Annabelle Archer, the brilliant but destitute daughter of a country vicar, has earned herself a place among the first cohort of female students at the renowned University of Oxford. FYI, this is not a book that takes itself seriously-but I think you’ll agree the result is serious fun. It also serves up a few additionally tasty accoutrements, including royals, a heroine with a feminist agenda (Suffragism! Get involved, people), and witty repartee that make for a very entertaining read. A clash of two strong-willed, sharp-tongued enemies? Sounds hot )īringing Down the Duke gives us the best that the romance genre has to offer: light-hearted fun, steamy sex scenes, and lots of brooding, read-between-the-lines dialogue. Upon entering college, she becomes an advocate for the women’s suffrage movement, which is how she first encounters the Duke of Montgomery-an influential, ill-tempered political adversary whom she must convince into becoming an ally. Set in turn-of-the-century England, this is the story of Annabelle Archer, a plucky woman with the opportunity to become one of the first female graduates at the prestigious University of Oxford.

Years later, dozens of romance books devoured, I’m so happy to report that, on that score, I was wrong. I never read romance books because I assumed they were too cheesy and poorly written to be considered worthy of my time. When I started at BOTM, I was a professed literary snob-and probably flaunted that term with pride (cue eye roll).

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