The Viscount Who Loved Me
If you’re looking to read just one of the Bridgerton books after watching the immensely popular Netflix adaptation, start with The Viscount Who Loved Me, published in 2000. Second in Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series, the novel showcases the author’s sweet, sometimes silly, and terribly interesting plots. It’s 1814 and Viscount Anthony Bridgerton has it all figured out. He doesn’t want to get married—he’s fearful he’ll die young like his father and doesn’t want to inflict that pain on someone else—but he’ll do it for the sake of duty, and there’s no one better for the role of his wife than Edwina Sheffield. She’s the “incomparable” of the season and most importantly, he’s not in love with her, which would only complicate things. But Anthony can’t seem to stop thinking about Edwina’s spinster sister Kate. Kate, meanwhile, is determined to protect her sister from the so-called “reformed” rake, but realizes that it’s not Edwina she needs to worry about. Unlike the first book in the series, this is the one that truly anchors the reader in the expansive Bridgerton family universe, setting the stage for romances to come.