“For once she was going to stop thinking about everyone else. She wasn’t going to take what she was given and make the best of it. She was going to reach for her own happiness, make her own destiny.”

You go girl! Lucy’s character development is amazing. She has always been a rational and practical girl whose heart was governed by her head, but unexpectedly, meeting Gregory was all it took for her to discover that her heart had enough to say as well.
This is undoubtedly my favourite Bridgerton book! I was so invested. What I liked most about this book is the evolution of Gregory and Lucy’s love story. It’s definitely not love at first sight as Gregory initially falls head over heels for Lucy’s friend. Lucy’s matchmaking efforts lead to her friendship with Gregory which eventually blossoms into love. But, here comes the biggest hurdle… Lucy is engaged, soon to be married to another man! All the planning in the world couldn’t have prepared Gregory for the biggest challenge of his life. For someone who has never had to work hard to get things in life, the persistence and courage he shows to realise a future with Lucy is truly remarkable. He never gives up on her—isn’t that adorable?!

Another thing this book depicts well is the relationship between siblings. For all the bickering between Gregory and Hyacinth, at one point it becomes clear how much Hyacinth loves Gregory. She is there for him with unwavering support and stands up for him when he gets treated badly.

And at last, let’s not forget the character with a villain arc, shocking but not surprising. I loved how Gregory dealt with them.
“You,” he bit off, “may shut up. Immediately.”
 
Throughout the story, a lot of great advice can be found. For example, this moment between Lucy and Hermione:
“There is nothing wrong with doubting yourself, Hermione. Marriage is an enormous undertaking. The biggest choice you will ever make in your life. There is never any good reason to rush into marriage.”
I would rather say marriage is ONE OF the biggest choices you will ever make in your life, but I strongly agree that it should never be rushed.

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. 

4.75⭐️0.5🌶️(one non-descriptive scene)
I can’t believe I’m saying this but this book was the best in the whole series! I do wish we had gotten to know Gregory prior to his book so we had some backstory, other than his bickering with hyacinth. With the other brothers’ books (and most of the sisters as well) none of the men desired marriage, and pushed it off for as long as possible. Gregory on the other hand is a man who knows what he wants and is VERY good at expressing himself. There is no miscommunication trope here! Gregory is a hopeless romantic who has been searching for that lightning has struck me kind of love, when he meets hermione Watson (shoutout to hermione granger/emma Watson?). She’s gorgeous but has like no personality, and she’s in love with someone back home. Her best friend Lucy doesn’t approve of him so she teams up with Gregory to help him win hermione, only they start to realize they’re a much better match. EXCEPT Lucy is already engaged to another man and has been since childhood. She finds out later that he’s

gay, so he’ll be kind to her but she won’t have a love match or a large family like she wants.

Honestly, having a man express exactly what he wants is such a breath of fresh air. Gregory is only 26 also so he doesn’t have to marry now (all his brothers were over 30 when they finally settled down). But he’s a man learns if he wants something he needs to work for it. Lucy is a people pleaser and doesn’t even think to ask her cold uncle to be let out of her engagement until about halfway through the book when she discovers her voice. She doesn’t have a huge personality but I could relate to her people pleasing tendencies. This book was definitely the most dramatic in the series, with a few twists. I would recommend this book even if you haven’t read the others. I would consider rereading, especially bc I don’t think Netflix will ever get to Gregory’s season, although I hope they do! 

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.