Friday, June 25, 2010

'On The Way To The Wedding' by Julia Quinn -Review-

   What a conclusion to a beloved series! With an ending sequence I didn't see coming and a prologue that made a one-time fan out of me (ME! the hater of prologues by principal). Gregory believes IN love, and believes he IS in love just from a glimps of the back of some lovely woman's head. Said head belongs to Miss Hermione Watson, and directly by that head, is Lady Lucinda Abernathy. Lucy's best friend, Hermione, has the whole of the ton at her feet, in yet, she can't help falling for someone who is highly improper.
   When yet another fool (Gregory) can't mask his infatuation with her best friend, Lucy decides he is the lesser of two evils and decides to help him court Hermione's favor. Needless to say, Hermione stays steadfast in her devotion to her secret lover, and when Gregory starts to realize for whom his heart truly beats, it could possibly be too late. And so...a funny thing happened, 'On The Way To The Wedding'...

Read an excerpt: here

   Gregory Bridgerton was no fool when it came to the subject of love. The second youngest sibling in the Bridgerton family, He has witnessed all 7 of his brothers and sisters transition into their love-matches. He'd have to be completely daft not to recognize the prowess of love or it's existence and inevitability. He is the 4th son, with little to give him a purpose, and now, he is just waiting for love to decide when it will be a convenient time to come into his life.
   At a house party, being thrown by his eldest brother, Anthony, Viscount Bridgerton, and his wife Kate, Gregory drifts to the terrace where food is being served alfresco in the hopes of filling his deprived stomach. So, it was a complete shock to him to be struck by cupid so acutely and in the most curious of ways right there on the terrace. First he spied the back of her head, and then he knew (or at least thought) he was in love. He just had to know her, and know her now.
   Hermione Watson was in love. Head-over-ears, irrevocably in love...with her father's secretary. It wasn't proper for a viscount's daughter to marry said viscount's secretary; but life is, often times, annoyingly inopportune and thus 'improper' just when we need it to be all that's righteous and acceptable. When Lucy is practically tossed at Gregory, she decides to tell him of his rotten luck, but impressively, he stays resolute on his intent.
   Lucy instantly finds things to recommend about Gregory and feels he would be just the right thing for Hermione; so she decides to help him. It's not successful at first, and in all truth, it is decidedly counter-productive, but tenacious as ever, Gregory starts to make a bit of progress with Hermione. All that has to be tossed aside though, when a scandalous scene in an orangery puts Hermione firmly out of Gregory's reach.
   Gregory nurses a bruised ego if nothing else and realizes that he really wasn't in love with Hermione, just the idea of being in love with her. And when he spies the back of yet another female's head, he can't believe who's effecting him now. It's Lady Lucinda! After that maddening kiss that set his body afire for hours before she left with her party, the engaged, meticulous people-pleaser Lucy, his Lucy, has all of the sudden taken up residence in his heart and he hadn't even realize  it.
   Now the battle to hold on to love, real love, this time around is waged, and when Gregory storms in on Lucy's wedding ceremony, he bares his heart and soul.
   But what happens if she says no? What happens to love when the future of her family members may depend entirely on a union between her and the 'nancy' Mr.Haselby? Let's see if love can brave what happens if there's an 'after the wedding'.   

::Rating:: 4 1/2 "Aww's" ::Rating::
My Favorite Part of the Book: Is when Gregory storms Lucy's wedding ceremony and takes the lead in one of my favorite scenes in a historical THUS FAR in my readership! He was so sincere and genuine! There was just a sense certainty in his monologue and then.... the story gets turned on its ears!

   How else can I describe this final installment to the Bridgerton series? Splendid. Truly splendid! I loved the unpredictability of the plot and the twist and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat the entire novel. I may grant that it was a bit melodramatic at times, and that the 'falling in love twice' (and so heavily, so quickly) premise didn't exactly endear itself to me, but this was a great book overall. I read this series in order and I can tell you in all honesty that I haven't experienced this much maudlin over a series ending since I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This book should definitely be a bookshelf fixture for any romance lover. 

* Try the latest JQ release, 'Ten Things I Love About You', from the Bevelstoke series.
-Read an excerpt: here

* Also try the counterpart book to the 'Lost Duke Of Wyndham' series,'Mr.Cavendish, I Presume'
- The cover is among my favorites! The hero just looks so...*sigh*
-Read an excerpt from 'Mr.Cavendish, I Presume': here

No comments:

Post a Comment