Series: A League of Extraordinary Women, Book 1
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Historical Romance
Release Date: September 3, 2019
Source: Publisher
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England, 1879. Annabelle Archer, the brilliant but destitute daughter of a country vicar, has earned herself a place among the first cohort of female students at the renowned University of Oxford. In return for her scholarship, she must support the rising women's suffrage movement. Her charge: recruit men of influence to champion their cause. Her target: Sebastian Devereux, the cold and calculating Duke of Montgomery who steers Britain's politics at the Queen's command. Her challenge: not to give in to the powerful attraction she can't deny for the man who opposes everything she stands for.
Sebastian is appalled to find a suffragist squad has infiltrated his ducal home, but the real threat is his impossible feelings for green-eyed beauty Annabelle. He is looking for a wife of equal standing to secure the legacy he has worked so hard to rebuild, not an outspoken commoner who could never be his duchess. But he wouldn't be the greatest strategist of the Kingdom if he couldn't claim this alluring bluestocking without the promise of a ring...or could he?
Locked in a battle with rising passion and a will matching her own, Annabelle will learn just what it takes to topple a duke…
Evie Dunmore blends fact and fiction together beautifully in Bringing Down the Duke. Like a good many women throughout history, Annabelle Archer is a scholar with an unsupportive family. She’s dependent upon her cousin, who works her until she is about to drop. When the chance to attend Oxford on a scholarship arrives, Annabelle snatches it. In return for the scholarship, she must support the women’s suffrage movement. It sounds simple, but the reality of what suffragists were up against shows just how extraordinary these women were. Annabelle’s work for the cause throws her in the path of the Duke of Montgomery, a man who is considered to be cold as ice. Sebastian inherited a dukedom at the age of nineteen and the burden of responsibility and the role he has played in politics for so long has made him almost an automaton. Annabelle sparks something long buried in him and, likewise, he sparks long-buried passions in her.
The romance between Sebastian and Annabelle is slow to build, and I admit the beginning of the story dragged a bit until the characters and romance started to develop. But once it got going, I adored Bringing Down the Duke. Annabelle is no stranger to passion, but she is very aware of the risks it brings. And Sebastian, a duke with the ear of Queen Victoria, is a man who cannot afford to follow his heart. Class differences mean something in this book; they’re not trivial obstacles to be batted out of the way. As much as I was rooting for Sebastian and Annabelle, I enjoyed the dose of reality that threatens to keep them apart. I liked that they had to work for the happily ever after, that marriage between a duke and commoner wasn’t something they took for granted, and that reputations, unplanned pregnancies, and politics aren’t concerns to simply be tossed aside.
Bringing Down the Duke kicks off the League of Extraordinary Women series and introduces four very different, very interesting women who all have their own reasons for joining the suffragist movement. I adored Hattie, Catriona, and Lucie, and I cannot wait to see what Ms. Dunmore has in store for them. Between the fight for women’s rights and the admission of women at Oxford, there’s enough (incredibly interesting) history in Bringing Down the Duke to keep it grounded in reality while the romance has just enough fantasy to keep the book light on its feet.
FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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