himself well enough. Both himself and his wifey Penelope are writers, so they do have their ‘lines’. Spouse: Penelope

Daphne (The Duke And I (Bridgertons, #1): Being the first daughter after three sons, she definitely gets pampered and also ends up being so much more like her brothers. She also has her own woman moments because she has no one other than her mother and well we cannot ask anything and everything to our mother can we ? Good part is she resolves her issues on her own (of course with the support of her family too) and she does it well. Spouse: Simon

Eloise (To Sir Phillip, With Love (Bridgertons, #5): More naughtier and cheeky of the lot. She is the one who dares to do something no one in her family would think of.. Run away to find Phillip, her pen friend, who had proposed to her over letters. Only to find that not all of them have to have love as the basis of marriage. People can love each other in the course of their life together too. All you need is time and understanding. Spouse: Phillip

Francesca (When He Was Wicked (Bridgertons, #6): When you have such a big family, there will be always one who wants to be quiet and reserved and dwell in the world of their own, in spite of occasionally blending in. Francesca is the one and she is more girly girl and she ends up having her fair share of happiness and sadness in equal quantities. And she is the one who gets not one but two love matches. There was a time in the story where I felt so bad for Michael (because Francesca can be too tiring with her confused nature – very typical of women I guess :)) but all is well that ends well. Spouse(s): John (deceased), Michael

Gregory On the Way to the Wedding (Bridgertons, #8): My least favorite of the stories in this series, not because of anything else, but the rest of them are so good that this one pales in comparison. And Gregory trying to be a person of his own, when he is so shadowed by his brothers and is more boyish than any of them :). And being the guy in between the girls at his age, well he tends to be on the softer side. Oh, he does get his share of heart breaks and chases..but again they are more boyish in nature. Spouse: Lucy

Hyacinth (It’s In His Kiss (Bridgertons #7): The dangerous daughter of the lot. The last and the more inquisitive of the lot too. She has to know the answers to everything (or at least for the ones that gets her intrigued..) She will go to extremes to get her curiosity satisfied. This one has her share of adventures (treasure hunts) to her story. And since the guy is not too old than her, they share a different rapport. Both being reckless and adventurous. It was cute. Spouse: Gareth

Two other characters whom I have immensely liked are Violet Bridgeton (the mother of the above lot) and Lady Danbury. Violet is the epitome of motherhood, patient, understanding, stubborn, violent when necessary and a very lovable mother. You can see your mother in her and its sort of heart warming. Lady Danbury is the person who has the tongue in cheek lines and she can say anything about anybody because she is old enough to say it.. wow.. I just cant wait to get older. Imagine criticizing anyone and then getting away with it…:D

I really liked the humor in all these. There were times when I really had to laugh out loud (rather than smile) on some lines.. It so much reminded me of my times with my siblings and any functions (like weddings or child birth etc) which includes the family and the extended families… there is bound to be a riot. Since its so much like real life, it sort of lightens your mood (at least it did lighten mine). The sarcasm, the wit, the sly humor, the fights, the support ….all that is family is shown here. And then all have happy endings.. Life might not always have happy endings…but that is the point of reading these books right.. where things can be made right and light. Its like when Gregory says that having his family is always comforting. You know they are there for you when you need them.

There are 2 epilogues for each book, which is little too much, but that is to give a completion to the stories of the families (extended families included).

I have to put down a few lines which I really really loved

a)

“In three days,” he continued, “I will be your husband. I will take a solemn vow to protect you until death do us part. Do you understand what that means?”
“You’ll save me from marauding minotaurs?”

b)

“And, she was able to tell herself with some satisfaction, the man in question – one Colin Bridgerton – felt precisely the same way….
….His earth shook, his heart leaped, and Penelope knew without a doubt that his breath was taken away as well. For a good ten seconds.
Falling off a horse tended to do that to a man.”

c)

“I’m not certain you’d know the right sort of man for you if he arrived on our doorstep riding an elephant.”
“I would think the elephant would be a fairly good indication that I ought to look elsewhere.”

There are quite a lot ..but these are the ones I remembered to note down.

Rest assured, that  I ain’t doing any project on Julia Quinn now and I have a couple of movies pending along with those holidays coming up. Might as well give some break to my eyes and iBooks ;).

au revoir…