BOOK REVIEW: Bringing Down the Duke

Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore
Publication Date: September 3rd, 2019

I was skeptical to pick this one up. Despite that fact that I have read a ton of romance this year, I tend to stick to contemporary romance and struggle with historical romance. I have tried a few historical romances and I just don’t like them that much. Which is odd because I love historical fiction. But I was seeing so many positive reviews for this one and when I saw it was a Book of the Month pick and none of the other books were calling to me, I decided to pick this one. I am so glad I did.

WHAT I LOVED:

• Okay so I saw a review that said this had Pride & Prejudice vibes and I kind of did not believe them, but they were right!! Parts of this feel like P&P which I loved. Like sexy P&P and I was here for it!
  • There is a ball! Our MC has to stay over at the Duke’s house! There is intelligent banter!
• The fact that there are suffragettes in this. Voting right are super important to me and I also love studying them. The fight for women to get the right to vote was intense and brave and I love seeing that represented (and in a romance novel no less)
  • I just love a good political subplot okay
• The chemistry and the slow burn were excellent
• I fell into this story so easily and devoured it in two days
• I loved how confident Annabelle was and how she was fine being considered a spinster at her ripe old age of 25
• The banter (especially in the beginning)

WHAT I DID NOT LOVE:

• Annabelle’s friends sort of faded into the background, I really liked their characters, but wish we saw a bit more of them. It seemed like they were there one scene and then gone the next and then back again.
• The focus of this novel is clearly ROMANCE, which is fine. You are probably like what the heck Tree, you’re reading a romance novel, don’t you WANT ROMANCE. And the answer is yes, but (based on some reviews) I thought the suffragette/political storyline was going to be much more present. I felt a bit mislead (this is why I don’t like reading reviews lol). I feel a bit petty making this comment, but felt it was worth mentioning.

Overall comments:
One of my main struggles with romance novels in general is the second half. Once the characters kiss or go further (lol) sometimes tension and chemistry is lost, and we descend into a mess of angst. I am not the biggest fan of angst, miscommunication, not sharing our feelings etc. In books. I am great a miscommunication and withholding my feelings IRL!! Anyways, I felt that this book fell into a bit of the whole “we can’t be together, but we want to be” trope. Which is extremely valid in this book, it just dragged for a bit longer than I would have liked. Also, I some of the tension was lost as the novel continued. However, this is more of me being particular with my reading tastes and being picky with romance novels. I still really enjoyed this one, especially for a historical romance.

This isn’t a super detailed review because I like to go into romance novels blind and never want to give too much away. I do recommend this novel, especially if you like a bit of politics in your romance novels.

*I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, but I also purchased a copy through my Book of the Month subscription.*

Also, if you are interested in signing up for Book of the Month you can use this link and if you sign up for a month, we both get a free book. I am loving BOTM so far (I’ve been subscribed for two months lol) and am excited to get exposed to different titles.

4/5 stars

      xoxo, Tree 

Goodreads Link: Bringing Down the Duke