#or maybe michaela leaves after giving birth because she can't be around frannie and can't bear to be around her kid

[habibialkaysani]

welp. I read 'when he was wicked' aka the franchael book in the bridgerton series... and I have Thoughts. mostly julia quinn writes men truly horribly. literally the saving grace of anthony bridgerton is the actor who plays him. in all the books I've read of quinn's, the guy protagonist shakes the woman he loves by her shoulders or disrespects her massively and is literally described as 'predatory' in the run up to the sex scene!!!! like. I really liked michael up until a point. I never really liked anthony in 'the viscount who loved me' and colin was only marginally more tolerable in 'romancing mr bridgerton'. but michael seemed genuinely charming and a good guy who had a solid reason why he didn't tell frannie about his feelings for her. so it's a real shame that he turns into a bit of a monster when he seduces frannie and basically tries to entrap her into marriage - idk what it is about julia quinn that she just seems allergic to writing decent male characters???

it does make me glad that they genderbent michael for frannie's season in the show. and I can see how they could work the whole infertility plot in too with michaela and frannie - say if frannie gets pregnant and doesn't know it immediately, finds out soon after john dies, and it turns out michaela is also pregnant but by accident (she's still a rake which I think would be interesting as a concept to explore in a female character). frannie miscarries as per the book and michaela has a lot of fears about being a mother - and at the same time there's all this talk about who the earldom will go to next now john is gone. so they somehow pass michaela's child off as frannie's, the earldom doesn't go to the awful debenham side of the family and this whole ordeal brings frannie and michaela closer and they learn to take care of each other while both still mourning, and they both feel like it would be a betrayal of john and likely frannie is in denial about her queerness... all I'm saying, bridgerton writers room, I'm available...