Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Romancing Mister Bridgerton

I was super excited for this book! & with the new season coming out of the show following them I wanted to read it beforehand & give me something to tide me over until then. There was a lot I loved, & a lot of scenes I can’t wait to play out in the show.

But I’m not going to lie & say Colin’s temper didn’t really bug me. I understand him getting angry, especially when he finds out about the Lady Whistledown secret or when she’s caught reading his journal. But what I don’t like is the physical abuse that goes along with it, & yes I know it’s nothing giant, he doesn’t hit her or anything that horrible, but the little things can be bad too. Like the scene at their engagement ball with him holding on to her to hurt her instead of letting his temper blow up to the whole room, that is not an okay reaction & I have loved Colin so much throughout the show & the books too, but reactions like that piss me off & Penelope doesn’t know that it’s not okay. What’s going to happen when they have kids & the kids make him angry, will the violence get worse through the years? It’s such a little thing, but it really gets me, & I hope they rewrote that for the show, I’d hate to lose my love for Polin in the show too!

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sudatot's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.5

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prashiie's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted tense fast-paced

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

3.5

“Can one appreciate perfection when it is a constant in one’s life?”

A 3.5 out of 5 stars mainly because of Penelope!

Penelope has always been a wallflower and this was her moment to shine, to show the world what she was really like. A clever and funny girl. I loved that for her! Too bad that even her own mother couldn’t see how amazing Penelope actually is.

We already knew from an epilogue that Colin and Penelope would end up together. She has been in love with him (well okay, a perfect version of him) for many years now. Their story started off cute where they slowly go from being good friends to being romantically interested in each other. But there were so many red flags along the way. Colin was generally perceived as the perfect gentleman and of course it turns out that he isn’t perfect at all. That’s alright, everyone has some kind of flaw and red flags are not surprising in the Bridgerton series. But I found it difficult to accept that he had anger issues. It gets out of hand when he hurts Penelope, even if it was just by squeezing her arms very hard or yanking her arm. There are better ways to blow off steam so I don’t think that you should accept that from your partner. But that is what Penelope did.

“And if having to endure his anger and disdain at a time like this was to be part of marriage as well, then that would be worth it, too.”

It did get better of course. He does become a better and supportive partner and finds his purpose in life. But I hoped for a simpler story, one where I could still like Colin.

There are also some secrets revealed in this story, but unfortunately it was no surprise to me as I’ve already seen the TV show. IYKYK.

As usual, Eloise has some great remarks which are generally not accepted in that time period and therefore she is one of my favourite characters in this series.

“I hope he asks Felicity as well,” Eloise said. “I’ve often thought it foolish that a man asks a woman’s father for her hand before he asks her. The father doesn’t have to live with him.”

Well said, Eloise! She was acting very suspicious in this story and I suppose we shall find out why in the next book!

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sop17hie's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

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culzean's review against another edition

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funny mysterious reflective tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

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mxreader1's review against another edition

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I hate Colin Bridgerton so much that I can't finish this book and I'm going to do my best to ignore him in the following books.

The scenes of him squeezing Penelope's arm so hard that he's going to leave a bruise is very disturbing. Especially because I suspect the author doesn't see anything wrong with that since he's using physical violence to stop himself from blowing up about his concern for her "self-destructive behavior". A loving sex scene follows a scene with a terrified Penelope that's upset Colin at their engagement party. He hurts her and tells her to smile for their guests as they have their first dance. The air of you're going to get it the moment when we step away made my stomach hurt. And he leads her to a place she knows no one will hear or find them. But instead of following the tension of the scene to its conclusion her thoughts transition over to how much she loves him and is willing to take whatever she must. It's sick and made the sex scene unbearable.

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lilacsophie's review against another edition

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lighthearted mysterious relaxing

3.75

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