Valentine’s Review: Romancing Mister Bridgerton, Julia Quinn

Considering today is Valentine’s Day, what better to write than a review of my latest romantic read?

Penelope Featherington has been in love with Colin Bridgerton for years. She can even tell you when she first fell in love with him. Unfortunately for her, Colin treats her as an extra sister and once declared, without knowing that she was there, that he would not marry her. Penelope was mortified. Since then, he’s traveled the world and she has settled into spinsterhood. Not one man has ever offered for her hand, and though that’s in large part thanks to her mother, shyness, and a horrible wardrobe, it hurts. When Colin returns, his world has shifted on its axis just a little, and Penelope realizes that she’s been hiding her true self for far too long.

This was cute.  I found it to be far more stereotypical than most of Quinn’s other romances and I agree with the people who say that the drama over Lady Whistledown takes away from the romance side of the story.  I have been interested in Penelope since the start of this series – it’s hard not to feel for a girl who is always shy and dressed in yellow and orange – and I was happy to learn more about her and appreciate a bit more of what was going on behind the scenes.  I had a bit of trouble understanding just why Colin suddenly saw what a great woman she was.  After all, since she’s such good friends with the family, he probably had ample opportunity to get to know her before.  That said, I know in high school I developed crushes on guys after knowing them for a while, so I suppose it’s possible that once he was ready for something new, he could consider her in a different light.  I also found his crisis interesting – his brother Benedict had a similar problem in his book, but Colin doesn’t worry about being distinct from his brothers, he just worries that he’s not accomplishing anything that matters.  That’s certainly a feeling I could relate to, although I don’t have a nice cushion of money to fall back on if I don’t feel like doing anything.

Overall, I think it’s hard to recommend this one without reading the others.  I was already attached to these characters as both Colin and Penelope are in the first three books of the series.  I will still say that if you want a entertaining, light, cute read, you should definitely go with Julia Quinn.

Buy Romancing Mister Bridgerton on Amazon.