The excitement is building as the second season of the sexy Netflix rom-com, Bridgerton is set to return in March. According to our favorite gossip columnist, Lady Whistledown, the next installment promises to be a “whole lot spicier.”
On Whistledown’s authority, season two of Bridgerton is inspired by Julia Quinn’s sequel to The Duke and I, which formed the plot for the first season. The Viscount Who Loved Me (Avon) focuses on Anthony Bridgerton, the rakish eldest Bridgerton son, as he enters the marriage market. Considered to be the perennial bachelor and bad boy, Anthony is plagued by the early death of his beloved father, Edmund. At the age of 18, Anthony was thrust into the job as head of the Bridgerton household, and charged with wrangling his outgoing mother and eight lively siblings. Now, at age 29, he feels as though he’s staring down his own mortality. Anthony is convinced he will succumb to the same horrible fate as his father: death by a bee sting.
TIME TO SETTLE DOWN
Anthony decides it is time to settle down and have a family before it is too late. He knows that he’s a catch, and so he sets strict, and unrealistic, parameters for his new bride. She must be pleasant, intelligent, beautiful, companionable and “good breeding stock.” He’s determined that there’s will be a marriage of convenience and absolutely not a love match. It would break his heart to leave behind someone he truly loves while he and she are still in their youths.
Enter the young, pretty Edwina Sheffield, who is the belle of the 1814 London social season. Although Edwina does not come from wealth, she catches Anthony’s eye. However, in order to seek her hand in marriage, Anthony must win over her older and overly protective sister, Kate.
Kate has always played second fiddle to her younger sister, but she’s truly devoted to Edwina and will only consider a suitor she deems appropriate. She takes an immediate dislike to the “consummate rake” Anthony Bridgerton, telling him outright that it is going to be a hard sell to convince her to allow the marriage to proceed. Anthony pledges to win over the out-spoken, obstinate Kate, and sparks fly between the two. Actually, it is a cutthroat Pall-Mall match at his family’s country estate which cements their friendship.
As Kate and Anthony spend time getting to know each other, their opinions about each start to change. Kate discovers that Anthony is not the cad she believed him to be to be, and Anthony discovers that Kate is unlike any woman he has ever known. At night, they fantasize about each other, but by day, they live in denial of their affections due to Anthony’s intentions to marry Edwina.
The Viscount Who Loved Me is a classic rom-com love triangle, full of the color and pageantry of Georgian balls, horse-drawn carriage rides and romps in the garden, including a bee sting. And as in all every romance, readers will enjoy the many happy endings, and pulse-racing scenes, in this titillating tale.
DON’T CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM!
What can viewers expect from Bridgerton’s season two? Rumor has it that the Anthony-Edwina-Kate love triangle is a “hot, passionate” one, and it will keep the viewers guessing who will end up with whom. Younger sister, Eloise, the ardent feminist in the Bridgerton clan, is forced to entertain suitors despite her disdain for the patriarchal system. While lovely Penelope, the youngest of the garishly-dressed Featherington sisters, will have to deal with the complications of living a double life as a sweet society woman and her secret identity. And finally, viewers will meet the deceased patriarch, Edmund Bridgerton, in flashbacks connected to his influence over Anthony’s life.
If viewers and readers choose to read The Viscount Who Loved Me in anticipation of Bridgerton’s new season, it is a quick, fun read; or they can savor the series, episode by episode. If, as the executive producer Chris Van Dusen has indicated, the series remains true to the novel, season two will truly “bee” sexy, indeed. And the great news is that Netflix has ordered seasons 3 and 4, and Showrunner Shonda Rhimes has said that with eight Bridgerton siblings, there will be eight seasons, if not more. (Lady Whistledown has hinted that Julia Quinn is at work on a prequel, too.)
So, dear viewers and readers, set out the silver tea sets and cakes, and get ready to binge, because there’s no such thing as too much Bridgerton.
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About Julia Quinn:
#1 New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn loves to dispel the myth that smart women don’t read (or write) romance, and if you watch reruns of the game show The Weakest Link, you might just catch her winning the $79,000 jackpot. She displayed a decided lack of knowledge about baseball, country music and plush toys, but she is proud to say that she aced all things British and literary, answered all of her history and geography questions correctly, and knew that there was a Da Vinci long before there was a code.
