Reviews with content warning for Ableism - Daphné

Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Daphné by Julia Quinn

92 reviews

cepbreed's review against another edition

lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.75

I can’t believe I finally got around to this. Daphne and Simon do still have my heart. I had no clue the show changed so much from the books, even starting in the first season. Some of those changes I adored and others I now mourn after reading this. Julia Quinn put so much care into crafting the family dynamics of the Bridgertons and I just feel like the show didn’t even scratch the surface of their love for each other. Everyone in the show is a kind of toned down version of their book counterpart. Quinn’s writing style also changed dramatically by the end of this series. Reading It’s In His Kiss and The Duke and I back to back really emphasized how much she used dialogue early on. I actually really enjoyed this feature. Well done dialogue always delivers more on the characters than any description ever could. I also feel like book Daphne was so much more clever and witty than in the show. The shows constant choice to add subplots rather than focus on the main couple really took away from how intelligent this woman really was. Same with Violet tbh.

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starcrossreverie's review against another edition

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dark sad tense fast-paced

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

1.0

I DNF'ed this book at 77%.

The rape scene was worse than I thought it would be. I've legit seen people defend Daphne in the book making it seem like Simon was the one who initiated the sex, so I thought Simon would be drunk and awake but NO he was asleep with morning wood. It's literally written that she felt a rush of power in the situation, of how happy she was to be in control, and how she felt nothing but pleasure when he tried to get her off of him the moment he realized she was forcing him to cum inside her.

I waited for this book on Libby for a month, probably longer, and told myself to finish the book for that reason but one chapter after the rape scene I realized that finishing the book means I'll have to read Daphne get her happily ever after and that Simon would have to push aside his feelings in order to make HER happy. That is beyond fucked up.

And it wasn't just the rape scene that made me give this book a 1 star.

It's bland and boring. With a fake dating trope, it NEEDS drama. It needs more than just one scene where one becomes jealous at the romantic attention the other is getting, and that scene in Daphne's calling room was not it due to how soon into the fake dating it happened.

Daphne tells Simon that the fake dating wouldn't work on the Mamas as they'll continue pushing their single daughters at him but we don't get a scene like that! Even if it was just Daphne's self consciousness letting her say that, we still don't get to experience Daphne getting jealous of the attention he's getting.

They fall in love too quickly, which goes against the fake dating trope. They're supposed to have that realization that makes them go into denial over their feelings, only to realize that they can't escape how they feel, and then there's supposed to be a moment where they wonder how on earth are they going to turn this from fake dating into real dating, wondering if the other person even feels the same way about them.

The fake dating trope is supposed to come with drama and angst, but everything goes perfectly without any bumps in the road. I wouldn't even call the duel a bump because it was so dumb.

I knew she was going to rape him before I started reading but I liked her siblings and Lady Whistledown from the show a lot, so I read it for them and figured I'll push past this book to get to the other ones. Wasn't worth it, plus I've since learned that her brothers are trash to women.

My curiosity to see how bad the men in these books are makes me want to try reading the other books. I don't see myself finishing them either.

Overall, Daphne is a POS. I hate this book. And to the defenders who say "this is what happened in the 1800s.", this book wasn't written in the 1800s, and y'all aren't reading it in the 1800s. I would not be surprised if fans of these book also love Haunting Adeline. I am legit mad that the book fans talked about this dark romance series as if everything was sweet and wholesome, y'all really have people thinking these books are normal romances.

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garbage_mcsmutly's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.75

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kbio's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

4.0

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tisliz's review against another edition

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fast-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

1.25

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itsbaberuthless's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted tense fast-paced

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

3.25

This book was a solid 4 and had me silently screaming at the banter between Daphne and Simon but with 25% left something happened that disgusted me so much I forced myself to finish the book.

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eva_vva's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted tense 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? Yes

3.0

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beebidon's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I wonder if turning 30 made me desire a need to read Regency-era romance stories when before they were never my thing. However, this was a wonderful book to get things going and I'm looking forward to the rest. I'll admit I watched the Netflix show first, so it's neat to compare page to screen and see what changes they made. I think both are great stories in their own way.

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fanboyriot's review against another edition

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lighthearted slow-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

Dearest Gentle Reader, this book wasn’t what I was expecting. While it did bring to life the characters and their stories, I feel as though it fell rather flat compared to the show. I did enjoy the epilogues and the audiobook was narrated rather nicely, I don’t think I will be continuing this book series as of now. It was entertaining just not really worth it to me, perhaps I’ll revisit this series later though.

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babudarabu's review against another edition

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emotional funny fast-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

2.5

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