A review by daiinty
The Duke and I by Julia Quinn

emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced

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

3.75

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a married man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of an heir.” — Julia Quinn

i decided to read this just because i watched the show and was really surprised at how much i genuinely enjoyed the writing of this. the biggest difference i noted between this book and the first season of the show was how exclusively the book focuses on daphne and simon. i wasn’t totally upset about that, though. to me, for this form it made sense to develop the characters it was trying to focus in on. the dialogue between all of the characters was very witty and i found myself smiling quite a bit at the exchanges. i honestly expected the writing to be garbage, so that’s why i think im rating it as high as i am. i had a good time most of the time. 

is this book perfect? no. while i felt simon was pretty well developed, daphne just felt like she was lacking. just because a character doesn’t go through a huge amount of trauma doesn’t mean they don’t have experiences that shape them, and i felt like that was lacking in daphne. now, of course, i need to get into the coercion scene. that felt so gross to me in the show and even grosser here. i feel like quinn could have accomplished what she was trying to do without it. sure, it adds a shock factor, but so would any accidental pregnancy scare. you can’t make a character do what daphne did and make my sympathize with them after. it’s simply not going to happen. 

overall, though, i was intrigued by how well the writing of the story was and am definitely interested in catching up before the next season comes out on netflix.