A review by hearth_hobbit
The Duke and I by Julia Quinn

relaxing slow-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

3.0

Rating: 3 Stars - It was okay

Summary: A bachelor duke named Simon and Daphne, a woman who struggles to be viewed as anything more than a friend to most men, hatch a plan to fake-court so that Simon can avoid marriage-minded mothers and Daphne can be seen as more desirable.

What I Liked: I had watched Netflix’s Bridgerton and really enjoyed it, so I picked up this book. The tension between the two love interests was fun but short lived. Honestly, I think I just liked the show so much and it's what got me through this book. 

What I Didn’t Like: In romance and erotic fiction, the fictional part is the romance the way that magic is fictional in fantasy. What I would enjoy in a romance isn’t necessarily one-to-one with what I’d like to see or find acceptable in real life. That being said, there were some situations that didn’t align with what I thought was acceptable even keeping in mind the genre.
There’s a scene, and this is in the show as well, where Daphne has Simon in a position while having sex that she has him finish in her, knowing that Simon does not want children for personal reasons. Ultimately, this is resolved but it still felt like that was skipped over and not really dealt with how gross it was for Daphne to do something like that.

I also didn’t like Daphne as a character in general. In the show, I thought she was fine as a heroine. I felt like she had more personality in the show where in the book Daphne is very bland. Daphne is on the “older” side for the time period for not being married. To explain to the reader why she’s desirable but not matched with anyone, the reason is that she’s always seen as a friend instead of a love interest. I don’t understand that. I got a lot of “not like other girls” and “I can fix him” vibes from Daphne, and to be fair when this was written is far before the discourse on that type of character, but still I didn’t enjoy that about the character.

I also didn’t like Simon as a character. He was described as handsome and rich but other than that I just didn’t see what made him so desirable. As a romance novel hero, he just was not exciting to read about. He wasn’t a good friend, he didn’t seem very nice, and he sounded pretty average in bed for someone who is supposed to be a rake. Also he just wasn’t Regè-Jean Page.

Daphne’s family is a big part of the show and each sibling in the Bridgerton series has their own book, but I was sad to see that aside from the three oldest brothers, you don’t see the siblings much at all. I especially wanted to read about Eloise because her character in the show is fun to follow but in this first book she’s mentioned as being around but I don’t even think we get a description on what she looks like. 

The Queen in the show was also not in the book. Her declaring a diamond for the season wasn’t a part of the book. Shonda Rhimes has really enhanced the overall story and made it better than the original. Usually I’m a the-book-was-better person, but this time the adaptation is far better than the source material.

I may read the next book, because I liked season two of Bridgerton.

 
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