Offer from a Gentleman, An: Bridgerton (Bridgertons, 3)

Benedict is perhaps the least interesting of the elder Bridgerton siblings. The author attempts to distinguish him from Anthony but he ends up being a copy and paste of both Anthony and Simon, all three think in the same way. All the individualities they have in the other books disapear as soon as we get into their heads. It gets a little wearying. The story is however much more interesting and is a good change from the previous two books, the take on Cinderella is fun but merely transposes the fairy tale to the Bridgerton series without adding or taking anything away from the original. Sophie is a nice change but despite all the differences between her and Kate and Daphne she somehow falls into the same thought patterns. As always with this series, the writing is clunky, the vocabulary american and the dialogue dreadfull. All in all it is very readable and once again I read this in a few hours, but maybe an hour after finishing it, I have allready forgotten everything about it.

I have started binge reading the Bridgerton series after watching the show on Netflix. I always try and read the books first before watching any screen adaption but hadn't heard of this so thought I'd buy the first book and see how it compared. I am now very sleep deprived as I can't stop reading the books and so far this one has to be my favourite! I didn't expect to enjoy it as much but after I found the first 2 books quite similar, this was refreshing change and a nice take on the Cinderella story. The characters keep evolving well as they are brought in and out of the series. I enjoyed Benedict's character more than I thought I would as he isn't really well developed in the earlier books, they seem to focus more on Colin for some reason. Some of the male characters do have elements the appear the same or repetitive but I guess they are set in a certain time period and they are brought up together in a large family. I have 4 sisters so I can see how this would happen with their personality traits. I think some reviews are too pedantic, picking on some elements of the writing style but I don't think it takes away from the fact that the books are harmless fun and an effortless joy to read. Much needed in another lock-down pandemic year! On to book 4...

** spoiler alert ** Julia Quinn excels herself again with her third Bridgerton book which is Benedict and Sophie's story... I loved the start of this story which has Sophie attending a ball in a clear nod to Cinderella, enchanting Benedict as this mysterious woman who then runs off at midnight. They are both instantly in love, but Sophie isn't really a lady, in fact she's the bastard daughter of an earl who has been abominably treated by her cruel stepmother.. Anyway, two years later, Benedict bumps into her again, but not realising the maid being harassed by a nasty aristo - from whom he rescues her - is the same woman he's been mooning over for years. He ends up getting her a new job but then things get even more complicated because Sophie's not that happy that he doesn't recognise her, and Ben is not that happy that he's falling in lust with a maid who is most decidedly not his mystery lady of the night!! Although of course she actually is but decides not to tell her because he hasn't recognised her... I adore all of Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series, but I did duck this one a star, simply because - although the book is full of Quinn's wonderfully fluid writing and both Benedict and Sophie are absolutely adorable – I got very tense waiting for the moment when Benedict would find out Sophie's real identity which came rather late in the book. So entirely a fault with the reader not the writer, but it did make my enjoyment of the book a tiny, weeny bit less than the others... Also in the 2nd epilogue [MAJOR SPOILER ALERT HERE], I felt kind of annoyed that Benedict had gotten Sophie pregnant so many times, and almost ended up killing her!! Totally believable for the time period, but it still upset me (although probably not as much as it upset Benedict tbf!)

I do enjoy reading these stories, but sometimes find it difficult with the spelling. I know they are written by an American author, but she is writing stories based in Regency England, where we spell colour with a U, realise with a S, we don't live five blocks away either. I feel it distracts me from the story.

I read this book and the one before it in the series after watching Bridgerton on Netflix. This is a stupid book. It's badly written. Everything that happens in the plot is obvious from the start. The characters do things that would never have happened in the Regency period and wouldn't even happen now. They speak in modern language and use expressions that never would have been used in the period. Many of the characters are far fetched and unbelievable and I didn't feel any sympathy for them. In addition, the characters were not consistent. They were constantly contradicting their previous words and actions. I won't be reading any more of the books in this series. I'll wait for Netflix to reinterpret them with better characters and plot lines.