A terrific debut novel! I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked this one up, because the illustrated cover makes it look like a fairy tale, so I was pleasantly surprised to find a progressive Victorian romance. Annabelle is a commoner and poor relation working for room and board for her cousin, when she gets a chance to attend Oxford. She gets a scholarship from a group suffragists, and a condition of her stipend is to aid in their fight for women’s rights. When she approaches Sebastian, a lofty duke, she makes a lasting impression. But of course, even though he’s intrigued by this intelligent and witty woman, he couldn’t possibly marry a commoner. Could he?

Overall, I thought this was excellent. Well-paced, fully formed characters who feel fresh, and I can’t believe it’s the author’s first book.

Overall I enjoyed this book. But it was maybe just too historically accurate for me. Which I know is dumb, but I really struggled with the reason these two couldn't get together sooner (spoiler - it was so hard for me to watch Sebastian offer her to be his mistress and not be able to get beyond that for so long). Though I applaud Annabelle for sticking to her guns and staying firm on her principles and what she wanted out of life and Sebastian. I loved her strength and convictions, and I love how this ultimately turned out.

Annabelle's one of the first female students at Oxford, though her place is precarious and her opportunities hardly equal to those of her male counterparts. In order to keep her scholarship, she has to recruit support for the suffrage movement, and one of her targets is the aloof Duke of Montgomery, advisor to the queen. Sebastian's not in the market for a wife who isn't of noble birth, and he's also not keen on supporting the cause Annabelle champions. There's simply too much conflict for them to get together, but their attraction supersedes things like logic and familial expectations. This battle of wills and wits can't end well, can it? Of course it can. Witty writing and compelling characters (Annabelle and her friends are people you'll want to spend time with) make this a highly recommended read for lovers of historical and contemporary romance both.

This book has a slow start, not particularly helped by the audiobook narrator who is a little dry. That said, once the romance took off I really enjoyed the push and pull between Montgomery and Annabelle.

Charming and well plotted. The main characters had great chemistry, witty dialogue, and were well matched. I highly enjoyed this read!

I received this book as an ARC. Bringing Down The Duke by Evie Dunmore is a historical romance where the heroine meets the duke while giving out suffragette pamphlets. She and some of her friends are the first women at Oxford. They manage an invite to the duke's house, where she manages to incite him. Throughout, the book the characters grow and I found myself caring about the side characters also. The first chapter did not grab me, but luckily I came back to the book. There are questions in the back so the book could be used for a book club or a discussion of the suffragette movement. I would recommend this book

I loved this one so much! It did a great job at explaining history, having a strong female character, and a man who supported her even though he had to give up everything.

Hands down, my favorite historical romance of 2019. Practically perfect in every way. An engaging romp as Anabelle Archer finances her education by trying to sway the Duke of Montgomery to support votes for women. A delight from beginning to end. Highly recommend.

I don't normally read historical romance, but this was a fun one. I enjoyed the characters, though the romance was very drawn out and the feminist angle was...lacking. Overall, I'm definitely going to pick up the next title!

I really enjoyed this, but by the end I was more excited for the hints at the second book's romance than I was for the resolution of this book's. Still, a very good read.

I can’t believe this book isn’t getting more press! I love the quirky historical romance and fun characters. There’s something here for everyone!

Rollicking good fun with a smart and savvy protagonists. Always a pleasure to see novels in this genre that lean into characters with robust principles and high standards.

This was an enjoyable debut historical romance novel from Evie Dunmore. It is your normal historical romance story, following 25 year old almost spinster Annabelle and 36 year old my heart has been turned to stone Sebastian. I loved the writing style, and the supporting characters were fun to read about as well. Although, I could have done with a few less at times. I loved the main characters, and I also appreciated the sub plot of the Women’s Right to vote. In these types of novels there isn’t usually anything mentioned about the world at the time, so this was refreshing. I thought it was a fun book, and I am looking forward to reading the next one in the series, and anything else by Evie!

I was given an advanced reader's copy via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Omg this book is like taking a Jane Austen novel, a dusting of women’s right’s history & all the juicy details you wish would be in Victorian literature and smashing them together! It was total fantasy and is definitely written for a modern audience (I mean duh) - but I point this out because if you read PRIDE & PREJUDICE and thought Mr. Darcy was at a much better standing than the Bennett’s, this is about 10x that. That being said, I still loved it! I studied for a year at the same college Annabelle attends (Lady Margaret Hall) and that made me so happy to jump into this book! My only caveat is it was so heavy-handed on the romance, I wish there was more women’s rights history in the actual novel. A ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ book for me with it’s great romance plot!

This was such a fun historical romance! I really enjoyed that this story followed a main character who was involved in the suffrage movement and was among the first class of women to attend oxford. She was a great main character to follow. The romance was also really great. The couple had tons of chemistry and I loved reading about them gradually developing feelings for each other. I can't wait to read more books by Evie Dunmore.

I enjoyed this to an extent, but don't think I would continue on with the series. The romance was pretty lackluster to me, and I thought it was a case of wanting to be very feminist without actually following through. However, I also understand that, as someone who isn't usually a fan of romance novels, this just might not have been my cup of tea.

I loved this, and can’t wait for more from
Dunmore! Loved the heroine who stubbornly insisted on doing things her way (and the feminist take on many familiar romance tropes).

So I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did, but damn was it a fun read! I absolutely adored Annabelle and Sebastian (always a sign of a great hero when that’s his name). I adored the underlying story about the suffragettes and first women at Oxford. Annabelle was so smart and such a strong heroine and I loved her pushback to Sebastian and how she turned his world upside down. I can’t wait to see where the rest of this series goes and I’m not so patiently waiting for the next book!

This was a super cute and also steamy romance with some cool historical information thrown in as well. I really felt for Annabelle and wanted her to succeed at everything, even agreeing with her choices that hurt her emotionally but were better for her whole well-being overall, that takes a lot of strength. I liked all of the secondary characters and that there were plots going on other than just the main romance, especially with the suffragist movement. While Sebastian was a bit cold and reserved at first, I liked seeing him get totally swept away by this "inappropriate" woman (in real life it might be a smidge unbelievable but this is a romance so throughout most of their time fighting their feelings I was yelling out, "just kiss already, you idiots!"). I liked seeing his views change and shift and how everything else going on in his life gave him a greater understanding of his younger brother. Overall I loved this book and had trouble putting it down which is always a sign of a good read for me. I can't wait to read the next book about Lady Lucie!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me early access to this title in exchange for an honest review.

This historical romance novel was the perfect thing to recommend before the end of 2019. I included it in the The Young Folks book "20 Books to Read Before 2020."