Easily the grossest Julia Quinn to date (I could barely get through the nasty medical business), but still very funny and sweet. I was telling Jeff about the plot and he was like, "I'm sorry, did you say the main character's name is gonorrhea?" And I was like, whoops, I bet it's pronounced hon-OR-ia not hono-RI-a. Yikes. I was also baffled trying to remember what happened to Colin Bridgerton's hand. [b:Romancing Mr. Bridgerton|6077589|Romancing Mister Bridgerton (Bridgertons, #4)|Julia Quinn|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Hn3lBniNL._SL75_.jpg|659482] is my #1 favorite Julia Quinn, so I should really remember, yet I can't recall. I guess I'll have to read it again! ( )

This book just put a smile on my face. i really loved how we got some tiebacks to the bridgteron series and also jsut really did like the both main characters. It was quick read with brother best feidn roamcne element. I dont think i loved this series as much as her previous works but it was funr ead and loved beign back in this world. it was another read that just made me smile! ( )

This book just put a smile on my face. i really loved how we got some tiebacks to the bridgteron series and also jsut really did like the both main characters. It was quick read with brother best feidn roamcne element. I dont think i loved this series as much as her previous works but it was funr ead and loved beign back in this world. it was another read that just made me smile! ( )

This book takes place more or less in the vicinity of Romancing Mr. Bridgerton (Colin's book) timeline wise. In fact the musicale that takes place during the end of this book is the one featured during Chapter 7 of Romancing Mr. Bridgerton (and yes I took out my copy to double check this because I remembered Lady Whistledown mentioning something about Honoria's violin...) Don't worry none of that paragraph is a spoiler for either book (and only one is a spoiler for the other, but I'm not saying which!).

Since the very first mention of the Smythe-Smiths in the Bridgerton Saga (make no mistake it is a SAGA) I've been curious about them. So it was with great anticipation that I waited for this book (the first in a quartet).

It didn't let me down.

More importantly, despite many of Quinn's recent books being only so-so for me, JUST LIKE HEAVEN reminded me why I enjoyed her writing so much. Marcus and Honoria are delightful together and I found myself tearing up a number of times during the 'deathly sickness' Marcus suffered from. I knew this had a HEA (happily ever after), its a romance for a reason and Quinn never lets a reader down, but in those moments in his sick room I truly felt scared for Honoria and Marcus.

Its obvious from the first pages that Honoria and Marcus are meant to be together, though Marcus tried to treat her as the annoying little sister of his school friend, he just couldn't say no to her. Truth be told Marcus was a bit too...well rounded. He had a lacklustre family life so he adored visiting his friend Daniel's house because of the large family atmosphere. His father was distant and neglectful, but not particularly cruel as such things go. If Marcus had any 'wild oats' he wanted to sow he did it very discreetly.

He was just so very serious. He took his duties and obligations very seriously. And from the first time he met Honoria he felt duty bound to protect her and by golly he did. Its very likely he had fallen in love with her first and didn't realize it, which is a change from the girl loving the guy for years on end.

Honoria wasn't what I expected. We see very little of the Smythe-Smiths outside of the musicales; they're not particularly close (any of them and there are many of them) with the Bridgertons so Quinn never truly focused on any of them as characters with individual personalities. Honoria had many of the hallmarks of Quinn's ladies--she was quick-witted, generous, prone to short fits of irritation and lacking some sort of confidence. In Honoria's case some of it stemmed from the scandal her brother Daniel got run out of the country for, causing their mother to go into a decline that involved basically ignoring the rest of her children and some of it stemmed from Marcus' involvement in her personal affairs.

The insight into the Smythe-Smiths world however was interesting and cast a different look onto some aspects of the Bridgerton Saga. For instance in the Saga the Bridgertons are either universally touted as a wonderful family or bitterly hated. In Honoria (and Marcus' for that matter) world the Bridgerton Clan just are. Mentions are made about various members, Gregory's eligibility as a husband for instance and Colin's flirting with Honoria at one point, but their lives so rarely touched upon Honoria or Marcus' they were just quirky addition for long time readers.

As it stands I wonder which other Smythe-Smiths will be featured? Other unmarried Smythe-Smiths are involved in the book, plus a family...acquaintance who was given quite a bit more attention and mystery then I would have otherwise surmised important to her character. Quinn is tightlipped however so I'll just have to wait in suspense! ( )

Bellissimo ( )