Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Queen Charlotte

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

This is basically the tv show/limited series but you get to read the inner thoughts/context behind certain moments, such as George’s experience running into the gardens naked late at night and Charlotte claiming she was Venus. We get the third-person, past-tense POVs of Brimsley, Agatha, Charlotte, and George.

It was a tender and bittersweet read, and I teared up while reading because I could vividly remember the scenes from Netflix lol. I definitely winced each time characters were discussing George’s mental health because he is called “broken” and “a mad man” multiple times. He never receives a specific diagnosis and everyone talks around it, but it was frustrating to hear mental health discussed as such a horrible, disdainful, shameful thing. I recognize that is representative “of the times” but it still felt uncomfortable reading the ableism and prejudice they all possessed.

Overall, this was a quick and easy historical romance to read, mostly because I was envisioning the tv series the entire time. I highly recommend the audiobook as the narration was excellent!

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Content Warnings

mari1532's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I was lucky enough to get to listen to this audiobook from my library. I have yet to watch Queen Charlotte (I know), but decided to read the book anyway. I found this to be a nice cozy read. Quinn and Rhimes do an excellent job of shifting the narrative between characters without getting too weighed down in any one perspective. Brimsley and Lady Danbury were my favourite characters because they had the most intrigue throughout the story. However, I found Charlotte the most endearing and likable character and when she was not the central focus I often found myself wondering when she would come back because I felt her personal development was beautifully written. If you are a fan of the Netflix series or the Bridgerton universe I would recommend this read.

Content Warnings

blewballoon's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I've read all of the Bridgerton books and I do think I liked this better? Maybe? It has more going on than the typical Bridgerton story and I liked that we got perspective chapters from characters outside of the romantic couple, it made the scope of the story bigger and allowed the reader to see the stakes more clearly. I did find the story a bit repetitive and frustrating though.

One of the main plots is that the king "is mad" and has these "episodes" and he hires this super evil sadistic doctor (who literally tortures puppies) and the king repeatedly dismisses and then re-hires this doctor. If something goes well, he dismisses him, at the slightest conflict, he's back to the clearly horrible doctor to get tortured. Apart from that, there are two occasions of either the king or queen overhearing and misinterpreting something the other one said in conversation to the king's mother and then that causing a big conflict that they could have resolved by just telling the other person they overheard and asking what they meant. And they don't EVER talk about it! The queen eventually just gets over what she heard (even though it was taken out of context) and the king never finds out if the queen meant what she said either, she just eventually goes and rescues him from the doctor and he never brings up what he overheard.

I think the Lady Danbury chapters were my favorite, they had a good balance of humor and gravity. I liked the chapters from the perspective of the attendants for the King and Queen

and their little romance

I wish there had been more for them, though. I listened to this on audiobook and I thought the narration was good, but I did speed it up (1.25 I think). I have not watched the corresponding Netflix show yet, I wanted to read the novelization first, but I will say that the intros to the chapters that were like "[Character name][place][time]" reminded me of the headings of scenes in a script.

Content Warnings

chrysanthxmum's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

meghanm404's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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