5/5 stars
Bringing Down the Duke is the sweet and thought-provoking debut historical romance by Evie Dunmore, and the first in her new series – A League of Extraordinary Women.
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I read Bringing Down the Duke off a friend’s recommendation, despite not loving the cover. I thought the cover felt a little too contemporary or juvenile to me, and I grow weary of YA romance (give me all the sexy scenes!).
I so glad I followed her recommendation though because I fell in love with Dunmore’s writing style and her ability to write such a compelling story, while weaving in the right amount of romance to hold my interest. Annabelle is a strong character who continues to stand up for her values an rights, and in 1879 that is quite hard to do. She is a prime example of the heroines I love the most in historical romance, so I really connected with her character.
The character development for Sebastian was both realistic and well-done. Watching his character arc unfold was both satisfying and heartwarming: I swear, him showing his sensitive side had me looking like a real-life heart eye emoji #AlphaMalesSuck.
Lastly, the side characters were interesting and well-developed so there is a lot of potential for them to have compelling story-lines with future books!
The next in the series will be A Rogue of One’s Own, which is Lucie and Tristan’s story. Truthfully, I was hoping for Peregrine’s story (Sebastian’s brother), but after reading an excerpt I’m now really excited about it!
Chanda Reads 
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