Bringing Down the Duke: 1 (League of Extraordinary Women)

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I absolutely loved my first book from BOTM! Bringing down the duke is an amazing mix of genre while sinking in to the women suffrage movement of 1879. You will not put it down! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore | Hachette UK Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore | Hachette UK

Sebastian’s protective instincts come to fore when he arranges for Annabelle to be released from prison despite knowing how this will anger the Queen. When she tells him about her past, I love how he listens as a friend and isn’t judgemental. and Annabelle Archer, a beautiful but 'over educated' 25 year old becomes one of the first women to study at Oxford University. The fiery Miss Archer, is awarded a scholarship on the condition that she supports the Suffragette movement, and helps to recruit powerful men to the cause. It's whilst fulfilling this duty, that she first meets the wealthy and powerful Duke of Montgomery (Sebastian), a cold and brooding man, with links to the Tory party and to Queen Victoria. He opposes everything she stands for, yet she finds herself fighting her attraction to him. In fact, Bringing Down the Duke seems to use its thin veneer of wokeness as an excuse to revel in gender essentialism. Pretty much every encounter between the two leads mentioned "feminine warmth" and "masculine hardness", so I had strained my eyes from rolling them so hard before I was very far into the book. That's how Annabelle meets Sebastian, the Duke of Montgomery, just outside Parliament. It's not a particularly successful meeting but it works well for us romance readers, as we see a bit of antagonism and attraction at the same time. Sebastian is not just stuffy. He's single minded. Before his death, Sebastian's father had managed to lose all the unentailed properties of his dukedom. Since inheriting the title, Sebastian has been on a quest to regain them all. And he's been successful, except for just one place: Montgomery Castle. Now he's in reach of that goal. Queen Victoria has promised to intercede on his behalf with the present owner of the castle, if only Sebastian uses his influence to keep the Tory party in power. Well, this means no liberal leanings for Sebastian at the moment, and, of course, that means ignoring the women's struggle for the right to maintain their own properties or their right to vote.Annabelle and Sebastian were wonderful, likable characters. I loved Sebastian. He's seemed so grumpy and cold, but I loved getting to see the man behind the mask as he got to know Annabelle and opened up. He was sweet, protective, and seductive. I thought Annabelle was such a great character. She was strong-willed with a very intriguing past, and I loved her tenacity and attitude. I love how hard she’s worked to better herself and everything she was fighting against. I really enjoyed learning both of their histories, especially hers. I loved watching these two come together, and fight their feelings as their attraction grew. It felt like a fun game of cat and mouse. I loved them butting heads and how Annabelle challenged Sebastian, it was awesome. I loved the build to them coming together and the growth they both experienced. That was why they called it temptation—it never presented itself as something ugly, or tepid, or harmless; no, it came in the guise of glorious feelings and a sense of utter rightness, even when it was wrong. That was why one needed principles. Regrettable, that her grasp on them was so shaky when it counted.” I have read the future of historical romance, and it’s Evie Dunmore’ Eva Leigh, author of Dare to Love a Duke

Books – Evie Dunmore Books – Evie Dunmore

What a great debut by Evie Dunmore! I am so happy with all of the amazing debuts coming out recently! This was a fantastic book, and I'm so happy that it is part of a series, and cannot wait to continue it! It was well written, funny, angsty and yet sweet, and I had a lot of fun reading it! It actually reminded me a lot of Pride and Prejudice with its slow building romance, which started off as hostility! With all the pent-up longing and desire, it is inevitable that they will eventually succumb, and I enjoyed seeing the role reversal of the heroine seducing the hero. Plato was romantic though. Did he not say our soul was split in two before birth and that we spend our life searching for our other half to feel whole again?” The first in a new historical rom-com series, a handsome earl hires a fake fiancée to keep his matchmaking mother at bay, but hilarity ensues when love threatens to complicate everything.

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Something tore inside his chest, something vital, and briefly, he wondered if a man could die from it. The pain all but took his breath away. What a way to find out he did have a heart. I mean, it's got a strong feminist vibe, good message about finding yourself, and main characters that aren't horrid. It just didn't grab me and pull me in like I wanted it to. Despite their sizzling chemistry, she is too far below his station to be anymore than a kept woman. Why they spent a great amount of time avoiding the other when at the same time they can’t stand to be too far as they need another’s presence to breath freely. Evie wrote The League of Extraordinary Women inspired by the magical scenery of Oxford and her passion for romance, women pioneers, and all things Victorian. In her civilian life, she is a strategy consultant with a M.Sc. in Diplomacy from Oxford. Scotland and the great outdoors have a special place in her heart, so she is frequently found climbing the Highlands and hunting for woolly tartan blankets. She is a member of the British Romantic Novelists' Association (RNA).

Bringing Down the Duke (A League of Extraordinary Women Book 1) Bringing Down the Duke (A League of Extraordinary Women Book 1)

I loved Sebastian because underneath his exterior, there really was so much more going on. I loved his intelligence, his humour and his passion and devotion. His family’s history as a Dukedom, Sebastian being involved in advising the Queen and Parliament and Sebastian’s relationship with his younger brother, Peregrin, were all interesting subplots. I don’t even know how to express how much I loved Sebastian. Spun around this setting is an epic love story between a commoner and a duke, both very aware of their position in society. Sebastian is right a jerk when this starts off but man, did I fall in love. I fell so hard. He is honorable, considerate, more than he let on when we first meet him, arrogant, high-handed, controlled and incredibly private and emotionally stunted. It was a thing of beauty to watch him turn from this seemingly cold-hearted bastard into a man, who felt deeper than anyone would have ever expected he was capable of. What a complex, infuriating, protective, wonderful man he was.

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Ms. Dunmore introduces a number of secondary characters who I am sure are destined to have their own books. But things are destined to change when a shift in the course of action on the suffragists’ front brings these two rivals at close quarters. She might not exactly like him. But she very, very much wanted to make sense of him. Even though the story is about two people from different stations in life, it holds a message for couples today. Will you let your differences tear you apart? Or will you merge your lives together as one? I don’t think there is anything more beautiful than seeing two people grow into their true selves as they fall in love. That could be okay if the sex scenes didn't feel so one-sided. Annabelle loses her identity and agency. The Duke's desires subsume her own and feels so toxic. He doesn't really seem to care about Annabelle's needs or wants or how their sexual exploits would ruin her future. Bah! I just couldn't take it anymore. I abandoned this one in disgust even more annoyed because it had so much early potential. Plus it promised, but didn't really deliver, women at Oxford and suffragettes. Arrr! Follows the adventures of an entirely unconventional heroine who throws herself into the London Season to find a wealthy husband. But the last thing she expects is to find love...

Bringing Down the Duke book By Evie Dunmore Read Bringing Down the Duke book By Evie Dunmore

This debut is so strong and so clever. The cover might make it seem that this is all lighthearted joy and hijinks but don't be fooled. This is a love story between people who have their eyes wide open. Who are sensible, and logical, and intelligent. Who know the implausibilities of a union between them and fight it because they know better. Which makes that tension even more delicious. And yes, sure, there is still fun to be had. Annabelle and Sebastian are not the predictable pair, so common in the genre, composed by the smart-mouthed, anachronistically liberated heroine and the uppity nobleman with a hidden wild side, no, there was instead an authenticity to them which stemmed from the layered, nuanced and vibrant characterisations, so consistently immersed in the historical setting that each of their moves and skirting around also became a sort of social tableau on the customs and mores of their times. They act, think and behave like late Victorian people without becoming stale stereotypes and preserving their own unique personalities, and the realistic hurdles on the path of their relationship, when contemplating such vast class difference in those days, are not magically brushed aside but, on the contrary, cleverly turned into pivotal issues and plot-points. When I started at BOTM, I was a professed literary snob—and probably flaunted that term with pride (queue eye roll). I never read romance books because I assumed they were too cheesy and poorly written to be considered worthy of my time. Years later, dozens of romance books devoured, I’m so happy to report that, on that score, I was wrong. Woman, the queen feared, “would become the most hateful, heartless, and disgusting of human beings,” were she allowed to have the same political and social rights as men. Similarly, Elizabeth Wordsworth, the first warden of Lady Margaret Hall and great-niece of poet William Wordsworth, saw no need for women to have a role in parliamentary politics. Miss Wordsworth would” In late 19th century England, Annabelle Archer is the daughter of a country vicar, now penniless. Annabelle has joined the first class of female students at the University of Oxford. Her scholarship has a price, though, and a worthy one: she must advocate for women’s suffrage.Well, there now. The plot, as you can see, isn't really new or unique. Yet it is freshly done. I really enjoyed the rather realistic inclusion of the suffragette movement and the heroine's part in it. She's not a strident feminist. Just wants to be free and equal. No subservient wife role or that of mistress for her. And she has a little bit of personal baggage from an incident in her past (which I won't get into here) which adds to her stubbornness about certain things in her relationship with Sebastian. Simply superb! Evie Dunmore will wow you ‘ GAELEN FOLEY, New York Times bestselling author of Duke of Storm