It's In His Kiss
by Julia Quinn
Published by Avon
Book #7 in the Bridgerton Series
IF IT'S IN HIS HEART... IT'S IN HIS KISS
MEET OUR HERO...
Gareth St. Clair is in a bind. His father, who detests him, is determined to beggar the St. Clair estates and ruin his inheritance. Gareth's sole bequest is an old family diary, which may or may not contain the secrets of his past... and the key to his future. The problem is—it's written in Italian, of which Gareth speaks not a word.
MEET OUR HEROINE...
All the ton agreed: there was no one quite like Hyacinth Bridgerton. She's fiendishly smart, devilishly outspoken, and according to Gareth, probably best in small doses. But there's something about her—something charming and vexing—that grabs him and won't quite let go...
MEET POOR MR. MOZART...
Or don't. But rest assured, he's spinning in his grave when Gareth and Hyacinth cross paths at the annual—and annually discordant—Smythe-Smith musicale. To Hyacinth, Gareth's every word seems a dare, and she offers to translate his diary, even though her Italian is slightly less than perfect. But as they delve into the mysterious text, they discover that the answers they seek lie not in the diary, but in each other... and that there is nothing as simple—or as complicated—as a single, perfect kiss.
RATED: 18+ CATEGORY: MOOD:
Steamy Historical-Romance Cute
It's in His Kiss by Julia Quinn is the seventh book in the Bridgerton series, and follows the story between the talkative, stubborn, incredibly smart and outspoken Hyacinth Bridgerton, the youngest Bridgerton siblings, and Mr. Gareth St. Clair, a notorious rake, heir to the St. Clair title and estates ... if his estranged father doesn't sink it all under debt. Gareth may find answers to his problem in an old family diary. The problem is, it's written in Italian. Enter Hyacinth, who offers to translate the diary. As they unravel the many secrets in his grandmothers diary, they end up finding much more they anticipate within each other.
It's in His Kiss jumped back to the Bridgertons first three novels. Whereas books 4, 5 and 6 happen simultaneously, Hyacinth's story is very much a standalone. Was the novel original? More so than the past books, where they all follow your typical tropes. It has a bit of a mystery feel, which is fun and interesting. I found this story a touch lacking compared to the other Bridgerton novels though. As we get to the youngest Bridgertons, we get less of the Bridgerton family charm, which is a shame. Some of the best parts of this series is when the family is all together, but now that most of the family is married off, with families of their own, Hyacinth's story doesn't get that extra Bridgerton spark. There is also the issue that the youngest Bridgerton siblings - Hyacinth, Gregory, and Francesca - were never really well developed though the series, so we walk into this one without knowing a whole lot about Hyacinth.
That is not to say that we don't get ANY of the Bridgertons. I loved the moments between Violet and Hyacinth. It would make sense that Violet holds a special bond with Hyacinth, as she was pregnant with her when her husband died. She is her last piece of her beloved. There was also scene with Anthony and Gareth, that made me chuckle quite a bit. And Gregory and Hyacinth's bond is adorable. They obviously love each other, despite annoying the heck out of one another. As for Hyacinth, while not my favorite Bridgerton, I do find myself drawn to her self-confidence, and intelligence. She is also a bit of a daredevil, which I can't help but appreciate. She needed a partner that wouldn't let her steamroll him, yet appreciated her outspokenness and intelligence, and she gets this in Gareth. I liked his storyline. Their chemistry was good. The sex is great.
It's In His Kiss may not be my favorite Bridgerton book, but there is no denying it adds some diversity in this series, with a modern minded woman, a male lead with the wit and charm to handle her, and a mystery. It's a good addition to the series. Now on to Gregory's story!
Favorite Moments
The Smythe-Smith Musicale
Violet telling Hyacinth about her birth
Baaaaaa
Gareth dancing with Hyacinth
Gareth checking out Hyacinth's bottom when she is in breeches
Gregory and Hyacinth fighting
Anthony thanking the Lord after Gareth asks him for permission to ask Hyacinth to marry him, and the celebratory drink
Gareth and Hyacinth's first time
Gareth telling Hyacinth the truth, and her reaction
Gareth's drawing of the diamonds he wishes he could give Hyacinth
Gareth and Hyacinth telling one another they loved each other
Gareth getting over the rivalry with his father
Where to Buy
Favorite Quotes
Lady Danbury: "Regardless, it was most unkind of you to leave me hanging."
Hyacinth: "It's where the author ended the chapter. And besides, isn't patient a virtue?"
Lady Danbury: "Absolutely not, and if you think so, you're less of a woman that I thought."
And as for her current proposal-free season - well, if the gentlemen of Britain couldn't appreciate the inherent value of an intelligent female who knew her own mind, that was their problem, not hers.
Gareth: "You sound exactly like my grandmother."
Lady Danbury: "Doesn't she, though? She's quickly replacing you as my pride and joy."
Gareth's friend: "Men don't like women who are more intelligent than they are, and Hyacinth Bridgerton isn't the sort to feign stupidity."
Hyacinth: "I've been warned about men like you."
Gareth: "I certainly hope so."
Lady Danbury: "I believe you, if only because I have no choice."
Hyacinth: "Are you blind now, as well as deaf?"
Lady Danbury: "No. Just practicing my high drama."
Hyacinth laughed out loud.
Hyacinth: "Sadly, there doesn't seem to be much demand for aging countess roles."
Lady Danbury: "If anyone else said that to me, I'd take it as an insult."
Hyacinth: "But not from me?"
Lady Danbury chuckled
Lady Danbury: "Do you know why I like you so well, Hyacinth Bridgerton?"
Hyacinth: "I'm all agog."
Lady Danbury: "Because you, dear girl. are exactly like me."
Hyacinth: "Do you know, Lady Danbury, if you said that to anyone else, she'd probably take it as an insult."
Lady Danbury: "You can, and you will be there. You promised."
Gareth: "I cannot imagine -"
Lady Danbury: "Well, if you didn't promise, you should have done, and if you love me ..."
Hyacinth coughed to cover her laugh, then tried not to smirk when Mr. St. Clair shot a dirty look in her direction.
Gareth: "When I die, surely my epitaph will read, 'He loved his grandmother when no one else would.' "
Lady Danbury: "And what's wrong with that?"
Gareth: "I'll be there."
Hyacinth: "I look! I have gone out almost ever night this week. I even went to the Smythe-Smith musicale last night. Which, I might add you did not attend."
Violet coughed
Violet: "Bit of a cough, I'm afraid."
Hyacinth: "Mother, you know I love you dearly -"
Violet: "Why is it that I have come to expect nothing good when I hear a sentence beginning in that manner?"
Hyacinth: "I have had six proposals. It's not my fault that none was suitable."
Violet: "Indeed."
Hyacinth: "What do you mean by that?"
Violet: "Of course none of those men was suitable. Half were after your fortune, and as for the other half - well, you would have reduced them to tears within a month."
Hyacinth: "Such tenderness for your youngest child. It quite undoes me."
Violet: "You looked rather like me. And then - oh my, I remember this as if it were yesterday - you looked into my eyes, and you blinked. Twice."
Hyacinth: "Twice?"
Violet: "Twice. I only remember it because you looked so deliberate. It was the strangest thing. You gave me a look as if to say, 'I know exactly what I'm doing.' "
Gareth: "Not that I wish to give you any ammunition, but the sad fact of it is - most men are sheep. Where one goes, the rest will follow. And didn't you say you wished to be married?"
Hyacinth: "Not to someone who follows you as the lead sheep."
He grinned at that, a devilish smile that Hyacinth had a feeling he had used to seduce legions of women. Then he looked about, as if intending to engage in something surreptitious, and leaned in.
Hyacinth couldn't help it. She leaned in, too.
Hyacinth: "Yes?"
Gareth: "I am about this close to bleating."
Hyacinth: "I'm sure Mr. St. Clair would be delighted to meet Harriet."
Hyacinth cut in before turning to Gareth with an explanatory
Hyacinth: "The shepherdess."
Gareth: "Of course. Yes, delighted."
Hyacinth turned back to Lady Pleinsworth with a smile that was far too innocent.
Hyacinth: "Mr. St. Clair is an expert on all things ovine."
Gareth: "Where is my cane when I need it?"
Gareth: "Smart woman. The men in my family are bullheaded idiots."
She smiled. Slightly.
Hyacinth: "Yourself included?"
Gareth: "You couldn't resist, could you?"
Hyacinth: "Could you?"
Gareth: "I imagine not."
Violet: "I'm sure Hyacinth will be delighted to see you."
Hyacinth: "I am quite beside myself with glee."
Violet: "Hyacinth!"
She turned to Gareth
Violet: "She doesn't mean that."
He turned to Hyacinth
Gareth: "I'm crushed."
Hyacinth: "Because I'm beside myself, or because I'm not?"
Gareth: "Whichever you prefer."
Hyacinth: "I could not speak on your behalf, but if I detested someone, you can be sure I would go out of my way to make certain he didn't get a treasure's worth of jewels."
Gareth: "How positively Christian of you."
She lifted a brow
Gareth: "I never said I was a model of goodness and light."
Gareth: "You're mad. You are stark raving mad. Everyone told me, but I didn't quite believe -"
Hyacinth: "Someone told you I was mad?"
Gareth: "Eccentric."
Hyacinth: "Oh. Well, that's true, I suppose."
Gareth: "Far too much work for any sane man to take on."
Hyacinth: "Is that what they say?"
Gareth: "All that and more."
Hyacinth thought about that for a moment, then just shrugged.
Hyacinth: "Well, they haven't a lick of sense, any one of them."
Gareth: "Your sister will be safe with me. I give you my vow."
Gregory: "Oh, I have no worries on that score. The real question is - will you be safe with her?"
Hyacinth: "I have memories, at least. Or at least the memories others have told to me. I know who my father was, and I know he was a good man. He would have loved me if he'd lived. He would have loved me without reservations and without conditions."
Her lips wobbled into an expression he had never seen on her before. A little bit quirky, an awful lot self-deprecating. It was entirely unlike Hyacinth, and for that reason completely mesmerizing."
Hyacinth: "And I know that it's often rather hard work to love me."
And suddenly Gareth realized that some things did come in a flash. And there were some things one simply knew without being able to explain them. Because as he stood there watching her, all he could think was - No.
It would be rather easy to love Hyacinth Bridgerton.
From the book Hyacinth was reading to Lady Danbury: If you want to know if a gentleman loves you, there is only one true way to be sure. It's in his kiss. It's all there, in his kiss.
Lady Danbury: "I'm leaving, I'm leaving. But don't you think that I'm leaving you for long. I know you, and if you think I trust you with her virtue ..."
Gareth: "I'm your grandson."
Lady Danbury: "Doesn't make you a saint."
He touched her lips with his finger.
Gareth: "Shhh. Let me show you."
He smiled down at her, his eyes dancing with mischief.
Gareth: "Do I dare? Should I ... Well ... Maybe ..."
He lifted his finger from her mouth.
She spoke instantly.
Hyacinth: "But I'm afraid I will -"
He put his finger back.
Gareth: "I knew that would happen."
She glared at him. Or rather, she tried to. Gareth had an uncanny ability to make her laugh at herself. And she could feel her lips twitching, even as he pressed them shut.
Gareth: "Will you be quiet?"
She nodded.
He pretended to think about it.
Gareth: "I don't believe you."
She planted her hands on her hips, which had to be a ludicrous position, naked as she was from the waist up.
Gareth: "All right. But the only words I'll allow from your mouth are, 'Oh. Gareth,' and 'Yes, Gareth.' "
He lifted his finger
Hyacinth: "What about 'More, Gareth?' "
He almost kept a straight face.
Gareth: "That will be acceptable."
Maybe he'd done this before. Maybe he's done this a hundred times before, with women a hundred times more beautiful than she.
It didn't matter. He was her first, and she was his last.
Gareth: "I might be able to help you with that."
Hyacinth: "With what?"
she gasped, and he knew from the way her hips jerked that she was on her way back to oblivion.
Gareth: "Oh, with that feeling. The Oh, Gareth, Yes, Gareth, More Gareth feeling."
Hyacinth: "Oh."
she said, letting out a high-pitched moan as his finger began to move in a delicate circle.
Hyacinth: "That feeling."
Gareth: "It's a good feeling."
Hyacinth: "I didn't know."
Gareth: "Neither did I."
Hyacinth: "Is it always -"
He squeezed her hand, and when he heard her turn to him, he shook his head.
Hyacinth: "Oh. Well, it's a good thing we're getting married, then."
Hyacinth: "I'll talk to my mother. If I'm sufficiently annoying, I'm sure I can get the engagement period cut in half."
Gareth: "It makes me wonder. As your future husband, should I be concerned by your use of the phrase if I'm sufficiently annoying?"
Hyacinth: "Not if you accede to all of my wishes."
Gareth: "A sentence that concerns me even more."
Hyacinth: "Would you wish to be known as a cuckold?"
He shook his head.
Gareth: "But I don't have to worry about that."
Hyacinth: "Not if you keep me happy."
Gareth: "Why, Hyacinth Bridgerton, is that a threat?"
Hyacinth: "Perhaps."
Gareth: "Do you trust me?"
Hyacinth; "No. But I don't care."
Hyacinth: "Gareth."
Gareth: "Oh, Gareth, No Gareth, or More Gareth?"
Hyacinth: "More. Please."
Gareth: "I love a woman who knows when to beg."
Gareth: "I have been thinking about Isabella. And I remembered a story she told me when I was young. There was a princess, and an evil prince, and - a diamond bracelet."
Hyacinth had been watching his face, mesmerized be the warmth in his eyes, but at this she looked quickly back down at the drawing. There, on her wrist, was a diamond bracelet
Gareth: "I'm sure it's nothing like what she actually hid, but it is how I remember her describing it to me, and it is what I would give to you, if only I could."
Hyacinth: "What is it's not in Slovene?"
Gareth: "I thought you said it was."
Hyacinth: "I said my brother thought it was. Do you know how many languages there are in central Europe?"
He cursed under his breath
Hyacinth: "I know. It's very frustrating."
He stared at her in disbelief.
Gareth: "That's not why I swore."
Hyacinth: "Then why -"
Gareth: "Because you are going to be the death of me."
Hyacinth smiled, pointing her index finger and pressing it right against his chest.
Hyacinth: "Not you know why I said my family was mad to get me off their hands."
Gareth: "God help me, I do."
Hyacinth: "You're going to be my grandmother."
Lady Danbury: "You silly child. In my heart, I've bee your grandmother for years. I've just been waiting for you to make it official."
Hyacinth: "When did you grow so pompous?"
Gareth: "When I fell in love with you!"
Hyacinth: "You ... you ... you what?"
Gareth: "I love you, you idiot woman. You are the most maddening, frustrating -"
Hyacinth: "But -"
Gareth: "And you never know when to stop talking, but God help me, I love you, anyway. -"
Hyacinth: "But, Gareth -"
Gareth: "And if I have to tie you to the damned bed just to keep you safe from yourself, as God is my witness, that is what I'll do."
Hyacinth: "But Gareth -"
Gareth: "Not a word. Not a single bloody word."
Hyacinth: "You love me?"
Gareth: "It will be the death of me, I'm sure, but yes. I can't seem to help myself."
Hyacinth: "Oh."
Her lips quivered, then wobbled, and then somehow she was smiling.
Hyacinth: "Good."
Gareth: "Good? That's all you have to say?"
She stepped forward, touched his cheek.
Hyacinth: "I love you, too. With all my heart, with everything I am, and everything -"
Hyacinth: "Sometimes I'm going to drive you mad."
His smile was as lopsided as his shrug
Gareth: "I'll go to my club."
Hyacinth: "And you'll do the same to me."
Gareth: "You can have tea with your mother. And we'll have the most marvelous time later that night, kissing and begging each other's forgiveness."
Hyacinth: "Gareth."
Hyacinth: "No one said we had to spend every waking moment together, but at the end of the day, and most of the time during, there is no one I would rather see, no one whose voice I would rather hear, and no one whose mind I would rather explore."
He kissed her then. Once, slowly and deeply.
Gareth: "I love you, Hyacinth Bridgerton. And I always will."
Gareth: "When are we getting married?"
Hyacinth: "Six weeks."
Gareth: "Two. Whatever you have to tell your mother, I don't care. Get it changes to two, or I'll haul you off to Gretna."
Hyacinth nodded, snuggling herself against him, reveling in the feel of him behind her.
Hyacinth: "Two. Maybe even just one."
Gareth: "Ever better."
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