A review by meganpbennett
Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore

adventurous emotional funny hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Bringing Down The Duke is a perfectly readable Victorian Romance, with strong-willed women and cold aristocratic men. If that's your thing, look no farther. Set during the Disraeli-Gladstone election in Britain, this book follows our heroine as she is admitted to Oxford and joins the Suffragettes, making fast friends and learning about herself. We meet the cold aristocrat when Annabelle, our Vicar's daughter heroine, hands the Duke a pamphlet asking him to repeal a law that makes married women the chattel property of their husbands. It is an awkward combination of love at first sight (him) and hatred at first sight (her). This only gets worse when Annabelle and her Suffragette friends end up at his "house" and he accuses her of being a prostitute. She promptly storms out into the snow and he follows.

While I liked this story, there were parts of it that weren't fun or easy to read. Annabelle's worries about her money and where she will live are too real, as is what happens during after the protest. It felt like there were elements from The Taming of the Shrew, as well, with Sebastian wearing down our strong-willed Suffragette until she decides that, if he acts like that, he must love her, and if he loves her, she must, therefore, love him. 
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