Thank you to NetGalley for granting this ARC, super cute and fast read. The couples were adorable and the story was cute.

Fans of the Netflix series Bridgerton are have caused an mad run on the original books in the series. I imagine they will be stoked to know there is a companion series the Smythe-Smith quartet and this prequel series. This series features the sisters of Lord Bridgerton, father to the 8 alphabetically siblings in the Netflix series.

In First Comes Scandal, we meet the younger sister of Edmund, Georgie, in the middle of an interesting tale. (If I remember correctly what happened to her is mentioned in one or more of the other novels) Georgie was abducted by a man, Freddie, who had been courting her. Freddie had gambling debts and needed her dowry now. He was trying to run off with her to Scotland. At an inn Georgie beat him up then tied him up and escaped out a window. Not knowing where she was and having no idea how to get home, she luckily ran into Lady Danbury in the coaching yard of the inn. If you have read any of the books you know how fortuitous this is. I would love to know what Lady Danbury did to Freddie. I am sure it was awesome.

Georgie is now considered ruined. Her parents want to marry her off before the tale spreads to far but Georgie has always been sheltered because of her asthma and didn't have a Season. She does not know many people. Instead her godfather, the Earl of Manston, has decided to call his youngest son, Nicholas home from school. The Earl demands that Nicholas marry Georgie, a girl who until now has been like a sister to Nicholas.

Nicholas has grown up in a family like the Bridgerton's who value love matches. He balks at the idea of an arranged, forced marriage. He wants love too but he also wants to help his friend. Georgie does not want his pity she also wants love. Can these two fall in love and agree to marry in a matter of days?
Each of the Bridgerton ladies is a force to be reckoned with and Georgie reminds me of Eloise. She is a woman who knows what she wants and goes for it!

Julia Quinn always writes reliably enjoyable romance and this is no different. The plot seemed a bit thin but if you are a fan of the series, you’ll enjoy seeing previous characters return.

I love this series so much, and really loved this addition! Julia Quinn is just such a wonderful romance writer, and she has created such a delightful world in this series. I don't think that you have to read the rest of the series to enjoy this one at all, but of course I recommend reading them all to receive the most benefit!

I absolutely adore Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series and have enjoyed the related Rokesbys series. The first half of First Comes Scandal was delightful with a lot of humor and witty banter, which is Julia Quinn's specialty. The spark that the protagonists Georgia and Nicholas felt was palpable and the relationship which developed between them seemed natural. The second half of the book felt rushed, however, and fell a little flat. I would have liked spend more time with the characters as they adjusted to married life since their courtship was so brief. The thread of Georgie's interest in medicine and Nicholas' support of her could have been more developed.

The review copy of this book was sent to me for interview purposes. Am attaching a snippet of this interview here:

Q: Firstly, I just want to say what a big fan I am. I know you must get this all the time from interviewers, but I promise that I have read nearly all your books (I can show you my goodreads shelf as proof). Whenever I had time off from school, I would head to the library, hoping to see a book from you that I haven’t read yet. I often lingered in the ‘Q’ section, so much so that I must have cut quite the suspicious figure. That’s also how I discovered Amanda Quick.

A: That’s more funny than you know, because I originally chose the name Quinn as my pen name because I wanted to be near Amanda Quick. I thought her readers would like my books.

What a fun read! I have loved the Bridgertons from the beginning and the kidnapping plot was a fun twist to throw in the mix.

What a great story of friends and how they came to be husband and wife. It was great to see how they overcame the their initial awkwardness and how really well suited they were for each. Once they overcome the of the start of their relationship. It was a fun feel good read. It was great to see Edmund and Violet’s romance knowing what happens to them later

I have become a Julia Quinn fan through and through. This is definitely classic Julia Quinn. It will keep your interest and you will find yourself invested in these well written characters.

I'm not sure I've read a book by Julia Quinn that I didn't enjoy. Both of the main characters were immensely likable and I wish Ms. Quinn would write a series of follow-up novels about their marriage and practice. The epilogue was so perfect with Georgie helping in a substantive way with Nick's medical practice. While I enjoyed this book, I do wish there was more of Assistant Doctor Georgie in the story. This is a book easily read during a lazy afternoon.

Ugh, how do I start. I love Julia Quinn. That is a fact.

This book starts out good, then...just falls off. Maybe there are too many books on the Brigertons and extended family. I wanted to say I loved this book, but sadly no.

Georgiana Bridgerton has led a pretty subdued life until she was kidnapped by fortune-hunting Freddie Oake. Even though she got away physically unscathed, her reputation is in ruins. Nicholas Rokesby is the fourth son of an earl who has been away studying to be a doctor. The Bridgertons and Rokebys are close friends, as well as in-laws, and the Rokebys have the answer to Georgiana’s unfortunate situation and so the story begins.

It’s been a while since I have read one of Julia Quinn’s books so I was looking forward to picking up this one and right away I was invested in Georgiana and Nicholas’s story. I laughed, those butlers are funny! The couple's banter was entertaining. Then about halfway through, the tempo changed. Almost like it just needed to be wrapped up and done. Regardless, I still enjoyed this book, and I now plan to go back and read the other Rokesby books.

First Comes Scandal (A Bridgerton Prequel). By Julia Quinn. 2020. Avon (ARC eBook).

First Comes Scandal begins with Georgiana Bridgerton having to face the realities that her reputation is ruined. After previously having been abducted by a professed admirer wanting her hand (or substantial dowry) in marriage, she is facing a future as a spinster. Enter her hero, the fourth son of an earl and childhood neighbor and friend to the Bridgerton siblings, Nicholas Rokesby. Nicholas is studying to be a doctor in Edinburgh and has no aspirations to be a husband at this time, but if he offers for Georgiana’s hand, he can offer her protection. Now he just has to get her to say yes.

If you're in the mood for a laid back story, pick this up. But I honestly found it a bit lackluster and on the whole, a very average novel that would have probably been better suited as a novella.

It breaks my heart to say that this book is NOT on the same level as other JQ novels.

I've read nearly all of Mrs Quinn's books and have adored all of them so I was so excited to receive this one. Unfortunately, I have to say it is a solid 2.5 Stars. It's somewhere between "it's okay" and "I liked it."

Where did it go wrong?
Well, after the first 30% of the book or so, nothing else happens. NOTHING.
I will say I enjoyed the characters very much. They were very likable. Their conversations were full of witty banter. But, that is really the only thing that happens during the largest portion of this book. Nice witty banter. Nothing else.

Since I've been following Julia Quinn for the past 10+ years, I will continue to eagerly await her next book, but this one just fell flat.


*I was provided a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.*

I am never let down by Julia Quinn's books and this is no exception. Her trademark humor is always the lure, but the wonderful characters, well drawn setting, poignant love story are what always bring me back. This might not have been the strongest in the series, but a weak Julia Quinn is better than most anything else out there.

Neither my favorite nor my least favorite book in the Rokesbys series. I would have appreciated if this book had more plot to it, but I did love the relationship between the two main characters.

Before reading Julia Quinn’s latest release, First Comes Scandal, I hadn’t read anything in about two months. Strange, because like most romance readers I am ALWAYS reading something and because (like most romance readers) I always have books waiting for me. But as the time since my last read led into our current moment, the idea of picking up a book to read felt even further away.

I didn’t have a lot of expectations coming into First Comes Scandal. It had been a little while since I had read the most recent books in the Rokesby series and my memories of Georgiana Bridgerton, the heroine of this book, were mostly of her as a periphery character in the series’ first book, Because of Miss Bridgerton. But like with all my reading slumps, I had a feeling that reading an author that was incredibly familiar to me might help shake something loose. One of the delights of this book was that I felt like I knew it. As Sarah mentioned in our conversation on Episode 399 of the podcast, if you’ve read Quinn, you know the world. It is a deeply familiar one and First Comes Scandal, with its appearances of Anthony and Benedict Bridgerton as children and Colin Bridgerton as a baby, is no exception. With those cameos, and the appearance of Violet Bridgerton, First Comes Scandal is the book in this series that most clearly reminded me that it is in fact a prequel to the Bridgertons.


First Comes Scandal is friends-to-lovers meets marriage of convenience. Friends to lovers is never really my go-to, but marriage of convenience is my “drop everything for it” trope, and I think one of the places that friends to lovers works best for me. The question I, and many other friends-to-lovers skeptics have, is why now? Why are these people falling in love now? But when marriage of convenience is mixed in, I become a little less skeptical.

After Georgie Bridgerton is kidnapped by a wayward suitor, family friend Nicholas Rokesby is summoned home from medical school by his father to, as Nicholas finds out only when he arrives, save Georgie’s reputation by marrying her. While neither Nicholas nor Georgie is particularly thrilled by being told that this is essentially their only option, they do (shock to no one) agree to marry. Both Nicholas and Georgie struggle with their overall lack of agency for much of this decision. For Nicholas, the order by his father to marry Georgie irks more than the idea of marriage to her itself:

Lord Manston snorted. “If you think I have ever managed to tell you mother or sister what to do, you are sadly mistaken.”

Nicholas set down his glass. He’d had enough. It wasn’t even noon. “Then why are you doing so with me?”

“Because I have no other choice,” his father shot back. “Georgiana needs you.”

“You would sacrifice your son for the benefit of your goddaughter.”

“That’s not at all what I’m doing, and you know it.”

It felt like it, though. It felt like his father was choosing a favorite child, and it was not Nicholas.

It was not even a Rokesby.

Georgie carries the concern that should Nicholas marry her to save her from societal ruin, she will forever owe him a debt of gratitude. This is something I think about a lot in marriages where one person is saving the other from ruin, and I don’t think this dynamic is examined enough in romances like these. I was glad it was part of Georgie’s story. Even as she falls in love with Nicholas and he falls in love with her, she is continually worried that the unevenness with which their relationship began will carry on through the rest of their lives.

This concern, however, is really beautifully counteracted by Georgie’s growing interest in assisting Nicholas in his medical work. Over the course of the novel, Nicholas is asked to provide medical assistance to a number of people. As she is often by his side (or talks her way into being there) Georgie slowly becomes a sort of medical assistant to Nicholas. Her involvement in his work becomes the ground where they bond over common interest, but also where Georgie begins to understand that she may not be a sacrifice that Nicholas made, but a potential partner.

As an aside, Georgie also gets to experience this glorious moment where she realizes she’s suuuuper into Nicholas as a competent doctor:


Nicholas had been magnificent this evening. There was something thrilling about a man who was capable, who could do things and fix things. She’d been mesmerized by his hands, by his flat, square nails, and the quiet confidence of his movements.

What you’re experiencing, my dear, is a competency boner, and it happens to the best of us.

Georgie and Nicholas’s relationship is the sweet, low angst build of two people who already knew they liked each other learning that they like each other in a new, more romantic way. Falling in love is not fraught, but rather easier than either of them imagined.

She gave him a look, then sputtered with laughter. “What does that mean?”

He grinned again, rather enjoying the feel of it on his face. “I have no idea.”

He was comfortable with her. He could make the sort of stupid comments that were only a little bit funny and made no sense. The kind one made when one didn’t have to weigh every word and worry about judgment or scorn.

That’s how it had always been with Georgie–well, except for the night before. And even that had turned out fine in the end.

There were worse fates than marrying one’s friend.

There is an ease from all directions in First Comes Scandal that was particularly soothing to me right now. The gentleness of Georgie and Nicholas’s relationship once they commit to one another, the overall lightness and humor of many of the book’s characters (there are some truly excellent butlers in this book and some fantastic cats). Georgie’s own character felt a bit flat at times in comparison to those around her, but a more distinctive personality begins to emerge as the book goes on. Her own development felt in part like a conscious choice, as Georgie expresses that her weak lungs in childhood often left her sidelined.

I think I can make you happy. I know I will try.

I think if I go with you to Edinburgh I might find that I’m not the person I always thought I was.

Maybe I’m someone better.

In the stress of the world right now, there is something extra reassuring in a book that, to put it plainly, isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel. First Comes Scandal never makes you wonder if they’ll end up together (although I LOVE that kind of angst at the right time), and it doesn’t make the characters, or the reader, work too hard for the happily ever after. And honestly? Thank god. As the world started to fall apart around me and I attempted to ease myself back into reading, it was a balm to be with this book and know that this world, at least, felt familiar.

I can’t guarantee that in, say, eight months, I will read First Come Scandal again and have the same reaction, because I actually really love romance that is trying to do something new. But this first time, it was the right book at the right moment. Familiar enough that it didn’t feel like work, gentle enough that it caused me no stress. For some that may not sound like a ringing endorsement. But I think that for others, not having to work for or agonize over the happily ever after right now might be just what the doctor ordered.

1791. An unusual beginning!

Nicholas Rokesby has been studying in Edinborough to be a doctor. When his father calls him home urgently he little knew the proposal his father had in mind. He was imagining one sort of tragedy and was gob smacked by something quite different.
Local neighbor and his father's goddaughter Georgiana Bridgerton, whom Nicolas regarded as a sister, has against her will been placed in a compromising position by an impecunious admirer, Freddie Oakes.
This had a brilliant beginning, some truly funny moments, and a feisty heroine who had expected to marry for love. The various cat inclusions were delightfully different bordering on hilarious.
Our hero started off fabulously and then in my mind lagged, although he does keep reviewing his attitudes towards women.
We see enough of Georgina to understand she has a truly enquiring mind that could take action when needed. The last part of the book is a comment on women of the times, particularly medical aspirants, not being allowed to work equally alongside men.
So a few tropes came together; marriage of convenience, virgin couples (quite unexpected and nicely done--a five star inclusion), and women's place in 18th century England.
I just felt the last part of the book didn't quite live up to the fabulous beginning. A charming read however and a must read for those who love Quinn's Rockesby / Bridgerton series.

A HarperCollins ARC via NetGalley

Ms Quinn never disappoints! With familiar characters and a sweet love story, this novel was easy to enjoy. I always look forward to visiting with the world that Ms. Quinn has created and this was no exception. I look forward to re-reading this several times.

I love Julia Quinn novels and First Comes Scandal doesn't disappoint! I literally laughed out loud through several of the sections. I liked Georgie and Nicholas as romantic partners-they seemed believable. I especially loved their medical philosophical discussions The romance was steamy and touching. Thank you for another wonderful Bridgerton prequel novel!