After binge reading the Bridgerton books this winter, I immediately went out and bought a bunch of other Julia Quinn books and I couldn’t wait to dive in and read them! But I wasn’t really sure where to start. When it was time for our Arizona vacation, I thought this would be the perfect book to take with me since it was a light read that I could set down if I needed to.
We were flying with a four year old so I wanted to make sure I had a book that I could set down and pick up five minutes later and not have to go back and re-read the paragraph before to recall what was going on. That’s what I love about romances, they are so great for light reading that you can get distracted from and then come back to and not really miss a beat!
Honestly you can’t go wrong with Julia Quinn. Her dialogue is snappy, funny, and sassy. I love her characters and the romances are cute and believable with some steam but they don’t cross over into distasteful. I will gladly read any of her books and since finishing this one, I have ordered the next in the series as well as picked up a few others to read. I simply can’t get enough of her books!
Summary
Sometimes you find love in the most unexpected of places…
This is not one of those times.
Everyone expects Billie Bridgerton to marry one of the Rokesby brothers. The two families have been neighbors for centuries, and as a child the tomboyish Billie ran wild with Edward and Andrew. Either one would make a perfect husband… someday.
Sometimes you fall in love with exactly the person you think you should…
Or not.
There is only one Rokesby Billie absolutely cannot tolerate, and that is George. He may be the eldest and heir to the earldom, but he’s arrogant, annoying, and she’s absolutely certain he detests her. Which is perfectly convenient, as she can’t stand the sight of him, either.
But sometimes fate has a wicked sense of humor…
Because when Billie and George are quite literally thrown together, a whole new sort of sparks begins to fly. And when these lifelong adversaries finally kiss, they just might discover that the one person they can’t abide is the one person they can’t live without. (summary from Goodreads)
Review
I love the enemies to lovers troupe and I think it’s the troupe that Quinn truly excels at. Billie and George while not exactly enemies—don’t really like one another. There was clearly a history between Billie and the Rokesby family and I rather enjoyed how Billie and George interacted with one another. Quinn’s winning dialogue is undeniable and I loved the sass and wit in every interaction between George and Billie. But I thought she could have taken the enemies to lovers dynamic and really went for it on this one—similar to how she did in The Viscount Who Loved Me. I thought the chemistry between the characters was strong and would have been even more fierce had the troupe been a little more exploited. That said though it was still a great read that I breezed through and found satisfaction in the romance.
I think the only thing that I didn’t love about this one was the Edward plot. I know there are going to be other books on the Rokesby family and I realize that Edward’s story is likely to come in future books so I am sure this plot served a purpose but for me personally, I didn’t love it in this one. It felt out of place for me. Everything was going along rather happily and then boom things shifted but it was late in the book so it felt misplaced and unnecessary to the plot of this book, but obviously important to what will become Edward’s book later on. This was a minor thing and didn’t impact my overall enjoyment of the story, just at one point I was like……oh ok we are going there right now—if that makes sense.
Fans of the main Bridgerton series will likely enjoy this prequel book, but to be honest the main Bridgerton books were better for me. That’s not taking away anything from the Rokesby books, just I read the Bridgerton books first and compared together, the Bridgerton books still win for me. I enjoyed this one and I will definitely read the other books in this series as it’s a fun fluffy romance with great whit and characters but Bridgerton will still reign king of historical romances for me for now. I did pick up the other books in this series and am eager to read them when I head to Arizona again in a few weeks for the simple reason that they are so fun and quick reads!
Book Info and Rating
Format 375 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published March 29, 2016 by Avon
ISBN9780062388148 (ISBN10: 0062388142)
Review copy provided by personal collection. All opinions are my own and in no way influenced.
Rating: 4 stars
Genre: historical romance
The Lit Bitch 
I might have to pick this one up. Great review.