AMY IMOGENE READS
  • Home
  • Reviews
    • Adult
    • YA / MIDDLE GRADE
    • NONFICTION+
  • More
  • About Me

Welcome to my Adult Reviews!
Check out my recent reviews below. For specific categories, see my Categories section.

BRINGING DOWN THE DUKE - Evie Dunmore

10/2/2019

1 Comment

 
Picture
4 stars

What a fun, fast-paced, and surprisingly modern take on a historical romance! It definitely maintained the best guilty pleasures of the old-school Harlequin tropes, but with a modern mindset that I appreciated. If you're not a historical fiction fan, don't let this novel's premise turn you off—this is one good story.

Romance: ★★★★★
Logic: ★★★
Enjoyment: all the stars

Set in England in the late 1800s, Bringing Down the Duke follows the two perspectives of Annabelle Archer, a 25-year-old Oxford student trying to thrive in London, and the Duke of Montgomery, a 35-year-old aristocrat with close ties to Queen Victoria. (I mention the age gap as it does influence some readers. I found it tasteful in this case, and very necessary for the plot due to the time period.)

Annabelle Archer is thrilled to attend Oxford's new college program for women, and even more thrilled for the scholarship that allows her to leave her small country village for London. There's just one catch: she must be an active member of the suffragist movement—which includes lobbying members of Parliament and inserting herself into the aristocracy's sphere.

Sebastian Montgomery is the most influential duke in the realm, and a notoriously cold man. He has no time for the softer things in life—he's too busy trying to secure his dukedom's future and reclaim the ancestral home that his father gambled away.

Obviously, these two find their paths cross in a definitive way. Bringing Down the Duke brings a little bit of Pride and Prejudice, a little bit of Jane Eyre, a little bit of Harlequin romance, and a LOT of well-written narrative.

My only complaint is that I wish some of the scene-to-scene transitions had been more logical. We went from A to B to D to C, and then in order to follow the romance, we abandoned some of the slow burn fire for immediate attraction...which felt like an abrupt shift.
1 Comment

    Amy Imogene Reads

    Just someone looking for her own door into Wonderland.

    Categories

    All
    Advanced Reader Copy
    Fantasy
    Fiction
    Historical Fiction
    Horror
    Mystery/Thriller
    Romance
    Science Fiction
    Short Stories
    Speculative

    Picture

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019

    RSS Feed

Picture
Home
About
Contact
All reviews posted are my own and do not reflect the opinions of any other individual or entity.  When applicable, reviewed titles sent to me by the publisher are noted at the bottom of each review.
Professional Reader 50 Book Reviews 80%
  • Home
  • Reviews
    • Adult
    • YA / MIDDLE GRADE
    • NONFICTION+
  • More
  • About Me