Bridgerton: The Duke and I by Julia Quinn.

Well, I finally joined a trend that I enjoy. Normally when it comes to trending books or TV shows, I give them a chance and just don’t like them. I read The Goldfinch a few years ago and didn’t like it at all. I watched Breaking Bad and strongly disliked it. As a rule, I find it is just better for me to read and watch what I like versus what the internet tells me.

So when the Bridgerton TV series on Netflix came out in 2021, I had never heard of it and was just excited for a new period drama. Little did I know that I would watch the first season in one sitting and absolutely adore every second. By this point, I heard that the whole series was based on a book series, but hadn’t felt any motivation to read them. While I love period dramas and any thing from that period, I have never been super interested in the whole “bodice ripper” sub-sect.

Anyways, season 2 came out and I loved it. Once again, I watched it in one sitting even though I had to stay up until 3am to do so…not my best life choice, but I couldn’t turn it off. I was heavily invested in all of these characters and had to know what happened!

Because the second season came out when I was allowed to leave my house for work and social gatherings, I actually started talking about the series with a bunch of my friends. And people kept telling me to read the books. But, I was hesitant. People had told me that before and I had been burned. I loved the TV show so much, I didn’t want to get burned by the books.

But oh how wrong was I! A good friend and I have been reading books together since college and she suggested we read the second Bridgerton together. I agreed, but I, of course, needed to read the first one first. I am not one of those people who can just jump in whenever I want. Whether it is a TV show, movie series, book series, whatever, I need to start at the beginning.

I went ahead and reserved both the first and second book from the library. There was quite a queue for the second book so I knew I would have plenty of time to finish the first book. Well, that was 3ish weeks ago and I’ve read both books. I’ll do another post on the second book because I have some strong feelings, but all I’ll say now is that I read each book in a 48 hour period and couldn’t put either one of them down.

Let’s talk about The Duke and I first though! Now I know what people’s first question is going to be…why should I read the book if I have seen the show? First of all, you should always read the book even if you have already watched the show or the movie. There are always more details and it is just something that I think you should do! But, especially with the Bridgerton books, the books are absolutely worth reading. The characters and general story line are the same, but almost all of the details are completely different! So, it feels like you are getting a whole new part of the story with characters you already love.

If you have not seen season one or read the first book, stop reading now! There are going to be spoilers!

I will say, the books very much focus on whichever couple they are about. So, book one focuses on Daphne and Simon. Eloise, Colin, Benedict, and Anthony do not play a big role. The Featheringtons are basically minor side characters and Marina does not even exist. You can definitely tell where the TV show writers added some things to give the show extra drama and make sure that the show wasn’t just longing glances across the ballroom.

Even with those changes however, the characters are inherently the same and you will still recognize all of them from the show. Basically, what I am saying is that the book is quite a bit different from the TV show so if you liked the show, you will like the book and it won’t feel too repetitive.

I will definitely have a post coming up about the second book and I’m thinking about doing a few posts about the TV series. If you liked that and would be interested in those posts, like and comment below. Also, I am loving having Bridgerton conversations with all of my friends so comment with your thoughts about the TV show and/or books!

Until next time!