The tug-of-war of emotions between the characters’ feelings of guilt, love and lust went on a tad to long for my liking. This is the part of the book that is angst-ridden. When Michael returns, she realizes that she needs to get on with the rest of her life and starts to look for prospective husbands. He knows that it is his duty to find a wife, but to make matters more complicated he has a secret ailment he must keep from public knowledge.įrancesca has spent the last four years managing the earldom for Michael, but they have not been in contact. When he returns four years later to take over the title, he realizes that his feelings for Francesca have not gone away. Michael runs away to India to hide from Francesca, and from his responsibilities as the new Earl.

She turns to Michael, her best friend, for support but Michael is dealing with his own grief and guilt. Francesca and Michael are both overwhelmed with grief. Michael takes comfort in knowing that the two people he cares about most are happy, but in order to keep from wallowing in self-pity he becomes more of a rake than he was before a subject that Francesca is ever so curious about.Īll is well until one night while out on a walk with Michael, Francesca’s husband, John, dies in his sleep. Their friendship is full of jokes, laughter, and long walks. She marries the earl and becomes best buddies with her husbands’ heir. Francesca is unaware of Michael’s love for her. Michael loves his cousin too much to admit how he feels about the future bride, so he locks those feelings inside and becomes her best friend instead.

Michael Stirling meets Francesca Bridgerton and falls head over heels in love with her days before she is to marry his cousin, John Stirling, the Earl of Kilmartin. Francesca and Michael’s story is interesting and definitely not typical. Julia Quinn delivers another winner in the sixth addition to the Bridgerton series. To celebrate the arrival of Netflix’s Bridgerton, AAR is running, in reading order, our reviews of the original nine books in the series.

Julia quinn when he was wicked summary