Hot Girls Read Podcast

Julia

I am sort of, kinda, for better or worse, back in my Julia Quinn era. Funny enough, it wasn’t even due to Bridgerton being adopted into a Netflix series that got me into reading Quinn. All it took was a tentative desire to read more Romance, a convincing conversation with a friend, and I was sucked in. But I still wasn’t reading the Bridgerton books – I stuck to Quinn’s earlier stand alone works. However, after now having watched five seasons of Bridgerton, I have finally bought into the Bridgerton kool-aid. The thing is, a series revolving around a big, loving, perfect family of eight kids, did not seem very appealing to me. Actually, the whole premise of the Bridgertons seemed kind of annoying at first. Why was this family so damnably good looking and kind and without fault? If the show makes them out to be unattainably perfect, in her books, Quinn doubles down on the idealistic nature of the Bridgerton family. All the children love each other, they are all witty and good looking, and they will all find true love, just like their parents did. And I still find it annoying, but I also happen to find the Bridgertons comforting, just as the many other characters in Quinn’s novels do. All that to say, with Benedict’s season now out on Netflix, I thought it prime time to read An Offer From a Gentleman (Benedict’s book), alongside it. 

I’m not going to say too much about the book (because we are actually going to do a podcast episode all about it, in relation to the series), but I will say it was very fun to watch and read at the same time! I’ve never done it before, not with any of the other Bridgerton books or other book adaptations, but it is very cool to be able to see what details from the book made it into the TV show, what was modified, or changed completely. In the end, I really enjoyed the season and the book, and I’m now even more motivated to read the rest of the Bridgerton series. Although Quinn’s writing can border on soppy, and every conflict is quickly solved (by a Bridgerton, that is), there is something sweet and simple about the world she creates. Admittedly, she is rather convincing on the whole ‘true love really does exist’ front too.