Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore

Themes: historical romance, adult

The synopsis

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….

The review

I don’t have much to say about this book which was the romance I expected. As Cinderella, Annabelle is the poor girl who meets her Duke Charming and they end up living happily ever after. But before this happy ending, our characters go through hardships. First, they can’t stand each other, then they are attracted to each other but can’t marry, and finally when all seems lost Sebastian makes a sacrifice in order to win Annabelle’s heart. And there is a bit of smut, as usual…

However, for once the heroine is quite smart and is an intellectual. Characters were well fleshed out and credible in their actions. The interesting part was the bit of history that was introduced as a background for the plot since Annabelle is one of the only female students at Oxford and a sufragette at the same time. I liked to see how women were considered at that time and what was their supposed place in society. The author also manages to show us that the rights we have today were not won in one day and recreates successfully the atmosphere of the demonstrations led by the movement.

In brief: a nice romance to pass time with an interesting historical background and a beautiful cover!

My rating: 3/5