Barbara Cartland

The Duke and I

Julia Quinn

By all accounts, Simon Basset is on the verge of proposing to his best friend's sister--the lovely and almost-on-the-shelf--Daphne Bridgerton.  But the two of the know the truth--it's all an elaborate ruse to keep Simon free from marriage-minded society mothers.  And as for Daphne, surely she will attract some worthy suitors now that it seems a duke has declared her desirable....

prawnie

There was an awkward moment of slence, and then Daphne said, “It has been some time since you have attended a London ball, has it not? Nigel and I must have been quite a welcome.” 

“You were a welcome sight. He was not.”

He watched as she carefully chose her words. “Nigel isn't capable of malice,”she said slowly. "All he is quilty of is misjudgment." 

“You're a more generous soul than I, then” Simon said quietly.

Anthony let out a low chuckle. “I’m your brother. I don't notice those things.” He gave her a sly, sideways look. "Did you bring it?" 

“My list? Heavens, no. What can you be thinking?"

Duke and I [TV Tie-In]

Ellie 

“She'd needed to cry; she realized that. There'd been too much trapped inside her - too much feeling, too much confusion, hurt, and anger. She'd had to let it out. But now here was no more time for emotion. She needed to keep a cool head and remain focused on her goal.”

“She hated that men thought that women were fickle, changeable creatures, and she hated even more that she was living up to that image right then.”

Sarah

Domizia Margagnoni

Beyza

got 43% way through then i struggled so im just... yeah!

Im gonna skip to the next one cant say i didnt try.

Chloé

got 43% way through then i struggled so im just... yeah!

Im gonna skip to the next one cant say i didnt try.

Bushra Yenice

Pretty good book, it differs a lot from the Netflix show but I believe it is better. You get more of Daphne’s personality and her brother and it truly feels like they are a family. The epilogue and second epilogue were great and I did enjoy learning more about everyone after the events in the book.

Simon Basset, the irresistible Duke of Hastings, has hatched a plan to keep himself free from the town′s marriage-minded society mothers. He pretends to be engaged to the lovely Daphne Bridgerton. After all, it isn′t as if the brooding rogue has any real plans to marry - though there is something about the alluring Miss Bridgerton that sets Simon′s heart beating a bit faster. And as for Daphne, surely the clever debutante will attract some very worthy suitors now that it seems a duke has declared her desirable. But as Daphne waltzes across ballroom after ballroom with Simon, she soon forgets that their courtship is a complete sham. And now she has to do the impossible and keep herself from losing her heart and soul completely to the handsome hell-raiser who has sworn off marriage forever!

The Duke And I

I was really enjoying this book until I realized how utterly manipulative Daphne Bridgerton is. She knew what she was doing the whole time and you cannot convince me otherwise. She could not respect the simplest of boundaries it did not matter if Simon could or could not have children, lets not argue the semantics, but she definitely took advantage of him under the guise of ignorance and it actually disgusted me. That man has had no one his entire life and thought he finally found someone he could trust. I do not know how he could have ever forgiven her after that, but I guess that is why this is fiction. 

3 stars because I do like the setting of the story and am interested to see the other Bridgerton family members get matched.

🌞Laur🌞

I was really enjoying this book until I realized how utterly manipulative Daphne Bridgerton is. She knew what she was doing the whole time and you cannot convince me otherwise. She could not respect the simplest of boundaries it did not matter if Simon could or could not have children, lets not argue the semantics, but she definitely took advantage of him under the guise of ignorance and it actually disgusted me. That man has had no one his entire life and thought he finally found someone he could trust. I do not know how he could have ever forgiven her after that, but I guess that is why this is fiction. 

3 stars because I do like the setting of the story and am interested to see the other Bridgerton family members get matched.

Bella Koch

** spoiler alert **
           This is probably the first and last romance novel I'll ever read. I wanted to read this because I enjoyed the TV show and was curious about the book itself. I hate to say it but I liked the show a lot better...

This book follows the romance of Simon and Daphne. Basically the entire premise of the book is that Simon doesn't want to get married or have children, both of which are very important to Daphne. They have a fake relationship and the whole time Daphne is just hoping he'll change his mind. Then, once they get married, she believes he *cannot* have children because she doesn't understand how conceiving a baby works (I'm not going to go into much detail here lol). *cringe*

Daphne pursues a relationship with a man who repeatedly says he is not interested and also is very clear he wants different things in life from her. Simon is very smart, but Daphne is straight up ditsy and her ignorance is romanticized. Ugh. This is the 21st century. If we are taking liberties with historical accuracy we can take those liberties to present even *slightly* healthy relationships and to have strong female leads.

Summer Joy

Mel 

The romance is good but the real star of this show is the amazing family dynamic. I already love this family so much and I’m so glad Netflix is bringing them to the screen!

Allie Johnson

Mirza Alejandra

3.5* 

Daphne was really boring but I expected that after watching the show.

Tifani Dyson

This was a nice/ cute read. I've read quite a few romance novels - the plot is always the same-but I really like the Bridgertons and plan to continue with the whole series.

lauratrebilcock

kyra

Upon learning that the TV show whose posters were plastered all over Netflix was based on a book, I knew I had to read it before I watched it. I have deep appreciation for romantic tropes, and my experience was absolute amusement for the first half of the book. The characters were brilliant, the chemistry between the main characters was off the charts and I was giggling like a teenage girl. The second half was sadly disappointing; Daff and Simon start showing toxic behaviour towards each other and taking advantage of each other's vulnerabilities. This dampened my enjoyment, but I did appreciate the read.

Michaella 

It was enjoyable up until the rape scene.

makenna!!! 

this is the first time i think i’ve ever said this but i prefer the film adaption over the book.. i’ll still be finishing the book series though..

Taylor Arevalo

the netflix version of this book is bad isn't it. to elaborate slightly: where was this chemistry in the show.

Anyaconda

Yes, there's "that particular scene" but I'll still give it 4 stars and that's that.

Vilandra

I’m not that big a fan of romance novels, so the romance-y bits took away some of my enjoyment for me at reading this book. But if you like romance novels, you will probably give this five stars. I find it feels very like the show, so if you enjoy watching Bridgerton, you will enjoy this book. I very much like the characters and the base story, but would have personally enjoyed a more trimmed down novel more.

Their love story would’ve been sweet if it wasn’t for the r4p€ scene

Ronya

Beatrix Haase

Update 05-10-2022: As soon as I read 3 other books in the Bridgerton series. I realized that I didn't actually enjoy this book as much as I thought I did. So yeah, I changed my review. Sorry.

Disclaimer: Spoilers ahead

I wanted to read these books because I watched the new Netflix series called Bridgerton. I found out about Bridgerton from Tik Tok and then later found out that it was #1 in the U.S., I was on the flight back to school when I decided to just download it and watch it. I fell in love with the story and the romance between Daphne and Simon. As a person, I tend to research the tv shows that I watch, like the actors who play the characters and the reviews that people have said. I was very happy when I found out that Bridgerton was based on a book called: The Duke and I by Julia Quinn. I immediately went to purchase the Kindle book and on a whim decided to also download the audiobook for it as well. I am very glad that I did, this was probably the first book in a very long time that I actually read and couldn’t put down. I liked listening to the audiobook while I was doing a school project. It was a project that took me 3-4 hours to complete so that meant that I was invested in the story for a good 3 hours. 

The story revolves around Daphne Bridgerton and Simon Basset. Daphne Bridgerton comes from a very big family, her mother being Violet Bridgerton and then her siblings go from A-H, Anthony being the oldest and Hyacinth being the youngest. Simon Basset is the Duke of Hastings, his mother died when he was born and his father is a jerk. Simon’s father is a jerk, wanting the perfect son, but Simon has problem with talking, he stutters and so Simon’s father declares him stupid and basically says that he is not his heir. I won’t go into too much detail because I think you should read the book to get the bigger picture. Daphne and Simon meet when Daphne gets into an argument with Nigel Berbrooke (an admirer of Daphne’s). Simon doesn’t immediately go to her aid but eventually decided that he can’t just leave her alone with him and steps out, only to watch as Daphne punches Nigel in the face and knock him out. Daphne and Simon talk and Simon finds out that Daphne is the sister of Anthony Bridgerton, an old friend of Simon’s from school. Daphne and Simon talk and they come up with a plan for Daphne to get more suitors and Simon to not get thrown into the social circle of eager women and their mothers. So, they begin to court and the story begins. I am not going to spoil anything crazy but that is how the story starts and as the book progressed so did my feelings for it. 

Daphne Bridgerton: I loved her in the series and I loved her in the book. I will be honest, in middle/end of the book, I started to get annoyed at her because of some of her actions. She was witty and had great comebacks, she kept Simon on his toes. Overall, I am a fan. 

Simon Basset: First of all, him in the Bridgerton tv show… Damn. As I was reading the book and then re-watched the series after, I had to applaud Rege-Jean Page, he played the character of Simon Basset incredibly well. Simon came from a tough childhood, and like Daphne, some parts annoyed me with him. Now that I am thinking about it though, I think that if they didn’t have the traits that annoyed me a little bit then it wouldn’t be as great of a story than it is. 

“His mouth captured hers, trying to show her with his kiss what he was still learning to express in words. He loved her. He worshipped her. He’d walk across fire for her. He—
—still had the audience of her three brothers.
Slowly breaking the kiss, he turned his face to the side. Anthony, Benedict, and Colin were still standing in the foyer. Anthony was studying the ceiling, Benedict was pretending to inspect his fingernails, and Colin was staring quite shamelessly.” 
-pg 380-

There were many characters in this book that I loved, I love Anthony Bridgerton, I am currently reading The Viscount Who Loved me (Bridgertons #2) by Julia Quinn, which follows Anthony. I got this book as an audiobook, I am not far to give you any kind of review but I can tell you that I am very excited for the next season of Bridgerton which should follow Anthony’s story. I also love Eloise Bridgerton, I am going to be honest and say that I don’t think she was as big of a character in the book than in the tv show but it does get me excited to read Eloise’s book when that time comes. 

‘Anthony sneezed and pushed them aside. “Mother, I am trying to have a conversation with the duke.”
Violet looked at Simon. “Do you want to have this conversation with my son?”
“Not particularly.”
“Fine then. Anthony, be quiet.”'
-pg 121-

My final thoughts are that if you are into romance with a little bit of spice, then I think the Bridgerton series is a really good series to get lost into. I am very happy that I just decided to jump into it on a whim but I am very glad that I did. I can’t wait to give you my thoughts on The Viscount Who Loved Me. 

❤ Bea

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Lily Balderston

DNF :/
Loved the show, but I prefer higher stakes in romance. I'm gonna try and read the others at some point.

Laura

It's a strong start of this series, however after reading all of it, I find The Duke and I one of the weaker ones. The other books have a much stronger plot in my opinion. However, this book sets the tone for the series very nicely.

Mikala Mawer

I loved their relationship up until they got married. After that I did not like it whatsoever. That being said I do want to read the rest of the series.

Taylor Rae Peterson

My 15th book of the year, I reached my goal! I truly did enjoy this story but there was obviously some extremely problematic behavior that was uncomfortable to read through. Times were different back then I suppose but regardless, strange behavior on both accounts that made it hard to fall in love with the charecters. Otherwise, a decently fun read!

The series is far better. The male characters all have anger management issues. The Duke and Daphne are all about lust not love and, as many have pointed out, the book just flosses over a rape scene

The Duke and I

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