Book Review: When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn

It's my first time reading Julia Quinn's novel, but the Times was having this buy 3 for the price of 2 thing, so I bought 3 of her books all at once!

The first book I read was "When He Was Wicked" & I found out tht all her books chronicled the love lives of a family of 8 siblings - The Bridgerton. She has 7 books so far, so obviously we can expect the 8th for the 2nd youngest son of the family.

This book is about Francesca, the 6th child of the Bridgerton. She was married to an Earl (John)whom she loved dearly. She's also a very close friend of her husband's cousin - Michael (who's well-known for his "wicked" exploits with the female species). Michael is secretly in love with her too, but as John is as close as a brother to him, naturally Francesca is off limits.

John died suddenly - supposedly due to a ruptured blood vessel in the brain & left Francesca a widow at 22. Michael suddenly became the Earl, succeding his cousin, since John & Francesca were childless. Well, the foregone conclusion was, with John gone, he should be able to confess his love for Francesca....

Darn Michael's (& later Francesca's) conscience though... cos' he felt like he's "stolen" the title & wealth of his cousin (though for the life of me, I can't understand how he can be so egoistical as to think tht he - a mere human, can cause the death of his cousin by rupturing John's blood vessel. Tht would be like assuming God-like figure). He can't bear the thought tht he's "stealing" John's wife as well. When he finally managed to break free of his mental barrier & started pursuing her, it's Francesca's turn to have the guilt / conscience... :-)

Well, at the end they got together... Good light reading, but Judith McNaught is still a class above.