Title: Because of Miss Bridgerton
Author: Julia Quinn
Date finished: 5/22/16
Genre: Historical romance
Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: March 29, 2016
Pages in book: 375
Stand alone or series: Part of the Bridgerton series but not sure where it falls exactly. I think that this may be a spin-off from the original series. Goodreads says it is a new series, Rokesby series #1.
Where I got the book from: The Reading Room NOTE: I received this book for free from The Reading Room in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.
Blurb from the cover:
Sometimes you find love in the most unexpected of places…
This is not one of those times.
Everyone expects Billie Bridgerton to marry one of the Rokesby brothers. The two families have been neighbors for centuries, and as a child the tomboyish Billie ran wild with Edward and Andrew. Either one would make a perfect husband… someday.
Sometimes you fall in love with exactly the person you think you should…
Or not.
There is only one Rokesby Billie absolutely cannot tolerate, and that is George. He may be the eldest and heir to the earldom, but he’s arrogant, annoying, and she’s absolutely certain he detests her. Which is perfectly convenient, as she can’t stand the sight of him, either.
But sometimes fate has a wicked sense of humor…
Because when Billie and George are quite literally thrown together, a whole new sort of sparks begins to fly. And when these lifelong adversaries finally kiss, they just might discover that the one person they can’t abide is the one person they can’t live without…
My rating: 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5
My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. I hadn’t yet read anything by Julia Quinn but I had heard a lot of good things about this book over the last couple months. I’ve definitely always been interested in reading something by her but hadn’t picked anything up yet so I was excited when I won this book on The Reading Room. This book is about Billie Bridgerton and her neighbor George Rokesby. While its not 100% clear based on the family tree listed on Quinn’s website, I think that Billie is the sister of the patriarch of the Bridgerton family featured in the books thus far (Billie’s brother Edmund is mentioned though he is at school during this book). Billie and George have been neighbors their whole lives and have always found each other insufferably annoying. Until one day a strange encounter where George has to rescue Billie from a rooftop shifts something within both of them.
Overall I liked this book a lot. As I mentioned I hadn’t read anything by Quinn before this book but if all her other books are as witty and funny and sweet as this book was then I have a new back list of books I need to start working on! Billie and George were very entertaining characters and their story was tension filled but sweet. The reader can really feel the emotions of the characters coming off the pages of the book, which is a mark of success to me. I’m interested to see what other books will come of this series after this one (I’m hoping for one about Edward). This was a good read and I would definitely recommend!
The bottom line: I thought this was a quite story with great characters and entertaining dialogue. While I’m a little confused as to how it relates to the Bridgerton series (I think that the Edmund listed as the head of the family tree on the original series is Billie’s brother but am unsure), I liked the book a lot and would definitely recommend. I am looking forward to reading some of this author’s backlist when ever I have time.
Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page
Rebeccabookreview 