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britwalsh16's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Sexism, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Chronic illness, Cursing, Sexual content, and Medical content
Moderate: Blood, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Infertility, Violence, War, and Alcohol
etianamichele's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Pregnancy, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Sexual harassment
esv_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Grief, Sexual content, and Death
Moderate: Blood, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Alcohol, and Medical content
Minor: Sexual assault, Classism, Death of parent, Vomit, Rape, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, and Colonisation
prashiie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
An interesting story and different from the other Bridgerton books. I don’t think I will read this again, mainly because of the red flags. Acknowledging the fact that everyone is flawed coud enhance the reading experience.
The main characters are Francesca Bridgerton and Michael Stirling.
Francesca was married to John, Earl of Kilmartin, and after only two years of marriage she was left a widow. She has always loved John a lot and griefs him deeply. She would not even think of remarrying if she didn’t have an immense desire to have a baby. So marriage is now on the table and she is determined to find someone to marry even if she has to settle for a marriage without love. Because in her opinion, a woman would not simply find love like that twice in a lifetime.
On the other hand we have Michael, John’s cousin. He has loved Francesca since the moment he laid eyes on her. Incidentally, this was just a few days before she got married to John. Michael would never hurt or betray his cousin, so his love for Francesca remained hidden and instead a great friendship flourished between Francesca and Michael.
This story is woven with threads of grief and guilt. They both loved John very much and dealt with his loss in their own ways. For Michael inheriting the earldom and everything that came with it felt like he was taking over John’s life. He could not possibly also have Francesca. Michael put up such a great facade, that Francesca does not believe him to be a suitable husband. Once a rake, always a rake. Little does she know that he puts on this facade to momentarily escape from his feelings for her.
I had trouble understanding Michael’s change of heart. At first he is reluctant to even consider marrying Francesca as it felt like he was dishonouring his cousin. Then he was determined to get her no matter what, almost like he flipped a switch within himself. Too abrupt for my liking. Not to mention his approach… uhmmmm… excuse me!! I don’t want to spoil it but you can find it in the list below.
Now for the red flags:
-
When Francesca miscarries her baby with John and she tells Michael that the baby was to have been his in a way too. WHAT?! That’s such a weird thing to say. Granted, she does not know about his feelings for her and in the historical context of this book it makes sense since women were mostly dependent on men. But still… It felt very manipulative and off-putting when reading this in modern times. -
Michael’s approach to get Francesca to marry him. His intentions and love for Francesca are pure, but despair makes one do stupid things. If he can’t sway her into marriage using logic, then he would do so by using passion. He decides to compromise her and get her pregnant so that she has no other option than to marry him. In the end, the passion that they both share is what unites them and they realise that they’re perfect for each other. The final destination is great, but the journey itself had me rolling my eyes. -
Francesca is hurt and feels invisible and neglected when her siblings have gotten married or are getting married without her presence. Michael uses this to convince her to get married immediately.
The mothers in this story on the other hand were green flags! It’s no surprise that Violet is a good mother who gives Francesca great advice and support. But it’s a blessing to have a great mother-in-law! Janet understands Francesca and wishes her the very best.
Graphic: Grief, Sexual content, Death, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Infertility, Pregnancy, and Miscarriage
Minor: Death of parent
caffinatedslug's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Infertility, Sexual content, and Miscarriage
Minor: Sexual harassment
bookish_kori's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Not a reason at all to skip the series, in fact I’d still recommend it, just be prepared/trigger-warned for some Womanizer Lite behavior from the men and some personality shifts from all characters book-to-book. Seems to be smoothed over well in the show so far :)
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death, Infertility, Gaslighting, Child death, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Blood and Terminal illness
Male behavior towards their partners throughout the series is aggressive bordering on coercion/non-consent at times in intimate scenes before basically yelling “DO YOU CONSENT?” to which the woman agrees. This book had some straight up coercionbzliz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
I loved that because of her status as a widow, Francesca is afforded a pinch more freedom than the previous FMCs have been given. She also doesn’t have the same level of ignorance going into sex with Michael that creates such a power imbalance in the other books. (It also happens to be the steamiest of them, by a lot.) In addition, Francesca has bigger hurdles to clear: miscarriage, grief over her husband’s death, her own infertility, guilt over having feelings for someone else. The simultaneous timeline between Colin, Eloise & Francesca’s stories was fun. A lot less ‘okay, that’s done so now we can focus on the next child’ feeling.
There was still some ick around some of the scenes that honestly just feels inevitable for historical romances. And these men just can’t control themselves! (The creep in the garden, the creeps at the club, and even Michael as he’s trying to coerce Francesca into marriage.) I enjoyed it but I still prefer Colin’s story to this one.
Graphic: Miscarriage, Grief, Sexual content, and Infertility
Minor: Sexual harassment
beckyremillard's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Infidelity, Death, Miscarriage, Infertility, and Sexual content
ashleyelizabeth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Rape, Grief, and Infertility
booksbyantheia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Odié profundamente un detalle particular, y es la cantidad de chistes sobre violación que hace Michael. No me sorprende considerando los antecedentes de Quinn, pero el hecho de que se hubiera tomado el tiempo de marcarlo como un hombre que sabe lo que es el consentimiento para luego hacer esas bromas (sobretodo en relación a la libertad sexual entre él y Frannie) se me hizo pesadísima. No son muchas, pero definitivamente le bajan una estrella al libro.
Graphic: Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Infertility, Medical content, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and Colonisation
Minor: Rape