stitchesandstationery's Reviews (306)

This book is, once again, everything. Evie Dunmore is genuinely amazing, and I have found a new favorite author and she will be an auto-buy for me from here to eternity.

Portrait of a Scotsman follows Hattie Greenfield, a close friend of our two previous heroines, as she finds herself forced into a marriage for the sake of propriety, and to the benefit of her father's business endeavors. In a classic "grump and sunshine" match, Hattie finds herself struggling to align her desire to be wooed, her desire to be independent, and her, well, desire.

Once again, Evie goes beyond a simple historical romance. Her books read like contemporary romances, and they focus on the struggles of women and their fight for the right to be human. But this one took it further. Previously, the focus has been on the struggle of ladies, but Hattie is introduced to the actual working class. In what could have easily become a savior complex sort of narrative, we're instead given a heroine who uses her kind heart and her excessive funds to do actual, potentially lasting good with the input of those she's seeking to help.

This book wasn't bad, and I wouldn't say I didn't like it, but I didn't necessarily enjoy it either? The romance was lackluster and too immediate for me, and while I applaud Niki on breaking out of her comfort zone, it felt too forced for me. The audiobook was alright, but I didn't feel it added anything new to the story, and I wasn't excited to keep listening. There were a lot of pop culture references and they felt too unneeded for me.

It was definitely nice to have a holiday romance that wasn't about Christmas, but I wish the focus had been less on the (very weird) group honeymoon and more on Diwali itself, or even more on the wedding itself. I don't know. Sam was okay, Niki was okay, Diya was okay, Masooma was okay. It was all okay. 

Well, I did it. I finished all 8 Bridgerton books in 10 days. They're done, it's over. It was a bit of a game with myself there at the end, just to see how quickly I could get through them. I read the last 7 in 7 days, so that was fun.

Knowing next to nothing about Gregory, other than the fact that he and Hyacinth liked to torment each other, my expectations were pretty much nonexistent for him. As for the plot, I expected our usual progression of: boy meets girl, they either hate each other or something else is keeping them apart, a lot of steam, some sort of conflict, more steam, then everyone lives happily ever after. And what did we get? Almost exactly that.

But also, no we didn't. There was almost...no steam? At all? In the entire book? I was so confused.

Some people didn't like that the main characters were skirting around each other, and that Gregory was in love with someone else for half the book, but I liked it actually. It was a bit refreshing and definitely different than the previous 7 books. It helped Gregory show development and he went from a "green boy" trying to emulate the love his older brothers had to a man who understood what love looked like for him.

At the end, the drama was almost too ridiculous, which lowered my rating a bit, but my appreciation for Gregory not being as much of an ass as his brothers counteracted that, landing us at a solid 4.

Not that anyone asked, but I think my final ranking of all 8 Bridgerton books is: 1, 4, 6, 2, 8, 7, 5, 3 (god dammit, Benedict)

I think this has actually been my favorite of the bunch. It's a classic friends-to-lovers romance, with elements of "she can never know how I feel" and "when did my bestie get so handsome?" Michael was lovable without being too frustrating, Francesca was different from her sisters without being stuck up or insufferable about it.

I think having at least one Bridgerton struggle to be fruitful and multiply was a good, refreshing thing, but I'm finding myself wishing it had been Eloise instead of Francesca. I did appreciate the inclusion of the second epilogue that finally have Michael and Francesca the tiny humans they deserved.

 

As far as Bridgerton-world men go, Gareth was...better than most. He still had the typical temper I've come to expect from these novels, and he has some major daddy issues, but I think he was finally someone who could match his partner in wit and humor without being a horrible ass about it (I'm looking at you, Anthony).

There were some aspects of this book I was excited about, like

the drama about who Gareth's dad really is, the JEWELS OH MY GOSH THE JEWELS, and then I found myself actually really disappointed when the jewels were really just an excuse for Gareth and Hyacinth to spend time alone.

While I still stand by the fact that Gareth was better than most, I am so frustrated by him.

The fact that he felt he needed to "trap" Hyacinth by ruining her was just so...infuriating. I know I haven't read any other Regency novels other than this series, so perhaps this is just something to expect from the genre, but OH MY LORD. I am so done with it.

Gareth's redeeming qualities: his desire to be loved, and he willingness to love. Also the dude sounds fine as hell and makes me chuckle.

Hyacinth's redeeming qualities: her wit, her confidence in herself, and her love of Lady Danbury.

Best part of this book? Lady Danbury, 100%. I'm starting to finally see how they created such a gem for the show.

 I think my main issues with this installment of the Bridgerton saga were a) Phillip (iykyk) and b) the image of Eloise that Shondaland has so beautifully and perfectly created. This version of Eloise is...fine. Her main quirk is that she's too chatty and can hold her own in a prank war (sort of). She's not my main source of dislike for this one, thought.

Phillip is horrible, and any version of Eloise deserved better. This woman turned down SIX proposals just to end up with this lump? This man prefers his plants and ignoring his children and blaming his problems on everyone else to, well, anything else. I just...I am so frustrated. I swear, if Shondaland ends up marrying TV-Eloise off to anyone even remotely resembling this man, I will riot.

I think maybe Eloise and Phillip could have eventually been a good match, but good sex will only take your relationship to far if one of you (*cough cough* Phillip) can't get your head out of your ass long enough to realize that your wife should be more than just someone to raise your children and entertain you in the dark. 

Tl;dr: Pen deserved better, until Colin got his ish together and became a man who deserved her. But Pen also deserved better from life.

We were verging on 3.5 for a while, with Colin being AN ASSHOLE but, and hear me out here, I think that was the point. Penelope (who I admit only became more wonderful throughout the book) had kept this man, as she even pointed out, on a pedestal for over a decade. She has loved the perfect, "charming" side of him he had always presented, to her and to everyone else. For me, at least, this showed more depth to him and also proved his comfort around her. He's exerting all this energy in public and around his family to seem like everything is fine, to be this charming, wonderful man, but that's exhausting. He's comfortable enough around Penelope to finally drop the mask. I'm not saying that what's under the mask is great, or that I even liked it, but it added some depth to their relationship (though I'm hoping the next books in the series do not involve the male protagonist being yet another asshole like all 3 Bridgerton men have ended up being so far).

What saved Colin for me was his growth at the end of the novel.

Him finally coming to terms with Penelope as Lady Whistledown, and him professing his pride and love for her in front of everyone in the ton was, honestly, long overdue, and his finally pulled his head out of his ass and did the right thing.

Was this a bit painful to me as the girl who was never anyone's first pick? Yes. I felt for Pen every time someone didn't notice she was there, every time Colin's POV mentioned how much he hadn't noticed before, like not even figuring out what color her eyes were at some point in the last twelve years. So while I almost wish Pen had gotten a romance involving sparks flying the moment a sweet, rich man saw her from across the room at the ball, I think her heart had been closed to everyone but Colin since the day he fell from his horse, and I don't think that would have been realistic. Much like Benedict being unable to let himself fall for someone other than his silver woman, Pen couldn't let herself fall for someone other than her Prince Charming.

Also LADY DANBURY IS A GEM.

Unfortunately this installment of the Bridgerton saga didn't sit as well with me as the previous two. The first sentence was enough to get me a bit riled up. I will admit that, while I initially rolled my eyes at the Cinderella retelling, I actually ended up quite please with this take.

However, I don't think Benedict deserved Sophie, and I think he treated her like garbage. He starts off carrying on about how he would never take liberties with a <i>proper</i> young lady, but then he takes every liberty with Sophie. There was also something a little sickening about the employer/employee trope that felt a little too much like a man's twisted fantasy. My review ended up being 3 stars instead of lower because a) I read it just as quickly as I did the others, b) Bridgerton banter is my new favorite things, and c) Araminta got what she deserved (okay, she could have gotten more).

I will be 100% honest and admit that the Epilogue Part 2 was my favorite part of the entire book, other than tea time with the Bridgerton women.

All in all, I wouldn't personally recommend this one on its own, but I wouldn't encourage skipping it when reading the series either. It was very middling for me, but has not hindered my love of the series so far. I just wish book Benedict had been a bit...more like TV show Benedict. I think. Season 2 will tell.

Another day, another Bridgerton book! Anthony is infuriating, but it appears he's met his match. Kate and Edwina (what an unfortunate name) were charming and delightful, and as always, I love a good enemies-to-lovers.

I am loving reading a few Agatha Christie novels here and there! This one was recommended as a holiday whodunnit instead of my usual holiday rom coms, and it did not disappoint at all! I only wish I had read it actually at Christmas! I didn't want to stop reading, and took a long lunch to finish it today. I wish I could say I had seen the ending coming, but I absolutely did not.

People who will like this one: anyone who watched the movie Knives Out and wanted more, avid players of Clue, anyone who isn't afraid of an older way of speaking, and anyone who secretly aspired to be Sherlock Holmes when they grew up.