cielosiluminado's Reviews (443)

i totally understand why people were raving about dane and vienna… because same.

when i say i’m looking for a trashy (non-derogatory) book, i mean this. it’s so entertaining that it’s easy to look past what would usually bother me in non-trashy books, e.g. how it’s written, the extreme flair for the non-stop dramatics, etc. like it’s just the right amount that it hits what i usually look for when i want a quick, trashy (non-derogatory) read. 

the 2nd epilogues were sweet and funny, well, most of them. one gave me major anxiety for a second but then it became heartwarming.

my favorite one has got to be francesca and michael’s second epilogue. i just love them both so much and seeing them even more happier was so special.

daphne and simon’s was okayish, but unmemorable as i forgot about it shortly after; kate and anthony’s was hilarious because of all the bridgertons pall mall shenanigans; benedict and sophie’s was cute and funny; penelope and colin deserved a better second epilogue like theirs was so uninteresting like i wanted something different but i can’t complain completely because i love pen and eloise’s friendship, which is what it focused on more; eloise and phillip’s made me like phillip a tiny bit more compared to when i read their book; hyacinth and gareth’s was funny; and lastly, lucy and gregory’s was traumatizing but heartwarming in the end.

violet’s novella wasn’t what i was expecting. i wanted… more? seeing her and edmund as children was so fucking cute and the early days of their courtship marriage was serene. but knowing they don’t have a happily ever after together guts me. like i know, violet found contentment in being a mother and grandmother, but i honestly think it would’ve been so much more meaningful if she found someone else to love and be loved. violet knew what love was and how much it meant because she had it previously so she refused to settle for less if it came to a second time, but i am of the opinion that she deserved more. the loneliness must’ve been hard, especially in her later years. it truly would’ve been so impactful for her to be loved again.

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final ratings after i read the 2nd epilogues:
♡ the duke and i (1 ★)
♡ the viscount who loved me (3.5 ★)
♡ an offer from a gentleman (2.5 ★)
♡ romancing mister bridgerton (2 ★)
♡ to sir phillip, with love (1.5 ★)
♡ when he was wicked (4 ★)
♡ it’s in his kiss (3.5 ★)
♡ on the way to the wedding (3 ★)
♡ violet in bloom: a novella (3 ★)

i liked it because it was a sweet story in the end. and i believe this book has the most “i love you’s” out of all the books.

i would’ve given this a higher rating if gregory didn’t believe himself to be in love with another woman (hermione aka the fmc’s best friend) for 40% of the story. but then when gregory did realize his feelings for lucy, it was so sweet. a complete 360 and he was all in. he quickly realized that what he felt for hermione was just loving the idea of her, and the idea of love; but with lucy, it was more. he was ready to begin his life with her!

neither main character was perfect. gregory and lucy were both flawed in their own ways and they both acknowledged that about themselves, which i commend. they’re self-aware enough to realize their faults and were willing to work on them to improve themselves when they’re apart and together. gregory knew he was a hopeless romantic to a fault and lucy knew she was too pragmatic, too managing.

the way my jaw dropped during the wedding part was crazy!! THE DRAMA!!! THE SCANDAL!!!!! IT WAS INSANE!!!! i admired how devoted gregory was to making lucy his wife and he was not letting anyone get in his way, not even lucy herself.

the “big secret” that was preventing the couple from being together was predictable that it was just lowkey disappointing to see the series end that way. it really felt like author ran out of steam but it makes sense because this was the last book of a series of 8.

the epilogue was shocking and hilarious to me, despite how ridiculous i found it. truly, why did no one get him off of her!?! 9 CHILDREN?!?

i hope and pray we will see his season on netflix one day, like the tree scene and the church scene alone can be their own episodes

gareth and hyacinth were very cute!! their story was really fun and refreshing in the bridgerton series.

my favorite thing was hyacinth never changing herself for a man despite that meaning less marriage prospects for her and despite all the warnings gareth got about her being “too smart” and “difficult to manage”, he still loved her. he loved her quirks, confidence, and brains.

there was just two things that made me not give it a perfect rating: (1) gareth’s glaring daddy issues led him to seduce and compromise her pre-wedding so she wouldn’t back out of the engagement. that was a very questionable action. but i wasn’t that bothered once i read when hyacinth learns that he compromised her on her purpose, she reaffirms that despite being peeved that he resorted to compromising her, she still enjoyed their first time together. and (2) there was also a little lull for me in the story shortly after their engagement.

but i was able to look past those two hiccups because i enjoyed the mystery aspect of the story. the betrothed couple breaking and entering the clair house was so funny to me. i laughed so hard at the imagining hyacinth wearing breeches and cackled when they scaled up the walls to climb into the windows was hilarious to picture. also, the scene between anthony and gareth had me cry laughing because they were both so unserious. i also adored lady danbury and hyacinth’s relationship in this book. it was so heartwarming, especially when lady d had been plotting gareth and hyacinth’s relationship for over a year!

this one is going to be a fun season for netflix to adapt tbh

this has been the best book written in the series thus far. painful, but still so beautiful about falling in love with your best friend after both experiencing an inexplicable loss.

there are lots of great moments in this between michael and francesca. i LOVED how michael encouraged francesca to take what she wanted, even if it hurt him in the process. he has loved, longed and pined for her for YEARS.

there’s just something about how this book was written that made it so much more heartwarming, mature, raunchy, and realistic. and i think the reason for that was because her innocence and virtue/virginity wasn’t a central part of the book like the previous ones. michael did not care that frannie wasn’t inexperienced, he liked that.

despite how much i enjoyed this one, some parts of the book still annoyed me, especially when they kept arguing with each other and with themselves and whether or not they should marry. and frannie running away at every turn she got was funny the first time but then it frustrated me. but at the same time i still understood why they were feeling so conflicted despite their shortcomings.

nonetheless, this was still highly entertaining.

i’ve gotten really fond of john and francesca while watching the show and i just know it’s going to hurt for me when it’s her season because he’ll be DEAD but still i cannot wait to see what netflix does with michael and francesca’s story!!

this would’ve been so much better if sir phillip wasn’t such a sexist dick for 95% of the story.

like yes, i get that it’s the regency era and misogyny/sexism was the standard but for fucks sake, the misogyny in this one was even more appalling compared to the previous books. sir phillip did not want a wife, he wanted a housekeeper-nanny-fucktoy all wrapped in one. *sigh* i still cannot believe eloise was forced to settle for him... she deserved so much better.

also, does julia even know the men she writes because why in gods name did she write anthony, benedict, and colin as lusty rakes talking degradingly about hired women when they’re all married? it was disgusting and so out of character.

good luck to netflix in improving this one.

penelope and colin had so much character in the previous books so what the hell happened here?

the overall plot that didn’t center on the romance itself was kinda riveting and that kept me entertained most of the time. and sure, when we finally got to the romance between polin, it was sweet, adorable even. but it was still so sparse in their own story! like for a romance book, the romance between the main characters was barely fleshed out but somehow we’re still expected to believe they love each other that much? it doesn’t make sense.

oh! and don’t even get me started on colin’s temper or jealously-slash-inferiority complex… ugh, such a man!

so yeah, something was amiss with this one.

i’m not quite sure that julia knows how to write romance…

this was basically a captive-captor and forbidden romance cinderella retelling. you cannot change my mind.

i adored sophie and wanted to protect her forever. i didn’t hate benedict… but he wasn’t my favorite either and sometimes i wanted to throttle him. so yeah, their story was… interesting. all in all, i must say that i was still massively entertained throughout the story despite the shortcomings.

i loved kate but sometimes anthony drove me mad with his “woe is me” attitude. their banter was incredible though. and a bee is what basically forced them to marry? LMAO so unserious

his sniffing fetish also made me laugh a lot and i hear it’s prominent in the show adaptation so that’s gonna be funny to watch 

this was cute and funny until ⚠️ daphne SA’s simon in chapter 18 ⚠️

absolutely ruined the rest of the book.