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

This is the best debut historical romance I've read since Mia Vincy's A WICKED KIND OF HUSBAND in 2018. I can't think of any recent HRs better than these two, by debut or established authors. Dunmore's HR is not without flaws but it is very well written, has a nicely slow-burning romance, and intelligent, clever dialogue. Yes, getting these two main characters of very disparate social classes to an HEA does feel like a bit of a fairy tale, but I really didn't mind.It's 1879 in Victorian England. Our heroine Annabelle is very intelligent, very well educated (by her late vicar/scholar father) but also very poor. She's living in Chorleywood with her stuffy vicar cousin Gilbert and his family at the beginning of the book, serving as their unpaid nanny/governess/maid, but she wants more from her life. When she is offered a place at Oxford University's new women's college, she has to manipulate Gilbert into agreeing to this, which means promising to send him two pounds a month to pay for a replacement for her and also hiding from him the fact that she is being sponsored by the National Society for Women's Suffrage.This scholarship requires that Annabelle volunteer for the suffrage society's causes, in particular the struggle to get Parliament to abolish the Married Women's Property Act, which gives a husband control and ownership of his wife's property upon marriage, hence rendering her powerless. To work toward this, volunteers such as Annabelle must try to convince members of Parliament of the rightness and justice of their cause, handing out political pamphlets to them and trying to engage them in conversation about it.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.That puts Annabelle and Sebastian on a political collision course but there is an undeniable attraction which must not be given in to. Only, of course, if Annabelle would agree to be his mistress. Well, we all know how HR heroines feel about being the hero's mistress. But wife is out of the question. A poor vicar's daughter, without a hint of nobility in her bloodline?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.There are very good secondary characters here. There's Lady Lucie, leader of the National Society for Women's Suffrage; there are Annabelle's two new best friends in the society, one a rich businessman's daughter and one of the peerage; there's Sebastian's immature younger brother; there's Professor Jenkins, Annabelle's professor; there's Sebastian's former lover, Lady Lingham. All of them are well developed and with distinct personalities. I can see sequels to give Annabelle's friends Harriet and Catriona and Sebastian's brother Peregrin their own romances. They were all appealing characters and deserve their own stories.This is not a perfect book. It is better than a 4-star one but I won't give it 5. Too much extended drama about the mistress/marriage dilemma, and, for me, not enough about the politics. The romantic component was, however, the kind that appeals to me. Lots of burning attraction before the actual bedding. All in all, one of the better HRs I've read in the past few years.

I was not the read I had planned for today but after reading a previous of the first two chapters, i had to continue my reading.I have seen many great reviews from earlier reviewers, I leave to them the action to convey their thoughts about the historical facts as it is not in my capacities.I will just share how I felt and the sentiments once having turn the last page of this book.For once, I can very much say it is my first read by Mrs Evie Dunmore, as it is also her debut novel, well her first edited one ( as I do suppose to be published, an author has to sweat over a lot of pages before catching a publisher’s eyes.What an error it was to decide to read it, i stayed awake late at night when I had to wake up before the sun rising.I just adored this book.The characters are flawed but it was what made them more engaging.Annabelle is no miss-in-distress. Sure, she is facing some dire straits and paying a harsh price for the errors of her young self.But she uses her clever mind and wits to her profits, refusing to let others dictate her future. She might be a woman, she won’t let it stop her from reaching her goal. She has to play not always fair but it is how life is.She is a strong willing woman and she won’t debase herself even to satisfy her passionate inner core, but she has also her doubts, as they were ingrained and tattooed in her soul, in spite of knowing she is worth than what it is expected from her, when her dreams could come true, she can’t comprehend she is deserving her happily ever after, she rejected it for fear of not being enough.Sebastian Devereux, Duke of Montgomery is everything is expected from such a lofty titled gentleman. Icy cool and composed, never showing or expressing an emotion. Always behaving like he is expected. He inherited his title at a very young age and since he has made his mission to restaure his family name to its ancient splendor. Slowly he is regaining all his lost estates, and now that only one is left, he must obey His Queen’s orders if he want to be able to get the last one back. But his encounter with a pair of green eyes disrupts everything he had planned. He is unsettled for the first time since long, drawn to her like he is magnetized. When around her, he can’t stop saying outrageous things, acting the wrong way.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.So when after having told her many many time, she could never be more than his mistress, I did understood why she didn’t believed him. Proposing her after having a fright, is not the best path to reassure her of his feelings and his willingness to face the scandal which would assuredly strike.Sure words and insults were exchanged but as their “courting” was not the usual too, he should have realize he could not come and barge in her home like a madman and profess his undying love when he told her with conviction she was no match for a duchess position.The author gave me time to get acquainted with both main characters plus the side protagonists. She developed them in a way, I learned gradually about their pasts, pain and wounds. It rendered them more alive.While I have read some reviews complaining about Annabelle refusing Sebastian’s proposal, despite the hurt both caused to another, I did accepted her choice even if wrong. She thinks she is protecting him from a rushed decision, albeit letting go her own happiness, maybe too to shield herself from future pain.So with this first published novel Mrs Evie Dunmore has won a firm reader.And autumn 2020 is so very far for the second installment.I was granted an advance copy through Edelweiss and the publisher Penguin Publisher Group. I purchased also my own. Here is my true and unbiased opinion.

It's not a feminist book and also like a romantic book is, occasionally dull and sometimes its absurd and annoying cause it's against any that the suffragists propose in the book.

Bringing Down the Duke was an absolute delight to read!After binge-reading everything Julia Quinn has written, I was in search of something as compelling and riveting, and Evie Dunmore didn't disappoint me. This novel links history and romance beautifully, touching on important themes and yet delivering a great page turner of a love story.I can't wait to go on with the series.

Eu li em um blog literário que Bringing Down the Duke é o livro de estreia da autora. Se essa informação é mesmo verdadeira, que estreia!Existem tantos aspectos sensacionais neste livro ... e eu amei cada um deles: a cuidadosa concepção dos personagens, a trama caprichada, a pesquisa e a riqueza de detalhes históricos, os diálogos precisos, o ritmo, a prosa fluida são credenciais certas para que esta obra figure, desde já, entre os melhores lançamentos de 2020.A história complexa e rica em detalhes trata com realismo os obstáculos enfrentados pelo casal de protagonistas na construção de seu relacionamento: a impossível e socialmente inaceitável união entre Sebastian, Duke de Montgomery, e Annabelle Archer, a plebeia pobre filha do vigário.Com um texto primoroso e a luta feminista pelo direito a voto na Inglaterra vitoriana como pano de fundo a autora mantém o leitor com o coração na mão.Como bônus a autora ainda mostra uma heroína inteligente e culta que consegue ser aceita como aluna em Oxford e um herói que valoriza a capacidade intelectual de Annabelle e suas aspirações por igualdade de condições políticas e sociais para ambos os sexos.Bringing Down the Duke sem dúvida é um debut de proporções épicas. Um bela história de amor, autoconhecimento, sofrimento e redenção. Um texto em que sobra qualidade e que merece ser lido e relido. Recomendo com certeza.

I liked some aspects of this debut book from Ms Dunmore, but I also have some reservations. Unfortunately I feel the book was overhyped and published too soon when it is still a little 'rough around the edges'.I had some problems with the character development, especially of the h, Annabelle, who seemed to have a personality transplant early in the book. At first she was plain unlikeable - smug, superior, and manipulative of the mere men around her. I nearly stopped reading right then. (BTW I would have disliked it just as much if it had been a man disrespecting women the way she did men). Then she somehow became more natural and likeable, fortunately. It felt as if this was the writer's inexperience, maybe? As if the starting of her book just wasn't that great, but then she got into her stride more?I did like the H, although it's a shame he had to be yet another duke.... *sigh* I'm over the 'duke' trope. HR land is seriously overpopulated with dukes. I also found the parts with Queen Vicki and the politics etc a little hard to swallow. I didn't really connect with that part of the book. Not convincing, somehow. In spite of that, his character overall was well-portrayed, and he definitely had chemistry with Annabelle. The scenes where they were together were the most successful parts of the book for me.I did get annoyed by the modern words and sayings that just pulled me straight out of the story. Things like 'the tipping point', 'it is what it is', etc. I also found it hard to swallow that our gently bred Victorian heroine referred to people as an 'arse', and used the (modern) expression 'holy hell' a number of times. Hmmmmm.The storyline did drag in the middle, and I took a break for a few weeks before going back to finish. And it was Annabelle and the duke's relationship that saved the day and carried the book in the end (as it should).Ms Dunmore clearly has a lot of potential as a HR writer. There seem to be plenty of readers who have enjoyed this book and swallowed it whole, warts and all (so to speak)). I am hoping that as she gains more experience as a writer (and perhaps undergoes a tighter editing process) that the next book will be much better. I will certainly read it.

Uma delícia de ler e ainda traz um retrato das sufragistas da época