My Rating: ★★★★
Born the illegitimate daughter of an Earl, the cards were always stacked against Sophie Beckett. It gets even worse when her father dies, leaving her to the unchecked whims of her angry step-mother. Sophie’s living the life of Cinderella, only instead of a fairy godmother, the fellow servants of the household make her into the mysterious lady in silver for the Bridgerton’s masquerade. Sneaking out and living a life of mystery and wonder is amazing until she falls in love with Benedict Bridgerton, leaving a single glove behind when the clock strikes midnight.
It turns out I was only lying to myself when I said I was going to hold off on reading this until the third season of the show dropped because here I am, all ready to get started on the fourth book. We follow Sophie and Benedict in the usual rotating perspectives that we’ve all come to expect when reading this series. One of the things that I liked about this installment, in particular, is that it’s the Bridgertons edition of Cinderella. I absolutely love Cinderella, so I was all in from the start.
Sophie is such a likable character that it’s hard not to love following her chapters right away. Orphaned and forced to work as an unpaid servant to her step-mother and step-sisters, Sophie has very low expectations for her life. Love? Marriage? Ha! Everything changes when she becomes the lady in silver, giving her a taste of the life she might’ve had if she wasn’t the illegitimate and unclaimed daughter of a dead Earl. If nothing else, Sophie has her wits about her, which is something that can’t be said for everyone…
So far, I’ve liked Benedict much better in the books than in the show, but I will say this book made me look at him differently. While he is seemingly very noble and very much in love with someone he only knew for mere hours once upon a time, the guy does not listen. The amount of times he tries to coerce Sophie into becoming his mistress is rather horrifying. Saying no should’ve been enough, but she also states why she will never be anyone’s mistress, which he blatantly ignores and continues to pester her about it. Granted, they obviously have a fairytale ending just as Cinderella and her prince did, it doesn’t mean I don’t view him a bit differently after this. Noble my foot!
As always, I enjoyed seeing the rest of the Bridgerton family and absolutely love that we got to see more of Eloise. The more I read these books, the more I love Violet and wish there was a prequel following her and her own romance back in the day. I also loved Posy, one of Sophie’s step-sisters, and relished the downfall of Sophie’s step-mother. While I wish it was more than it was, I am happy with how things turned out.
Like the previous two novels, there is a second epilogue included. However, unlike the previous second epilogues, I absolutely loved this one. It almost felt like I was reading the start of another novel rather than having an update of sorts that felt super out of place. I hope that this is a trend that continues with the other second epilogues!
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