Book 51/30.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was saved from being a 2 star read for two reasons:
1. Sebastian Devereux, the Duke of Montgomery
2. The chapters with his POV
Bringing Down the Duke is set in 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. 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.
The story has an interesting premise to it but when it came to the execution it was quite obvious that this was the author’s debut novel. There were parts of the story that fell flat for reasons I cannot quite articulate and I believe that if Evie Dunmore were to take a stab at the story now she would do a much better job. The setting was alright and the characters were mildly-to-moderately interesting (except the Duke who I LOVED), but Annabelle’s stubborn nature was very irritating from time to time. I also found the language a bit too modern for my liking. That said, I enjoyed the focus on women pioneers, the discussion about women’s roles and position in society and their own homes, the friendship between the suffragists, the banter between the protagonist and the love interest, and the yearning from the love interest as well. But the best part of this book for me was easily the Duke. I loved how dashing, attentive and MALE he was, and his desire to provide and protect was a huge turn on for me. Whew 🥵 And just like that I have another book boyfriend 😍
View all my reviews
** A guide to ratings **
1 star – did not like it
2 stars – it was okay
3 stars – liked it
4 stars – really liked it
5 stars – it was amazing
Lwile the Leo 