Earl Grey Books

Well here we are with a post I’ve been planning since March! Today I’m here to talk through my rankings of the Rokesbys series by Julia Quinn.

I did a post like this in which I ranked the Bridgerton books, and since this is the prequel series, I thought it was only fair. There are only four books in this series, so it was kind of tougher to rank these but let’s get into it. We’ll go from worst to best.

Girl With The Make-Believe Husband (Book #2)

At first, I was kind of surprised that this ended up being my least favourite of the series. When I read it back in March, I’d really enjoyed it, but I was putting this post together, I realised that it didn’t feel as strong as the rest of the series for me. This is very different from the other Quinn’s I’ve read—it’s set in America during the Revolution and follows a soldier, which is definitely a different vibe from the rest of the series (we see something a little similar in The Other Miss Bridgerton, but more about that soon). I did enjoy that aspect, but I also sorely missed the type of story I was used to from Quinn. This also has a While You Were Sleeping storyline to it, and for me, that’s still really weird and offputting. Look, I love a good fake dating, but I also like both of the characters to be conscious and consent to that.

The Other Miss Bridgerton (Book #3)

While I was reading this one, I was convinced this was going to be my favourite. I immediately loved Poppy for her adventurous nature, even though it always lands her in trouble. I loved that it took place mostly on Andrew’s ship—that added a really interesting tension to the story for me. I also loved the small glimpse we got of Portugal, though I wish that had been a bigger part of the story. As you’re about to see, I love when romances have a lot of banter between the love interests—Poppy and Andrew definitely had that, so bonus points for that. I think where this fell short for me was that the final third of the book was extremely rushed, and it probably needed a little more time to build up a little more of the tension before everything was resolved.

Because of Miss Bridgerton (Book #1)

This was such a wonderful introduction to the Rokesbys and by extension, the previous generation of Bridgertons. From the very first moment, I knew I was going to enjoy this series because of how much this felt like coming home. This feels very much like a Bridgerton book and so that made it easier to slip into this world again even though I didn’t know who any of these characters were. I thought Billie was absolutely fantastic—I would’ve loved to have seen her and Eloise join forces in the future. She’s just one of those characters who is fun to read about! I felt less enthused about George, but I loved how their relationship developed from enemies to lovers.

First Comes Scandal (Book #4)

I think this is a bit of an unpopular opinion, but this one turned out to be my favourite. Maybe it’s because it was the last one and, therefore, the one freshest in my brain, but I think it had something to do with the characters. I really loved both Georgiana and Nicholas—they definitely had the best banter in the series, and I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, that is my favourite thing in Julia Quinn’s books. There’s definitely still that sweetness in their relationship as well, which I also loved. Of course, Georgiana’s cats did definitely steal the show—I was almost in tears at some of the antics they got up too. What can I say about that? Every book is instantly better with a mischievous cat or two. The only thing better than the cats was getting to see baby Anthony and Benedict (and a little Colin too) before they grow into the men we know later—they were absolutely adorable, and I loved seeing that glimpse into their childhoods and their relationships with Georgiana too.

Have you read this series? What would you rank them?