An Offer From a Gentleman (Bridgerton Series, Book #3)

by Julia Quinn

An Offer From a Gentleman (Bridgerton Series, Book #3)

published

July 1st 2001 by Avon

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binding

Mass Market Paperback, 362 pages

characters

Benedict Bridgerton, Sophie Beckette

setting

United Kingdom

isbn

0380815583 (isbn13: 9780380815586)

description

Sophie Beckett never dreamed she'd be able to sneak into Lady Bridgerton's famed masquerade ball---or that "Prince Charming" would be waitin...more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 662)

All ratings | 5 stars (161) | 4 stars (224) | 3 stars (129) | 2 stars (31) | 1 star (4) | avg 4.01

all | this edition

Eastofoz

Eastofoz added it

10/10/08

bookshelves: favourites

recommends it for: Regency romance lovers / Tammy

Excellent! Excellent! Excellent! This is a fantastic read! Quinn’s best so far for me. She has an amazing way to draw you into the story from the first few pages and you’re smiling from the get-go right up to the end :) She even manages to take you on a sudden heart-breaking emotional roller coaster ride that really gives you the chills and makes you want to cry for the h/h as a couple. This contrasts so well with the rest of the light-hearted story making the situation all the mor...more

Like this review? yes (8 people liked it)

12 comments

Kathrynn

Kathrynn rated it:

01/24/08

bookshelves: 2006, funny, gentle-reads, own, romance-historical, series-bridgerton_quinn

Read in November, 2006

This was a delightful cinderella-type story. Wonderfully written. A true romantic romance. Ahhh...I would classify the entire Bridgerton series as "gentle reads" because there isn't rape, murder, a huge suspense plot; yet, they are so refreshing. Setting is early 1800's England, women trying to find husbands and men trying to stay single.

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

3 comments

Kym

Kym rated it:

05/23/08

bookshelves: historical-romance

Read in August, 2006

Sophie Beckett is a bastard and everyone around her knows it. She is the by-blow of the Earl of Penwood, though most people have the grace not to mention it to her face. Her stepmother Araminta, however, is not most people. When the earl dies, Araminta begrudgingly takes Sophie in, though not as her ward, but as a servant. When Sophie sneaks out of her life of servitude to attend a ball thrown by the dowager Viscountess Bridgerton, she never expects to meet Benedict Bridgerton, and certainly nev...more

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maricar

maricar rated it:

01/07/08

bookshelves: favorites, julia-quinn, romance, series

the first time i read about Benedict was from The Duke and I. even from then i was intrigued by him (well...okay...i was intrigued by the older Bridgerton brothers). obviously, of course, Benedict is the more somber one of the lot. he's the quintessential brooding rake--who's really not a rake since he can be considered the "upstanding" one among the brothers. but, knowing how handsome and compelling he is, he might just as well be a rake. lol

i really fell in love with this story....more

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Sara

Sara rated it:

07/04/07

bookshelves: romance

Read in April, 2007

(#3 in the Bridgerton Series)

aka Benedict and Sophie: A Cinderella Story.

No, seriously. For the first like... three chapters, maybe... I was like... "Ummm... Julia? This story has already been written! It's called Cinderella. There's a movie, and everything!" (And I would know... I own the Disney animated version, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, and A Cinderella Story!)

It diverged from that story, though, of course. After all, Benedict isn't a prince. He's n...more (#3 in the Bridgerton Series)

aka Benedict and Sophie: A Cinderella Story.

No, seriously. For the first like... three chapters, maybe... I was like... "Ummm... Julia? This story has already been written! It's called Cinderella. There's a movie, and everything!" (And I would know... I own the Disney animated version, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, and A Cinderella Story!)

It diverged from that story, though, of course. After all, Benedict isn't a prince. He's not even titled... but he IS a gentleman. Sophie is the bastard daughter of an earl, though he won't admit it, just passing her off as his ward. Her stepmother hates her, of course, and forces her to become a servant in the house (polishing the countess's ton of shoes is the bane of Sophie's existance).

So she sneaks out to attend a MASKED Ball at Bridgerton House and meets "Prince Charming". (Her mask covers the upper half of her face, not including her eyes.) She realizes later, when Benedict and Colin run into each other, who he is. She even knows exactly WHICH Bridgerton brother he is, as Lady Whistledown described Benedict as being an inch taller than Anthony and Colin.

Anyway, so Benedict has been annoyed lately because he just feels like "#2"--like everyone just judges him to be "a Bridgerton" and doesn't even bother to get to know him. So he is pleasantly surprised when this stunning woman (I can't remember if he calls her an angel or something else) not only knows he's a Bridgerton, but knows that he's Benedict.

This idea plays a part later, also, after some fun turns of events, Sophie ends up being a lady's maid to Benedict's mother, Violet. Violet, Eloise, Francesca, Penelope Featherington, and Sophie are having tea, and they're talking about how Anthony is the Viscount and Simon (Daphne's husband) is good at math and Colin is the funny one and they can't think of what Benedict excels at. And Sophie gets ticked off because SHE knows, and his mother and sisters don't? So she's like, "Art." And they all look at her questioningly. "Benedict is good at art." And they're all surprised.

Anyway, CUTE book....less

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LJ rated it:

12/28/07

bookshelves: england, female_author, historical, regency_1811-20, romance

Read in July, 2001

Offer from a Gentleman - VG+
Quinn, Julia - 3rd in Bridgerton Series

The Bridgerton family is wealthy, well born, and universally admired. And with six of the eight Bridgerton children already mingling with society, it's no wonder they're mentioned so frequently in the most popular (and accurate) source of social news, Lady Whistledown's Society Papers. But not even the mysterious Lady Whistledown can identify the masked maiden who completely captivated the Bridgerton second son, Benedict, a...more

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Ana T.

Ana T. rated it:

04/21/08

bookshelves: keeper, read-in-2008, traded

Read in April, 2008

Continuing with my Bridgerton rerads, this time it was Benedict's story!

The Bridgerton family is wealthy, well born, and universally admired. And with six of the eight Bridgerton children already mingling with society, it's no wonder they're mentioned so frequently in the most popular (and accurate) source of social news, Lady Whistledown's Society Papers. But not even the mysterious Lady Whistledown can identify the masked maiden who completely captivated the Bridgerton second son, Benedict...more Continuing with my Bridgerton rerads, this time it was Benedict's story!

The Bridgerton family is wealthy, well born, and universally admired. And with six of the eight Bridgerton children already mingling with society, it's no wonder they're mentioned so frequently in the most popular (and accurate) source of social news, Lady Whistledown's Society Papers. But not even the mysterious Lady Whistledown can identify the masked maiden who completely captivated the Bridgerton second son, Benedict, at his mother's masquerade ball -- a silver-clad beauty who vanished on the stroke of midnight. It was a magical night for Sophie Beckett, orphaned, illegitimate daughter of the Earl of Penwood. Attending the ball was a beautiful dream, sharing the evening with Benedict Bridgerton was the stuff of fantasy -- and returning home to her role as unpaid servant to her father's cruel widow and stepdaughters was a nightmare. Then she lost even the small security of that position, and things went from bad to worse. By the time Sophie met Benedict again, she was in truly desperate straits. He made her feel precious, even in rags, but Sophie had grave reservations about accepting.

More on the level of TDAI than TVWLM. An Offer From a Gentleman tells the story of Benedict yes but especially the story of Sophie Beckett. Slightly different in tone from the previous books - there's less attempts at humour - because this pretends to be a Cinderella story.

I actually enjoyed the beginning with Sophie going to the party in disguise and Benedict falling for her (even if a bit too suddenly) but I had trouble with the rest of it. Sophie going away, then meeting Benedict again and he never recognising her but them starting a relationship again. There are a number of problems as Benedict believes Sophie is a servant and that he can only make her is mistress not marry her and Sophie's evil stepmother and stepsisters (absolutely awful in the first chapters) come back to torment her but eventually the happy ending arrived.

I felt Sophie should have told him the truth of who she was much sooner and I was a bit annoyed at Benedict who kept asking her to be his mistress even after he took her to work in his mother's house.

On the whole it seemed to me that Quinn didn't succeed in making this one as light and funny as is usually her style but it also didn't live up to the darker feelings that the situation evoked. The last scene with Mrs Bridgerton in jail trying to save Sophie seemed more like a farce being played on stage. One wonders if it wasn't for Mrs B wether Benedict and Sophie would have had their happy ending.

The book ends with a huge cliffhanger - Lady Whistledown decides to stop her column writing and actually live her life. I'll be reading Colin's story soon just so I can relive all that.

Grade: C...less

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Rebecca

Rebecca rated it:

08/10/08

Read in August, 2008

Anyone who likes Regency romance even a little should read these books... they're fun, funny, and Julia Quinn knows how to tell a great story. And what's even more unusual, the characters are relatable without being anachronistic.

This book is a Cinderella retelling, in which an Earl's illegitimate daughter sneaks into a society ball and falls in love with a gentleman. But unlike the fairy tale, most of the action here takes place after the initial meeting, when the characters confront the s...more

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Lindsay

Lindsay rated it:

04/29/08

Read in April, 2008

I like Quinn's series about the Bridgertons - she's created a very nice family. The characters were quite good, and the story engaging. However, I dinged it a star for being a total Cinderella ripoff. Sophie is the much-abused stepchild who sneaks off to a masquerade ball. It's not that the book doesn't acknowledge the ripoff, it's that it doesn't do it with any clever twist or add to it in anyway. Writing - decent. Plotting - bad.

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Chelsea

Chelsea rated it:

12/07/07

bookshelves: cheesyromance, cinderella, historicalfiction, own, reread, retellings

Read in July, 2003

A super fun read, even managing to overcome it's reliance on the Superman syndrome (without your glasses/masquerade mask, you look like an entirely different person and I would never connect you with the other person in my life you look exactly like!). This is the book that made me hunt down the rest of Quinn's Bridgerton series.

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Brenda (natesmomb)

Brenda (natesmomb) rated it:

05/16/08

bookshelves: 2008-read, romance-historical

Read in May, 2008

Cinderella has always been my favorite fairy tale. As Julia Quinn tells the third Bridgerton story, it has all the Cinderella elements including an evil stepmother, 2 mean step-sisters and of course Prince Charming. And heaven bless Violet Bridgerton for her love of her children and their happiness.

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Shae

Shae rated it:

06/15/08

Read in January, 2008

I really liked the Cinderella thing this book had going for it. But when he saw her again, I wish she had just come clean about who she was It seemed like pages were wasted when she was trying to pretend she was someone else. It was rather silly. I still really liked the book though.

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Nance

Nance rated it:

07/31/07

I think out of the Bridgeton series, this is one of my favorite titles. The heroine isn't your typical beauty but she gets her hero in the end. I really should re-read before doing a proper review, so think of this as a work-in-progress review.

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Rhiannon

Rhiannon rated it:

06/28/07

bookshelves: romance-favorites

I guess one of the reasons I love Julia Quinn is how relatable her characters are and how easy it is to feel like you actually know them in real life. I feel this way about Sophie and Benedict, and it is one of the things that makes this book so special.

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Jana

Jana rated it:

09/05/07

This book is my least favorite of the series...not that I don't still love it, but I think I've only read it twice, whereas with the others, the covers are all but worn out from a million re-reads!

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Marleen

Marleen rated it:

11/03/08

Read in February, 2007

If you read the first installment of the Bridgerton Series, you just got to read the rest of the series. The characters are warm and lovely. Delightful & light read. Absolutely enjoyable.

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Judy

Judy rated it:

07/28/08

My favorite Julia Quinn book although I loved every one of the Series...yes, it is a total copy of the Cinderella story but you can't help but empathize with Sophie's character.

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Mem

Mem added it

03/09/07

bookshelves: re-reading

I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THIS WAS PART OF A SERIES UNTIL COURTZ TOLD ME. Now I have a crazy craving for the others. Are they all as tacky and yet WONDERFUL?

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Michelle

Michelle rated it:

10/27/08

Read in January, 2004

Benedict is my favorite Bridgerton sibling. He is more quiet, loves art. And it has a definite "Cinderella" feel to the book. I loved it!

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Mai-mai

Mai-mai rated it:

06/02/08

This was the first book I ever read by Julia Quinn and I've read every book she's written since. The Bridgerton Series is by far the best.

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avg rating (all editions): 4.01 (539 ratings)
avg rating (this edition): 3.98 (539 ratings)
number of reviews: 29

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