Published: September 3, 2019
Publisher: Berkley
Series: A League of Extraordinary Women #1
Genre: Romance, Historical
Pages: 368 (Paperback)
My Rating: 4.0/5.0
Synopsis:
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….
This was a series highly recommended by Reagan at Reagan Reads on Youtube and when it went on sale I decided to snag a copy! It was a tremendously fun read and I can see why she loved it so much. If you’re looking for a historical romance with a good plot and plenty of Pride & Prejudice parallels, this might be the book for you!
Annabelle Archer is staying with a family member who is taking advantage of her desperation, paying her pitiful wages. When she is accepted into the first class of female students at Oxford, she finagles her way out of his services and into her dream. She’s also being sponsored by a women’s suffrage group, so she’s tasked with the job of recruiting influential men to their cause. Unbeknownst to her, the first man she approaches is the rather intimidated Duke of Montgomery – one of the most influential men in Parliament and he’s directly at the Queen’s beck and call. He’s directly ordered by the Queen to support the opposing party, but he can’t get Annabelle’s challenging stare out of his mind.
Circumstances keep bringing the two together and well, the sparks fly and it’s delightful! While yes, ultimately it’s the story of Annabelle and the handsome Duke Sebastian, the work Annabelle does with the suffrage movement and her wonderful friends really round the story out quite well. Plenty of scandal, spice, and some rather excellent family drama occur. It was quite the page turner and by nature, romance novels are quick reads anyway so I really flew through this!
I would definitely recommend this for fans of historical romance and books with Pride & Prejudice vibes! I’m planning to pick up the other books in the series as I find them on sale. I can’t quite justify paying full price since I read them SO quickly, but they are such fun!
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