Welcome to Litsy!

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A quick read ~ perfect to help close out August. Looking forward to reading more from this author.

#pastel #Coverstories
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

Set in England Annabelle a woman from the country is strong and smart living in a unfortunate situation gets the chance to go to Oxford college in London,she gets involved in the suffrage movement and meets a Duke with different views, and the story takes off,I enjoyed the writing,all the characters and the fact it wasn‘t just a romance but was wrapped around woman‘s rights and politics made it more interesting book 7 #readaway2024

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This was my 4th time reading this book, and the 4th time I finished it in less than 2 days.
I just love it.

This was straight up comical toward the end because so cheesy. But I absolutely do not care. I was thoroughly entertained. Already have the second book in my possession. But I gotta read other things first.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

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This is my third time reading this book, and it kept me up til 1am , & I read it in 25 hours. That‘s really all you need to know.
Since I started reading romances in spring 2020, I‘ve read quite a few, and this is still in my top 5.
I love it.

A series I seem to have read backwards. This is book 1 in the A League of Extraordinary Women series.

Country woman from a vicar's family, student at Oxford and suffragist, Annabelle, falls for the 'enemy', a Tory Duke who has her majesty's ear. There are so many reasons why they shouldn't get together and why they can't stay together. It can only end in scandal.

#SeriesLove2023 @TheSpineView @Andrew65

⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3.5/5)

I enjoyed most of this book, however I personally didn‘t enjoy the heavy salacious theme throughout the book as I felt like it took away from the romance and the story. Overall, I enjoyed the story and it‘s characters, however I felt like this book could have been better.

I bought this one through a book riot/kindle deal. I wasn‘t sure what to expect but saw a few positive reviews on here so it piqued my interest. I liked it, I‘m not a huge romance reader. There were some interesting historical points. Life for women in England during the 1800s wasn‘t easy. It‘s nice to think that there were small groups of women that tried to rebel against polite British society. #bookspin book

Here's another book with a new to me author. This looks really interesting and adorable; with expectations of laugh-out-loud moments to come!

Annabelle joins a suffrage group, mainly because she needs a scholarship to the newly established Oxford women's college. In the process, she becomes involved with a politically powerful duke they are hoping will support an act to allow women to keep some property when they marry. No deep discussions of equality here, but the characters seem real, and it is heartbreaking how much class and rank dictated whom one could marry or even associate with.

I love this book so much! I like to recommend it to new readers of historical romance.

Evie Dunmore writes fantastically and her research on the historical topics is unprecedented. We have here a class difference book, with an impoverished heroine that gets a scholarship to study in Oxford. She is committed to the women‘s suffrage movement and that‘s how she meets the hero, a stuffy duke that gets in the way of the property amendment act🤩

There it was, the fire she had
sensed behind the ice, smoldering at a thousand degrees hotter than leaping flames. Oh, they had it Wrong, the people who called him cool and aloof. He was a man who did not do things by halves, and he knew. So he leashed himself. Untether him, and he would burn as hotly as he was cold, and the dark force of her own passion would crash against his like a wave against a rock rather than pull him under.
He is my match.

When I was a teenager I loved historical romance. As I grew older, I began to see all the toxic tropes that so often came with the genre and took a step back. On a whim I picked up Bringing Down The Duke years after dropping the genre from my tbr. And what a delight! Finally a historical romance with a dramatic (but not toxic) couple. They are such fun to read about. You actually want to see them together and happy.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ this one took me way longer to read than it should have. I kept putting it down and picking it up over the course of a couple of weeks. It‘s an ok read. I found the characters difficult to connect with for the most part. #romantsy #100readschallenge

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Day off = read and snuggles

This is my third try attempting to finish this one. 🤷🏽‍♀️
(Also, Sunday's are depressing as fuck)

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Well, I read this in a day & a half, so I think that tells you all you need to know.
I loved this one just as much on the re-read, and I think it‘s probably the perfect historical romance for me.
Also fun to see the beginnings of Lucie & Hattie‘s stories now that I know how they continue.

“Absolutely not. What an utterly harebrained idea, Annabelle.”

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

#currentread #botm

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I didn‘t think this type of historical romance would be my thing, but watching Bridgerton warmed me up to the time period and I thought I would give it a try! Serious, pretentious, possessive, cold alpha male leads don‘t really do it for me, though. I appreciated the women‘s suffrage component, although for being marketed as a feminist story, Annabelle was much more passionate about the Duke than the cause. #BOTM #botmbacklist #botmbacklog

That was why they called it temptation—it never presented itself as something ugly, or tepid, or harmless; no, it came in the guise of glorious feelings and a sense of utter rightness, even when it was wrong. That was why one needed principles.

fiction
historical
romance
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced

Read: May 2021

Delightful and charming, this book hit all the right notes for me. Unique women that stay true to themselves and follow their own hearts, dashing men who respect and love them for who they are and a rollicking good story! Looking forward to the next in the series! #BookspinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

A suffragette romances a duke, who comes to care about her cause. Sweet.

#TBRPile 📚 Brilliant but destitute Annabelle Archer is one of the first female students at Oxford University. In return for her scholarship, she must recruit influential men to champion the rising women's suffrage movement. Her first target is Sebastian Devereux: cold, calculating and the most powerful duke in England...

The parts about the British suffragists were super compelling, and no doubt the romance was steamy, but I felt like the relationship between Annabelle and Sebastian was...problematic? Call me crazy, but I didn‘t like how often he was called a “predator” 🤔

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Can I just tell you how much I loved Annabelle?⁠
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Not only is she an older protagonist (Thank you), she's smart, knowing of the world, self sufficient as much as able, independent, and knowing of herself. Maybe it's just me but not too many females are being written as such in historical romances and I'm all for this to be more of a trend.

4 ⭐s⁠

This was amazing! I read this in one sitting and loved every minute of it. Historical romance with a bluestocking heroine, cold aloof hero, and some politics thrown in. The characters were great!

#bookspin for December! @TheAromaofBooks

Oh, passion, poison... either makes people addle-brained.

Much more of a traditional romance novel then I usually read. Complete with a woman falling ill at a gentleman‘s home and having to stay longer.

#TBRPile 📚 Oxford, 1879. The daughter of a destitute vicar is one of the first cohort of female students at Oxford University, but in order to earn her scholarship, she has to recruit men of influence to support the suffragist cause. Her first target is the cold, calculating Duke of Montgomery who opposes everything she stands for...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved, loved this one. There‘s nothing not to love.
Stuffy Darcy-esque male lead with hidden depths? Check.
Feminists & female friendships? Check.
Propriety & then the flouting of said propriety? Check.
And more! Steamy romance, Jane Austen level side-eye, humor, emotional moments, well developed characters. I was really impressed & drawn in by this one & can‘t wait to read more from Dunmore in the future.

#bookspin ✔️
#doublespin ✔️
book club pick ✔️

I‘m planning on starting Dr Zhivago around Thanksgiving.

What should I read next?
#bookspinbingo
@TheAromaofBooks

Great romance. Reading is such a good refuge from the world's issues right now. Hope everyone and those they love are well and happy.

After a long non-fiction, I‘m ready for something light-hearted! #bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

So excited for November‘s #bookspin challenge! Thank you for hosting, @TheAromaofBooks

Bookspin: Bringing Down The Duke
Doublespin: Anxious People
Book Club Pick: Midnight in Chernobyl
Last Classic for my Challenge: Dr Zhivago

Let‘s see what else I can read. 😊📚

It‘s going to be a great month!

11 books in Ocotber, not a lot of them that I loved. My favourites were definitely Bringing Down the Duke and The Faithless Hawk. #monthlyroundup #october2020 #octoberwrapup

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Romance generally isn't my thing, but with being sick, I haven't been able to concentrate on anything dense or dark, so I decided to try something light and fluffy, and this was surprisingly good. I've already borrowed the second book and loaded it onto my kindle.

Only 5 points for the book, but with readathons, I managed to snag 496 points with this one for #TeamHarkness #scarathlon
@StayCurious

A witty historical romance. Annabelle gets a chance to study at Oxford, one of the first women to do so, and as a condition of her scholarship she works with the suffragettes to help get women the vote. She targets a powerful duke to help their cause, but neither of them can ignore the sexual tension between them.

Maybe I'll come back to this later but right now I just can't get into it.

If Jane Austen was allowed to write with graphic sex scenes and get away with it she‘d be Evie Dunmore 😂😂

I was looking for a light-hearted romp in the pArk, and this historical romance delivered! If you don‘t take it too seriously, this is an excellent read about a stoic duke, Oxford suffragist, and finding love in unexpected places.

7 hrs in for #SuperSeptember! I find I reading at a much slower pace due to ALL the interruptions. But 2020 is what it is.

Also another ✔️ for #bookspinbingo #bookspin.

I was able to read for 2 hrs today, so off to a great start and ahead of my 90 min/day goal!

Hoping for a bit more reading time before bed, as tomorrow will be a busy day. It‘s hubby‘s birthday, and I‘m surprising him with a trip to the NC Arboretum to see the LEGO sculptures exhibit in the gardens.
#SuperSeptember

It‘s not too often that one of the books I am currently reading happens to be mentioned in my other #currentread!

#PemberLittens