Title: On the Way to the Wedding
Author: Julia Quinn
Publisher/Year: Harper Collins 4/25/17
Length: 300 Pages
Series: The Bridgertons #8
Overview
A funny thing happened …
Unlike most men of his acquaintance, Gregory Bridgerton believes in true love. And he is convinced that when he finds the woman of his dreams, he will know in an instant that she is the one. And that is exactly what happened. Except …
She wasn’t the one. In fact, the ravishing Miss Hermione Watson is in love with another. But her best friend, the ever-practical Lady Lucinda Abernathy, wants to save Hermione from a disastrous alliance, so she offers to help Gregory win her over. But in the process, Lucy falls in love. With Gregory! Except …
Lucy is engaged. And her uncle is not inclined to let her back out of the betrothal, even once Gregory comes to his senses and realizes that it is Lucy, with her sharp wit and sunny smile, who makes his heart sing. And now, on the way to the wedding, Gregory must risk everything to ensure that when it comes time to kiss the bride, he is the only man standing at the altar …
My Thoughts
We knew that the series was going to come to an end because there were no more Bridgertons to write about, but i’m sad nonetheless. What we have is a great finale though to the series, and a nice way to tie up the journey that we’ve gone on with the Bridgertons.
Just like the summary notes- we are kicking off this book in an exciting fashion . We are watching Gregory, the youngest boy in the family sprint to the chapel in the hopes of stopping a wedding. We don’t know the background just yet as to who this girl is and what brought him to stop the wedding, but we know that it has to be good – right?
We go back about two months when there’s a party at Anthony and Kate’s country home where Gregory is invited and stops in. What we know of him so far from the other stories is that he’s a bit more outgoing and cynical than his older siblings and he often gives Hyacinth a run for her money because he tries to protect her and he knows that he can get away with more hassle than most. We also watch as he acknowledges that romance and true love are a thing seeing as how all his siblings made love matches ahead of him, so he’s hoping to find his love and knows that he’ll feel this earth moving moment as soon as he sees her.
Which is exactly what happens at this party.
Two guests that are also invited are Lucinda (Lucy) and Hermoine, two friends who are having a pre-season debut here at the country party – as their guardians/parents believe that they need to get a bit polished in smaller events before they make a true debut among the ton.
When Gregory walks in and lays sight on Hermoine and Lucy, he thinks that he’s felt the earth move – that his life has been changed forever. He sees Hermoine across the room and she’s the kind of lady who hast he attention of just about any and every man out there – yet she doesn’t return the attentions at all. She’s in love with a man from back home but of course every man out there thinks that he can change her. Gregory included.
One of the ways that he goes about it is through a friendship with Lucy who’s able to give him ‘good insight’ on how he can try to win Hermoine over by doing the opposite of what every other man has done. Of course we readers know that there’s more to the story than meets the eye and perhaps Lucy doesn’t know what’s best.
Anyhow, we watch how Gregory does his best to win over the woman that he thinks is his true love, all while we watch Lucy gain interest in Gregory, while knowing that she’s been promised to marry another man. Her uncle who’s taken over as her guardian has engaged her to a man who’s destined for power. Everyone tells her that he’ll treat her well, but she herself wants to have a love match too.
We can only anticipate what will happen right? WRONG.
There are so many twists thrown into this one. We watch how Hermoine starts to feel something more for Gregory and we think that he may succeed in what he has set out to do – meaning that she’s the one that he stops the wedding of – as she’s likely gone back to her love from back home. Mind you – he’s not the only one who’s managed to gain her attentions. When Lucy’s brother comes to retrieve her as her uncle wants to have the wedding sooner than later, we see a quick and scandalous interaction between her brother and Hermoine which changes the trajectory of this story completely.
What happens from there is that we see an interesting connection grow between Gregory and Lucy before she’s rushed home. We see fast wedding arrangements made for Hermoine, and again that leads us to a stopping of a wedding back in London.
There are interesting circumstances that brought that wedding about, and blackmail that we love to get to the bottom of. We have professions of love and still the idea that happiness will never come because that’s just not meant to be in this story. We also learn personal secrets about a few characters in this story that make us really enjoy the comedic relief that can sometimes be brought.
It’s an exciting culmination to everything that’s gone on thus far in the series. We watch as the power of family continues to be important and the sway that the Bridgertons have in society truly means something even when they don’t hold the highest title in England.
What’s even better is the 2nd Epilogue although I was almost certain that we would see a slightly different ending and I was almost hopeful for things to end up not as they did, just because I think that the story maybe deserved a new resolution. Regardless, it was a nice way to end the series and now i’m sad to be done with it. On that note – off to find something new to read. Enjoy!