Rowena’s review of The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After by Julia Quinn.
Hero: All the Bridgerton men and the brothers in law.
Heroine: All the Bridgerton ladies and the sisters in law.
For the first time in print, New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn presents a collection of “second epilogues” to her Bridgerton series, previously published as e-originals, plus a new bonus Bridgerton novella: Violet in Bloom,” a short story in which we finally meet Edmund Bridgerton.
I’ve always wanted to read the second epilogues that Julia Quinn wrote for each of the Bridgerton books but I never got around to it. So when Avon released them again in this book, I jumped at the chance to review it. I’ve always been a huge fan of the Bridgertons and since it’s been quite a long time since I’ve read any of the books (apart from The Duke & I), opening this book was like reuniting with old friends that I haven’t seen in a long time.
And I really enjoyed seeing what everyone was up to. It was a treat to meet the new additions to the Bridgerton families and I like that Julia Quinn filled this book with all the charm that we’ve all come to love from the Bridgertons throughout the other books. I think my favorite part of this book was Violet’s story. It was so nice and a little heartbreaking to meet the man that Violet Bridgerton fell in love with. It was good to see her in her prime and to get her story because it made me appreciate her all the more now that she’s older and so very much wiser.
It also made me happy that Julia Quinn ended the Bridgerton series the way that she did. That she ended Violet’s story the way that she did. I was glad to see that she felt fulfilled with her life, with her kids and the family she raised from the happiness she had with their father. It was all happiness and sunshine and well, I ate all of it up. I adored it.
Of all of the second epilogues, I think my favorite one was Hyacinth’s. Meeting her daughter was great but seeing Hyacinth finally find those damn jewels had me cracking up. Ooh, another thing that I really liked was that Sophie’s step-sister (the good one) got a happy ending too. I really liked that she was able to fall in love with someone who was equally in love with her after the kind of life that she lived in the shadow of the evil sister.
Overall, this was a fun collection of short stories that had me grinning all over the place. It was nice to see everyone again and I’m glad that I read it.
Grade: 4 out of 5
This book is available from Avon. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.
I still haven’t read the rest of this series, although I have read some of Julia’s other series & loved them. I need to start at book 1 & move on to finally this one. Thanks for the review.
I’ve been resisting the urge to buy the ebook because I bought me the UK edition and it’s already on it’s way but I can’t wait for it.
I’m dying to read Violet’s story