Review: To Sir Philip, with Love, by Julia Quinn

Rating:

💌💌💌💌

First Response:

Heavy Sound of Music vibes with this one.

One Sentence Summary:

Eloise Bridgerton has been corresponding with Sir Philip by letter, and the relationship has developed all the way to a proposal of marriage!

Tell Me More:

Stay with me for a minute, 'cause I'm gonna make a wild comparison. This book reminds me of A Game of Thrones. Wild, I know, but hear me out!

To Sir Philip, with Love follows Eloise Bridgerton as she is courted by her paramour Philip Crane. The two have only corresponded by letter until the fateful night that Eloise decides to ride off into the darkness and ambush her pen pal at the end of Romancing Mister Bridgerton. Over the course of the novel, Eloise struggles to rectify her pre-constructed mental picture of Philip, as well as her preconceived notions of what a romantic pairing should be like, with the reality she's living through as she is courted, married, and bedded. Philip in the flesh is very different than the dashing poet Eloise has come to love in her head, poring over his letters in secret. The real Philip is a dirty botanist more interested in his greenhouse than his children; and uncomfortably sex-deprived since his children were born. His previous wife suffered from depression, which seemed to have been exacerbated in her post-partum period, and ultimately dies from complications arising from a suicide attempt.

Dirty, disinterested, sex-deprived, and traumatized-- not exactly the dashing, romantic figure Eloise was expecting.

The Game of Thrones connection comes from parallels between Eloise's story and Sansa Stark's story. Sansa is a little girl who dreams of chivalry, knights in shining armor, and princesses rescued from towers; but the world of Westeros is far grimmer than anything she heard in a courtly song. Likewise, Eloise has grown up in a household of love matches, and dreams of falling in love herself with a man who will sweep her off her feet. Both stories are about coming to grips with reality, and learning to endure through disappointments.

For the record, Sir Philip isn't nearly so grubby as my description makes him sound. He's a perfectly fine gentleman, even if he does need to spend more time with his kids. The way he thinks about pawning them off on Eloise once they're married made me kinda piqued at him; and I think Quinn tries to tie up that particular plotline a little too neatly with a melodramatic moment that hits well in the narrative, but strikes me as just a little too far-fetched to be realistic. Yes, he's traumatized, and it's the nineteenth century. Therapy isn't a thing yet; I get it; BUT!

The dude needs to deal with his shit.

Overall, though, I thought the book was good enough to merit a reread. Between the chaotic antics of the Crane twins and the Eloise's well-realized arc, I thought this made a good entry in the Bridgerton canon.

We're in the back half of the series now, so I'm interested to see how Quinn wraps up the series as we come down to the last three Bridgerton tots.