A review by roget
Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore

dark lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The duke was a bit predatory in some scenes in ways that squicked me out. Annabelle was okay with it; in her place, I wouldn’t have been. (Also wasn’t a fan of a scene in which he contemplates how he would have the power to
rape her.
I think the author was trying to draw attention to his awareness of their uncomfortable power differentials, and obviously, he does not do that, but the fact that the thought occurs to him, even in an abstract, disassociated way, is tbh a bit chilling. I kept reading because the book is mostly self aware of this. It seems to want us to confront the more uncomfortable ways that women were (and are) interacted with. 

I did like the scene on the parliament floor. That made me like him a touch more. That was pretty cool.

Overall, I was rooting for Jenkins despite knowing that he wasn’t who she’d end up with b/c Montgomery seemed like a stack of red flags sewn into a bag that you might stuff over someone’s head while kidnapping them.

The suffragette content was quite fascinating to see, and it was woven into the plot well. It’s a historical romance with some fleshed out muscle, basically. 

Note: for sensitive, anxious turtles like myself, this book does have mature scenes, but they are skippable without too much plot confusion. 

Another note: I marked “dark” because I think this is dark for the genre.
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