Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Romancing Mister Bridgerton

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn

26 reviews

cgkiepe's review

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Colin sucks

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brittbee07's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Somehow, this book was worse than Daphne's. All the tittering about Colin and Penelope that surrounded the series, I expected this story to be far better. Colin's temper flairs up at every misstep Penelope takes, which does not bode well for their marriage. Everyone is all, "Colin and Penelope #RelationshipGoals" and I'm over here thinking they practically lynched Benedict when he was far less problematic.

"He'd never been the angry, brooding type." - I think the previous portion of the book proves that's a lie.

Nothing about Colin and Penelope's relationship is healthy or sexy. Colin is aroused when he is dominating and angry with Penelope. That is not normal. And for all the talk about how strong Penelope is, she just takes it. She is in a seriously abusive and manipulative relationship but doesn't see it (which is, sadly, too common, but that doesn't excuse Quinn for including it).

That being said about Colin, Penelope is no innocent either. She frequently acted in ways that she knew would upset Colin and demanded he see things her way. She was unwilling to see his point of view, so in that they are very much suited. Penelope's righteous indignation is a laugh. Both her and Colin are hypocrites in the extreme and so deserving of each other. There's no way their love would be peaches and cream.

I also really disliked the way Quinn utilized Penelope's internal monologuing. What Penelope said to herself was always important to the moment and would have been a wonderful opportunity to drop some foreshadowing about Lady Whistledown. She was co stantly considering who Lady Whistledown could be as if she didn't know her pwn truth, which makes no sense for something she was thinking to herself. I truly felt like Quinn doesn't understand nuance and so couldn't sew the seeds of foreshadowing into her writing.

I think, ultimately, Julia Quinn is just not a great writer. Everything is always too neat and cleanly completed. And she isn't even that good at the "spice."

I will finish the next two books in this series because they are part of a volume I purchased, and I don't feel like entirely wasting my money. With any luck, the next two stories will be far more in line with Anthony and Benedict's tales.

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legallyhea's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Once again we need a 'romantic' tag.

I am unwilling to grade this lower than An Offer From a Gentleman because Benedict manipulated Sophie so badly. But at least that book was interesting? The best part of this book was Pen and her secrets. The worst part was Colin. When Pen thinks to herself "this isn't who I thought I was in love with all this time" (paraphrasing) I was like "heck yes Pen! Ditch his sorry butt!" (I actually thought a different word).

I'm glad he came around, I just didn't believe any of it or see the work so it all felt so rushed. Hoping the show does better by them.

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aishoka's review against another edition

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All of the books in this series have been pretty misogynistic but this one is so bad I just couldn't finish it.

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walkingcha0s's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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dblue236's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I have to admit that I would have had little to no interest in reading any of this series if it hadn't been for the Netflix show. I still don't really have a lot of interest in the books after seeing the show, but I liked this season enough that I wanted to see how it compared to the book. For the most part I was entertained, but something about it just translates better to screen, and that's not something I say very often. I enjoyed the book for the fluff it was, but I don't see myself being in a rush to buy the rest of the series.

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