Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore | Fall into Historicals
Romance at a Glance is a podcast where hosts Bridget and Shani review romance novels and interview some of romance’s biggest authors diving into candid conversations about life, relationships, and sexual desires. Expect 100% honest reviews, spontaneous singing, life lessons, indecent anecdotes, and bawdy humor. Leave us a rating and review on iTunes.
Full transcript available below.
Book Review at a Glance:
Worth the Read?
Shani: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Bridget: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Heroine Rating: Annabelle
Shani: 🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑
Bridget: 🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑
Hero Rating: Sebastian
Shani: 🍆🍆🍆🍆
Bridget: 🍆🍆🍆
McDreamy to Mc Steamy:
Shani: McDreamy he was!
Bridget: McDreamy
Classy to Nasty:
Classy AF Vanilla
Romance at a Glance Reviews Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore
Suffragette meets Duke and it felt so right!
Debut author Evie Dunmore delivers a wonderful historical read. As you may know, we are not super into the illustrated covers, as we typically think the book will be more rom-com than steamy romance, however, we were super pleasantly surprised by this book’s depth and charm.
Some major points we discussed:
The Oxford setting
Her new suffragette friends who become best friends
Their "meet-cute"
Her gumption! (ie leaves his house in a snowstorm bc he yelled at her and thought she was spying)
Hattie! nothing like a rich heiress to a non-titled fortune to deliver some excellent lines
Clandestine meetings
A few daggers to the heart bc he can't marry someone of her class
HEA!
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Quick Guide Review of the Book and Notes
Book Title: Bringing Down the Duke
Author: Evie Dunmore
Audio Narrator: Elizabeth Jasicki
Part of a Series: Yes book 1 of A League of Extraordinary Women [Bridget reviewing Book 2 on Patreon!]
Genre: Historical Romance
Cover Art:
Shani: Why illustrated!
Bridget: Illustrated cover. I liked the colors and got the historical feels. As always, not an enormous fan of illustrated covers.
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....
Heroine Rating: Annabelle
Shani: 🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑 I love how strong she is and determined to only settle for what she really wants. Annabelle is a well-built character. You get to know a lot about her without a whole lot of exposition.
Bridget: 🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑 I liked her! I liked her gumption and her fire and her desire to push back and not settling for anything. Almost lost a star for not leaning on her friends, but since we don’t do half stars, I’ll give her the full 5.
Hero Rating: Sebastian
Shani: 🍆🍆🍆🍆 McDreamy he was! Lost a star because he falls off a horse and asks her to marry him while blowing up her spot getting her kicked out!
Bridget: 🍆🍆🍆 I’d say he was between a 3 and 4 for me because of a few things -- First, how many times do you have to tell a girl you like her against your better judgment!! Also, propositioning her on being the mistress after she said she’d never do that. Finally - completely seeming to give up all his duke responsibilities even though she’s keeping up on her academic ones.
McDreamy to Mc Steamy:
Shani: McDreamy he was!
Bridget: McDreamy
Classy to Nasty:
Classy AF Vanilla
Favorite Lines in the Book:
Favorite Review:
Shani’s from Goodreads:
Hollis rated it really liked it
And another debut author smashes it out of the park in 2019!
These characters all but leap off the page. The attraction, the chemistry, the sizzle is.. damn. Their backstory has elements of drama but are never overblown, or overwrought, and come out in the open naturally without being held onto until the last minute. Every up and down, back and forth, push and pull, was so.. organic? And also, strangely, refreshing. Additionally the side characters, the bluestocking suffragettes, were just fabulous. All of them. Hattie might have been my favourite.
This debut is so strong and so clever. The cover might make it seem that this is all lighthearted joy and hijinks but don't be fooled. This is a love story between people who have their eyes wide open. Who are sensible, and logical, and intelligent. Who know the implausibilities of a union between them and fight it because they know better. Which makes that tension even more delicious. And yes, sure, there is still fun to be had.
And how sad is that; this book is set in 1879 and here we are.. still fighting
Bridget’s from Goodreads:
Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader rated it 4 stars
Somehow this cover brought to mind a rom com, but that is not what unfolds within these pages. Instead, it’s a clever historical romance, one like nothing I’ve read before, though I admit I am not a frequent historical romance reader.
Worth the Read?
Shani: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Read it!
Bridget: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Would definitely recommend - will be reading book #2 out on September 1st! Liked that the feminism is there but not ruining the romance.
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Full Podcast Transcript
Recommendations:
Welcome to Romance at a Glance, a podcast that uses romance novels to dive into candid conversations about life, relationship dynamics, and sexual desires.
As hosts Bridget and Shani review books and interview some of romance’s biggest authors, they explore the breadth of the genre, openly embracing the sex, diverse couplings, and taboo in order to create a safe space for listeners to be exposed to different lifestyles, fantasies, and to pique their naughty curiosity.
Expect 100% honest reviews, spontaneous singing, life lessons, indecent anecdotes, and bawdy humor.
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