The Duke and I

Trigger warning: nonconsensual insemination

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The Bridgerton series begins with the courtship of Daphne Bridgerton and the Duke of Hastings.

I devoured the first season of Bridgerton on Netflix, so I had to start reading the series to see if it’s as good as the show. The novel contains the friendships, courtships, and scandals of the Bridgerton family who have been called "Recency Kardashians" in the media.

Daphne Bridgerton is on her third London season looking for a husband, but she has yet to receive an offer of marriage from a man she would agree to wed. When Daphne meets the very eligible Duke of Hastings, who loathes the society mothers thrusting their daughters upon him, they create a plan to fake a courtship. The arrangement is mutually beneficial because Daphne is seen as more eligible because she has the attention of a duke, and Simon has fewer mothers and daughters approaching him.

Naturally, Daphne and Simon's scheme leads to them falling for each other. But being in love isn't as easy as Daphne thought...

Rosalyn Landor is a good narrator with a British accent who differentiates the voices of male and female characters by using a deeper voice for males. She has an aristocratic tone that lends itself well to the Bridgertons' story.

Recommended for fans of Regency-era romance and Jane Austen. Readers who enjoy historical fiction may also like this light-hearted romp. The series is often described as "Jane Austen meets Gossip Girl" and readers who find that premise intriguing will enjoy this novel.

Note: This version of the audiobook includes the second epilogue that was originally a novella and is also included in The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After. It includes a spoiler about who Daphne's brother Colin ends up marrying, so if you don't want to know until you get to that in the series, don't listen!

Want to know how the book is different from the show? Keep reading (spoilers ahead!).

Any of this material could possibly have come from later books in the series, but as this is the only one I have read I can't say how much was invented by the showrunners and how much is from other novels.

Julia Quinn studied art history at Harvard. She wrote her first books while waiting to get into medical school, then gave up school to write. She lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Series: Bridgertons, #1

Publisher: Recorded Books

Narrator: Rosalyn Landor

Running Time: 12 hours, 15 minutes

Release Date: October 7, 2016

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