''The Viscount Who Loved Me'' is a 2000

historical romance Historical romance is a broad category of mass-market fiction focusing on romantic relationships in historical periods, which Walter Scott helped popularize in the early 19th century. Varieties Viking These books feature Vikings during the Da ...

novel written by

Julia Quinn Julie Pottinger (née Cotler; born 1970), better known by her pen name Julia Quinn, is a best-selling American author of historical romance fiction. Her novels have been translated into 41 languages, and have appeared on ''The New York Times'' Be ...

, first published by Avon. It is the second novel of Quinn's Bridgerton series set in

Regency England The Regency era of British history officially spanned the years 1811 to 1820, though the term is commonly applied to the longer period between and 1837. George III of the United Kingdom, King George III succumbed to mental illness in late 18 ...

and tells the story of Anthony, Viscount Bridgerton who is the eldest of the Bridgerton siblings. It is a #1 ''New York Times'' Best Seller.

Plot

In 1814, after years as one of the most notorious rakes of the

ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...

, Anthony, Viscount Bridgerton, decides to settle down and carry on the family line. Haunted by his father's death at a young age from a bee sting, Anthony now believes, albeit irrationally, that he will die young too, and does not want the complication of falling in love. Meanwhile, Kate Sheffield arrives in London's ton with her younger half-sister Edwina and her stepmother Mary. She is determined to find a suitable husband for Edwina, who is intelligent and renowned for her beauty, and is less hopeful about her own prospects as a near

spinster ''Spinster'' is a term referring to an unmarried woman who is older than what is perceived as the prime age range during which women usually marry. It can also indicate that a woman is considered unlikely to ever marry. The term originally den ...

. When Anthony begins to court Edwina, Kate is determined to interfere, doubting that he is reformed from his roguish ways. Despite the animosity between the two, a mutual attraction begins to develop they attempt to deny. While visiting Aubrey Hall, the Bridgertons' country estate, Kate is stung by a bee while with Anthony. He is overcome with fear and attempts to tend the wound; they are caught in a compromising position by their mothers, leading Anthony to declare he will marry Kate to protect their reputations. Society gossip accepts that the viscount was actually courting Kate when he seemed to be visiting Edwina, and Edwina is happy for them, having suspected Kate's affection. However, Kate struggles with her growing feelings for Anthony as he insists that while he will marry her, he will never love her.

Reception

In March 2022, ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

'' ranked ''The Viscount Who Loved Me'', a perennial fan favorite, as the best book of the ''Bridgerton'' series for its enemies-to-lovers

trope Trope or tropes may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Trope (cinema), a cinematic convention for conveying a concept * Trope (literature), a figure of speech or common literary device * Trope (music), any of a variety of different things ...

"full of banter and chemistry" with character development for the central couple, "both as a pair and on their own." * #1 ''New York Times'' Best Seller * ''USA Today'' Best Seller List * ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' Mass Market Bestseller * ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' Extended Bestseller list * 2001 RITA Awards Nomination in the Long Historical Category

Adaptation

The novel is the inspiration for the second season of the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series ''

Bridgerton ''Bridgerton'' is an American historical- romance streaming television series created by Chris Van Dusen for Netflix. Based on the book series by Julia Quinn, it is Shondaland's first scripted show for Netflix. It revolves around the epony ...

'' which premiered on March 25, 2022.

Jonathan Bailey Jonathan Stuart Bailey (born 25 April 1988) is an English actor. Known for his comedic, dramatic, and musical roles on stage and screen, he is the recipient of a Laurence Olivier Award and a nomination for a Evening Standard Theatre Award. Bai ...

reprised his role as Anthony, Viscount Bridgerton with

Simone Ashley Simone Ashwini Pillai (born 30 March 1995), known professionally as Simone Ashley, is a British actress. She is known for her breakout role in the Netflix period drama ''Bridgerton'' (2022–present) and ''Sex Education'' (2019–2021). Early ...

playing Kate. The season amassed 193 million viewing hours in its opening weekend, the highest opening for any English-language Netflix series at the time. It also broke the record for most viewed English-language series in a single week at that time, with 251.74 million viewing hours from March 28 to April 3. By April 19, ''Bridgerton''s second season had overtaken its predecessor as the most watched English-language television series on Netflix at the time with 627.11 million hours viewed since its launch.

References

External links

Official Bridgerton Series Website

Official Bridgerton Series Character List

Official Bridgerton Family Tree
{{DEFAULTSORT:The Viscount Who Loved Me Bridgerton (novel series) 2000 American novels American novels adapted into television shows American romance novels English-language novels Love stories Regency romance novels Works about marriage