#Gareth St Clair | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

Visit Blog

Explore Tumblr blogs with no restrictions, modern design and the best experience.

Fun Fact

Post activity is at the highest at 4:00 pm EDT; notes peak at 10:00 pm EDT.

dvilkings · 1 day

Text

my predictions for the bridgerton show and its remaining seasons/bridgerton siblings and their romance stories, the order we will see them all.

all the speculation surrounding who is going to be the next mc in bridgerton s4, and of course i am hoping and wanting it to be benedict. but i do think it actually will be him and not eloise.

yes, eloise’s story comes directly after polin’s, jump started by their engagement. but that is also due to the time jump polin’s story has so that pen and eloise are older and settled into the titles of “spinsters”. in s3 eloise is only in her 2nd season out, and would not be considered a spinster yet for another season or two. and also considering the fact that it would have just been another year (2 in total) since marina and philip got married, so her children would not be that old. in eloise and philip’s story, the children are a big component, and them still being toddlers/babies wouldn’t push the story like it should. (yes they could alter it, but i don’t see that happening).

as for benedict, his story offers the perfect time jump. if he were to meet sophie at the last ball at the end of s3, it would offer the perfect opportunity for a time jump between s3 and s4, perfect for ben to have been searching for his mystery woman during that time (and perfect for philip’s children to grow in time for eloise and his story).

it also brings in the build up we have seen so far for the cowper’s. cressida’s mother’s name is “araminta” and they would not have two characters of the same name, especially one uncommon as araminta (the same name of sophie’s stepmother in the books). and seeing a little more of a glimpse into cressida and her parents, even her father, it makes sense that they could be the ones connected to sophie. not to mention cressida being such a more complicated character than the audience had thought, honestly being a good mixture of rosamund and posy (sophie’s step sisters).

it also wouldn’t quite make sense for eloise to be next to have her romance. she is still young, and we have not seen any build up for her yet (the letters, the mysteriousness that leads to her running away to philip). meanwhile, we have seen constant build up for benedict, especially after his short talk with anthony in s3e1 where he mentions he liked stepping in as viscount to look over the estate while kanthony were in their honeymoon because it gave him purpose and something to do, the exact thing he seeks for in his own story and is delved deeper into then.

people will counter that eloise’s story starts because of polin’s engagement so it’s a direct correlation. and that’s how it was in the books, but i don’t think that’s how it will go in the show. i think her catalyst will be benedict getting married instead. her relationship with ben has shown to be closer and more pronounced than her other siblings, and with her and pen’s relationship still being unsteady and unsure what will happen at the end of s3, it doesn’t quite make sense for it to affect eloise as hugely as it does in the books. i think even polin’s engagement/marriage will spark eloise to start writing letters (i see polin travelling for awhile for their honeymoon, sparking eloise to want to write letters to pen and colin as much as she can, sparking further her writing to philip upon hearing of marina’s death (probably having heard of it before polin does so feeling a sense of responsibility to write to him in their stead)).

having benedict’s story come next will also we a good segway into seeing life outside of society. with eloise, francesca, hyacinth and gregory’s story not set majorily in the eyes of the ton and society, but benedict’s have some of both, being a good start to transitioning the show to that side of this world that has been built.

this way, s4 would still center around benedict and his romance with sophie, most likely after she has run away from her home (so we will probably see the flashbacks to those events throughout the season as it will have been a few years). and it also gives some time to build up eloise’s story more and maybe hearing of marina’s death, etc.

and of course, the remaining seasons will still continue in the order of the books. in s4 (benedict) and s5 (eloise), we will see more of francesca and john, them marrying, being introduced to michael, john’s death, and maybe a little bit of the separation between frannie and michael. which will lead to their story as s6, right after eloise and philip. and hyacinth and gregory will be older (and their actors as well so it won’t be inappropriate for them to have their own adult romance stories told). so for s7 and s8, they will step into their stories with gareth and lucy

you can see i have thought a lot about this and i appreciate anyone who has read this far lmao. but i would love to hear other people’s thoughts as well!!!

#bridgerton #benedict bridgerton #eloise bridgerton #sophie beckett #philip crane #bophie #philoise #francesca bridgerton #john stirling #michael stirling #hyacinth bridgerton #gareth st clair #gregory bridgerton #lucy abernathy #bridgerton books

25 notes · View notes

sea-owl · 2 months

Text

Spouses:*pretend crying* Our mother in-law doesn't love us anymore!

Violet: I didn't say that, I'll always love you

Violet: What I said was I wouldn't take my children back, they're you're problems now

Spouses: It's the same thing!

#come on violet your new children need a break too take back the old ones for one night at least! they'll throw in the grandkids too #bridgerton #bridgerton incorrect quotes #incorrect quotes #violet bridgerton #simon basset #kate sharma #kate sheffield #sophie beckett #penelope featherington #phillip crane #michael stirling #gareth st clair #lucy abernathy

243 notes · View notes

iheartbookbran · 1 year

Text

Gareth St. Clair and Hyacinth Bridgerton doing detective work on the diary of his Italian grandma only to accidentally discover in the process that his other grandma fucked her grandpa:

#listen i strongly doubt we will get to see it’s in his kiss adapted #BUT if we ever do i cannot stress enough how funny this would be #gareth st clair #hyacinth bridgerton #gareth x hyacinth #it's in his kiss #agatha danbury #queen charlotte #bridgerton #queen charlotte spoilers #queen charlotte a bridgerton story #bridgerton books

607 notes · View notes

asadfangirlbitxh · 1 month

Text

My favorite Bridgerton books

1) When He was wicked - Francesca Bridgerton

Michael Stirling the man you are.

2) The Viscount who loved me

I personally prefer the book's story to the show because of the dynamic between Kate and Edwina. But I loved Kate Sharma with all my heart

3) An Offer from a Gentleman

Sophie Beckett is going to be beautiful i just know it . I hope they keep the last jail scene it was my favorite

4) It's in his Kiss

Gareth St Clair and Hyacinth

✨chef kisses✨

Hope she finds the jewelry in the show

5) Romancing Mr. Bridgerton

Pen and Colin. The ultimate friends to lovers with a spice of girl boss x boy himbo

6) To Sir Phillip with love

More excited for Eloise to bond with the twins then the actual love story. Hope the show makes it Spicier

7) On the way to the wedding

Gregory and Lucy are cute. But it could have been better but the family scenes are amazing.

8) The Duke and I

Could have been amazing but that SA scene just ruined it.

74 notes · View notes

ladyjune · 1 month

Text

“My grandkids (minus Gareth) suck, so I am just going to steal yours”- Lady Danbury at Lord Ledger’s grave, probably

#lady danbury #lord ledger #queen charlotte #bridgerton #gareth st clair

34 notes · View notes

checkoutmybookshelf · 9 days

Text

Brigerton Round-Up

Ok, so I have read all of the Bridgerton books I care to at this point, but my reviews are spread across this blog and possibly like a year of time??? So I thought it would be fun to bring them all together in a single post!

All of these reviews were written between S2 and S3 of Netflix's Bridgerton Series, so bear that in mind when you're wondering why I haven't talked about all the seasons!

Content warning for some misogyny and discussion of sexual assault.

Also...THERE ARE SPOILERS HERE.

The Viscount Who Loved Me

There comes a point where a girl can't deny she has engaged in a fandom. It probably is well before you start writing fic (you can find The Polin Fic on Ao3), but y'know, here we are. Let's talk Bridgerton.

Ok, couple things right off the top.

We are not dealing with either The Duke and I or S1 of Bridgerton on Netflix. We are not dealing with *THAT* scene and it's complete disregard for consent. Find that somewhere else on the internet, it's a big place.

We are literally only talking about The Viscount Who Loved Me and Romancing Mr. Bridgerton. They're the only books I've read, and at this point they're the only books in this series I care to read. That means we'll also chat about S2 of Netflix's Bridgerton.

Ok, with the ground rules established, let's jump on in!

I think the reasonable place to start here is with Kate. I watched Bridgerton the Netflix series before reading The Viscount Who Loved Me, and Kates Sheffield and Sharma are objectively not the same woman. They wouldn't even LIKE each other. Kate Sharma is self-assured, confident, driven, and quite frankly, a force of nature when she wants to be. Kate Sharma understands that not only is she a grown ass woman but also that if she does not get in gear and go for her goals, they ain't happening. You guys, I freaking love Kate Sharma.

By contrast, Kate Sheffield is a blond, blue-eyed, infantilized debutante with some serious unresolved PTSD. I was not at all sorry to see that Shondaland did away with THAT library scene and THAT bee sting scene. I think that the show did both of them way better, and I will never be mad when an adaptation takes an adult female character and lets her ACT like an adult. I also appreciated the shift from creepy Anthony trying to *checks notes* suck the venom out of the bee sting to a full-blown panic attack. It subverted a highly gendered trope and put both Kate and Anthony on a much more even and human footing. It was also--and I cannot stress this enough--so much LESS CREEPY than the book scene. Anthony describing what he was doing in detail while the reader is told but not shown that he's panicky left several different flavors of bad taste in my mouth. Kate Sharma showing actual dimensionality in her strength in the show in this scene as Anthony goes fully nonverbal is objectively a stronger scene that does far more to develop the characters.

Generally speaking, Anthony Bridgerton is Anthony Bridgerton in both the show and the book, with maybe some of the high-and-mighty, self-righteous edges sanded off for the show. He's a regency era Viscount, there's not a whole lot you can do with him in adaptation. Show Anthony is my preference because he has some of the high-handedness sanded off, and because Jonathan Bailey is extremely nice to look at. I don't even hate the S1 (*gasp* she mentioned Bruno!) sideburns and hair, they had a very 1995 Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy vibe that I was willing to lean into. I honestly don't have a whole lot else to say about Anthony, so let's move on and hope that maybe we get an S3 release date before I get to the end of this post. (Spoiler Alert: We did not)

An Offer From a Gentleman

Dearest Gentle Reader, I suppose if you play with fire, you do eventually get burned. This Author has finally been burned by a Bridgerton novel. --Lady Bookshelf's Society Papers, 7 June 2023

So uhh...yeah. We gotta talk about Benedict Bridgerton. And we gotta talk about what the actual hell happened between book and Netflix series, because I found the series before the book, and even knowing that the characterizations were different, this book was JARRINGLY different, and not gonna lie, I absolutely cannot stand book Benedict and I fully do not understand the Benophie appeal. Now that I've finished painting a target on my back, let's talk An Offer from a Gentleman.

Ok y'all, I have recipts for this one, because book Benedict was basically a "too aloof and edgelordy to give a damn" and he really, REALLY needed to stop telling Sophie she was stupid or thinking too much. He also was hideously high-handed about blackmailing, coercing, and passive aggressively manipulating Sophie into doing the closest possible thing he can make happen to what he wants. He can't hear the word "no." His art seems somehow less important to him than the bowl of rocks at the cottage.

Show Benedict is a sweetheart artist with a wicked sense of humor and a real damn good sense for his siblings' moods and needs. I like show Benedict. I was prepared to yeet book Benedict off a cliff.

So real quick before this descends into incoherent screeching, I just need to point out the section where Sophie leaves the Cavendar's house during a party that is SUPER not safe for her. The "male lead saves the female lead from getting raped" is not my favorite trope in the world, but I'm not here to shame anyone for rescue fantasies. What I am here to do is explainin why Benedict is the WORST POSSIBLE EXAMPLE of this trope. I'm just gonna go ahead and put the passage up here, for ease. This is Benedict's reaction to seeing Sophie is an objectively scary situation:

Cavender was standing under a stately old elm with two other gentlemen. They appeared to be having a bit of fun with a housemaid, pushing her back and forth between them. Benedict Groaned. He was too far away to determine whether the housemaid was enjoying their attentions, and if she was not, then he was going to have to save her, which was not how he'd planned to spend his evening. He'd never been particularly enamored of playing the hero, but he had far too many younger sisters--four, to be precise--to ignore any female in distress.

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS REACTION??? What is this "ugh, I guess I HAVE to step in, what a pain in the ass FOR ME" nonsense??? This is not allyship, this isn't even--as Benedict tepidly says--"having sisters," this is just "ugh, I guess I have to be a hero, how annoying."

If you're going to do the rescue trope, it kind of works better if your leading man gives a rat's ass. Like, give him a strong position on rape being bad. Give him a motivation. Give him something other than an eye roll and vague irritation that he has to do the thing! He's not even particularly T-ed off with the guys in this situation, it's just...and event. That he has to deal with. Like going to the DMV or something.

Can we PLEASE not do this. This is gross, it is bare minimum, and frankly? It's the least interesting version of this trope. I wasn't a Twilight girl, but the scene where Edward rescues Bella from implied gang rape was done better than this moist tissue of a scene purely because HE GIVES A RAT'S ASS ABOUT BELLA.

Bare freaking minimum, your romantic leads have to have strong feelings for each other. Those feelings can be positive or negative, depending on whether or not you're doing enemies to lovers, but the feelings have to EXIST. And when you're dealing with limited third omninscient narration, the character in who's head you are should probably have stronger emotions than *eye roll* to keep it interesting for the reader!! We know Sophie is already in love with Benedict at this point in the novel, but we aren't in Sophie's HEAD just now.

I'm basically out of coherent things to say about this book, so let's just go over key examples of other things in this book that made me rage. It's not every instance, but it's a selection of demonstrative examples.

Let's check the receipts:

She shot him an arch look. "Horse races are almost always silly." "Spoken just like a woman," he muttered.

And just WHAT is wrong with speaking like a woman, Benedict??? Is it maybe because you think they're somehow LESSER than men???

"Sophie," he said, "I can practically see the steam coming out of your ears. Stop taxing your brain with useless mathematical computations and do as I asked."

TAXING HER BRAIN, BENEDICT??? Let the woman think for her own damn self for five seconds!

"His chin jutted out belligerently. "You're not supposed to be thinking. That's the point of of it."

LET. HER. THINK. FOR. HER. OWN. DAMN. SELF.

"You bloody fool," he swore. "Do you have any idea how dangerous it is in the world for a woman alone?" "Er, yes," she managed. "Actually I do. If he heard her, he gave no indication, just went on about "men who take advantage" and "helpless women" and "fates worse than death." [...] About halfway through his tirade, she lost all ability to focus on his words. She just kept watching his mouth and hearing the tone of his voice, all the while trying to comprehend the fact that he seemed remarkably concerned for her welfare... "Are you even listening to a word I'm saying?" Benedict demanded.

YOU SPENT THE WHOLE BOOK TELLING HER NOT TO THINK AND NOW YOU'RE MANSPLAINING CLASS TO HER??? SERIOUSLY???

"Don't you ever call me stupid," she hissed. " Benedict blinked, trying to get his eyesight back to the point where he only saw one of her. "I wasn't--" "Yes you were," she replied in a low, angry voice."

Oh, yes, call her stupid. That's a GREAT way to get in any woman's skirts, Benedict. (Please excuse me while I scream incoherently into a pillow in rage.) Punch him again, Sophie.

"I didn't save you from Cavender just to let you squander your life away." "That isn't your choice to make." She had a point there, but he wasn't inclined to give it to her. "Perhaps," he allowed, "but I'm going to make it, anyway."

Wow, so you do ONE DECENT THING and suddenly you own her life??? PUNCH HIM AGAIN, SOPHIE. And no, gentlemen, going "oh shit, I am actually being a huge dick here" and then DOING THE THING ANYWAY does not earn you any points.

"I didn't want--" "You don't know what you want," he cut in. It was a cruel statement, condescending in the extreme, but he was beyond caring. She'd wounded him in a way he hadn't even known was possible, with a power he'd never dreamed she possessed.

ACTUALLY SHE DOES KNOW WHAT SHE WANTS, BENEDICT, BECAUSE SHE IS A HUMAN PERSON WITH AGENCY!!!!!! AND SHE HAS SAID NO TO YOU LIKE FIFTEEN TIMES!!! Dear god, someone throw this man back in the lake and hold his head under.

"I didn't think," she whispered, more to herself than to him. "I know." He smiled. "I know. I hate it when you think. It always ends badly for me."

FOR FUCKS SAKE-- *screams in impotent rage while channeling Beatrice's "would eat his heart in the marketplace" vibes*

So...I actually don't recommend this book. Don't read this one. Just enjoy show Benedict and we can all collectively pretend that the book didn't happen.

Romancing Mr. Bridgerton

I actually thoroughly enjoyed the fluffy confection that is Romancing Mr. Bridgerton, which makes it much harder to talk about than The Viscount Who Loved Me. I suppose the biggest difference between the book and what the show is setting up for Polin is in the stakes. The book stakes are arguably extremely low; the consequences for being Lady Whistledown in the book are essentially a round of polite applause and some deep-seated rage that Cressida freaking Cowper would dare to take credit for Penelope's work. And frankly, I was 100% with Penelope on that one. The show cannot possibly roll with that ending (or if they do, they're going to disappoint everyone) because Penelope has pissed off a reigning monarch, and that has, historically, gone poorly. So I think the show is setting up to give Colin real, concrete reasons to be pissed as hell when it comes out that Penelope is Whistledown, and to actually make the pair work for their romance. And for all I enjoyed the fluff in the book, I am a sucker for multiple layers of increasingly high stakes and I hope the show really goes ham on the payoff for this setup. Frankly, I want Colin to be absolutely furious with Penelope and still ready to sneak her out of England if the Queen decides that Lady Whistledown is too dangerous to leave at liberty.

In terms of how Colin himself changes in the show, I'm fairly cool with the "I am a bottomless pit where is the food" aspect of Colin's character being quietly left behind. I think we can do more interesting things with our male characters than that. However, like many of the people who have both read the book and kept up with the show, I am WORRIED about how much Colin's writing has been downplayed. Yes, he and Penelope have a correspondence, and clearly they mean a lot to each other, but writing letters does not necissarily set up Colin's journals and the writing relationship that the two develop in the book. It's so, so wildly uncommon for game to recognize game and form a partnership of equals in skill in regency romance novels, and that was one of the things I loved about Romancing Mr. Bridgerton. I also loved that Colin, not Penelope, was the less experienced newbie of the writing partnership.

Not that the book didn't complicate this issue, because Julia Quinn didn't hesitate for a millisecond to slot Penelope into the historical role of "uncredited, unpaid, and historically unknown editor and 80% of the reason that history remembers the husband who's name is on the cover of the book." And that SUCKS for Penelope.

That takes me really smoothly into the thing that I love most about what Nicola Coughlan brings to Penelope in the show. She has an edge, a little more willingness to take risks, and that really makes me believe that the Penelope of the show could be behind the edgier, sharper, WAY riskier Whistledown. I am excited to see what they do with Polin in S3!

When He Was Wicked

Ok, as a Bridgerton book, When He Was Wicked was UNUSUAL. Given how tightly knit and very much there for each other the Bridgertons are (although I admit, this might be show bias affecting my reading), the fact that Francesca was, for the most part, isolated up in Scotland and very separate from the rest of the family was odd. It really allowed us to see what a Bridgerton-raised person would do when their back was to the wall and they were more or less alone.

Add to that the fact that most of this book is Francesca's second season and second love and that she gets to have actual EXPERIENCE and CONFIDENCE and not be your bog standard romance ingenue meant that this was a refreshing change of pace. I also would be absolutely remiss to point out that this novel went unapologetic on the fact that Francesca knows a little something about sex and her own body and that she has zero doubt that her needs, wants, and pleasure are important and that she can (and does) ask for what she wants with Michael. That's something that contemporary 2023 still really struggles with, so props to Julia Quinn for making it clear that Francesca can, should and DOES have a voice that matters during sex.

I also want to say that while Francesca wanting to be a mother so badly that she goes for a second season often gets side-eyed or openly pooh-poohed for being anti-feminist, breeding kinky, or somehow lesser, I would say that while the "All I want in the world is to be a mother" is complicated by the regency setting and the gender roles and expectations imposed on women whether they wanted them or not, Francesca is a widow for most of this novel, and widows historically had more (not complete, this isn't perfect) choice about their remarriage, and had Francesca not wanted to, she didn't have to remarry. So I'm willing to give this book the benefit of the doubt that Francesca actually DOES want to be a mother, actually DOES want children, and making the choice to remarry to have kids is an active, intentional choice on her part. Motherhood isn't for everyone, and that's 100% fine. But we shouldn't shame people who do want it, and I think a generous read of this book puts Francesca in that camp without some of the weird vibes and setting complications that you get with Daphne.

Again, none of this is wholly unproblematic, and there are arguments to be made that social conditioning overrode any choice Francesca could make. However, that's a deeply cynical read of a fun, fluffy romance novel, and I'm not here to shame people who can get pregnant for their reproductive choices, whatever those may be.

Michael is, in the grand tradition of non-Bridgerton love interests, fairly bland. His whole thing is being the merry rake, which, like, whatever. That's fine. I'm not like, terribly enamored of his full-on BAILING on Francesca for like three years after her first husband unceremoniously drops dead. I'm also not super enamored of his whole "did I secretly cause my cousin's death because I was coveting his wife and now I can never be with Francesca because I don't deserve her for killing my cousin" schtick, but this is Bridgerton so the absurd drama is pretty par for the course.

The reason to read this book really is Francesca, and Francesca finding her feet as a more mature heroine than we typically see in these books. I was very very much here for Francesca, and I hope that if the show gets this far, we really do get to see how Frannie is different from Daphne, Eloise, Penelope, and Hyacinth.

It's In His Kiss

This is now the fifth Bridgerton book I've read, and I actually have to say that while it's not my favorite of the series, it was a nice change of pace. Hyacinth and Gareth feel like they spend more time together as a couple really getting to know one another, which honestly was not really the vibe of previous couples. Anthony was too wrapped up in waiting to die, Benedict was too busy being shitty Prince Eric and generally devaluing all women everywhere, and Francesca and Colin were working through dead spouse trauma and a variation on professional jealousy, respectively. Hyacinth and Gareth just like each other, and Gareth was refreshingly brief in his daddy issues in favor of seducing Hyacinth and realizing that whoops, he actually meant it. So frankly, Gareth and Hyacinth feel more like they are actually good friends. And as a Polin Stan, that is a little heartbreaking to say, since Polin was supposed to be the friends to lovers storyline and as far as the books go, I actually think Hyacinth and Gareth feel more friends to lovers. Polin is more she fell first, he fell harder, which is a great trope but it's not really friends to lovers.

I swear I'm not going to be low-key disappointed about Polin for this whole post though, because in addition to Hyacinth being genuinely good friends with Gareth, we get her friendship with Lady Danbury. And THAT friendship is an absolute delight, although Jukia Quinn might be flying just a TAD close to the sun by spoofing bad romance books that we read to mock in her series of borderline read-to-mock romance books. This is very akin to my feelings about Penelope getting weak-kneed over Colin's writing talent because he described the temperature of the Agean Sea as half-hour old bathwater. Like, I get what you were going for emotionally, but on a very realistic level, you fell flat on your face and your skirt rode all the way up so you flashed your panties at people by accident, and not in a kinky way. Not that that makes Hyacinth and Lady D's dynamics any less wonderful, it's just one of those "my eyebrows were raised while I was smiling" things. We cannot help but love Lady Danbury.

I also just want to call out the objectively hilarious scene where Gareth goes to ask Anthony for permission to marry Hyacinth and Anthony completely blows the tone with his combination "YES ALL MY SISTERS ARE MARRIED OFF I AM KING" and "hurt her and I won't kill you, I will make your long life a living hell" reactions. I enjoyed this Anthony.

Now, having noted what I enjoyed about this book, it wouldn't be a Bridgerton novel if there weren't also a couple of things that I feel the need to call out as WILDLY WTAF. We're gonna go ahead and start with the prologue, because we need to take a minute and ask ourselves why the actual hell the girl Lord St. Clair was trying to force Gareth to marry had to have a mental disability, and why the hell we needed Lord St. Clair's "kick the dog" moment to be telling his son to rape a vulnerable woman. And that's before we even get into the issues with the rampant asexual objectification and infantilization of disabled people, and how that plays into wildly ableist tropes throughout literature. And the worst part is, this adds literally nothing to the story. We do not even see this character on the page, she is just briefly mentioned twice in the novel and is literally not even an obstacle. This didn't have to be casually thrown in and frankly I saw ten different shades of red when I was reading it. Honestly, it's one of hose thoughtlessly, pointlessly ableist things that causes real harm in the world and I am not here for it.

The other WTAF thing about this book is the fact that Gareth plans to "ruin" Hyacinth. I'm not gonna go do ar as to say there are consent issues here, because to say that would be to wildly and willfully misrepresent their relationship and I'm not going to do that. But I'm not wild about the perpetuation of the idea of virginity as some magical thing that can be taken from a woman and tbat devalues her. And yes, I know, it's it's regency romance. But I can understand scenes-a-faire and still not like it. Which I do not, because it says more about the level to which Gareth initially values Hyacinth than anything else, and you shouldn't have to devalue your SO to feel worthy of them. That is some toxic bullshit, do not do it.

Overall, though, this book was pretty cute and it was heisty, and I am a bit of a sucker for a good heist. Insofar as I recommend any Bridgerton novel, this one was pretty fun.

On The Way To The Wedding

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a hot romantic regency male lead must be in want of a more intelligent heroine. But even given that, Gregory flippin' Bridgerton strains credibility about how obtuse he is throughout this book. Anthony might have been lying to himself and deeply traumatized, Benedict might have been a chauvinist dickhead, and Colin might have been a golden retriever, but none of them were so vacuously vague as Gregory managed to be. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy this book; there were chunks of it I found thoroughly amusing. So let's talk On the Way to the Wedding.

I guess we might as well start with Gregory, because holy cow there was no critical thought in this man's head. He literally did not hear a thing Lucy said to him the night before her wedding to Haselby, because AS COLIN POINTED OUT while he and Gregory were *checks notes* SITTING IN A TREE SPYING ON LUCY'S HOUSE, she did not actually ever at any point say that she wasn't going to marry Haselby, she just made bland statements and let Gregory hear what he wanted to. Like, Greg. Sweetie, honey, friend, she did not explicitly say she was calling off the wedding, and you KNOW she would have if she really intended to. You were thinking with the wrong head, my dude, and frankly it's on your own dang head for being so shocked the next morning.

But on top of having cloth ears when it comes to hearing "no," Gregory managed to talk himself into being in love with Hermione and out of being in live with Lucy. And this is AFTER separate sit downs with Anthony, Kate, and Violet that collectively tell the reader (and should have told Gregory, except he has cotton wool instead of a brain inside his skull) that Gregory has exactly zero connection with reality, no drive or ambition, and has had so much handed to him in life that he won't extend effort to get something that isn't handed to him. Quite literally, my reaction was, "Aww, Lucy gets the second-worst brother. She and Sophie should get together and start a support group." So Gregory and Benedict are super not my favorite Bridgerton Brothers.

One thing about Gregory that was well set up and paid off and used fairly humorously throughout though, is his complete inability to hit anything he aims at with a firearm. I was impressed that he was not toxically masculine about that, and the fact that he nonfatally shot Uncle Richard at the end was well executed, and Lucy telling her Uncle that he is lucky Gregory can't aim for shit actually got a laugh from me. It was very good. AND it established that all four Bridgerton girls can shoot as well, so at some point I want a pall mall game settled via target shooting. My bet is that Eloise thinks she's the best shot, Francesca actually is, Hyacinth does trick shots just to piss off Eloise, and Daphne is scarily efficient as a markswoman.

However, what really kept this book interesting were Lucy and the CW drama-esque plot, because I did not see "oopsie poopsie, did a treason, and now my neice has to marry my blackmailer's gay son" coming in the Bridgertonverse, but here we are, I guess.

Lucy falls into line with Penelope and Sophie in terms of women who are head and shoulders more competent than the Bridgerton man they married, although admittedly Lucy has less personality than either Penelope or Sophie. Lucy is a people manager and pleaser, and she is extremely organized. She also has some excellent one-liners and is more than smart enough to wrap Gregory around her little finger when she needs to.

Unfortunately, she couldn't talk Gregory's stubborn streak out of tying her to a water closet (seriously, what is this, a regency Criminal Minds episode???), which is how we get the big reveal that it's her Uncle, not her father, who committed treason. It's also how we somehow end up with Uncle Richard holding a gun to Sophie in a random bedroom before her marriage to Haselby was consummated, which... Richard. Honey. What was the plan here??? You needed that girl legally and permanently married before Davenport gave up the blackmail. Why are you holding a gun on her right now??? What the hell was the way out of this room of you hadn't been interrupted by the husband squad and their two guns? Weird time for a power trip, is all I can say. You might as well have gotten caught monologuing for all the sense this scene setup made.

And Gregory once again proves that he is a COMPLETE IMBECILE because if you spend an entire book announcing repeatedly that you can't hit the broad side of a barn, why on God's little green earth do you take the shot at a man holding a gun to your love's head? You're as likely to hit her as him! He got lucky because plot armor, but he wasn't the only man in the room with a gun, Lucy's very angry brother ALSO had one, and he was almost certainly a better shot than Gregory. Nobody is exercising critical thought in this scene, is all I'm saying.

Now, for all my criticisms, if you suspend your disbelief, this whole scene is VERY fun, and in principle I quite enjoyed it. Sometimes you have to meet a book where it's at, and in this case it was at CW-esque dramatic farce. So this book was very fun for what it was.

OOH and before I wrap.up and forget: Hyacinth gets to be totally furious in this book, and holy cow I wish we got Hyacinth in a decade st some point, because she would have been show Lady Danbury's equal but more spitfire, and I love that so much for all of us.

This is definitely the last Bridgerton book I'm reading because I have no desire to deal with Daphne or Eloise's books. That said though, the books I have read I was largely either pleasantly surprised by or thoroughly entertained, and really you can't ask more of these books than that. Book Benedict still sucks though.

22 notes · View notes

daydreamxr17 · 1 year

Text

I was thinking ...

In my opinion they should do Bridgerton like this ...

Season 3 - Colin and Penelope, Francesca marrying her first husband, and Benedict meeting Sophie

But I think they should merge some seasons, because there is no way Netflix will give us all 8 seasons so I think they should ...

Season 4 - Benedict and Sophie, some crumps of other ships

Season 5 - merge Eloise's season with Francesca's and Michael's

Season 6 - merge Hyacinth's story with Gregory's

141 notes · View notes

thebluemallet · 7 months

Text

Gareth: Just so you know: if you go to prison, I won't wait for you. Hyacinth: You won't have to. I'll escape. We both know that.

#bridgerton #bridgerton incorrect quotes #hyacinth bridgerton #gareth st clair #source: psych

61 notes · View notes

okurrroye · 4 months

Text

I wanted to post this on Reddit but since the community won’t let me then I’ll just have to post it here so…

I've recently seen some interesting comments (on Reddit lol) about the rest of the Bridgerton love interests and also how there is in need of better darker skinned black female representation which I wholeheartedly agree with BUT why hasn't any considered it being George's love also? Thus this fancast popped into my head of the younger Bridgerton love interests which is Leah Sava Jeffries as Lucinda "Lucy" Abernathy, and Adrian Lyles as Gareth St. Clair (obviously I'm for his brother being East Asian but I've never read the books so I don't how big the age gap is so I don't know who to properly fancast).

#Bridgerton #benedict bridgerton #percy jackon and the olympians #gregory bridgerton #lucy abernathy #lucinda abernathy #hyacinth bridgerton #gareth st clair #leah sava jeffries #adrian lyles

36 notes · View notes

sea-owl · 3 months

Text

Spouses Friend Group Chat

Simon: Remember to hydrate today!

Kate: NOT DR. PEPPER

Sophie: *sends a photo of her designing a Dr. Pepper tattoo while drinking Dr. Pepper

Lucy: *sends a photo of her and Gareth drinking Dr. Pepper. Gareth is decked out in Dr. Pepper merch*

Michael: *sends photo of Penelope doing his makeup with a Dr. Pepper eyeshadow pallet. Phillip is in the background making a floral Dr. Pepper art piece. All of them have a Dr. Pepper drink in their hands or near them.*

Simon: . . .

Kate: You little shits

Sophie, Michael, Phillip, Penelope, Gareth, and Lucy: *proceeds to spam the group chat with all the photos they can find of Simon and Kate drinking Dr. Pepper *

#i make them so unserious in this au #bridgerton #spouses friend group #simon basset #kate sharma #kate sheffield #sophie beckett #michael stirling #phillip crane #penelope featherington #gareth st clair #lucy abernathy

101 notes · View notes

aprill-99 · 2 years

Text

Bridgerton Spouses Ranked on How Prepared they Were to Join the Bridgerton Family Chaos:

1. Penelope - This girl chronicled the life of this family for a decade. She half lived in their house. She canonically spent actual brain power wondering what it would be like to be part of this family. Nothing any of these assholes can ever pull will surprised her. 10/10 on preparedness right here.

2. Kate - The Pall Mall scene is all the proof you need. She will keep up with anything they throw at her. She saw them all at their most bloodthirsty and still committed. She didn’t know them longest, but she did a lot with the time she had to get ready. 9/10

3. Simon - Known Anthony for 10 years before joining the fray. He knew how many siblings there were, many of their names, and also met Benedict pre-narrative. He didn’t know exactly how much they could be in advance, but once he knew what was what he got the lay of the land real quick and was down to kill it.

4. Michael - Had at least 4 years of full Bridgerton exposure before committing. He had time to know what he was getting in to. He’s a charming SOB and they will all feel it. He and Frannie can always bail to Scotland when overwhelmed, and when they’re with the clan he’s more than capable of navigating the chaos.

5. Gareth - Knew of the family at the very least. It takes him a bit to adjust to just how many people there are and how closely knit everyone is, and he takes time to wrap his head around how much they all like each other, but he at least knew them by Whistledown/reputation before he showed up so not utterly unprepared.

6. Lucy - Again, knows them all by reputation. Is not prepared, but does jump right in on the chaos. The woman has 9 children and names most of them after Bridgertons, that willingness to take on mayhem suggests at least 9/10 adaptability if only about a 4-5/10 for preparedness

7. Sophie - Only knew anything about the family from Whistledown and exactly 8 days of exposure before she and Benedict did a backflip in to married life in the country. Was not prepared. Was thrilled to be there.

8. Philip - Knew nothing. Like seriously and absolutely nothing. He had to think hard about if he knew how many brothers Eloise had and only knew from her letters. The clan descends and his introvert self has no internal monologue apart from Kill Bill sirens. -100000/10 preparedness. Honestly shocked he survived.

585 notes · View notes

stars-of-kyber · 5 months

Text

Well, well, well. 2024 is here, and so am I (as if I had left at any point, but still!). We're off to out first fic of the year and it's... family fluff! Yay (I can't control myself, I swear)

Motherhood

"She didn't even know the type of love she felt for her children even existed before she felt Edmund twist inside her for the first time and by the time she held her tiny squirming son in her arms, she knew there was nothing in the world that could match the love she felt right at that moment. That said, there were times she didn't particularly like her children."

______________________________________________________________ Kate loves being a mother, she really, really does. She's just tired and needs a little break. Is that too much to ask?

Just some stressed-out, tired, Stay-at-home mum Kate with her little gremlins. Cute and Fluffy, I swear!

A million thanks to @harnitbee, who is my friend, my beta, my ear to bother when I'm inspired and one of the most amazing people I know. You're a queen <3

Don't forget to let me know what you think!

Love,

Cee

#my writing #bridgerton #kathony #kate sharma #anthony bridgerton #modern au #Stay-at-home mum Kate #Tired mum #Ned Bridgerton #Miles Bridgerton #Charlotte Bridgerton #hyacinth bridgerton #Gareth St Clair #no moodboards this time

24 notes · View notes

thecountessofkilmartin · 12 days

Text

My favourite quotes from It's In His Kiss..

1. “Gareth considered saying, “Sir.” He considered saying, “My lord.” He even considered uttering the word, “Father,” but in the end he just slouched against the doorjamb and started to whistle.”

What a cutie 🥰🤣

2. “She smiled, clearly despite herself, but he counted that as a success. The day he couldn’t make a woman smile was the day he ought to just give up on life and move to the Outer Hebrides.”

Haha, he’s so infuriating 😂

3. “Bah. I’m merely old enough to get away with speaking my mind. You’ll enjoy it when you’re my age, I promise.” “I enjoy it now,” Hyacinth said.”

The day that I’ll be able to emulate the confidence that Hyacinth possesses will be the day that I will have won at life 👸

4. “He was a puzzle. And Hyacinth hated puzzles. Well, no, in truth she loved them. Provided, of course, that she solved them.”

So, in other words, she's already into him? 😂

5. “I love all my children, but you…” She looked up, her eyes catching Hyacinth’s. “You saved me.”

This entire scene was so so beautiful 😭😭

6. “He was down to one person now. Just his grandmother. Just one person he could honestly say he loved. And loved him in return.”

I can’t 💔

7. “He shivered. The thought of Hyacinth Bridgerton as his lifelong companion…He stopped for a moment, blinking in surprise. Well, it wasn’t horrible, actually, but at the same time, it did leave a man feeling very, very uneasy.”

Haha. I love that he's so scared of her. In his defense, he should be a little alert around her 😂

8. “Wasn’t it,” she asked, her words coming out on a sigh, “just a little bit wonderful?” He looked down at her, and maybe it was the moonlight, or maybe just her wishful imagination, but she thought she saw something flash in his eyes. Something soft, something just a little bit indulgent. “A little bit,” he said. “But just a little bit.”

Aww, look at him, pretending that he didn't find the idea of breaking and entering his father's house super thrilling 😂

9. “I would give the world to have one more person for whom I would lay down my life,” he said. And then Hyacinth realized that some things did come in a flash. And there were some things one simply knew without possessing the ability to explain them. Because in that moment she knew that she was going to marry this man. No one else would do.”

Gareth is a pretty flawed character, but the fact that he's able to remain loving and loyal to his grandmother, and was willing to let more people into his life even after being so wronged by his father is so mature of him 🥺

10. “This is a wonderful day,” Anthony was muttering to himself. “A wonderful day.” He looked up sharply at Gareth. “You don’t have sisters, do you?” “None,” Gareth confirmed. “I am in possession of four,” Anthony said, tossing back at least a third of the contents of his glass. “Four. And now they’re all off my hands. I’m done,” he said, looking as if he might break into a jig at any moment. “I’m free.”

Bahahaha. Leave it to Anthony Bridgerton to make a cameo in a book and instantly make it a hundred times better 😂

11. “If you marry my sister, you will have all of us.” Gareth tried to speak, but he had no voice. He had no words. There were no words for what was rushing through him. “For better or for worse,” the viscount continued, with a light, self-mocking chuckle. “And I assure you, you will very often wish that Hyacinth were a foundling, left on a doorstep with not a relation to her name.”

This entire exchange is one of the best in the whole series. Anthony is equally elated and surprised at this situation. Yet, he can't bring himself to interrogate Gareth. And he really wants to scare him off, but he knows that he shouldn’t because he needs to get Hyacinth married off to someone. But he can’t just smile and give his blessing either. So instead, he’s doing it all at the same time 🤣🤣

12. “I’ll talk to my mother,” she promised. “If I’m sufficiently annoying, I’m sure I can get the engagement period cut in half.” “It makes me wonder,” he said. “As your future husband, should I be concerned by your use of the phrase if I’m sufficiently annoying?” “Not if you accede to all of my wishes.” “A sentence that concerns me even more,” he murmured.”

Welcome to the rest of your life, Gareth 😂

13. “You’re a bit far afield.” “I like to stop by and inspect my inheritance every now and then,” Gareth said, his smile terribly bland. “Just to make sure you haven’t burned the place down.”

Hahaha. I felt like a proud mother whenever he mocked his father 😂

14. “Well, I suppose if I could walk all over you, you wouldn’t be worth marrying.” He threw back his head and laughed. “You’re going to be a fine wife, Hyacinth Bridgerton,”

Awww 🥰🥰

15. “You’re going to be my grandmother,” she said, leaning down and giving her a kiss on the cheek. She’d never assumed such familiarity before, but somehow it felt right. “You silly child,” Lady Danbury said, brushing at her eyes as Hyacinth walked to the door. “In my heart, I’ve been your grandmother for years. I’ve just been waiting for you to make it official.”

Lady Danbury is the best. I love her so much 😢

16. “No one said we had to spend every waking moment together,” he said, “but at the end of the day”—he leaned down and kissed each of her eyebrows, in turn—“and most of the time during, there is no one I would rather see, no one whose voice I would rather hear, and no one whose mind I would rather explore.”

Cuteee ❤️

17. “Oh, please. Please. As a wedding gift to me.” “No,” he said. “I understand your reluctance—” “No,” he repeated, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach. The sinking feeling that he was going to relent. “No, I don’t think you do.”

He literally won’t be able to deny her anything. And the fact that he doesn't even want to makes it so much better 😂

18. “I want to sigh to my friends about how managing you are, all the while secretly knowing I am the luckiest man in town.”

Awwww 🥰 He's the first and only human that enjoys being managed by her 😂

#hyacinth bridgerton #gareth st clair #its in his kiss #hyareth #gareth x hyacinth #bridgerton #favourite quotes #also found this in my drafts and had to post

11 notes · View notes

jinxedgold · 1 year

Text

Me searching for a hint to Gareth St. Clair in any of the older Lady Danbury scenes: