Book Review: An Offer from a Gentleman (Bridgerton #3) by Julia Quinn

An Offer From a Gentleman by Julia Quinn

Genre: Historical Romance
Synopsis:
Miss Sophie Beckett is the illegitimate daughter of the earl of Penwood. Raised in his home, Sophie has a tolerable existence until the earl marries, when her life takes a distinct turn for the worse. Sophie's new stepmother hates her, and when the earl passes away, she relegates Sophie to the role of servant. Sophie's days are pure drudgery, until one night her fellow servants conspire to help her attend a masquerade ball.
Her life changes irrevocably when she meets handsome Benedict Bridgerton and falls head over heels in love. Benedict is equally smitten, but when the clock strikes midnight his beautiful mystery lady runs from him, leaving only her glove in his hand. He searches London for her, but she seems to have vanished. What Benedict doesn't know is that Sophie's stepmother has discovered her outing and thrown Sophie out of their London townhouse. Sophie leaves London, and it isn't until three years later that Benedict and Sophie's paths cross once again, when he saves her from the unwanted attentions of a drunken lord. Sophie recognizes Benedict immediately, but much to her dismay, he doesn't know her in her maid's dress. Soon, however, Benedict falls in love with Sophie all over again. Believing her to be a servant, he cannot conceive of a way to make her his, as she adamantly refuses to become his mistress. Both struggle with their feelings for each other, their unwillingness to compromise their principles, and the seemingly insurmountable wall separating a member of the nobility and a servant. To add to their difficulties, Sophie's vindictive stepmother discovers her presence in London and sets out to make her life even more miserable. It will take the combined force of the large Bridgerton family to help these two stubborn people realize a happy future together.
Goodreads

Review

It is a Cinderella story.. One magical night of just a few hours at a masquerade ball, but it was just enough time to know that they belonged together. At the strike of midnight, she flees back to the life she found herself with no choice but to live. 

Sophie and Benedict. They fight, they argue, and just as they believed that they hated eachother or had just a little falling out, they both find themselves drawn to one another like magnets. They crave to be in each others presence. Sigh, so romantic...

I picked it up and couldn't put it down (despite what my goodreads timeline states), it was engrossing to the point where whenever I would get interrupted in the middle of a chapter, my entire day goes completely wrong until I finish that chapter. This book eye'd me with disappointment when. I would put it down and my heart would skip a beat whenever I looked at it, knowing that the life in this Bridgerton series is much more exciting than the one I'm living in terms of romance. 

In this third book of the Bridgerton series, we get to see more of Lady Violet Bridgerton, the mother of all eight of the Bridgerton clan, and one of my favorite characters in this series. We get to see her suspicious gazes and assumptions, as well as her motherly scoldings towards her children, despite their age.

It was nice to hear another version of the Cinderella story. How it all turned out was well put. I wouldn't know what I would do if I were in Sophie's situation, since the book would be much a shorter if Sophie chose to decide otherwise in the situation she found herself in. 

It really appalling to see how time had gone by so quickly. Eloise and Francesca were just mere teenagers the list time they were mentioned, then boom! They both have come out into society and it will be their turn to marry. How time flies.

Towards the end, I'm putting in my guesses to who exactly is this Lady Wistledown. At first I thought it was Violet but then when it came to the last page of the epilogue, I thought it might Penelope Featherington...oh I don't know. She's the gossip girl of the historical era. I hope Quinn reveled her identity in the last book or something.

So far, this book is my favorite of the series, until I finish book four which I think I would love much more, 

A definite recommended series to those looking into their first historical romance series. Julia Quinn will make you fall in love the genre.