Reviews - Bringing Down the Duke

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7.15k reviews for:

2.5 stars

Honestly I would have really loved this if it had successfully managed to pull off being a feminist romance, but it felt like the suffregette movement was used as a plot device and nothing more. It confidently mattered at a few select points in the story, but was all but forgotten for the majority.

In the beginning, when Annabelle was basically trapped at the Duke's mansion for literal weeks, right after being given the objective to win them over for their cause, she never once brings it up in conversation to him. Annabelle being a feminist is only used to mean that she's not afraid to "speak her mind", but repeatedly forgets to do exactly that for her cause. Also, the Duke is constantly stomping around in a huff about how he can't handle Annabelle's beauty and how he wants to keep her. I've read several romances and rarely have I felt like the male pov was more objectifying to the female than the Duke was in this book. The intense male possessiveness and protectiveness were I think meant to be sexy, but in this context came across as just bad.

And perhaps my biggest complaint is that Annabelle has terrible female friendships. I know it's a romance and that's not the main focus, but it's also a *feminist* romance. And she barely acknowledges her female friends, much less gets to know them.

All that said, I did *like* this book. I would have liked it more had it just tried to be a romance, and dropped the feminist stuff it really seemed to fail at.

Also, Oxford is almost an afterthought in this book. Annoyed.

oliviaclaire_07's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

jbellomy's review against another edition

3.5

emotional funny lighthearted tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Not the biggest fan of the eponymous duke but overall I had a great time with this one! One simply must stan Annabelle and her gang of bluestockings as they girlboss all over England.

stephanie_fournet's review against another edition

5.0

I listened to this book on Audible and sometimes found myself calling Sebastian ugly names on my commute, but don't let that keep you from reading it. While he gets it wrong a few times before getting it right, he's still pretty irresistible. He finds his match in Annabelle; the two could not be more stubborn, but their attraction to and defense of each other is oh, so lovely. I'm very interested to see how the rest of this series turns out. Dunmore's Bluestocking side characters immediately intrigued me with their eccentricities and kept me wondering what will come next, and the world-building was picture perfect.

miniraptor's review against another edition

5.0

lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I mean, if being a feminist when women had no rights is a character flaw, then I guess character flaws are a main focus? Cute, well-paced, fast read! I’ve read the second since and they blur into each other, but that’s to be expected in books that don’t hurt or challenge you, I think.