Book Review: On The Way To The Wedding by Julia Quinn

“There is nothing wrong with doubting yourself. Marriage is an enormous undertaking. The biggest choice you will ever make in your life. Once it’s done, you can’t change your mind.”

― Julia Quinn, On the Way to the Wedding 

Julia Quinn's historical romance On the Way to the Wedding was released by Avon in 2006.  The narrative of Gregory, the youngest male Bridgerton brother, is told in this eighth and final book of Quinn's Bridgerton series, which is set in Regency England.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Unlike most men of his acquaintance, Gregory Bridgerton believes in true love. And he is convinced that when he finds the woman of his dreams, he will know in an instant that she is the one. And that is exactly what happened. Except…

She wasn’t the one. In fact, the ravishing Miss Hermione Watson is in love with another. But her best friend, the ever-practical Lady Lucinda Abernathy, wants to save Hermione from a disastrous alliance, so she offers to help Gregory win her over. But in the process, Lucy falls in love. With Gregory! Except…

Lucy is engaged. And her uncle is not inclined to let her back out of the betrothal, even once Gregory comes to his senses and realizes that it is Lucy, with her sharp wit and sunny smile, who makes his heart sing. And now, on the way to the wedding, Gregory must risk everything to ensure that when it comes time to kiss the bride, he is the only man standing at the altar…

My reaction to this novel...

I've finally finished the Bridgerton series, and this last book is about Gregory, the seventh of the famous Bridgerton siblings.  Alright, I'm not sure where to begin since I'm just in awe at my ability to manage and finish a romance series, given that I don't often read that kind of work.  But now that I'm starting to love it, I sometimes choose to read anything in this genre anytime I want a good laugh or just a lighthearted read.

In any case, I must admit that I really like Gregory's character.  He seemed so different from his siblings, and I had no idea that he had a strong romantic side.  While Lucy's behavior annoys me a lot, I will admit that he is more romantic than his brothers since he knows how to fall in love and how to imagine meeting his "the one."  At first, I disagreed with her viewpoint, especially when it came to Hermione and Mr. Edmonds.  I started to question whether she is the main character in this novel because she is so critical of the people's statuses.  It appears not to be.

Despite the fact that the story made me smile, I couldn't help but observe how shallow it was.  I thought it would be amazing when Gregory realized he was falling for the primary woman because he is so romantically oriented, but he found her to be different.  I feel like the story is missing something, but I'm not sure how to put it.  I just got that feeling from it.  I believe that Julia Quinn messed up the novel's flow and plot.  After seven very steady volumes with occasional flashes of drama-tinged occasions that are often handled by the incredibly indomitable Bridgerton family, Gregory is confronted with everything that might possibly go wrong.

When Gregory eventually shows up in this novel with his problems, the Bridgerton family suddenly does nothing to assist him.  Gregory was the only one who endured those harrowing action scenes.  I was expecting a mild, lovely, reasonable adventure, similar to all the other Bridgerton novels, after what had happened and the Bridgerton family's reaction, especially Hyacinth's rage at Lucy.  Rather, I pondered for a significant portion of the book if Julia Quinn had succeeded in reaching a questionable conclusion.  It was quite distressing because I had been used to the series' tempo by then.

However, I'll just picture a romantic Gregory and how he would treat his true love in order to ignore the glaring flaw in this story and move on.  I still believe that everyone who like romantic fiction should read this book, even if I found it to be a little boring.  It could be worth a try.

My Overall Rating: ⭐⭐✨(2.5/5)