Bridgerton books & series

I know I promised you all I would do better with posting. But I’m a Gretchen Rubin Rebel, so I post when I feel like it and think I have something to say. If you don’t know what I’m talking about go check out her book: https://www.amazon.com/Four-Tendencies-Indispensable-Personality-Profiles/dp/1524760919/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1JZWE6D0GEC8D&keywords=the+4+tendencies+by+gretchen+rubin&qid=1649778513&sprefix=the+4+tenden%2Caps%2C223&sr=8-1.
The national and international holidays are great to hang content on if you have some connection with the topic. But lately, I felt a bit in a funk and not sure what to do with myself, so I haven’t done much. In the meantime, I got the diagnosis of Anemia, so at least this explains the fatigue.

I started to write this blog on Deskfast Day, which was on April 12th. At the moment I work normally 1 or 2 days a week at the office and the other days at home if you might have been curious. At my office desk we can’t eat and most of the time I’m not hungry. If I have breakfast it is usually an Innocent super smoothie (https://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/things-we-make/super-smoothies) or the Danone HiPro Proteine drink that doesn’t need to be stored in the fridge (sorry, didn’t find an English link: https://www.hipro.be/danone/nl/producten/) or just plain chocolate milk. If I’m really hungry I may top it with a meal replacement shake. However, this blog is not supposed to discuss the benefits of breakfast or intermittent fasting, maybe I do that another time, I will make a jump to the actual topic of this blog, “Bridgerton season 2” on Netflix and the books by Julia Quinn.

I’m certainly not the only one who wrote about this so hopefully, you stick around for my two cents on the matter.
A couple of days after Bridgerton season 1 came out I binge-watched it on Netflix. I never heard of the books at that point. At that time there was a lot said about the sex scenes, as well as the continuity errors, and less about the actual story. As a former film student myself I can say that keeping an eye on continuity is a tough job as scenes are not filmed in consecutive order and some need multiple takes. While I was never really involved in editing or with any digital effects I can imagine that you are so absorbed in the flow of the story that you unfortunately indeed do not notice the yellow lines on the road, that don’t match the period of the series. However, I paid more attention to the costumes and the music. Not having read the books the extra characters such as Marina Thompson, Queen Charlotte, and her cousin the Prince didn’t bother me. It was only when I started reading the book a couple of days later that I had to put down the book as I wasn’t enjoying it because I was constantly comparing it to the series. So I started to read a lot of other books and only picked up the “The Duke and I” on March 20th or 21th with season 2 coming soon to Netflix. The comparison was a lot less, except on the subject of how Daphne learns how babies or made or what she does to possibly “make” one. And I must say that the book has at least as many sex scenes as the series if not more.

Right after finishing the first novel I immediately started on “The viscount who loved me”. The story picks up a year after Daphne marries the Duke, and now we have Anthony who is looking for a wife. Mind you he is afraid of dying young, hence a marriage out of love is the last thing he wants. He wants to play it save, so he sets his sights on the belle of the season Edwina Sheffield. However, notwithstanding how infuriated he finds her sister Kate there is chemistry between them, on which they both try not to act. But during a stay at Aubrey Hall Kate is stung by a bee. For Anthony, bee stings are still a synonym for dying, and he tries to suck the venom from the wound rapidly. Unfortunately, the sting is at a place no unmarried woman should be touched by a gentleman and Mrs. Featherington stumbles upon them in this situation which forces Anthony’s hand in marriage to Kate. This wasn’t translated to the series at all as there we see the new lord Featherington compromised with Prudence Featherington, in the Orangerie, and Antony proposing to Edwina “Sharma”. When I was reading book 8 a lot later, one of the scenes reminded me of this Orangerie scene. While also in this season costumes are exquisite and the modern music as classical music is quite good I didn’t like the love story one bit. Edwina in the book is rather relieved that with Kate’s engagement she can now marry for love instead of for money. And while it is lightly touched upon I quite liked the vulnerability and fear of storms behind Kate’s strong exterior that isn’t explained or explored enough in the series.

I was glad that in the end Kate and Anthony still get their happy end but straying so far from the books for Eloise, not only her love interest but also her already discovering that Penelope is Mrs. Whistledown (spoiler if you haven’t seen season 1) and Colin already proclaiming that he will never marry Penelope. There is of course the saying “Never say never” as we can read in book 4 “Romancing Mr. Bridgerton”, which happens in the same year as Eloise’s book “To sir Philip with love” and the second wedding of Francesca in “When he was wicked”. It is only in this 4th book that the reader discovers who lady Whistledown actually is and Eloise still a bit later as she runs away before the big announcement.
If the series follows the order of the book, we will see Benedicte falling in love and getting married. In books, one and two Benedicte plays no active role at all in the story, and while viewers of the series already know that he is a gifted artist, in the book nobody sees his art except for his future wife in book 3. Of course, this courtship also has its ups and downs with some clever twists and turns.
While in the series Lady Danbury already plays a more prominent role in these 2 first seasons, I find that in the books her role only starts growing in book 4 with a big part in Hyciants book as she is trying to match her with her grandson.

I read all 8 books and also the happily ever after story but even though books 7 and 8 are certainly not bad, I found book 7 somewhat predictable. And by now I also quite have my fill off Rake’s, Viscounts, Dukes, and the likes in romance novels. From now on it will be back to contemporary romance or at least something taking place a century later.
When season 3 airs I will probably binge that as well just to see who will be falling in love and how accurately they followed the books or not.
I would love to hear from those that read the books and/or watched the series what their thoughts are on the series or the transition from paper to screen.