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Showing posts with label historical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label historical. Show all posts
Thursday, July 8, 2021
Saturday, September 7, 2019
Bringing Down the Duke (A League of Extraordinary Women #1) by Evie Dunmore ~ Review
Source: Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for review consideration.Bringing Down the Duke (A League of Extraordinary Women #1) by Evie Dunmore
A stunning debut for author Evie Dunmore and her Oxford Rebels, in which a fiercely independent vicar's daughter takes on a duke in a fiery love story that threatens to upend the British social order.
England, 1879. 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. In return for her scholarship, she must support the rising women's suffrage movement. Her charge: recruit men of influence to champion their cause. Her target: Sebastian Devereux, the cold and calculating Duke of Montgomery who steers Britain's politics at the Queen's command. Her challenge: not to give in to the powerful attraction she can't deny for the man who opposes everything she stands for.
Sebastian is appalled to find a suffragist squad has infiltrated his ducal home, but the real threat is his impossible feelings for green-eyed beauty Annabelle. He is looking for a wife of equal standing to secure the legacy he has worked so hard to rebuild, not an outspoken commoner who could never be his duchess. But he wouldn't be the greatest strategist of the Kingdom if he couldn't claim this alluring bluestocking without the promise of a ring...or could he?
Locked in a battle with rising passion and a will matching her own, Annabelle will learn just what it takes to topple a duke....
I don't read historical romance very often, but this one caught my eye. First thanks to the cover, then thanks to a tweet I saw where Death by a Thousand Cuts by Taylor Swift (aka my favorite song on her album Lover) was paired with it. Then, when I couldn't decide what to read, I picked up Bringing Down the Duke and flipped to a random page not too far in. That random page had me SUPER excited to read the book. And so, it was my next read and it was so good I'm glad I picked it up!
From the beginning I was rather into the story. I enjoyed meeting and getting to know the two main characters, Annabelle and Montgomery. They're both very intelligent and respect that in one another. Their banter was witty and fun. I especially was a fan of Montgomery's shift from grumpy to caring to sweet to in love.
The romance featured multiple tropes that were perfect to me. A slow burn, forced proximity, grumpy hero, a slight bit of enemies to lovers (though I wouldn't quite say they start as enemies). I loved seeing their relationship grow as they spent more time together, and I totally get the comparison to Death by a Thousand Cuts now--which was kind of painful but also SO GOOD and beautiful.
There were a couple of things that just barely held this back from being a 5-star read for me, both of which I suspect may be because I don't read historical often. First of all, while I was interested in the storyline the entire way through the book, there were portions that dragged a smidge--and those portions were ones with great detail about Montgomery's and Annabelle's day-to-day life. Though I suppose it's not surprising that I much preferred the parts where they were together. Second of all, it kind of pricked at my nerves at the step the romance took before they started toward their happy ending. I'm not going to be specific, because spoilers, but his proposition irked me. The way he worded it was freaking sweet, though, so my feelings are mixed.
Overall, Bringing Down the Duke was a sweet, fun romance. As the first historical I've read in a while, I'm super pleased with how easily it drew me in and how quickly it won me over. I definitely recommend picking this one up if you're looking for some solid witty banter!
4 stars - A sweet, fun romance full of witty banter!
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Devil in Winter (Wallflowers, #3) by Lisa Kleypas ~ Review & Giveaway
Source: Received copy from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Easily the shyest Wallflower, Evangeline Jenner stands to become the wealthiest, once her inheritance comes due. Because she must first escape the clutches of her unscrupulous relatives, Evie has approached the rake Viscount St. Vincent with a most outrageous proposition: marriage!
Sebastian's reputation is so dangerous that thirty seconds alone with him will ruin any maiden's good name. Still, this bewitching chit appeared, unchaperoned, on his doorstep to offer her hand. Certainly an aristocrat with a fine eye for beauty could do far worse.
But Evie's proposal comes with a condition: no lovemaking after their wedding night. She will never become just another of the dashing libertine's callously discarded broken hearts--which means Sebastian will simply have to work harder at his seductions...or perhaps surrender his own heart for the very first time in the name of true love.
Amazon | B&N | Avon Romance
Review...
It's been a while since I read a historical romance. This genre filled my teen years so it's nice to read one again.
This book is the third in a series but it stands alone. I haven't read the first two and was able to follow the story just fine. I did enjoy meeting the other wallflowers and seeing their characters, post wallflower status. It's a fun group of four strong women and I like them all.
Speaking of strong women, this story is about Evie. Strong enough to go propose to a man that changes beds like most people change clothes. But both Evie and Sebastian are in difficult circumstances so they agree to marry. And doesn't that just smack of a pretending kinda story, which I just love.
Evie is shy and has a stutter yet she wants something badly enough to go through with marrying a man who has never given her a second look. What I love about her is how she stands up to Sebastian. She knows he's just as desperate so she doesn't give him an inch. They banter back and forth so much and I just loved it. And what comes of the banter? A relationship that either expected.
As for Sebastian, he's never worked a day in his life and charming the lady's is all he's good at. But has he banters back and forth with Evie he learns he's good at other things and that he cares for her. He's charming and has a good heart. I love how he treats her despite his reputation. He's kind and though he tries not to care, he cares.
I really enjoyed watching these two go from wanting nothing to do with each other, to intrigued with each other, to caring for each other and then more. It's a great story and I'm glad I picked it up.
Thinking historical? This one should be on the short list.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
The Vespertine
The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell Thanks to netgalley.com for the early look at this book.
Summary:
Amelia is a seventeen year old young lady from Broken Tooth, Maine. It’s the summer of 1889 and she has traveled to the city of Baltimore to stay with Zora, her cousin. She’s come to find a husband, a proper marriage for a young lady. In the formal etiquette of the time, the two cousins enjoy dances and prospects indeed but Amelia starts seeing visions in the dusk light, visions that are coming true. Soon everyone wants her to visit them and tell their future. Through it all, Amelia is drawn to the very mysterious Nathaniel. An artist, Nathaniel has no respectable rank that would allow him to approach Amelia to court. Nevertheless, Amelia is drawn to him and him to her. When Amelia’s visions turn dark, the excited citizens of Baltimore are convinced that she is causing the events she sees to happen.
My thoughts:
The story was intriguing. I really liked the premise. The paranormal twist to the eighteenth century setting was promising but I struggled with the writing of this book. Saundra Mitchell is painting a story with her brush strokes of words. She rarely describes but instead paints. This may have been my problem. I frequently had to go back and read and reread until I was sure what she was saying. That frustrated me some but I did like her attempts to write as the times would be. It just wasn’t my thing. I probably could look past that if other things didn’t bother me.
The story starts in the autumn of 1889 and then flashes back to the summer. We know immediately that something has gone wrong over the summer and that Amelia has been sent back to her brother in disgrace. These times in the present are short and frustrating because there is a bitter and angry Amelia who offers hints of what happened but nothing that adds to the story. Unfortunately, it distracts from the story. I like to figure things out and make predictions about what will happen in the story as I read. It’s my job as the reader to do this but too much of it was done by the author. The hints were entirely too big. So then we went back to the summer scenes, it was too easy to piece things together. Another characteristic of the writing that caused the same problem was her use of telling us when something important just happened. There was always some foreshadowing comment about how this would come back to haunt her or how she could never forget this simple little thing. It drove me crazy. I want to figure those things out for myself not have the author tell me, oh this is important remember it.
Then there was the lack of Nathaniel. He was the most interesting character in the book and the reason I finished reading it. (It took me much longer to plow through this than it normally would). Nathaniel was mysterious. No foreshadowing comments about him! I wanted so much to get to know him better but he just wasn’t a big part of the story. He turned up at important times and Amelia pined after him but did little about it. Maybe I am too used to modern girls who wouldn’t let social standards keep them from the guy they liked but it was tiresome to watch Amelia do little to be around him.
If you are a big historical novel reader then you will like this book. If you are a modern paranormal reader, you might want to skip this one unless you TBR list is really short.
Enjoy the read!
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