Read this after watching the netflix show. Not putting in a plot summary because honestly nothing unexpected happens. It's pretty lackluster, to be honest. All conflicts resolve instantly, some pretty major plot points are just skipped entirely, like the wedding itself which is basically the focal point of a book series focused entirely on marrying off all the kids in one family.

More seriously, Julia Quinn appears to have a pretty big issue writing healthy relationships. There's a lot of questionable stuff in the relationships in the Netflix show, and as far as I know, that's lifted directly from the source material. I'm sad to say the trend continues here. Penelope basically decides to marry this guy, who has turned into a volatile, constantly angry dude for very little reason, even though she still thinks he doesn't return her feelings and doesn't respect her work, because she loves him and wants to be with him. This is, uh, highly problematic? He comes around eventually and becomes nice and supportive again but the middle section of this book is built out of red flags. Also, just as a side note, this is the second of two Bridgerton stories where the decision to get married is based heavily of needing to because of reputation (and from what I gleaned about Eloise's marriage, the same is true for her). So, uh, basically, the women in these stories are press-ganged into marriages to dudes who are always at an advantage in all ways. That's not cool. Sure hope Netflix does more to work on that than they did in the first season, where they included the literal actual rape scene.