Title: It’s In His Kiss
Author:  Julia Quinn
Publisher/Year:  Harper Collins 3/28/17
Length:  298 Pages
Series: The Bridgertons #7

Overview

Meet Our Hero . . .

Gareth St. Clair is in a bind. His father, who detests him, is determined to beggar the St. Clair estates and ruin his inheritance. Gareth’s sole bequest is an old family diary, which may or may not contain the secrets of his past . . . and the key to his future. The problem is—it’s written in Italian, of which Gareth speaks not a word.

Meet Our Heroine . . .

All the ton agreed: there was no one quite like Hyacinth Bridgerton. She’s fiendishly smart, devilishly in small doses. But there’s something about her—something charming and vexing—that grabs him and won’t quite let go . . .

Meet Poor Mr. Mozart . . .

Or don’t. But rest assured, he’s spinning in his grave when Gareth and Hyacinth cross paths at the annual—and annually discordant—Smythe-Smith musicale. To Hyacinth, Gareth’s every word seems a dare, and she offers to translate his diary, even though her Italian is slightly less than perfect. But as they delve into the mysterious text, they discover that the answers they seek lie not in the diary, but in each other . . . and that there is nothing as simple—or as complicated—as a single, perfect kiss.

My Thoughts

I’m still surprised every time I read another installment to this series as it must be such a challenge to write about continuations of the same family story but with new eyes, new personalities and new trials. It seems as though our lovely author Ms Quinn has saved the most dynamic and troublesome for last and that’s what we get with Hyacinths story.

The way that this one is laid out is a bit of tellings us where we are in time and what we may have missed in a blurb at the onset of every chapter. What’s nice about that is that we’ve managed to set the stage and we know from whom’s perspective we’re about to read.

We don’t know much about Mr St Clair – which is the point. What we do know is that he’s got a reputation much like that of Anthony, Benedict or even Simon, but what also comes with that is a dark and troubled family backstory. That’s always the case with the ‘to be spouse’ of a Bridgerton so I was excited to see how that one evolved.

Gareth was the younger son of the Lord St Clair and clearly not the favorite child. It’s safe to say even that his father hated him, had it out for him, tortured him and even disowned him once he hit an age where he would be able to manage on his own. He also told Gareth’s older brother to cut him off, but the brotherly bond is more important than anything. At the same time he was thrown out of the house, Gareth also learns that he’s the result of an affair that his mother has and that his ‘father’ doesn’t even know who his real father is.

At the same time we get to engage in the world of Hyacinth. She’s the youngest of all the Bridgertons and if you’l recall, she was born after her father passed away. She’s always been a bit more independent or strong willed than the others, even more so than Eloise, but at the same time, she does want to find a husband, just that it has to be someone who can match her. She’s been out in society for three seasons and has had a handful of proposals, just none that she wants to take up on the offer.

We watch as their worlds collide from time to time through a relationship that Hyacinth has with his Grandmother Lady Danbury, and how Gareth also dotes on her very much. As a result, they are around each other more and more and come to realize that perhaps they have an attraction even if they irritate one another. If that’s not enough, they have a puzzle that they need the other to solve which continues to pull them together.

Gareth is given the diary of his grandmother from Italy which he needs someone to translate. That’s where Hyacinth’s role comes into play as she’s able to read a bit of Italian and she goes on her quest. What she discovers is so much more than anyone expected. She reads how his grandmother hated to be matched with the man that she married, and how she truly wanted to be anywhere else. She also shares that she received a gift of jewels from her grandmother which she chose to hide because she didn’t want her husband to get his hands on them.

That’s where the bulk of our story takes place – watching as they try to translate and decipher clues that will take them to where the jewels were hidden, in Gareth’s father’s house…and what that means for their reputations and relationship when they are forced to spend so much time together.

They try to be proper and they continue to antagonize one another so much that it’s inevitable that something will happen that may take decisions out of their hands. I enjoyed this one and I enjoyed the discovery of the jewels, even if it wasn’t what we had all hoped for. Were they what was expected? did it meet the thrill of the hunt?

All that’s left now is Gregory’s story and I can’t wait to dive into that one and see how this series resolves. Enjoy!