Talking of the TV series, it’s been said before and it’s worth saying again here that the books aren’t as diverse as the TV version is. It also runs paralel to Romancing Mr Bridgerton and To Sir Phillip, With Love so I’m really interested to see how the TV series deals with all that when it gets there. Some of the action takes place on the earl’s estate in Scotland so you don’t get to see much of the fun sibling dynamics that makes the other books. He’s also been in love with Francesca since the first time he saw her – 36 hours before her wedding. Michael was Francesca’s husband’s cousin and succeeded him as the earl. Our heroine is Francesca who is recovering from the death of her first husband, with the help of her dear friend and confident Michael. That said, the first book in the series that I read was book six – When He Was Wicked – which is actually pretty self-contained.

As with other similar romance series you can read them in any order, but you’ll get slight spoilers for the other books if you do – for example the real identity of Lady Whistledown the gossip columnist isn’t revealed in the first book (like it is in the first series of the TV show) you only find out when that character is the main character of one of the books.* There are no secret babies here, but there are fake relationships, widows, widowers, rakes, Cinderella stories, secret identities and more. Although the kids are named in alphabetical order (Anthony, Benedict, Colin, Daphne, Eloise, Francesca, Gregory and Hyacinth) the books aren’t in age order – so the happily ever afters are Daphne, Anthony, Benedict, Colin, Eloise, Francesca, Hyacinth and Gregory. The series follows the eight children of Violet Bridgerton and her late husband as they find love. Do you know what day today is? It’s the day the second season of Bridgerton arrives on Netflix! And so to celebrate, I’m writing about the book series that inspired the TV show.

The bridgertons book order