Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for providing a digital ARC for review!
This debut Historical Romance hit it out of the park! I had a hard time believing this was a debut when I was reading it. The writing was elegant, and not clunky at all. I love that this took place during the late 1800's as opposed to the standard Early 1800's that we see in most historical fiction novels.
Though the story isn't wholly original, I found the characters to truly be a delight, and Dunmore did a great job of making something we have read before feel completely fresh. With the focus on the Women's Suffrage Movement of the time, it just "hit different" as some would say.
Both of the main characters were intriguing in their own way, and they are characters that I will continue to think about for the next while. Annabelle especially. Her spunk and desire for knowledge were something that struck a cord with me as a working woman. Sebastian is great as well. Their chemistry was great on top of the rest of the story working.
Definitely worth checking out!

I was excited to read this book when I learned it was set in the Victorian period. I read a lot of historical romance and this is a time period that isn't often covered. I really liked our two leads, Annabelle and Sebastian, but overall I wasn't wowed by their story. I feel like I was promised a delightful feminist romp and what I got was just another run-of-the-mill romance story. The book also seemed well researched to me, especially with what was going on politically at the time, but I did have an issue with how she addressed the noble characters sometimes. Sebastian has a brother, Peregrin Devereux, who is frequently addressed as Lord Devereux when he should be addressed as Lord Peregrin. This is just a small nitpick but it stood out to me in a book that was otherwise so well researched about the time period. I did enjoy the author's writing style, however, and I'm definitely looking forward to what she writes next.

CW for pregnancy/miscarriage and...attempted assault which is glossed over

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although there is one area which I thought deserved more exploration and attention which I'll get to. This is a debut and I always love when a debut is particularly strong. Annabelle receives a scholarship and in exchange has to campaign for the vote - which I found incredibly interesting and I loved that historical context, as well as the philosophical debates she and her friends got into. When she meets Sebastian, the duke, things get interesting. He is icy and of course they don't get along. I loved their banter and how they flirted via debate because I find that ridiculously sexy.

What I wanted to mention was the impending sense of doom from the other males on the periphery of the book. Many of them are awful, because, well, they're men. And honestly, I spent much of the book waiting for an actual assault to happen. Or to find out Annabelle had something horrid in her past. When we *do* find out her past we find out (view spoiler) so that's terrible but not what I expected. And that was kind of mentioned briefly but not a lot for all that it hangs over the entirety of the book. Regardless, the alarm she has at spending time with men and seeing her friends spending time with men was ALL CAPS to the point that I felt it could have been explored more fully to resolve those feelings. And readers should be aware of that alarmed feeling going in. Also there is a brief assault from a police officer where he gropes a side character's breast. And multiple male characters try to get the female characters alone - and it's apparent from the females that it's with 'intent'.

Overall, I enjoyed this world, and particularly Annabelle and her friends.

3.5 stars

After reading all the hype for this book, I was prepared to be blown away. I wasn't. I enjoyed it anyway.

Annabelle Archer is the brilliant, beautiful orphaned daughter of a country vicar. Tired of her life living as a virtual slave to her cousin and his large family, she applies - and receives - a scholarship to attend the newly formed women's college at Oxford. The scholarship is not without its own set of problems - in order to claim it, she agrees to volunteer on behalf of the burgeoning women's suffragist movement (which she supports). After a bit of clever subterfuge, her cousin is convinced into letting Annabelle go - but not without his own set of demands. Annabelle doesn't care what she has to do to attend Oxford - for her, any price is worth her freedom from the drudgery of living with her cousin. (All of this drudgery takes place off page - so we have to take her word for it.)

Unfortunately, Annabelle's freedom IS extremely costly, and her work for the suffragist movement directly contravenes her cousins demands. So what's a girl to do? Well, intelligent, beautiful Annabelle gets to work - literally. She studies, she tutors, she volunteers, she sends money back to her cousins, she makes a few random friends...And then she meets Sebastian Devereux, Duke of Montgomery, and her life takes a drastic turn.

Sebastian, your stereotypical stone cold capable Duke - also a Tory political phenom, runs into Annabelle while she's out pamphleting on behalf of the suffragists. He doesn't like the way some of the men in his party treat her after they nearly run her over, and he makes his feelings clear afterwards. HE'S A GOOD GUY, and he can't stop thinking of the beautiful women with the startling green eyes days after that brief encounter, regardless of the ridiculous cause she's decided to champion.

Well lucky Sebastian - days later, she's at his house, cozying up to his brother so that he will influence Sebastian to throw his support the Married Women's act. (Just go with it.) Much to her dismay, he initially assumes she's simply trying to take advantage of his spoiled, lost - but still a GOOD GUY - younger brother. Reader, she is - but not in the way he assumes. The meeting ends with him ordering her out of the house...and then reconsidering his assumptions after she actually leaves. His quick reassessment of her intentions is a bit too easy breezy oops - but Sebastian is VERY WISE AND SMART AND INTELLIGENT, and the subsequent 'show down in the snow' is ridiculous (the author loves to segue into odd adjective laden descriptions of the soul deep revelations her characters see just by looking at each other), but Annabelle gets her apology and Sebastian gets his way. He returns Annabelle to the house party (where her friends are? somewhere?), and the lust train is in motion.

When Annabelle catches a cold after her snowy adventure, she's forced to remain at the house longer than she intended, while her friends (sometimes there and mostly somewhere else whenever its convenient), return to Oxford. Sebastian is secretly thrilled - he likes her, and wants to take care of her; Annabelle less so. She senses his attraction, but a poor decision in her past - and her pesky politics (pesky to him, Reader! I liked them.), make her doubt their long term compatibility.

Look, they're into each other, but the attraction is problematic and by the end of the visit, neither one is willing to go beyond the one passionate kiss they shared. Annabelle is a commoner, Sebastian is a Duke (with a great big capital D); she wants freedom, he wants to protect her; he represses his passions, she's been burned by hers; he's thrilled by her intelligence and spirit, she's unwillingly drawn to his brilliance and ferocity; they're opposites who can't resist each other...but they're both saddled with an inconvenient sense of duty and pride - Annabelle won't let Sebastian ruin himself for her or allow him to make her his mistress and solve all her financial problems; Sebastian wants to protect, nurture and love her (because he's kind of awesome) but knows that a relationship with her could destroy his family's good name.

This first book in the League of Extraordinary Women is a promising start to the series. I liked the premise of the story and the opposites attract romance...but the author struggles to find the right balance between the romance and politics. Annabelle is a sympathetic character - she's fallen on hard times after her father dies, but she doesn't give up and keeps fighting for a better life for herself. Sebastian sees this - and admires it. But he also has a duty to his title and estate - and a scandalous relationship with a commoner suffragist could destroy his reputation and all his hard work. Ms. Dunmore cleverly ties the romance to the politics in the story, unfortunately, her execution is clunky.

Sebastian is underdeveloped, his relationship with his brother clearly a plot device to bring the principals into each other's orbit - and to teach a lesson, and the secondary characters are....well, they're odd. The author seems to be aiming for quirky, eccentric and fierce and instead they're just weird. And they conveniently pop up whenever Annabelle needs a save. I'm guessing future stories feature each one in turn, but I wasn't intrigued by any of their stories, and frankly, I wished she simply focused on her principal couple instead.

I liked this story, the principal characters, and the clever conceit that links the romance with the suffragist movement. I didn't like the overly dramatic thought bubbles or the secondary characters, and the novel drags on a bit too long with two ridiculous plot twists at the end that had me rolling my eyes in frustration. And, much like another brazen novel released earlier this year, our heroine starts out one way - EARNING HER OWN MONEY, USING HER MIND, SHOWING US HER BRILLIANCE - and spends nearly the entirety of the rest of the book fussing over a man and ignoring all the things that make her special and awesome and unique. So frustrating. Authors: if you want us to believe in these characters, they have to walk the walk, AND talk the talk FROM START TO FINISH.

A promising debut.

This was such an entertaining debut novel set in Victorian England. The heroine, Annabelle, is an intellectual and a reluctant suffragist. She sets out to convince a powerful Duke and the sparks fly between them. Funny with a good sense of the times, in particular, the British social order.

DNF at 20%

I loved that this book had a strong heroine who was involved in the suffragist movement! Unfortunately, the story wasn't for me. Annabelle and Sebastian's relationship starts off very much like insta-love, and I didn't feel a connection to their characters. I definitely feel that other readers will enjoy the banter between the two MC's and the late 1800's setting, but it fell a little flat for me. Fans of historical romance looking for a light, fun read may like this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for providing an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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4.5/5

It's no secret that I love historical romances, but frankly, I can be quite picky about them. I've been eager to read Bringing Down the Duke ever since I heard that the book was centered around the British suffrage movement. I was undeniably hyped diving into this book and I'm pleased to conclude that Evie Dunmore delivered on a clever and swoon-worthy romantic debut that is sure to charm all readers of this genre.

The beating heart of Bringing Down the Duke was its heroine, Annabelle. She was a young and intelligent woman who was among the very first women to be accepted to study at Oxford. Her life-changing scholarship, however, came at a price - she must aid the suffragette movement with their aims. Her first task is to convince influential men to alter a sexist law. Annabelle was not a difficult heroine to grow fond of. She was smart, wily, and very down-to-earth. Evie Dunmore makes it seamless to get invested in Annabelle's story, her goals, and the determination she had to reach them. She has got her vulnerabilities as well, especially regarding her class in society, but she doesn't let that tear her down. I found her to be very admirable and it was a joy to read this story in her voice. The first man that she approaches in her task is Sebastian, a certified broody hero. Their first meeting was full of sparks and chemistry, and that only grows throughout Bringing Down the Duke. Sebastian was a powerful man with a very assertive presence throughout this book. In exchange for a castle that his father gambled away, Queen Victoria asks him to lead the Tory party to victory. As with Annabelle, Sebastian was also a man who was goal-driven and would leave no stone unturned to achieve what he wanted. It was a very attractive quality of him, in addition to his quiet intensity.

Sebastian and Annabelle may have come from very different backgrounds, but they were more than compatible. Their connection was more than just about the chemistry. They both had similar emotional maturities and shared many common interests, which made for some excellent mentally-stimulating conversations between them. I have to say, somehow, their conversations were even sexier than their physical scenes. The romance was one that built torturously slowly, but it was incredibly gratifying. Evie Dunmore was brilliant at making me wait with a bated breath for them to finally get together as they danced around each other, and when it finally happened? Explosions everywhere! I was wholeheartedly invested in their relationship even through the downs. Besides the red-hot romance, I enjoyed how much page space the author devoted to the historical events. It took Bringing Down the Duke to another level for me, making the book even more enjoyable. A lot of times, I tend to only care for the romance, but Dunmore has a way with her words of delivering on the setting and the plot that had me engaged in all aspects of the story.

Bringing Down the Duke is not only one of my favorite debut novels of 2019, but it is also one of my favorite books period. It encompasses everything I love about historical genre and I can't wait to see what amazing books the author has up her sleeves. Read this one, folks!

This is an enjoyable historical romance with an extra dose of feminist politics in the late nineteenth century. Annabelle is a vicar's daughter on scholarship at Oxford working for the suffragette cause. When she meets the Duke, who is an ardent opponent of the suffrage cause, the romance plot gets into motion. The book doesn't try very hard to stay true to the period in terms of language, but it is very readable.

What a wonderful debut historical romance!
I've been wanting to read this book ever since I saw the cover and read the description months ago. Set in the Victorian era, this book brings a breath of fresh air to the historical romance genre. The concept is very unique. The heroine is an Oxford student whose scholarship depends on being active in the women's suffrage movement and as part of that, she is tasked with convincing powerful members of the parliament to join the cause. Unfortunately, the person she lays her eyes on is Sebastian Devereaux, the Duke of Montgomery. He is cold, unfeeling and has no interest in the women's suffrage movement but he is instantly captivated by Anabelle.

I found Sebastian to be a very typical alpha hero. Though the story had a very unique concept and theme, I felt the characters were stereotypical of the romance genre. Sebastian is a domineering duke and Anabelle is a submissive heroine. The romance was primarily physical and depended on sexual attraction, which is fine, but considering these two characters were so unique, their intellectual compatibility could've been milked more. I couldn't really buy Anabelle, the heroine as a feminist because upon falling in love with the duke, she easily contemplates giving up her place at Oxford and becoming a wife. She didn't seem very dedicated to her cause and we don't get to see much of her personality other than her falling in love.

However, despite the flaws, Bringing Down the Duke is a very good debut novel. It stands its ground as a historical romance. It's hard to find something so original in this genre. I enjoyed the side characters and can't wait for the next book.

Evie Dunmore’s Bringing Down the Duke is the first book in the A League of Extraordinary Women series, and is a very strong début from someone who promises to add a much-needed fresh voice to historical romance.  The writing is sharp and clear, and displays a really good sense of time and place; the characters feel true for the time period, and I was particularly impressed by the heroine, who is forward-thinking and progressive without being one of those contrary-for-the-sake-of-it, look-at-how-unconventional-I-am types who annoy the crap out of me.

Annabelle Archer has lived under the roof of her cousin, a country clergyman, since the death of her parents.  She’s an unpaid skivvy; she keeps house, looks after his children and endures his continual complaints about the fact that her father over-educated her – why on earth would a woman need an education?  So when Annabelle is offered a place at Lady Margaret Hall (in 1878, LMH was the first Oxford college to open its doors to women) he’s  far from pleased, but when she says she’ll fund the cost of a replacement housekeeper (somehow), he begrudgingly allows her to go.

Some months later, we find Annabelle in London with a group of her friends, like-minded young women who, under the leadership of Lady Lucie, secretary of the National Society for Women’s Suffrage, are planning to approach various men of influence with a view to getting them to support changes to the Married Women’s Property Act.  The strategy – identify a man of influence, approach him firmly, but with a smile, and deliver a pamphlet boldly declaring The Married Women’s Property Act makes a slave of every wife! – isn’t difficult to grasp, but at this period, just walking up to a gentleman unannounced and unchaperoned wasn’t the done thing and could lead to worse things than a refusal to listen.  Annabelle is understandably nervous, but nonetheless determined to do her bit when she notices a man who appears to be exactly the sort of man of influence she needs to approach.

Sebastian Devereux, thirteenth Duke of Montgomery, is one of the most powerful and respected men in England.  He  has a reputation for being cold and severe, and devotes most of his time to the running of his numerous estates and is particularly concerned at present with regaining possession of his family seat, Castle Montgomery, which his profligate father lost in a card game.  The Queen (who was, sadly, one of the biggest opponents of female emancipation) promises her support for his cause if he will take on the role of chief strategic advisor for the Tory party in the upcoming election – a job he doesn’t have either the time or the inclination to perform.  But he can’t refuse what is tantamount to a royal command.

When news of his new appointment reaches Lady Lucie’s ears, she realises a change of strategy is required, and that she needs to know more about the duke.  To his end, she hatches a plan whereby she, Annabelle and a couple of other ladies will be invited to the house party being held at Claremont, the duke’s country home, with a view to finding out as much about the duke as they can in the attempt to ‘know thine enemy’.

Of course, the house party offers the chance for Sebastian and Annabelle to meet again, and to get to know each other.  The spark both felt at their initial meeting really flares to life, and the author does a fantastic job building their romance in a believable manner that enables them to stay true to themselves. Their conversations and interactions are delightful; their flirtations via philosophical discussions and the way Sebastian shows the degree to which he really sees Annabelle through his selection of books for her are completely swoonworthy, and the longing they feel for one another is palpable.

Their romance is a delicious slow-burn, which fits their characters and situations perfectly.  Both of them are well aware of the difficulties which lie in the path of a relationship between a duke and a commoner, and unlike so much historical romance, which just sweeps those things under the carpet, the author handles this aspect of the story in a way that feels completely authentic for the period.  That said, however, I really don’t like that whole ‘I can’t marry you because I love you too much to ruin you’ thing, which I always feel is one character accusing the other of not knowing his or her own mind – and it’s one of the reasons I couldn’t quite push this up into the DIK bracket. Annabelle's insistence on self-sacrifice felt out of character and also left Sebastian to do all the hard work while she did nothing to fight for what she wanted.  I also felt Sebastian to be somewhat underdeveloped as a character, especially compared to Annabelle, and there are a few places where the pacing is a little off; the circling around one particular issue goes on a little too long, and there are a few plot points (notably one concerning Annabelle’s romantic past) that are under-explored.

On the surface, Bringing Down the Duke is nothing we haven’t seen before – uptight-duty-bound-hero-meets-unconventional-young-woman-who-gets-him-to-loosen-up-a-bit is a well-used plotline.  Here though, the author breathes fresh life into the trope by giving her principals a real depth of character that’s been lacking in so many of the historical romances I’ve read lately.  Annabelle is fully aware that her pursuit of an education and personal freedom, together with her espousal of the cause of women’s suffrage could have serious consequences for her, but these things are terribly important to her and she’s prepared to fight for them.  She’s not loud or flashy (in the manner of Lady Lucie) but she’s no less committed, and her quiet determination adds weight and seriousness to her character and keeps the tone of the story grounded in reality.  She’s a different sort of heroine just as Sebastian is a different sort of hero; he isn’t a cold, ruthless man with daddy issues, he’s a man genuinely dedicated to doing the best he can for those he cares for, and there’s the real sense that his association with Annabelle is gradually changing him because she’s opening his eyes to things he hadn’t previously seen or considered.  Sebastian and Annabelle’s pasts inform their characters, but they also act according to their own lights and carve their own individuality separately from their upbringings and circumstances.

I can’t finish this review without mentioning the (horrible) cover.  It appears to be yet another attempt by the marketing folks at persuading potential readers that they won’t get infected by those nasty romance cooties if they read this book in much the same way so many contemporaries (Fix Her Up, The Hating Game, The Right Swipe etc.) are doing at the moment.  I confess that I’m not a huge fan of the dress-falling-off-half-naked-clinch covers either, but this one looks like something daubed in a kid’s fingerpainting class!

So don’t judge this book by its cover – or its title, which doesn’t make much sense either.  Bringing Down the Duke is an impressive début novel that’s firmly grounded in its historical setting and manages to offer some insightful social comment without bashing the reader over the head with it.  The writing is intelligent and accomplished, the central characters are engaging and three-dimensional, and the romance is sensual and tender.  I’m looking forward to reading more by Evie Dunmore.

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OBSESSED. Everything I love all in one. I can't wait to pick up a copy once it's out. I'll be recommending this one to all my friends and coworkers for sure.

I enjoyed the feminist plot of this romance novel. It was a great reminder of how far we've come by reading about suffragettes and the rampant sexism they faced.

Anabelle and the Duke are both very strong characters. Anabelle was a fully fleshed woman with ambitions, a past, and was there for more than just to eventually bed the Duke. I like that this had a strong plot to go along with its swoony romance. However, I wish we saw more about her schooling and learned more about her past. Her going to Oxford was a big part of the social dynamic in the book. She had to beg her cousin to go and men looked at her differently for going. It was so monumental that Oxford let women in. It was just kind of glazed over and not mentioned all that much except when she had an essay due. I wanted to see more about her education, how she grew as a person from this, and what she was gaining from the societal ridicule. Her family seemed to be a big part of her past and carried some shame and yet we learned almost nothing about them. There was a comment about how horrible her cousin's wife was and yet we never even learned her name let alone why she was horrible. Why did her cousin receive her father's estate? Did she get anything? Why did he treat her like a maid and not a family member? Why was she not even permitted her bed? There was just a lot missing from this part of the plot and I was disappointed. It would've fully fleshed out our MC.

Overall, Bringing Down the Duke is a great period piece about doing what's right, no matter the societal consequences. It just had a few flaws.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Berkley through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.*

Oh wow, did I not like this, and I know that it's going to get lots of love.

There were so many things I did not like about this, but I think the biggest thing was that I did not like either the hero or the heroine, which I think has a lot to do with the patriarchy. I think it's also pretty insidious, as the book is wrapped in this seemingly progressive and modern fight for women's suffrage, but as I will briefly argue below, it is not actually very progressive at all.

First, let's discuss the hero, who seems like an unmitigated ass throughout the book, and is never redeemed. The "ass" characterization comes largely from the extent to which his (much younger) brother was scared of him seemed like it veered from the "older but distant ducal brother" trope into being a truly terrible brother. At one point it seemed like he had possibly beaten his brother, based on his brother's reaction to something he said, but later it became clear that he had not, but I still found the extent to which his brother was worried about being beaten disturbing. As for the lack of redemption -- at the end, (view spoiler)

Second, there's the heroine, who spent way too much time agonizing about how much she's sinning by wanting to sleep with the duke in a way that the "historical accuracy" advocates may love, but I found annoying and way too much like internalized patriarchy (probably because it was). There was no unequivocal embrace of herself as a sexual being like you see coming from some other current HR writers out there.

Lastly, the book is as a complete shambles on the representation front. The rich one of the heroine's friends (who is clearly sequel bait) is rich because her father does business in South Africa, but there's no interrogation of where that means her wealth actually comes from (the book is set in 1879). Equally problematic is the fact that her last name is Greenfield, and she generally reads as Jewish to me, and her character starts to skirt into dangerous tropes about Jews and money. As far as I can tell, there are also no POC in the book at all.

Thanks to the publisher for giving me a free arc through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Bringing Down the Duke wasn't what I thought it would be from the blurb, and that was a good thing. I was expecting more cold aristocracy and a public love/hate relationship, but instead it was a slow start to friendship and then more (they definitely don't have a good first or second meeting, though).

Sebastian, the Duke, is far from perfect. He divorced his first wife under mysterious circumstances (it turns out she had a lover that she ran off with before giving him the requisite heir and spare). He is alienating his brother Peregrine even further away every time he talks to him. The Queen (Victoria) has ordered him to support the Tories' reelection and bribed him with potentially returning the ancestral family estate to him. He must work on this election campaign or he'll lose what he's been striving to fix since his father lost everything.

Annabelle has been her cousin Gilbert's servant since her father died. She gets into Oxford with a scholarship and convinces Gilbert to let her go by paying him 2 pounds a month for a replacement maid and convincing him she needs this education to be a better governess to his children. All it's going to take is the slightest slip-up for him to ban her from returning.

As mentioned, Annabelle and Sebastian's first meetings don't go well, but they wind up corresponding after Annabelle takes ill while visiting the Duke's estate. Sebastian discovers (by brow-beating the doctor) that she is malnourished and exhausted and sets about making sure she eats a lot and has books to read. But how can two people working on totally different dreams get together? There are so many barriers to it for both of them.

Dunsmore does a fantastic job of world building and giving us characters with such depth, showing how one's good can be another's worst. It is so hard to read about the frustrations of women in that time period and see how little we've come in many ways since then, particularly for women of colour. But if it weren't for women like the suffragists, maybe we'd be even further back. I enjoyed this fresh approach and look forward to the next historical romance by this author.

I adored so many things about this book. Suffragettes. Realistic representation of class. Smart women maneuvering mediocre men. 19th century politics.

Annabelle is is my favorite kind of heroine, a self-assured and hard working activist with a gooey center of vulnerability. After falling in love with Annabelle, I was initially worried I’d hate Sebastian with his commanding presence and oodles of privilege. However, the tug of war between his head and heart was very sympathetic. He's a political strategist who is unwavering in his affections once he falls for Annabelle but unsure how to reconcile these two dynamics. It was nice to have some realistic obstacles after reading a couple of romances where the conflict could have been solved by a single conversation. I found the story totally compelling.

The depiction of movement's for women's rights--and other people's responses to it--felt dead accurate and sadly relevant to today. The book does a good job of evoking that sense of frustration when your vision of social change feels so obvious to you, yet many people think you’re totally crazy.

There are some books you just know you aren't going to click with and this one and I will never be friends. The dialog is too modern and vapid, the suffragettes are too giggly and silly. My dislike was almost immediate and visceral.

Bringing Down the Duke is the best historical romance I've read in a while. Annabelle is penniless and eager to get out of her cousin's house, where she works as a maid. Accepted into the first class of women students at Oxford, she finally sees a chance for a new life. She wins a stipend from the suffragettes, and joins the bluestockings in their crusade. Meanwhile Sebastian, the Duke of Montgomery, is fighting to gain everything his father lost to gambling and drink. Annabelle tries to win Sebastian to the suffragist cause, but he is a) not interested and b) trying to help the (anti suffrage) Tories win the upcoming election. I loved Annabelle. She is smart and funny, and is surrounded by truly wonderful friends at Oxford. (I'd love a book about each of them.) I also loved her backstory (which I won't spoil here), and thought it was handled really well. I appreciated that the class differences between Annabelle and Sebastian are treated as seriously as they would have been - Annabelle's status as a commoner is a serious obstacle for the pair. I also liked Sebastian. He is too tough on his brother (and himself), but he is under so much pressure it's understandable. Historical romances often skip over the realities of the time period, or feel very unrealistic. This one felt like it was really well researched but at the same time was very entertaining. I was also so happy that Annabelle was a student as opposed to a member of the ton - this book felt much different than a lot of what is currently being written. I highly recommend this and am eagerly looking forward to Evie Dunmore's next book!

Bringing Down the Duke gave me all the best Pride and Prejudice vibes. I loved sinking into this suffragette story teeming with so many swoony scenes. I also loved the well-rounded characters and emphasis on female friendships. I can't wait to read future installments form Evie Dunmore!

I really enjoyed Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore! This book was a delightful forbidden love story. I loved the characters of Annabelle and Montgomery. They were each layered and I enjoyed learning more about each of them as the book progressed. I also liked how the arc of the story didn't just rely on waiting for the Annabelle and Montgomery to get together at the ultimate plot point. Instead there was a lot of back and forth and multiple obstacles throughout the book that really had me wondering how things would wrap up in the end. This most definitely is a ROMANCE novel so be prepared for all the romantic scenes--I loved it but its definitely an open door romance as apposed to a closed door romance. The set dressing of this book was also really enjoyable--I loved the time and place and many of the supporting characters, especially Annabelle's classmates and friends. If you love historical fiction and romance, this book is a MUST.

Okay this is hands down one of my favorite historical romances I've read this year! It's been a long while since I've sacrificed my sleep and stayed up way too late to finish devouring a book, and I gladly gave it up for this one.

Every aspect of this book just really worked for me. I loved our heroine Annabelle and that she wasn't from the aristocracy. She was such a smart and driven person and that made her struggle with trying to figure out what to do about our hero even more enjoyable. Sebastian was everything I look for in a good hero and even when he was making a quote 'bad' decision I could understand where he was coming from. These two find themselves in what seems like an impossible situation and watching them figure out how to solve it was such a joy!

I can't wait to see what this author does next and until then I will for sure be giving Bringing Down The Duke a re-read!