Bridgerton: The Duke and I

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The Duke and I, a book review

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn is the first book of many in the series. Adapted into a popular Netflix series that I absolutely love. I decide to start reading the books as I anxiously await for the new season to air.

Comparing and contrasting books and their TV or movie counterparts is not something I like. I don’t like to harp on the differences. Personally, I believe one has to understand the creative choices of change. Such as to add and omit parts of the plot, characters, and other elements. 

So there is this warring bias I have started to read this book that I wish I hadn’t. But I cannot help it. I watched the first two Bridgerton seasons multiple times and I love them. So going into and reading the book I had expectations. And that is the fault. Here I am expecting the book and TV show to both hold all the same core elements. I feel like a hypocrite. Or I should say I am a hypocrite. I strongly despise readers who read the books and are never happy with any film or TV adaptation, because it wasn’t or almost wasn’t word for word for the original text. Or that the director decided to focus on a different theme. And here I am, being almost the same but in reverse.

To be clear, I do not hate the book. I liked it a lot. I actually cannot wait to continue to read the other books. But I did not like the main characters. I know, it’s confusing.

I was not a huge fan of Daphne and Simon in the Netflix show, but I did like the characters. As for the main characters in the book, I did not like them.

You can purchase the book on Amazon, or listen to the audiobook on Audible!

Daphne

Daphne Bridgerton, in the book, is written to be more relatable. She did not take her debutante role as passionately or strongly as she did in the Netflix series. She also had a stronger bond with her three older brothers in the book. Qualities I would find more relatable and more likable. But she was extremely self-assured drenched in ignorance. Wise but extremely naïve. Not pretty to society but gorgeous. She held on her own in difficult situations but was also very helpless. All these contradicting qualities were getting hard to believe. In the end, I had to talk myself into tolerating her.

Simon

As for Simon, the daddy issues were strong. I have a personal belief that father issues are so overdone in any type of storytelling. It starts to feel like cheap, easy conflict. This instance I was okay with. However, a lot of the time Simon’s logic was illogical. And it irritated me.

Other than the main leads…

This book did drive me nuts because of that. Another thing to mention is that there were a few other characters mentioned but not developed in this story. All the other storylines and multiple character development we see in Netflix season one are not in this book. I only really hope I start to see it as I read more books.

Here are a couple of major changes in the book from the Netflix series:

The Queen and the diamond

Queen Charlotte and her influence and involvement in the courting season do not exist in the book. At least not in The Duke and I. The Queen isn’t even mentioned. 

The Featheringtons

The Featheringtons do get a couple of mentions, but there is no full-on character development, yet. The biggest change is that there is a fourth daughter who is younger than the other three. Also, Mr. Featherington is noted to have passed when we are introduced to them. I am curious to see how the Featheringtons fair in the continuing books, and I did wish to know more when reading this book.

Collin travels

Collin is introduced immediately after he comes back from his travels abroad. He is presented as a full-grown man and past the transition from boy to man you see on Netflix. So I am also interested to see how this plays out in the sequel books.

A Favorite Moment…

An honorable mention I want to point out in the Epilogue of The Duke and I. A play on Jane Austen’s famous first sentence in Pride & Prejudice is used. I was excited to hear it and thought it was a really cute and playful homage to Miss Austen.

A lot of other things that were different, but you are just going to have to read it yourself to find out.

Get the book here or enjoy an audiobook of The Duke and I!

Read next: Bridgerton book 2 review