Bringing Down the Duke

3.5 stars — I’ve only recently gotten into historical romance, and I’m probably pretty picky about it. While this didn’t wow me like Ms. Kleypas or Ms. Dare, for a debut it was pretty solid. This was my first time listening to Ms. Jasicki, but I really enjoyed her. It’s funny, something about her accent kept feeling familiar, and I realized that the occasional words would remind me of Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale. Either way, her pacing was solid, her voices were consistent, and her interpretations, as always, help me to read historical better. I did end up switching between ebook and audiobook with this one, but not because she was meh…only because I was trying to get it read in a certain time frame, and in this case I read faster than she did. Annabelle could be a bit frustrating at times — or rather, I think the constraints of the time period were frustrating for this listener. She would make choices that were completely unreasonable in a normal romance context, but in that period probably made more sense. I appreciated how smart she was, how intuitive…how her life had given her a different kind of smarts. I loved her passion, her stubbornness, and even her flash of temper and indignation. She was occasionally a bit…reserved for me. Sometimes her reactions to her friends felt downright rude, but again…I think the time period just trips me up. I wasn’t expecting to get Sebastian’s POV, so I appreciated that I did at times. He was…also frustrating. And, again, a lot of that had to do with the time period. I think that’s one of the reasons this one wasn’t higher rated for me. While I do get that it was a different time, it is so hard for this modern girl to see the things he was thinking and not get totally mad at him for seeming like a giant jerk and not understanding why Annabelle was rejecting his offers. In some ways I don’t always know if I got him. He was colder and more reserved than the heroes I usually fall in love with. His heart really was buried deep. I had a hard time with the way he handled Peregrin, but again…it probably made sense in context. My poor soft heart just didn’t enjoy that. Now, saying all that, seeing him fall in love with Annabelle despite everything his upbringing had taught him, and seeing her break through those walls was immensely satisfying. Their romance was interesting because of all the pitfalls of their difference in class. I loved seeing them fall, despite their best interests…it added a certain quality to the romance. I really enjoyed all the political stuff in the background, even if…again…it was frustrating. It was hard to see a *queen* talking about how women were not smart enough. Uh, logic fails you. I loved seeing the different kinds of women who were part of the suffragette cause, and the different reasons for being there. I love that Annabelle’s friends were a bunch of misfits in their own right. I definitely want to read their stories. I kind of want Peregrin’s story as well, though not sure if that is on the docket or not. So yeah. I definitely enjoyed myself, it was just a bit more frustrating than others I’ve read.