The 8th book in the Bridgerton series and concentrating on the sibling Gregory. It's a hard book to review without giving away the story, but the blurb does a bit, so I'll just summarise that. Gregory falls for Hermione, who loves another unsuitable man, but her closest friend Lucy helps him to win her over. Simples or is it?  Gregory then figures out she is not for him, and he, in fact, has fallen for Lucy only for her to be engaged to another man. The epilogue is bizarre, but Quinn is a mastermind of the historical romance. The TV adaption(s) and books should be considered very separately, and it is wonderful that each sibling has a book of their own. A very enjoyable Bridgerton book.

i liked it because it was a sweet story in the end. and i believe this book has the most “i love you’s” out of all the books.

i would’ve given this a higher rating if gregory didn’t believe himself to be in love with another woman (hermione aka the fmc’s best friend) for 40% of the story. but then when gregory did realize his feelings for lucy, it was so sweet. a complete 360 and he was all in. he quickly realized that what he felt for hermione was just loving the idea of her, and the idea of love; but with lucy, it was more. he was ready to begin his life with her!

neither main character was perfect. gregory and lucy were both flawed in their own ways and they both acknowledged that about themselves, which i commend. they’re self-aware enough to realize their faults and were willing to work on them to improve themselves when they’re apart and together. gregory knew he was a hopeless romantic to a fault and lucy knew she was too pragmatic, too managing.

the way my jaw dropped during the wedding part was crazy!! THE DRAMA!!! THE SCANDAL!!!!! IT WAS INSANE!!!! i admired how devoted gregory was to making lucy his wife and he was not letting anyone get in his way, not even lucy herself.

the “big secret” that was preventing the couple from being together was predictable that it was just lowkey disappointing to see the series end that way. it really felt like author ran out of steam but it makes sense because this was the last book of a series of 8.

the epilogue was shocking and hilarious to me, despite how ridiculous i found it. truly, why did no one get him off of her!?! 9 CHILDREN?!?

i hope and pray we will see his season on netflix one day, like the tree scene and the church scene alone can be their own episodes

I wanted to read this book because of the Netflix series that hit on Christmas Day a few years ago and now Netflix have announced we are getting Polin’s story and I'm hoping we get the full eight seasons for each sibling. I wanted to get ahead and know what is going to happen, so of course I bought all nine books. I enjoyed the first two books in this series, I struggled with Benedict’s and Eloise’s story and didn’t mind Colin’s, but the last three books have been so cute and adorable. 

This novel follows two main characters. The first character is Gregory Bridgerton. He is the youngest son and the seventh child in the Bridgerton household. Unlike most men of his acquaintance, Gregory believes in true love. And he is convinced that when he finds the woman of his dreams, he will know in an instant that she is the one. And that is exactly what happened. Except . . . she wasn’t the one. In fact, the ravishing Miss Hermione Watson is in love with another. But her friend, the ever-practical Lady Lucinda Abernathy, wants to save Hermione from a disastrous alliance, so she offers to help Gregory win her over. But in the process, Lucy falls in love. With Gregory. The second point of view is Lady Lucinda Abernathy, she is engaged, and her uncle is not inclined to let her back out of the betrothal, even once Gregory comes to his senses and realizes that it is Lucy, with her sharp wit and sunny smile, who makes his heart sing. And on the way to the wedding, Gregory must risk everything to ensure that when it comes time to kiss the bride, he is the only man standing at the altar. Lucy doesn’t know whether to follow her heart or to go with the deal her uncle made and to protect her family’s honour. 

My favourite things about this book were Julia Quinn’s writing style. It didn’t feel like I was back in time. I mean, obviously they weren’t going on about Snapchat, but it just felt like a modern-day story with a bit of mystery. The only thing that kept me from remembering that it was set in the 1800s was the references of letters and carriages and that they couldn’t text each other to say what was going on without people finding out what is happening.  

However, that’s not the reason I didn’t rate it five stars. The reason I didn’t rate it five stars was because I miss the Bridgerton gang – in the first four book, they were all together and causing mischief together. Besides Kate, Colin and Hyacinth having a small part in this book of Kate trying to get Gregory married off and Colin helping him ruining the wedding and Hyacinth threatening Lucy, all of them weren’t there. I wanted the girls to bring Lucy into the family and all the brothers to be proud of Gregory. I just miss the sibling banter and I get that in those days when they got married, they had their own household and children to deal with it, but I just missed them. Also, I think because I've read these books in such a short span of time rather than when they were debut over the years, it was weird to picture little Gregory like in the TV show being this sexy bachelor and talking dirty to Lucy and holding a gun. It was weird, really grossed me out – it was like when the baby of the family starts talking about sex.  

I would have liked one chapter to be the whole family at like the Bridgerton household with all of their kids and partners and happy family. 

I never could have predicted how absolutely batshit this book was going to be. It started out slow and stereotypically Bridgerton-y but about halfway through, things start to speed up. By the 2/3 mark, shit is absolutely popping off. We’re talking hands being thrown, blackmail, treason, gunshots, and of course a little interrupting weddings to top it off. They don’t even get peace in the epilogues!

Gregory is not even 40 and they have NINE KIDS, including two newborn twins, and Lucy damn near bleeds out after giving birth.

I kind of loved the drama of it all but I can’t forgive how completely boring Lucy and Gregory are as people. They don’t really have personalities and I wasn’t able to invest in their love like I could for most of the other Bridgerton siblings. He only gets a tiny pass for busting into a church to stop a wedding and propose to the bride himself. And I guess Lucy has some OCD tendencies too. 

Unfortunately, I don’t know who I’d recommend this final book in the series to. Spice lovers will not be satisfied at all. I think maybe self deprecating messy gays could enjoy, since they finally have a little representation. That said: I had a good time and I’m ready to say goodbye to the series. 

November 2023-⭐️⭐️⭐️
🎧
I re-read the entire series. On the second read, I can say that I liked this book more then before -- though my rating stayed the same. The characters were cute and the relationships were decent. The plot was cute and the writing fine. 

March 2022-⭐️⭐️⭐️
📱
This book wasn't horrible, but it was my least favorite in the series. Though I could be suffering from fatigue/burnout with the series. 

The main characters, Gregory and Lucy, were alright. The plot was cute but very predictable with Gregory wanting Lucy's best friend Hermione before realizing he was in love with Lucy. The writing was fine, and the relationships were decent.