After my friend’s sister insisted she choose this book for book club with the “It’s like a modern Jane Austen,” we finished and my friend’s expectations fell short. Very short. As she kept saying when we finished “This isn’t like Jane Austen at all. Jane Austen didn’t write about horny people. I mean, they probably were but they weren’t getting caught in the gardens. She didn’t write that. The only thing like Jane Austen is the romance and the time period.”

So maybe comparing Bridgerton to Jane Austen set the wrong expectations. She admits it’s not bad but comparing it to Austen lessened her enjoyment.

As for me, I already read it and saw the show so I think my enjoyment was mitigated by how I already knew everything that was going to happen. But on second read I appreciate the familial aspect a little more. Sibling relationships fall to the wayside in romance so it was nice to see how close the Bridgertons are and their funny banter even though Anthony’s dual against Simon was so extra.

My friend appreciated that the siblings were in alphabetical order so it was easy to remember who was the oldest and youngest. We both agreed that what Daphne did was super messed up still, it really doesn’t change how wrong it is. But Daphne got off pretty easy cuz if a man did that he would have been beaten up probably. At least it would be satisfying if he was.

So yeah, not much to expand on this time. Maybe I’ll have more for our August book, Lessons in Chemistry.