A Lady for a Duke is one of those books that I didn’t know I needed! I was lucky enough to get a libro fm alc copy as well so I did a mix of audiobook and ebook. My heart broke for Viola and Gracewoos multiple times during the book. They both went through so much trauma, but I was overjoyed that they were able to find each other again and carve out a life for themselves. I’m not always a fan of epilogues, but this one was everything!

A second chance at life and love! Perfect for fans of Austen and Bridgerton, this story will sweep you away in a world of lost loves, scandals, and following your dreams.

A moving historical romance with great disability rep and a romance that shows how love is love, no matter what society or other people view it as.

I really enjoyed this story. The relationship between Viola and Gracewood and its evolution was very well done. The side characters were lovable. The villains were gross (both metaphoric and literal)... all in all, it was very well done. Truth be told, I don't usually read historic romances because of all the antiquated notions of gender, sexuality and the non existent women's rights. This story did a good job of being true to the times because it definitely did show all that but you were still able to like the characters and the story. If anything, the story wouldn't of been possible otherwise. Viola goes into detail explaining how she felt being trans, what it cost her to transition, what it meant to her, and this wouldn't have been so well depicted if the setting have been in modern times.
I especially like the ending. Not enough people are like Gracewood.
I would recommend this book for folks who don't like gender roles and for folks who maybe don't have that many queer folks around them. The characters experience being queer in a time when there weren't words to describe that so it would definitely help validate those folks who aren't able to share their queer identity and experiences with others.

#ALadyforaDuke #NetGalley

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

TW: ableism, drug use, toxic masculinity, gun use, gender dysphoria, kidnapping, PTSD, descriptions of war

I'm not always the biggest fan of historical romance, but I was completely enraptured with this book after the first few pages!! A truly tender, sweet, and spicy romance that involves friendship, and choosing happiness in the face of social conventions. It includes lots of representation and balances concerns with propriety and reputation with the realities of affairs, dalliances, sex work, etc. I also really appreciated the content warnings put forward by the author and publisher, and will for sure be checking out more of the author's work!

I was so happy to see Alexis Hall try historical romance, and I wasn't disappointed! Hall's penchant for voice and character come through again here. Also, I can't get enough of this cover!

This was SUCH a unique book, and another example of why I need to not automatically discount historical romance! I've honestly never read a book with a trans hero/heroine, so this is going to stay with me a for a while. This is one of those cases where I have loads of feelings about a book but no words to really express it. The LGBTQ+ rep, disability rep, humor, grief, friendship, and love all just combined to make an incredible story.

The only thing that knocked this down a peg for me was that I felt the pacing was a little slow in spots and some of the side stories detracted from Viola and Gracewood. I'm hoping that was intentional to set up additional books about these characters though because I overall really enjoyed this story and would love to read more.

I continue to believe that Alexis Hall can do no wrong. This was so lovely! Everything about this felt like reading a traditional regency romance, with the exception of the fully fleshed out and wholly explored complications of our heroine being a trans woman with a complicated past. I thought the characters were absolutely delightful, the exploration of identity so well done and the love story entirely swoony (and the non-romantic relationships just as lovely - what an exploration of familial love and acceptance!). This book was really special - I am already singing its praises and cannot wait to share it with all my reader friends. More, please, Alexis Hall!

This book! This book was amazing! I love historical romances especially regency era ones and this one just delivered on that front so well! I have been really enjoying queer takes on historical fiction as well but this was the first I have read with a transgender woman! I loved that touch so much and I really hope trans woman saw themselves represented her and that more stories like this will be coming out!

Thank you to @readforever @grancentralpub for the ARC and @hachetteaudio for the ALC in return for my honest review.
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My thoughts…
Somewhat unpopular opinion. This was a friends-to-lovers-queer-trans-heroine historical romance. Overall, the story was interesting, where sensitive issues were handled well. I wished I liked it more. It was long, repetitive and it really slowed down towards the middle. I tried listening to the audiobook, but the narrator didn’t work for me. It felt overly dramatized and over the top. And it was 15 1/2 hours long! The main characters were good, though I did liked the secondary characters more. The ending was quite good. I’d recommend to read the physical book. And don’t take my word, read the other great reviews.
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“I want to go forward. And I’m not looking for perfect. Only for you.”

A Lady for a Duke was such a beautiful and heartfelt story of loving all of someone. Not just the good or easy parts but all of it. This was true for both Viola and Gracewood. Their lives both changed dramatically after Waterloo. Viola finally got the opportunity to rid herself of the persona she was born with and become the woman she always knew she was. Gracewood lost himself to opium and drink when he lost his closest and dearest friend. He has felt on the brink for so long and it doesn't seem like much would push him over the edge.

When Viola and Gracewood are reunited, will Gracewood finally become the man he was before and will he accept and learn to love the beautiful soul and heart of Viola?

I absolutely fell in love with both these magnificent characters as well as the dynamic background characters that added some amazing depth to the plot. My only small observation was that the front half of this book was far too long and just dragged the story. But that aside, I was astounded by the depth of the storytelling and once it really got underway it really did drag me under and I never wanted to leave.

This is a Good Book. I've been sitting here trying to think of what to say and... it's a Good Book.

Our heroine, Viola, and our hero, Gracewood, grew up together as best friends, even though Gracewood never truly knew Viola at the time. After the war is over (and Viola was presumed to have died during it), they are reunited. Viola is living as a lady's companion and Gracewood has sunk into a stupor of addiction and despair.

At times the writing is lush, romantic, and just the sort of description to roll around in. And then it's balanced by the delightful Alexis Hall chaotic humor, so you don't drown in the velvety velvetness.

Viola, for the first part of the book, doesn't know how to explain her relationship to Gracewood, doesn't know how to tell him. And I was afraid the secret was going to hang over all 400 pages of the story. It doesn't. Thankfully. At every turn, my worst fears about what might happen were never realized. It's just... graceful.

This book deserves a reread.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!


This is the answer to everyone who watched Bridgerton and said, "okay, but where are the LGBTQIA+ people???"

This was my first Alexis Hall book, and it will not be my last (I ran to the store to get Boyfriend Material).

A Lady for a Duke is so special. The romance was top tier, and I found the mashing of Regency-style romance with more contemporary world views incredibly refreshing and fun. I appreciated the content warning at the beginning of the novel. This allowed me to head into the novel with open expectations about what I was getting into. This book deals heavily with mental illness, which was tough at times personally to get through, but at least I knew because of the warnings.

The pacing was pretty good, but I still think it falls into the hole of regency pacing that I don't love. If you are a regency romance fan, this is a must-read. I am so glad this book exists, and I know that everyone should be adding it to their tbrs.

Such a wonderful romance!

The Duke of Gracewood and Lord Marleigh have a deep friendship, a connection so strong that Gracewood describes Marleigh as “the joy of my life." Wounded at Waterloo, Marleigh “dies” and is reborn as Viola, companion to the new Lady Marleigh. Viola can never regret taking advantage of the opportunity to live as her true self, but she does regret the loss of her dear friend Justin. When they finally meet again, Viola is horrified to discover how wounded Justin has been by the traumas of war and injury and grief over Marleigh’s death. In hope of helping him heal, Viola forms a new friendship with Justin, embarking on a deception rather than telling him the truth of her identity, which she believes will only hurt them both.

Viola and Justin are obviously meant to be more than friends, but they have a lot to work through before they can be a couple. Their new friendship rapidly deepens into attraction and love, but that is shattered when Justin finally recognizes Viola as his Marleigh. His realization leads to a heartbreaking argument that leaves them both feeling betrayed, Justin by Viola's unwillingness to share all her truths with him and Viola by Justin's inability to understand the difficulty of the decisions she has made to live as herself. Justin very quickly realizes the mistake he's made in not simply appreciating having Viola in his life, and he determines to set things right between them. However, while Justin is ready for them to be together as a man and a woman with no more secrets between them, Viola still can't see a future where she can have the same life other women have. So, Justin must convince Viola that happiness is possible for them.

It makes for a long and sometimes slow-moving novel, but that gave me time to savor their love story, which is everything I want in a romance. Viola and Justin have a soul-deep connection that leaves them yearning to be together—so much pining! Their story is also a perfect example of the hurt/comfort trope. Viola is always supportive of Justin, and once Justin understands her truth, he supports Viola in return by treating her as the woman she is, while she sometimes struggles with dysphoria and fears that others will doubt her womanhood. And then there are the exceedingly romantic moments they share, as when Justin tells Viola, “My soul calls to yours and yours to mine, and that will never change.” Positively swoonworthy!

Alexis Hall’s books tend to make me laugh, but very thoughtful observations often underlie the humor. In this case, Viola being trans allows Hall to explore themes like the social construction of gender and inequality between men and women. That might make the story sound a bit heavy, and the novel does have a more serious tone than some of his others. However, the playful banter between Justin and Viola is often lighthearted. Secondary characters like Viola’s managing sister-in-law and Justin’s flighty sister add comic touches to the storyline as well.

With a moving love story that is also smart and sometimes funny, this book is by far my favorite romance of the year so far. It’s going to be hard to beat!

A copy of this book was provided through NetGalley for review; all opinions expressed are my own.

I wanted to love this book. So much. The characters individually I loved. The storyline however was so slow. The subplot with the younger sister being kidnapped was too cliche. I enjoyed the writing but the storyline didn’t hold my attention as hoped.

I will not be sharing an in depth review outside of NetGalley. Thank you.

A Lady for a Duke was beautiful in the way that it handled hard topics. The journey that Gracewood and Viola took from friends to lovers was beautiful I loved how they loved and accepted each other. The banter was beautiful and the burn was slow between these two. I definitely think that the historical setting and the way it enforces gender stereotypes was a great choice to explore.

CWs: descriptions of PTSD and chronic pain; instances of deadnaming/misgendering (in the past tense); some references to dysphoria; brief mentions of suicide ideation; some exploration of drug addiction; references to past abuse; some misogyny; and explicit sexual content

Rep: Viola is a trans woman who passes in society; and Gracewood is a former soldier disabled by the war who uses a mobility aid, experiences chronic pain, and is contending with both PTSD and related drug dependency

The perfect historical romance does exist, and Alexis Hall has not only proven that but achieved that with flying colors in this truly unforgettable book.

This book ruined me. It absolutely eviscerated my emotions and left a permanent mark on my soul, which will be forever changed just by knowing that this book exists. At the time of writing this review, I read this over a month ago, and just the thought of it will still stop me in my tracks and make my heart clench in the best/worst possible way.

This historical romance gave me joy, gave my life, gave me purpose. It is an incredibly tender, slow-burn romance that is the absolute *epitome* of queer yearning, and it is the ultimate second chance romance. There *is* no greater second chance than essentially coming back from the dead to win over your best friend and first love.

I think what makes this romance so incredibly striking is the fact that being together allows both Gracewood and Viola to process their grief, and they’re both grieving completely different things. Viola is grieving both the person she was wrongfully raised to be along with the womanhood she was never fully invited into or allowed to embrace. Gracewood, on the other hand, is not only coming to terms with the fact that he was grieving someone who was never actually lost, but he’s also grieving the past version of himself that was stronger, more independent, and more able-bodied—because that's how he's been taught to define his masculinity and because the world has conditioned him to place value in those things.

In many ways, both of these characters are haunted by those past versions of themselves and they’re still learning how to accept themselves for who they are *now*, even if those new versions of themselves come with obstacles or hardships. Through healing together and being with one another, they are slowly learning that the people they are now are fully capable and worthy of love.

On the subject of representation, there is so much care and nuance put into how the other characters process and hold space for Viola's transness. To be explicitly clear, that doesn't mean that everyone reacts "the right way," or that every character easily and automatically understands or accepts Viola's transness, but it *does* mean that Viola is given ample opportunity to express herself, her feelings, and her needs in a way that’s very thoughtful and direct.

I also really appreciate how this historical romance doesn’t shy away from the fact that Viola’s womanhood inherently changes the dynamic of her friendship with Gracewood, specifically in how they carry themselves in society and have to take different rules of propriety into account. As a woman, Viola cannot occupy those same spaces that she and Gracewood used to frequent in their youth. She can’t go into gentleman’s clubs, or bars, they can’t go riding or hunting together, and it could even be taboo for them to associate in public without a chaperone. There’s all these societal rules for how they conduct themselves as people of two different genders, which is not inherently a “bad thing,” but it is new and different.

The story is also very mindful of how Viola is still learning how to navigate those new spaces, how she still doesn’t really know what she should wear, how she should conduct herself, what’s "polite" for a woman to say, or even how to take up "womanly" activities like arts, tea service, or being a hostess. Again, there's no judgment value placed on these new endeavors that Viola has to take on, but simply an acknowledgement that this shift in priorities and expectations placed upon her is very much a real thing she has to learn how to balance.

What’s more, the banter and the dialogue in this story is just top notch. Alexis Hall was born to write regency-era banter, and he knows exactly the right words for his romantic leads to say that will absolutely tear your heart *asunder.* There is such an earnestness and lack of pretense between Viola and Gracewood that makes space for so many tender, heart-wrenching interactions and exchanges that will just leave the reader breathless with their clarity and urgency. The amount of quotes in this book that sent me reeling are just beyond measure, and the level of devotion the characters are constantly expressing to each other is simply unfair to every other romance book in existence.

Additionally, that aspect of Gracewood unknowingly grieving with the very same person who unintentionally caused that grief in the first place is a romantic dynamic that I never knew I needed in my life. But it is *so* incredibly good. It is so good and so cathartic to see these characters find their way back to each other and heal each other in a way that is so incredibly earnest and powerful.

If I have not sold you on this book with all that I've said so far, then frankly I never will. If you want to feel something deep in the dredges of your heart, you have to get yourself to a copy of this book by any means necessary as soon as humanly possible. As cliché as it may be to say, this is one of those stories that will make you believe in love and give you a reason to hope. I truly cherished every single second that I got to spend with this incredible story. It is one of my all-time favorite books now, and if any part of this review connects with you, I'm sure it will also become one of yours in no time at all.

When Viola hears that her oldest friend Greenwood is struggling with his time in the war she decides to try and step up. While she expects to have a hard time seeing him again the last thing she expects is for romantic feelings to surface, on what seems like both their ends. The question is whether or not their relationship can survive societal expectations and the secrets kept over the years.

This book was great, the writing, the development of their relationships, the side characters, everything was just so good. This is one of my first trans historical romance and it was good! The supportive family and the way that Greenwood just loves Viola is so beautiful.

Overall, everything was so good, it’s definitely something I would recommend to anyone interested in historical romances and LGBTQ romances as well. This is a great one.

Read For:
👗 Trans Rep
👗 Friends to Lovers
👗 ALL the pining
👗 Chronic Pain/Injury Rep
👗 Supportive Family
👗 An aspect of forbidden romance

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever for the opportunity to review. All thoughts are my own!

I absolutely LOVE Alexis Hall and will read anything they write. I was sent an advanced reader copy of A Lady for a Duke in exchange for my honest review. I read a lot of historical romance so I feel experienced enough to judge in that area. This book was very well done and I was so happy to see the representation in this book! Be ready to swoon!

“How did you bear something so wondrous? How did you live without it?”
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Listen. We should stop making high schoolers read Wuthering Heights or whatever and have them read this instead.

The prose! The dialogue! The pining! The sheer volume of emotions! The (AH is the only author who can make me say this) SIDE CHARACTERS! Oh, the side characters. ❤️

The queer people living in authentic joy, love, and dignity in Historical Times!

I finally understand the “let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding” cliche because I DID THAT LIKE EIGHT TIMES.

This book was a joy from start to finish. It comes out tomorrow!

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC!

A refreshing take on queer historical romance!

Justin (aka Gracewood) and Viola are childhood friends separated by war and secrets (that are revealed early on, so they’re not dragged out unnecessarily). When they come back into each other’s orbits, a lot has changed, but the way they feel for each other hasn’t diminished at all. Sure Justin didn’t previously realize his feelings for Viola were romantic, but upon their reunion he quickly recognizes that he’s always been in love with Viola and that’s all that matters. No drama, no questioning, no doubts, and definitely no transphobia. I loved these two so much! They’re vulnerable with each other and they have a really beautiful connection. I especially enjoyed seeing how they encourage the other to be their best self.

Honestly, I loved everything about this book. Alexis is so talented at imagery, comedic timing, dialogue and banter, and so much more. I loved the writing and think this is one of Alexis’ best books. (Something Fabulous and Glitterland are my personal favorites!)

The premise is so unique and interesting. Both the blurb and the cover grabbed me right away. Justin and Viola have years of friendship and devotion to each other (I mean, they went to war together!), and Alexis does a great job weaving their existing connection and chemistry into the story. It all comes together for one heck of an explosive romance. I loved how sweet and sappy these two are. They just can’t deny their feelings! And the things that Justin says to Viola. Swoon! Some of the most romantic things I’ve ever read! He is seriously book boyfriend goals. He knows what his heart wants and he’s not afraid to go for it. I also really loved how the intimate scenes were handled and how much Justin is attracted to Viola.

There are some wild things that happen in this book and so much of it had me laughing. There was never a dull moment. There’s also a colorful cast of side characters who added so much to the story. But especially Viola’s sister-in-law. She has absolutely no filter and is blunt as heck, and her dialogue is hilarious. One of her friends is introduced later in the book and the two of them together are absolutely unhinged and I loved every moment of their scenes together.

While this historical romance touches on homophobia and transphobia as it relates to the time period in which it’s set, and in relation to Viola’s identity, that is not the focus of this novel. Suspend your disbelief and go along for one incredibly romantic ride!

If you’re looking for a unique story, excellent writing and character development, and low angst? Check this book out!

CW: FYI that there is some talk about unaliving ideation but the act itself doesn’t occur on or off page.