Historical Romance Review: Evie Dunmore | Bringing Down the Duke | A Rogue of One’s Own | A League of Extraordinary Women Books 1 and 2

I have been wanting to start Evie Dunmore’s A League of Extraordinary Women series for some time but for me, historical romances tend to be a mood-read. In other words, this is a genre I enjoy but not one that I read frequently. I blew through the first two books in the series, so this post is a two-for special!

Bringing Down the Duke | A League of Extraordinary Women #1

The series kicks off in England in 1879 which was the early era of the women’s suffrage movement. Oxford has just opened its first women’s college, and Annabelle Archer hopes to attend. Since the death of her father, Annabelle has been serving as essentially a maid for her cousin Gilbert. It takes quite a bit of manipulation, but eventually Gilbert agrees to allow Annabelle to attend Oxford. The catch is that she must send him money each week so he can hire a replacement to care for the household and display excellent moral conduct (if you are seething and rolling your eyes—same).

This might be a problem for Annabelle, since she has received a scholarship in exchange for helping the women’s suffrage movement. Her task is to attempt to win over the Duke of Montgomery to support the cause. Sebastian (the Duke) is not interested—he has his own family problems to work through, not the least of which is to reclaim the land that his late father lost in a game of cards (men…). Sebastian has also been ordered by Queen Victoria (who does not support women’s suffrage in the real world or this series) to ensure the Tories win the upcoming election. If Sebastian is successful, he will get one of his castles back.

This is a romance novel, after all, so in the course of Annabelle and Sebastian spending time together at his estate, they fall in love. Unfortunately for Annabelle, an aristocrat like Sebastian cannot marry a commoner. He is looking to marry someone of equal or greater status to secure his family’s legacy. He also has to worry about ensure the election goes in the Queen’s favor. However, he can’t seem to resist Annabelle. Can he find a way to have it all?

This book is an entertaining and quick read, though it is not very heavy on plot. There really aren’t many stand-out scenes, but the characters make up for some of that. Annabelle is a fun, spicy character and she also meets a group of women through her work with the suffragists who were fun to read about. Sebastian was only okay as a leading man. I found him a bit cold and not in the fun way. If it weren’t for the title (and genre) I really thought Annabelle might end up with Professor Jenkins, who sounded quite attractive. Plus, who doesn’t find a man with a big brain sexy? Annabelle is not remotely interested in the smoldering Professor.

The villains were a bit one-dimensional. The tension between Annabelle and Sebastian was largely fun, though they spend most of the book bemoaning that they can’t marry only for them to find a way to marry right at the end. And to be honest, the solution is one that could have happened nearly 300 pages earlier! But of course, then we wouldn’t have a story.

I enjoyed this book enough to pick up the second book right after. A fun premise and good chemistry between the leads make up for a forgettable plot. I think we are all hoping that Professor Jenkins is the love interest next and that he finds a woman who was as intrigued by him as I was!

A Rogue of One’s Own | A League of Extraordinary Women #2

Well I will get the news out of the way up front—this book does not focus on a love story for Professor Jenkins. Instead, this story centers around Lucie, who is the leader of the women’s suffrage movement at Oxford. This book was a more entertaining story than the first one, though it did carry it’s fair share of problems which I will get into. Lady Lucie wants to acquire a publishing house to disseminate feminist messages and to oppose laws disadvantaging women. Particularly, they hope to amend the Married Women’s Property Act.

Unfortunately, acquiring the publishing house is not the simplest task. Particularly when Lucie discovers that Lord Ballentine (an old nemesis of Lucie’s) has bought the remaining shares of the publishing house. Tristan (Lord Ballentine) won’t allow Lucie to bring down the publishing house. He is relying on profit from the publishing house to free his mother from his horrible father. Dunmore does a good job making the reader unsure about whether Tristan is a good guy or a bad guy. Obviously it’s a romance novel so we assume he will turn out to be good, but his actions were hard to read and that kept the tension high.

The sexual tension between Lucie and Tristan was also kept high. There were some steamy scenes in this one. Despite their differing goals for the publishing house, Tristan and Lucie have an undeniable physical attraction. Eventually, Tristan offers Lucie control of the publishing house in exchange for one night of passion. At first this ask is too great for Lucie, but eventually it’s too little as she hopes for something more with Tristan.

This is the rub for me with the plot. On the one hand, this is a work of fiction and a romance novel, so I appreciated the smoking hot premise of this. At the same time, in a series that purports to be about feminism (and a character like Lucie who has lived her life refusing to appease others by lowering her political activism)—am I on board with Lucie not only selling out her body, but then potentially marrying a man who will essentially own her (and who has proven that despite his good qualities, he sees women as a commodity to be had and traded)?

That said, I did root for their love story by the end. I can’t help it! I guess I just love a happy ending. Lucie was a compelling character and as we got more context about Tristan, I sympathized with him more. Similar to Bringing Down the Duke, this book had great characters and engaging banter. A Rogue of One’s Own also did a better job showcasing how some men at the time were allies to the women’s suffrage movement.

I want to note that there are a few issues with this book that can’t be overlooked, despite the fun and engaging story. There is one gay character in the story but he is a sneaky villain, and that was disappointing. It was challenging enough for gay people at the time, so I didn’t love that the character was written to be so heinous. I don’t think the author meant anything by it, but it was noticeable. Tristan also has a tattoo that is a Hindu deity. This element of cultural appropriation from our hero leaves a bad taste in an otherwise enjoyable novel. Some South Asian reviewers have shared more about how this was harmful on Goodreads, so I encourage you to go there if you want to hear their perspective. I reminded myself that unfortunately colonialism was very prevalent at the time of this book, and perhaps this was authentic. But also, did we need to include it?

Those issues aside, this was a fun story with a bad-boy hero and a feminist heroine. The female friendships continued to shine, and I do look forward to continuing this fun historical romance series!