Rating: A-
Setting: Historical
Hero: Simon Basset
Heroine: Daphne Bridgerton
The Duke and I by Julia Quinn is the first book in the Bridgerton series that the author wrote. The Bridgertons, headed technically by the eldest brother, Anthony and socially by their mother are one big happy family with all of their eight children named alphabetically. Daphne is, yes you guessed it, fourth of the eight children and eldest of the four girls. She is a normal girl, who likes dresses and parties, and wants to get married and start her own family. The problem is that she's just too normal that all the eligible men consider her just a friend rather than a woman.
Simon Basset didn't have a nice childhood, his father refusing to accept him as a son when he didn't fill criteria of a perfect son because he had a stutter. Over the years, Simon distanced himself from his father, coming back from Europe only after the duke's death. But the new duke of Hastings is ambushed by all the marriage-minded society mothers who find him irresistible with his new dukedom. Daphne was Simon's best friend's younger sister with whom he devised a plan of a fake courtship to the ton's matchmakers at bay. Daphne tagged along thinking the interest shown in her by a duke might spark a renewed curiosity in her among the ton's gentlemen.
The best thing I liked about the novel was how 'normal' Daphne was. It was refreshing to read about a heroine who was normal and ordinary, and liked to do things that a young lady generally did in Regency England. Her desire of having a family of her own is the driving force of the story and it also leads her to do a desperate and cruel act that in my opinion is a bit too much for poor Simon. But of course, the dialogues are refreshingly witty dialogues that put a smile on your face. And the character of gossip column writer Lady Whistledown, with her razor-sharp comments about the members of the Society at the start of each chapter add an extra spice to the book. This book is what you put at your book shelf!
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