Book Review: Bringing Down The Duke by Evie Dunmore

Happy Monday bookish people! Today I am bringing you the book review for Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore. I read this book on the train while on the way home from Londond.

In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little bit about each one. I will try to keep this review as spoiler free as possible. I hope you enjoy my book review.

Bringing Down The Duke Plot:

This story is about a woman who is not only a women at Oxford in a period when women weren’t accepted as intelligent, free-thinking people, but she also becomes part of the suffragist movement. First of all, I loved this take on historical fiction, it gave me a lovely sense of conflict and tension from the very beginning. Because of this involvement she gets mixed up with the Duke of Montgomery. So, this plot is a bit too far on the romance side for me, I enjoyed it don’t get me wrong but I thought the plot itself lacked a little and was used as a catalyst to bring the romance in as the main element. I would have liked more of an overall story but it was okay for a quick, calm read on the train home.

Bringing Down the Duke Characters:

I have to say the characters were what made this book enjoyable for me. Annabelle is such a strong female lead character and although she does some things in the book I didn’t agree with her personality makes up for it, I liked her and I cared about whether or not she was going to get the life she deserved.

Then there’s the Duke of Montgomery and I also liked his character, up to a point. To begin with he seems moody and he makes assumptions to quickly but you see this is a miscommunication then a bit later on there is one scene that ruined his character for me, the way he acts towards Annabelle instantly says to me that I would not like this man at all.

Bringing Down the Duke Writing and Dialogue:

I think the writing in this book is okay, it is smooth and clear and it does paint the picture, especially for the setting but it’s not my favourite style of writing, this could be because of the genre as well.

Bringing Down the Duke Overall:

I gave this book four stars overall because at the time of reading it, I did enjoy it but thinking about it later I am not as sure on my enjoyment of it.

Blurb/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….

A stunning debut for author Evie Dunmore and her Oxford suffragists in which a fiercely independent vicar’s daughter takes on a powerful duke in a fiery love story that threatens to upend the British social order.

That’s it for this book review, I hope you all enjoyed it!