Good Start to a Great Series

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn (Audio Edition) w/2nd Epilogue
Narrated by Rosalyn Landor
Series: The Bridgertons #1

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ For my rereading of this book I chose the audio version. I found I enjoyed it just as much as when I read it the first time in print! Simon and Daphne are great together. I love that Simon finds peace within himself. I enjoyed watching the characters grow and of course all the Bridgerton siblings crack me up. This is a wonderful story about family.

Rosalyn Landor does a superb job on narration as usual!

On a side note.. the edition I listened to had the 2nd epilogue added on at the end. If you are someone who likes to read in order and not find out the the tiny details.. like who ends up with whom - perhaps save the 2nd epilogue till after all the other main books of the series. Then it's like a little treat to see everyone's life afterwards.

~Paragraphs and Petticoats~

47 people found this helpful

I liked it a lot

Any additional comments?
I really enjoyed this romance. It is a good story with good characters. The Bridgeton family is made up of 9 great characters - the mother and 8 children. Daphne, the eldest daughter is the heroine in this book. She gets involved with the Duke of Hastings who suffers with a stammer and his hatred of his wicked father. Can the love of a good woman help him get over his problems?

47 people found this helpful

Disgusted, didn’t finish

I can’t believe this book gets such good reviews... I have never reviewed a single book on here but felt compelled to after this one. I listened to probably 10 hours of this book and was a bit underwhelmed, but still enjoyed the romance and their story at least. Sort of a spoiler here: then the book took a turn and the heroine did something that if the roles were reversed people would surely call it rape. I couldn’t believe her deceitfulness in the whole situation, and her complete lack of remorse. I couldn’t even finish the book - I was so turned off by her. Disgusting. I tried to finish it and then realized I wasn’t invested in the characters at all after that. What a waste. Cannot understand all the positive reviews.

136 people found this helpful

An entertaining Regency

Daphne Bridgerton has a problem.

'sShe beautiful, bright, charming, and everyone's friend. She grew up with four brothers, three of them older than herself, and the gentlemen love to talk with her. They just don't think of her as a romantic prospects, and in her second season, she has received proposals only from the elderly and, in one case, the crashingly stupid. Her mother and her eldest brother, the new Viscount Bridgerton, are not going to compel her to make an unhappy match, and she's in danger of being on the shelf.

The Duke of Hastings has a problem. He's just returned from six years abroad, having recently inherited the title after the death of his hated father. He has no intention of marrying, especially not to produce an heir. He finds himself unable to avoid the social swirl entirely, however, and the concomitant pursuit by mothers and their eligible daughters.

But Viscount Bridgerton is his best friend, and Daphne proves to be apparently the only intelligent young woman attending social events.

Courting her will make Hastings seem less available. Daphne, by apparently being courted by the Duke of Hastings, will immediately look more desirable to other men--hopefully attracting more suitable suitors. It will all be a harmless charade, benefiting them both. What could possibly go wrong?

I really liked Daphne, the Duke, and Daphne's mother and her siblings who are old enough to figure in the story. There are also other interesting characters floating around, including Lady Danbury, and the fictional Lady Whistledown and her entertaining scandal sheet.

It's really a lot of fun. Even in the areas where I thought the story was surely going to go off the rails and become nonsense, it turned out Quinn was doing something a great deal more interesting than I thought. The right kind of surprise!

Recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

16 people found this helpful

*Unpopular opinion time*

Disappointed. Actually, disappointed doesn't even begin to describe it.

Once upon a time, I wasn't into historical romance. I thought they were silly and anti-women, and I wasn't even interested in trying them. Thankfully, I discovered historical romances by Tessa Dare and Courtney Milan, and I fell head over heels for the genre.

I'm thanking my lucky stars that I didn't try this book first because I fear I would have never read the genre again.

I've been meaning to try this series for some time now. I've read Julia Quinn before, and I really liked Because of Miss Bridgerton. EVERYONE has told me to try the original Bridgerton series, starting with The Duke and I. So, of course, I decided to take the series on, and I even bought the next couple of books following the first. However, I'm absolutely flummoxed by the love for this book.

Daphne Bridgerton was the worst heroine that I've read in a long time. She is meant to be strong and spunky, but I thought that she was self-serving and TSTL. I actually hated her. She manipulated poor Simon every step of the way. She forced him to befriend her, she forced him to marry her, and forced him in other ways that found absolutely morally reprehensible. She was vile, truly, and thought herself to be entirely blameless throughout the story.

Simon didn't quite make sense either. He had a rakish reputations, one that I didn't see any evidence of in the story, and had a twisted mentality about his situation. He was self-pitying and broody, and though I didn't like him, I thought he got the short end of the stick being stuck with Daphne.

To top it off, the book was way too long, and it took me ages to finish the audiobook. I wasn't motivated to keep listening, even with a flawless narration from Rosalyn Landor, who did her very best to add personality and sympathy for these odious characters.

I know, a very unpopular opinion, but this book only gets as high as 2-stars because of the narration. Otherwise, it would be in 1-star territory.

110 people found this helpful

The book, for once, isn’t better. Didn’t finish.

I knew going in that the assault later in the story was coming. I’ve seen the show on Netflix and thought I might as well give the book a try despite what I knew would be a bad scene. Nope. Just nope. I didn’t even make it that far before I gave up. I’ve now returned exactly 3 titles in the several years I’ve had an audible membership so I’m not one to give up easily. This was intolerable. I’m not sure how someone is both conniving and stupid but book Daphne manages it. The duke is simpering and whiney and annoying. In the show the mother woefully undereducated her daughter but had redeeming qualities in plenty of other ways but in the book she’s just flat and stupid and no better than any of the other ‘ambitious mamas’. I can’t tell whether dialogue is just horrendously written or deliberately intended to make the reader/listener uncomfortable, which seems counter productive in a romance novel. Either way it’s painfully awkward, every conversation lasts far too long, and not sexy at all. I’ve read better dialogue in amateur fan fiction. The plot is empty, boring and not engaging at all. Save your money/credits and watch the show instead.

10 people found this helpful

ADORE!!!

My absolute all-time favorite book. This is a masterpiece. I highly recommend this book and all the books in the Bridgerton series.

My ONLY complaint about the audiobook is the narrator, who does most of the voices beautifully, does the men, ALL men, as though they are elderly school masters. These are some of the sexiest men in literature and she makes them sound like stodgy stuffed shirts. You have to get past that but if you can you will LOVE this audiobook. The story is to die for.

21 people found this helpful

4 hours too long! So many words!

Wow this book could have been shortened by at least 4 hours and it would have been so much better. So many words filling the pages. Just annoying and ruins a potentially good story.

I liked Simon and Daphne a lot. They made a good match and had real chemistry together. There wasn't much to the story line or plot really. He was born with a stutter which he over came, his father was a jerk (typical) She had 8 siblings. They married of course, went through a few issues (typical) Realized he loved her. The end.

In between all this non excitement were words and words and words and wait for it.. More words just filling up pages. So unnecessary, it really made the story suffer.

The best part of the entire book was when Daphne's mom was trying to tell her what to expect on her wedding night! I seriously LOL. Otherwise this will be an unmemorable listen/read for me.

As for the narration, It was Rosalyn Landor, she is okay at best. Nothing great nothing terrible. Her reading voice sounds like the men's voice.

You can totally tell this book was originally published in 2000. Filler.

30 people found this helpful

Too much sex for this reader

Any additional comments?

Just a warning for those who like clean books. This one is not. Although I tried to find that out ahead of time through the reviews I couldn't. So this is for those, like me, who don't like graphic sex scenes--TOTALLY UNNECESSARY!!

188 people found this helpful

Made me laugh out loud!

What did you love best about The Duke and I?

Witty banter, touching romance, lots of fun with the heroine's family and the wonderful Rosalyn Landor.

What did you like best about this story?

The humor and romance.

Which scene was your favorite?

When the heroine's 3 older brothers are taken out of her house by her mother, made me laugh and laugh!

Any additional comments?

Worth the credit for sure. My first listen from this author, will try another.

35 people found this helpful