“There were rules among friends, commandments, really, and the most important one was Thou Shalt Not Lust After Thy Friend’s Sister.” – 3/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: duels, chestnut hair, ballrooms, aristocrats, viscounts, big families, fake courtships, prospects, reputations, and rakes. 

The Duke and I is a romance set in the Regency era.

In the ballrooms and drawing rooms of Regency London, rules abound. From their earliest days, children of aristocrats learn how to address an earl and curtsey before a prince—while other dictates of the ton are unspoken yet universally understood. A proper duke should be imperious and aloof. A young, marriageable lady should be amiable… but not too amiable.

Daphne Bridgerton has always failed at the latter. The fourth of eight siblings in her close-knit family, she has formed friendships with the most eligible young men in London. Everyone likes Daphne for her kindness and wit. But no one truly desires her. She is simply too deuced honest for that, too unwilling to play the romantic games that captivate gentlemen.

Amiability is not a characteristic shared by Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings. Recently returned to England from abroad, he intends to shun both marriage and society—just as his callous father shunned Simon throughout his painful childhood. Yet an encounter with his best friend’s sister offers another option. If Daphne agrees to a fake courtship, Simon can deter the mamas who parade their daughters before him. Daphne, meanwhile, will see her prospects and her reputation soar.

The plan works like a charm—at first. But amid the glittering, gossipy, cut-throat world of London’s elite, there is only one certainty: love ignores every rule…

Ohh my dearest Bridgertons! I’ve wanted to start reading this series for a while now, but now that the 3rd season of the Netflix show just came out, I knew I needed to make this series a priority.

But now that I’ve read the first book in the series… I have to say I’m not very impressed. In fact, after some thought, I decided to lower my rating to a 3-star rating. The truth is that I didn’t find the book to be very memorable – I read it last month and I can’t remember much from it. It’s not bad, just a little bland.

I found Daphne’s story to be boring and slow-paced. It was difficult for me to find the motivation to keep reading if I’m being completely honest. 

Now, to be completely fair to the books, the show version is packed with drama and is very fast-paced, so it’s way more addicting! Of course, it’s difficult not to compare the two versions when you’ve experienced both of them. I still plan on continuing the series, but I think reading “The Duke and I” made me realize that the books are going to be… less embellished. 

Would I recommend this to romance readers who love the Netflix show? Even though there were a lot of scenes I recognized, the pace was way slower, the characters were bland, and the story didn’t have that much drama. So my answer would be: probably not. Just like what happened to me, you would probably be disappointed.