Customer Reviews

On the Way to the Wedding (Bridgerton Book 8)

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(25)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This is the last book (Book 8) of Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series.

I must confess that I absolute love Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series. Her witty storytelling and wonderful storylines often make me feel as if I'm sitting across from her at a coffee shop, drinking whatever, and listening to her as she tells me this story, often punctuated with smiles, chuckles and roaring laughter. Julia Quinn is truly a gifted writer.

I was, however, left disappointed when I read On the Way to the Wedding, Book 8 of the Bridgerton series. Book 8 is about Gregory Bridgerton. Based on what's he's seen in the marriages of his older siblings, Gregory very much believes in love and is waiting to meet his "Ms. Right".

When Gregory spots Miss Hermione Watson, he believes he's found his match. The problem is that Hermione doesn't reciprocate his feelings. Hermione is a beauty and is busy enjoying the attentions of all the men who are fawning over her.

Lady Lucinda Abernathy (Lucy), Hermione's best friend, witnesses Gregory's failed attempts to woo Hermione and begins to feel sorry for him. She offers Gregory her help in winning Hermione but fate steps in and their plans go awry.

Hermione is caught in a compromising position with Lucy's brother and they are forced to marry. Gregory, in his grief, begins to realize that Hermione and him would never have suited. A passionate kiss shared between Gregory and Lucy chases all thoughts of Hermione out of Gregory's mind, and he begins to believe that he's in love with Lucy. Lucy, however, already knows she is in love with Gregory but doesn't trust his fickle affections (and I don't blame her in the least!).

Oh, one more thing: Lucy is engaged to marry the son of an earl and has been for years. Gregory is desperate to get Lucy to break off the engagement but she refuses. There is a dramatic climax toward the end of the book including the revelation of a devastating secret that binds Lucy to her engagement like nothing else could.

My biggest complaint over this book lies not in its prose, storyline or character development, but in Lucy. She lacked courage. Lucy blindly followed the demands of her blackmailer without questioning the truth of his words. I have to agree with Hyacinth (Gregory's sister) when she hissed to Lucy that she is weak and doesn't deserve Gregory. I can't reveal more than that without exposing the most exciting part of the story. I'm sure I'm probably judging Lucy a bit too harshly but I'm rather partial to the Bridgertons.

Despite that, I thought this was an okay read.

This is the eighth and final Bridgerton installment, and is a rather middling end to the series. It is the story of Gregory, the entertaining and carefree youngest Bridgerton brother. He becomes infatuated with the stunningly beautiful, much sought after, and aloof Miss Hermione Watson, but she is all wrong for him. Her best friend, the sharp-tongued and subtly appealing Lady Lucinda Abernathy, is clearly his perfect mate, but it takes him a little while to realize this, and then he may be too late.

This is a very short summary as my reviews go, and that is because there was not much to this story. Lucy and Gregory were pleasant enough characters, though Gregory a little lightweight, but I did not feel a strong connection with them or between them. I did not feel satisfied at the story's conclusion because I was never invested in the couple. Many of their ruminations and exchanges were amusing, but at some point the humor got in the way of the romance. Every thought was stated, and every move analyzed, in a humorous context. It seemed more like an episode of Gilmore Girls than a historical romance. I am a big fan of the Bridgerton series. This book as well as the seventh book, "It's in His Kiss," are OK reads as light comedy, but if you're looking for subtle humor and sublime romance, try the excellent first six books in this series.

The Bridgertons are a close knit family of nine, widower Violet and her eight children all famously named in alphabetical order. Anthony, Bennedict, Colin, Daphne, Eloise, Francesca, Gregory and Hyacinth. This final book is about Gregory, although not the youngest, he is the last unwed Bridgerton. Hyacinth's story was in Its In His Kiss (book seven).

Gregory believes in true love, well why shouldn't he? All of his siblings have found it and he is determined to find his one true love as well. So, when he sees the beautiful Hermione for the first time, he knows she's 'the one'. But Hermoine doesn't seem to notice Gregory at all. Enter Lucinda, Hermoine's less handsome and often overshadowed best friend. Lucy, the ever-practical 'helps everybody' friend, takes it upon herself to help Gregory try and win Hermoine's affections and thus prevent a disasterous marriage Hermoine was contemplating.

Lucy is engaged to Lord Haselby since she was a girl, but in the process of helping Gregory, she unintentionally falls in love with him. It isn't until later that Gregory comes to his senses and figures out it's really Lucy he loves, but is it too late? The wedding scene is fantastic, but I can't tell you anymore without major spoilers.

You think you've read this story before? No you haven't! There are so many twists and turns in this book its unbelievable. I won't spoil for you. Its worth discovering it for yourself. Just when you think you know whats coming next...BAMM! Surprise! I literally fell off the couch with one of them! The middle did lag a bit but the last 100 pages are so action packed, my heart was racing and I was sweating bullets.

On The Way To The Wedding is a true delight from the start -prologue (mega cliffhanger!) till you read the epilogue (a sweet and fitting surprise ending).

Recommended.

Don't forget to take a look at the family tree from the beginning, there are a few additions. This is my only teensie weensie disappointment (you'll get it when you look at the tree). I'm hoping one of the future ebook epilogues will resolve this to a happy end. If you haven't gotten the two ebook epilogues out (The Viscount Who Loved Me & Its In His Kiss) get them, they are very good.

In the final book of Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series, the time has come for youngest son Gregory to choose a wife. Gregory has always been a believer in true love, especially after witnessing his seven siblings all marry for love. So at 26 Gregory decides that he won't just settle for marriage, but he'll wait until he falls in love. Which he does... in a heartbeat with a beautiful girl named Hermione Watson. The only problem is that Hermione is already in love, and that every other eligible gentleman also seems to want her. Herminoe's best friend, Lady Lucinda Abernathy, actually likes Gregory better than her friend's other suitors and much more than the man to whom Hermione has given her heart. So Lucinda decides to help Gregory win Hermione, only somewhere along the way she falls for Gregory herself.

On the Way to the Wedding was fine, but in comparison with the rest of the books in the series it was definitely subpar. The hero and heroine weren't even the focus of most of the book. By the time the two finally realize they're in love with each other, the story was more than two-thirds over. Not only that, but I never got the sense that Lucinda was as moral and upright a person as the ending of this book would have us believe. Not that I thought she was a lying wretch or anything, but to sacrifice one's life for the sake of one's family, you would think she would have demanded a little more proof than the word of a man who has treated her as a second-class loser for her entire life. And to have the man you love, or claim to, fall on his knees in front of God and the rest of the country and declare his love, only to have you turn your back on him and deny that connection is crap. Utter crap and I have not forgiven Lucy for it. Between that and the lackluster connection between the way the book ended and the first two-thirds (I think somewhere along the way the plot changed and there wasn't enough time to go back and make the whole book cohesive) I have to say that this is one of the worst Bridgerton books, and doesn't do justice to the ending of such an otherwise great series.

I have followed the entire Bridgerton series since the very beginning. I fell in love with the whole family from the first four books of the series and then was extremely disappointed when Francesca and Daphne's story did not seem to measure up to the first four siblings. But when I purchased this story, I just could not put it down. I read the whole story in one sitting and absolutely fell in love with the series all over again. Gregory is a great hero because he is so different. He actually believes and wants to be in love. So refreshing from all the heroes in other romance novels who are so resistant to the idea of love and marriage, and the reformed rakes that infiltrate most of the historical romance novels. The heroine is also not what one would expect. Lucy is not the prettiest girl and is overlooked and overshadowed by her gorgeous best friend. She actually reminded me a lot of Kate, Anthony's wife, who is one of my favorite characters in the series. Fantastic dialogue and story. I loved it so much that it made me reread the whole series and was happily surprised by the great quality of Hyacinth's story. A great closer for the series.

I have just finished the book, absolute delight to read! It was a bit different from other Julia Quinn's books in many respects. First, there are fewer fast, witty, homorous dialogs in this one, but we all have been spoiled by Hyacinth's story on that point, and I can see how it would be hard to top that one. Second, there is only one bedroom scene, although it's wonderful as always, and frankly speaking half-way through the book I was still wondering how the author was going to "wiggle" that one in at all. She did and managed it wonderfully. Third, it's fast-paced and resembles more of an action and adventure book than a typical romance story.

There are appearances of other Bridgerton characters: Anthony and Kate, Hyacynth, Colin, Violet Bridgerton. One of the best chapters in my opinion has to do with a dialog between Gregory and his mother. I never get tired of discovering her, and this time it was all the more special, because it was the last one. There are few twists in the story that I did not see coming, even though I did expect the happy ending, especially after the Prologue to the book. Be prepared for a twist in that one too!

I'm really happy with the book. It seems that many authors come to the last book in series and run out of ideas, which is not the case here. I'm sad to see it ended, but what a great ending it is. The Epilogue is sweet too.

I love Julia Quinn and looked forward to reading Gregory's story but what has happened to her writing style. It. Has. Been. Made. Into. A. Mess. So many short sentences and SO much repetition that I actually flipped pages .. on Julia! I suspect that the plot was a problem in that the two protoganists were apart from much of the time and the story only picked up at the end. But. It. Must. Not. Happen. Again. Julia.

Julia Quinn used to be a fresh writer whose stories were at turns witty and interesting. They held your attention with strong and quirky characters. I found myself wondering what went wrong with her last couple of books, including this one. This book is certainly a lackluster effort when compared to the Duke and I or earlier works.

I read this over a rainy weekend. I'm glad we have run out of Bridgertons at last. This is an example of what happens when you have too many characters and a formula to fill in. Dull!!! Very dull writing!!! How many times can a character frown, purse his/her lips, cross his arms across his broad chest, or place her hands on her hips? How may times can you write little asides and comments and not drive the reader crazy? I grew weary reading it. The story left no impression on me. I can't even remember how the plot resolved now, and it's only been a few weeks since I read it! Something happened, and they got married and had too may kids. That's all I remember. Blah.

I love Julia Quinn's work; she has a way with words that separates her from other romance novelists. Her other Bridgerton novels was completely magical and mesmerizing. However, On the Way to the Wedding was the exception. Yes, the book was funny, but after the first 100 or so pages, the humor seemed to melt away to nothing. JQ's books always had me rolling with laughter from cover to cover, but not this one.

The prologue was simply fabulous. It was the ultimate cliff-hanger, and it pulled me in. Judging from the prologue's greatness, I expected the book to be much better than it really was. After the first half of the book, the story seemed to drag on and on. Perhaps it was because the setting of the story had stayed the same for so long, or perhaps it was something else, but the feeling of struggling to finish a JQ story was shocking and unfamiliar to me. The epilogue also seemed unrealistic. While it was slightly humorous, the impracticality of the situation overshadowed any signature JQ wit that was present.

Readers who have also followed the Bridgerton series religiously might also agree with me on this one: there weren't many Bridgertons in this book! In JQ's past Bridgerton novels, all (or most of) the eight siblings made several -- and VERY funny, might I add -- appearances. Those interactions, which showcased the strongest family bond possible, were what made this series so magical and memorable. To have this book, the series' end, lack such a crucial element left me disappointed beyond belief.

For such an anticipated book, I can only say that this one simply was not Julia Quinn's greatest work. The twists and turns in the story's plot were good, but not great. The characters were fun to follow, but forgettable. I do not want to discourage any readers from picking up this book, as it IS an enjoyable summer read. However, I do wish to warn avid JQ fans like myself to not have as great of expectations as they have had in the past, otherwise they will experience the same let-down as I have.