This book recounts the age-old tale of falling in love with your best friend's girl...but what happens when you get your chance at her hand, albeit at the loss of your best friend through his untimely death?This is a beautiful Regency romance on grief, loss, and moving on. I've read and mostly loved all the books featuring the Bridgerton family, and this is the book I return to time after time because I think it is the best in the series. It is written in your typical inestimable Julia Quinn style, so expect to burst out in giggles every so often, but it is one of her more serious and well-written novels. The topic is not touched on lightly, the pain, the guilt, the resignation and denial are all there; you want stages of grief, you got it. It's a 5-hanky book. Possibly more, depending on the quality of your handkerchiefs (lace won't hold up here). The characters are intricate and well described, complex in their thoughts and believable in how they mature. It's not a perfect book; I had some problems with the characters and plot, but overall, it is very well-written and remains one of my favorites in the Regency genre. The writing. THE WRITING. Did I mention the writing? It flows so naturally, so eloquently without being flowery and prosaic. Julia Quinn's earlier works have the ability to make me laugh, cry, swoon, and this ranks among her best.Michael has been in love with Francesca since he saw her, which ordinarily wouldn't be a bad thing since he's a very eligible bachelor...but they met at Francesca's engagement party. To Michael's cousin and best friend. What makes it worse for him is that they are so compatible; unlike his other conquests, he truly enjoys her company; Francesca and Michael end up liking each other immensely. They wind up becoming good friends after her marriage to his cousin; he hides his pain and feelings for her through his usual light-hearted debauchery. They laugh together, tease each other, have fun together, all the while with Francesca blissfully happy in her marriage with her Lord John and blithely oblivious at the pain Michael is suffering despite his outwardly vivacious facade.His love for her is confounding, love at first sight, as clichéd as it may sound...but unlike the usual story when the hero/heroine falls inexplicably in love, Julia Quinn has a lovely way of putting his abstract and inexplicable attraction to Francesca in words:"It wasn’t her hair, that rich, lush wave of chestnut that he was rarely so privileged as to see down. And it wasn’t even her eyes, so radiantly blue that men had been moved to write poetry—much, Michael recalled, to John’s everlasting amusement. It wasn’t even in the shape of her face or the structure of her bones; if that were the case, he’d have been obsessed with the loveliness of all the Bridgerton girls; such peas in a pod they were, at least on the outside.It was something in the way she moved.Something in the way she breathed.Something in the way she merely was."Tell me you don't get a lump in your throat after reading that.And Michael would never dream of betraying his cousin, his best friend. He loves John as much as he loves Francesca, and betraying either of them would be an unimaginably atrocious act. Michael is willing to and is determined to spend his life devoted to maintaining the happiness of the two people he loves most in life. So imagine how torn he feels when his chance inevitably come in a way he never would have dreamed of or wished for: John dies (NOT A SPOILER). He now has the chance to make Francesca his? Dare he take it? No. He flees all the way to India because he couldn't find a way to deal with his grief, much less with Francesca's, on top of his conflicting emotions for her, and doesn't return until he felt "he could be with Francesca in friendship, without feeling as if he were a thief, plotting to steal what he’d coveted for so long," which only took him several years. Michael is not a perfect character, lest I make him sound like too much of a martyr. He's a coward at times, running away from his feelings and his responsibilities when he inherits the earldom upon his cousin's death, and to be honest, I wanted to smack him repeatedly, particularly towards the end of the book, when he starts acting like a patronizing asshole towards Francesca. However, his love for Franesca remains constant, and I can't find it in my heart to dislike him much.Francesca is a wonderful character. Spirited and bright, having grown up in the loud and lively Bridgerton bosom. She likes Michael, she loves John. Lest the reader believes her relationship with John was terrible, in a book setting her up to inevitably be with Michael in the end, it's not. She loves her marriage and her husband. "He was her kindred spirit, so like her in so many ways. But it had, in a strange sort of fashion, been a relief to exit her mother’s home, to escape to a more serene existence with John, whose sense of humor was precisely like hers.He understood her, he anticipated her.He completed her."Obviously, she suffers upon her husband's death, but it comes as a double loss when she miscarries his child. Within a short time, she lost her husband, her unborn child, then her friend Michael through his flight to India, but she survives and comes to terms with the loss. What is harder for her to come to terms with is her growing feelings for Michael, whom she has always seen as akin to a brother. Until one day when she, in turn looks at him."But suddenly… But now…She’d looked at him, and she’d seen something entirely new.She’d seen a man.And it scared the very devil out of her."...then she, too, runs away.Here are two people trying to move on with their life, trying to get past their grief, trying to ignore their growing attraction for each other. Trying not to fall in love, trying not to forget the man they both loved so much, the one who will always be a part of them. Both of them have so much to deal with in reconciling that their love is not a betrayal of memory or trust or friendship, and the book does a tremendous job of portraying that.I also loved the presence of Violet Bridgerton in this novel. She is the matriarch of the Bridgerton clan, mother to eight young children, and it is she in whom Francesca turns to for advice and comfort at her own loss. Violet knows only too well what Francesca went through, having been widowed herself at a young age. Even if she does not get much screen time, I so enjoyed seeing her reveal a little bit of herself and her own grief. We have only ever seen Violet as the steel-cored matriarch who has raised eight young children on her own, and given not much thought to what she must have been suffering all these years. I loved seeing her through the veneer of perfection, giving her own advice to Francesca here.Some latter parts of the book were weak; Michael and Francesca spent as much time fighting with each other as with themselves, and I grew frustrated with both. However, this book remains one of the best Regency romances on my shelf, and I highly recommend it.
Rating: 4.5 / 5I think maybe this is my favorite book in the series so far. The romantic aspect and the passion of the book was excellently done. I was completely hooked into this one and just wanted to keep reading.Series Note:You should probably read the series in order, but this one has a pretty independent storyline.Summary:Francesca Bridgerton thought she had a great life ahead of her with the love of her life John Stirling, Earl of Kilmartin and a wonderful friendship with John's cousin, Michael. They had two great years together, then John suddenly died, leaving Francesca a widow. She turns to Michael for friendly solace, but he turns her away. Because what Francesca never knew was that Michael was secretly in love with her. In order to save himself, Michael - now suddenly the Earl - runs off to India, where he spends four years trying to forget Francesca.Now he's back, ready to assume his role as Earl and Francesca is realizing it is time to stop mourning John. Things quickly become awkward between the two when chemistry and attraction rear their ugly head. Francesca is terrified of the new-found feelings while Michael must deal with the guilt he feels at loving his late cousins wife. But eventually Michael realizes he'll do whatever it takes to make Francesca his.Review:I loved the dynamic of this book. It's so different from all the other stories in this series and I thought Quinn did a great job with it. I'd wondered a lot about Francesca Bridgerton since she'd hardly been present in any of the other book. She's a bit different personality wise than all her brothers and sisters.The book starts off on a sad note, with Francesca losing her husband and Michael his cousin who he was very close to. It made me a smidge teary-eyed. Then four years pass before the story kicks into high gear.There's such a great deal of emotional turmoil in this book. Michael is fighting the guilt he feels for loving his cousins wife, and Francesca is confused and horrified to feel passion for someone other than her dear John. There's a lot of internal struggle with the characters and a lot of outward battles between them. I just thought Quinn did a great job in this aspect. I was really sucked into the characters, the situation, the building relationship. And the passion! Whew! This book is much, much, much more steamy than any other Bridgerton book...not really explicit in any way, just more sexual. It was rather surprising. But it was completely fitting to the story. Plus, it shows another side to author Julie Quinn...that she can write steamy quite well.I have two little quibbles that kept the book from being a five-star read. One was that this book takes place simultaneously as the previous two books (Colin's book, and then Eloise's book) and I felt like there was a little bit of a mismatch there. Mostly because the previous books gave you no clue anything was going on with Francesca, while this one made it quite clear that Colin had his nose in Francesca's business at the same time he was courting Penelope in his book. The synchronicity was just a bit off.And the second thing was just that I thought the book was a little too disconnected from the rest of the Bridgertons. They have only a small role in the beginning and you don't really get to see them connecting with Francesca or how they react to her marrying Michael. I missed the Bridgerton vibe.But I did like the book a lot. It's a sexy, emotional story that was excellently written. It'll definitely be one I keep on my keeper shelf (along with the rest of the series). Looking forward to the next book.
Do You like book When He Was Wicked (2004)?
5 stars – Historical/Regency RomanceI’ll be honest, this is the book that attracted me to Julia Quinn’s Bridgertons to begin with and the story that I was most looking forward to reading in the series. I mean, with a title like “When He Was Wicked”? Well, I knew I simply couldn’t pass it up. Although I really liked this, surprisingly, it’s not my favorite of the series. That honor is still tied between the breathtaking, fairy tale romance An Offer From a Gentleman and the sweet, whimsical Romancing Mister Bridgerton, both of which I loved immensely. The main reason I didn’t enjoy this quite as much as I’d hoped is because I found the heroine, Francesca, rather frustrating. Of course I felt sorry for her being widowed young and for the pain and grief she endured, but her wishy-washy attitude toward Michael really annoyed me at times. It seemed as if she sensed his hidden feelings and deep yearning all along and that she liked having him at her emotional and sensual beck and call. I honestly didn’t feel like she gave him much in return with her companionship, other than managing his estate, until towards the end that is, and there were times that I really wondered why the heck he was so completely enamored of her. But then who can possibly predict what attracts one person to another or claims to know the great, elusive mystery that is love, anyway? It is certainly not I, my friends.Michael is such a loyal, caring, to die for, wickedly sexy, dirty talkin’ (oh my, yes!) hero, and his unrequited love for Francesca broke my heart several times over. And the love scenes? WOWZA! Let’s just say that the title is absolutely fitting. It has an endearingly sweet, deeply touching, and achingly romantic ending that brought some serious tears to my eyes, soothed my irritation with Francesca, and improved my overall enjoyment and rating. And I highly recommend reading the second epilogue, When He Was Wicked: The Epilogue II, which gives a beautiful glimpse into their future and solidifies that they truly belong together. 5 stars!Oh, and one final thought. If I had a nickel for every time Francesca uttered the phrase “I don’t know” in this, I’d be able to buy a book! That drove me crazy!
—Shawna
Gabriella ♥ Liam Callahan's girl ♥ wrote: "Nanci wrote: "Yeah I quit this book"Such a bore right ?"Yes but after that they all went down hill. And it sucks cause I really liked them all.
—Lady Gabriella of Awesomeness
4.5 STARSI loved this. I haven't read this series in order, I think I've read Sophie's story, but that's it. I've been told that the Bridgertons are entwined throughout the series so it's best read in order. But I gotta tell you, I loved this anyways and never felt I was lost or not privy to previous developments. I do plan on reading the rest of the series and only wish they're as good as this one.So, Michael Stirling. The man had my attention from the first page. His forbidden love and acutely desperate longing for Francesca was so tangible, I felt every bit of his anguish. I also loved him to pieces. He played the rogue, the ever-unattainable rake, but his heart was locked for someone else. There were times I found it difficult to support Francesca in her time of indecisiveness. She could be so obtuse, so out of her mind sometimes that I wanted to scream. I especially felt that way towards the end when things finally got to a head. By then I was yelling internally! I never didn't like her though, because I won't even attempt to understand how guilty she felt. But I do believe she felt that way because the depth of her feelings for Michael was so deep, subconsciously so. But Michael, oh, the poor man! His pain was the perfectly orchestrated emotional angst I love. HR is among my fave sub-genres because I love reading and experiencing that time. It was so different, so pure yet constrictive. The fashion, food, emotional restraint...it's all so interesting to read. But comedic HR, or low angst HR isn't really my thing. But this, the angst, depth of emotion, this is the HR I love. And Michael Stirling was the epitome of restrained desire. He reminded me of Sebastian St. Vincent from LK's, A Devil in Winter. They were very similar with their rakish behaviour and the subsequent helpless falling for a woman they wanted above all else. However, St. Vincent takes the cake for a man completely at a loss for how he feels. Anyways, this was beautiful, touching, very sensual and moving. I loved how time couldn't change Michael's heart, and how Francesca finally admitted to herself, yet Michael and we the readers already knew, that she loved him more than she ever thought possible, more than I dare say, John. Highly recommend this fantastic book, loved it.
—Didi
