Review: Bringing Down the Duke (A League of Extraordinary Women #1) by Evie Dunmore
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Series: A League of Extraordinary Women #1
Author: Evie Dunmore
Published September 3rd 2019 by Piatkus
Goodreads Synopsis
A stunning debut for author Evie Dunmore and her Oxford Rebels, in which a fiercely independent vicar's daughter takes on a powerful duke in a love story that threatens to upend the British social order.
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....
Goodreads
Review
I've had this book on my goodreads shelf since June 2019, when I first heard about it, and have very recently become somewhat obsessed with Regency romances, so when I was gifted a copy during lock down, I was overjoyed. Bringing Down the Duke follows Annabelle Archer as she joins the first cohort of female students at Oxford University. There on scholarship, she is recruited into the women's suffrage movement, and finds herself confronting the men of power and means to support the cause. This brings her to Sebastian Devereux, the Duke of Montgomery, who has the ear of the Queen, and neigh on runs Parliament. They clash, but their chemistry is undeniable, and Annabelle just can't stay away from him. Through a connection with his brother and fellow student, Peregrin, she and her compatriot's, Hattie and Catriona, join a house party at Claremont, and Annabelle and the Duke clash. Montgomery has always had a reputation for being cold-hearted, but no one would dare touch him because of his illustrious lineage, and his power, but to regain his lost ancestral seat, he has to lead the Tory re-election campaign, just at a time when the Liberal's are gaining traction. Keeping himself and his family scandal free is his goal, but he can't help wanting Annabelle, though he knows her being his Duchess would just be going to far. Can they find some way to be together, or will their clashing personalities just be too much.
Now, this was utter perfection! I started this book at about 10 am, and by 2:30, I was finished. Annabelle was a fantastic heroine, and I was overwhelmed by her story, and her chemistry with Montgomery. As the daughter of a country vicar, now under the 'protection' of a inept cousin, she's been running herself ragged for years, and being allowed to study at Oxford is a lifelong dream for her. Now 25, she's definitely a bluestocking, and joining the suffrage movement doesn't help. But an incident in her youth has led her to never want to marry, and she cares only about studying, and helping to further the cause of women's suffrage. Meeting and clashing with Montgomery makes her rethink everything, but she won't compromise her morals to agree to be his mistress, and she also can't let him cause a scandal by making her his Duchess.
Montgomery, on his part, was the perfect brooding hero that anyone could've asked for. He was very much stuck in his ways, and cared about decorum and honour. His failed marriage was a blip on his otherwise unblemished record, and he doesn't want anything else to affect his family name. His brother's failures at university, and spending habit, has started to draw attention, and he organises for him to join the Navy, which leads to another plot line when he is overwrought when Peregrine goes missing, and Annabelle is there to support him. We see him fight his attraction to Annabelle, and slowly allow himself to feel, until it's too late and he's head over heels before he truly knows it.
Every single thing about this book was perfect, and I can't wait for September when Evie's second book, A Rogue of One's Own is released, and we can learn more about Lady Lucie!
Dates Read:
May 8, 2020Rating
5 Stars
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