To Sir Philip, With Love

She fell in love over letters, but you think about what you write, which is different from talking, as Eloise finds out.

Eloise is one of those characters for whom you want the best. The later books are interesting because I really feel that we already have a bit of an understanding of the characters. I don’t think this plot would have worked for any of the other Bridgertons, but it did for Eloise.

The story in short?
Sir Phillip knew from his correspondence with his dead wife’s distant cousin that Eloise Bridgerton was a spinster, and so he’d proposed, figuring that she’d be homely and unassuming, and more than a little desperate for an offer of marriage. Except . . . she wasn’t. The beautiful woman on his doorstep was anything but quiet, and when she stopped talking long enough to close her mouth, all he wanted to do was kiss her…

Eloise Bridgerton couldn’t marry a man she had never met! But then she started thinking… and wondering… and before she knew it, she was in a hired carriage in the middle of the night, on her way to meet the man she hoped might be her perfect match. Except… he wasn’t. Her perfect husband wouldn’t be so moody and ill-mannered. And he certainly should have mentioned that he had two young – and decidedly unruly – children, as much in need of a mother as Phillip is in need of a wife.
I got this information here.

My Thoughts
The fact that Eloise left to chase her own dreams after corresponding with her distant cousin’s husband was so interesting. I loved the way she described liking writing.

Book Eloise and series Eloise are different. I need to be honest, I adore book Eloise. Eloise likes to be married, but she wants love and kindness. She likes the idea of love, of words in letters, and she falls in love with this letter writer, but she is intelligent enough to know she has to meet the man first. But she is brave enough to go out on her own and make her own plan. She is a spinster to a certain extent, there is just no one that she likes. She is one of those people who just go for what she want. As a middle child, she likes the chaos of her family, and I think that these aspects make the arc to her as a stepmother make so much sense.

I loved how she had this whole idea about Philip through the letters, the way we might read about people in romance books, and how she came to his house, but it’s not quite it. The children aren’t very nice, and it’s complete chaos. Philip is not very kind; he is ill-mannered and moody. He is not at all the perfect husband she had dreamed of, and she is confronted with this, and I just love how she simply gets on with things.

Philip has PTSD from his first marriage, and Eloise comes in as a thunderstorm; she is young and peppy, and nothing seems to faze her. She brings so much sunshine and joy to their lives. I liked the arc of the children, and this couple is fun in the sense that at first glance they might not fit together, but then you get to know them and they do. This was not my favourite Bridgerton book, but it was very fun, and I was very glad Eloise got her happy ending.

I do find that due to the writers of the show putting Marina in the first season, this storyline would not be the best look, as I feel that this man cannot be that man, you know? This is also why I said in my review of When he was Wicked (coming next month) that a Queer storyline would make so much more sense for Eloise but alas no one asked my opinion on the matter. I do hope they do something different with her story while staying true to her character, but we shall see all about that together.

Details
Page count: 372
The rest of the series: Book 1, Book 1 part 2, Book 2, Book 3, Book 4
The show: Season 1, Season 2, Season 3