A review by maithewriter
The Duke and I by Julia Quinn

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

3.25

Read this because Netflix's Bridgerton is my guilty pleasure. It's an entertaining and quick read, and it did satisfy my cravings for some good old romance, though the writing itself is nothing to write home about. 

Just like the show, my interest dwindled as the story progressed; it just went downhill for me
after the forced marriage,
both in the book and the show. Too bad because I totally enjoyed the
fake courtship
. It also didn't help that the problematic parts of the show are magnified in the book
(i.e., Daphne's sexual assault on Simon and her disturbing lack of remorse for it)
. 

I also felt like the central issue was resolved too quickly and not so convincingly. I think Julia Quinn did a great job fleshing out Simon's traumatic backstory -- it really made me feel for the character and understand where he's coming from.
That's why I couldn't grasp the concept that Simon was able to just let go of the "incident" after a few weeks because of his ~love~ for Daphne. I get that this is a romance book set in the Regency era, but come on. At least make Daphne realize her mistake and grovel for Simon's forgiveness and have a long talk about it because such deep trauma cannot simply be magically resolved by ~love~.


Anyway, I'd still read the rest of the series. Like I said, it's my guilty pleasure, and I'm not expecting much from it other than feel-good romance and happy endings. But I do hope the rest of the books have better plots and less problematic pairs.
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