Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn

5 reviews

lauryn_with_a_y's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

overall: i think i liked it? i love francesca as a character and parts of the romance worked (namely the Yearning on michael's end) but christ alive the casual misogyny and not-so-veiled rape threats got to me. most of the romance didn't work for me for precisely that reason;
michael wants to marry francesca, and instead of telling her he's been in love with her for six years and that her late husband would want her to be happy, he decides to seduce her in an attempt to manipulate her into marriage. he threatens to continue having sex with her (implied to be with or without her consent, at one point even threatening to tie her up so she can't get away) until she gets pregnant and is FORCED to marry him. romance!

after all that, i almost didn't finish the book. but then ms quinn hit me with a truly poignant and moving portrayal of grief, trauma, and moving on and allowing yourself to be happy again after the unthinkable has happened. that, combined with the really fun and heartfelt relationship of the bridgerton family, almost made it worth it for me. almost.
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booksbyantheia's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced
  • 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

Es un cuatro sólido. La historia de Michael y Francesca es espectacular: es diferente a las demás, incluso si el elemento de la viudez estuvo en el libro anterior. Su química es muy buena. La personalidad de Francesca está muy bien planteada, y se hace destacar. 

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.
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amomentofmusic's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful lighthearted sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

A fun sexy regency romp, with some light forbidden love vibes. Loved the characters, and enjoyed the different set up, with Francesca being a widow. This book had the best steamy scenes in the series so far, enabled by the fact that she is not an untouched virgin. At the same time, explores some themes around grief, which gave the characters some degree of dimension.
 
There is some attempt at highlighting consent, though I won't say that Micheal doesn't engage in some slightly iffy behavior around pregnancy to convince Francesca. 

Still, one of my favorites Bridgeton books so far. 



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souplover2001's review against another edition

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medium-paced
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

going into these books i know i am very much NOT the target audience and that's fine i can suspend my disbelief but this book. oh it was so evident. i wanted to like this book and for the most part it was okay yk francesca and michael were so fun even tho the beginning was kinda boring but i HATED
michael trying to seduce francesca into having sex w him so she wld feel duty bound to marry him??????? and then getting upset w her after they had sex when she wouldn't marry him?? like BRO. you really don't have to do all of this just tell her you love her. uhggyfhugigbhjibk. also i hate a fertility plot line like this rly is not for me😭
hope they make francesca gay in the show tho. they won't but they cld.
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elthechameleon's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-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

4.0

This was by far the best Bridgerton novel of the first 6. It felt different insofar as it wasn’t the usual mature Rake chasing an innocent young girl. It was a mature woman
widow
and man both dealing with grief. That made the entire novel much more nuanced, as it felt that they were on equal footing (this is remarkably absent from many of the previous ones, at least physically and romantically.) The scenes with Violet Bridgerton were my favorite, as they provided a rare, sober look into family life of the usually upbeat novels. This novel doesn’t shy away from hardship or complication. It makes the story feel realer, somehow, like they continued to follow a story after the happily ever after. I loved it. 
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