Omg this is insanely beautiful!
A powerful duke and a also (but in a very different way) powerful trans woman fall in love after they have been best friends all their lives.
This book is sparsely filled with plot. Instead it is packed with feelings: Despair and angst and joy and freedom and love and everything.

Even though I enjoyed every minute of it, I think it could have been a little shorter and denser. But nevertheless it's a solid 5 star read that I'd recommend to everyone.
I have listened to the audio version that I very much enjoyed. The narrator performed it beautifully with a tender voice. The voices of the different characters are great!

Thanks to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for the ARC!

A Lady for a Duke is an absolutely wonderful story that gripped me from the start and didn’t let go until I finished it.

You cannot help but love our protagonist, Viola Carroll. She is deeply self-assured of who she is and knows how to stand up for herself. I loved her confidence and how it didn’t take away from her being able to be vulnerable.

Similarly we have a deeply compelling love interest/protagonist with Justin de Vere, the Duke of Gracewood. His loss and pain, stemming from both newer and older wounds in body and soul, was gripping but what kept me interested was his caring ways (even if he sometimes isn’t able to communicate them properly) and also the way he was head over heels for Viola, whenever she let him.

I need everyone to read this book, so I can scream with as many people as possible about the moment their shared past was revealed. The way it happened … *unintelligible screaming*

The audiobook narrator, Kay Eluvian, was amazing, distinct voices for the different characters and fitting, believable feelings conveyed through the voice acting.

I received an arc for the audiobook from NetGalley
2.5 stars.

I wanted to like this more than I ended up liking it. ANd I I love historical fiction. And I think that's partly why this didn't work for me. Because there's a lot that just doesn't feel like it would happen in the time period it's set in. And no, I don't not mean the LGBTQ+ representation, I actually really liked that.

Our main character is Viola Carol, who is a trans woman. She almost died in the war, and decided to instead live the life she had always wanted to have. I love that. She falls in love with her best friend, who at first doesn't realise she is his best friend (whom he thinks died in the war).

A lot of this book is Viola struggling to come to terms with who she is, and how she relates to others now. The romance is another big part of the book. This romance should be a nice friends-to-lovers, but because the Duke of Gracewood doesn't even know she <i>is</i> his friend, it instead felt very insta-lovey. His reaction to finding out who she is is on the one hand really good, yet on the other hand he gets over the fact "my best friend let me believe she was dead for quite some time" really quickly.

My biggest issue with this book is that the characters' interactions don't feel like they belong in the time period and the speech doesn't fit the class of the characters at all. On the one hand, this makes this book very easy to read for people not particularly fond of historical fiction, on the other hand, this bothers me as someone who loves historical fiction.

I mean:
<i>'Fucking her husband, I suppose. I should have expected it, but I didn't think they'd still be at it," said Lady Lilymere.</i>

This is one of the first things Lady Lilymere says when she meets Viola for the first time, about Viola's employer, a Duchess. Does that feel like something that would happen? The characters are all very crass and curse a lot for the time period.

The pacing isn't great either. A large part of this book nothing happened at all and there's a lot of repetition of scenes. Then near the end, when things do happen... we get an actual kidnapping by an evil villain character (who had been set up to be this awful person, though we never got much of a reason prior to this kidnapping).

Gracewood is said to suffer from PTSD and overall this was handled well. But the villain manages to completely defeat him by saying "boom." Not shouting. Not making something sound like a gunshot. No, simply saying boom. I don't have PTSD so I don't know if this does happen, and I did try to google this, but as you can imagine, that's kind of hard to do. It felt weirdly infantilizing for something that up to then had been handled pretty well and respectfully.

Gracewood and Viola have very little development in this book. Gracewood goes from "my friend hurt me" to "it was all my fault because I never saw the real her" in a few hours, but other than that, our two main characters have very little development and very little personality outside of their lead/romantic interest trope.

Which is a pity, because the side-characters are actually really fun. Lady Marleigh, the sister-in-law/"employer" of Viola was funny and interesting.
<i>"I only say nasty things to people's faces," said lady Marleigh, "What's the point otherwise."</i>
She is incredibly self-aware, which is what makes her so fun to read about.
Gracewood's sister is the complete opposite, soft-spoken, shy, with unusual interests for a girl her age (like horror books). She questions her sexuality in a way that feels incredibly genuine and sweet.
Lady Lillimere, while very crass, is extremely sweet and has a selfless streak, and cares greatly about her friends. She doesn't care about her reputation, but does care about those of others, and helps protect them. The scene between her and Gracewood's sister is one of my favourites.

The villains however are very tropey and one-dimensional.

While the (main) romance felt weirdly rushed yet slow because technically they knew each other all along and wasn't working for me, the other relationships in this book are written very well. Gracewood trying to get closer to his sister and figure out how to be a good brother was wonderful to read. Lady Marleigh's care for both Viola and Gracewood's sister was incredible and I loved how supportive she was of Viola. Lady Lilymere was a great friend to everyone, and the new friendship between Viola and Gracewood's sister was well done as well.

Which means there is so much missed potential in this book. The subject was interesting. The side characters are very well crafted, interesting and multi-dimensional, which makes me feel even worse about our leads being rather bland. Every relationship but the main one was written so incredibly well, it makes me even sadder about the main relationship being bland. The plot is extremely slow then devolves into total wackiness. And the historical setting/rules of interactions seemed only there to occasionally be a plot point. Most of the time, the characters acted very modern in both manners and speech.

The audiobook I had was extremely well narrated and I loved the audiobook a lot. It made it easy to get through this book despite some parts dragging. I would definitely recommend the audiobook version of this book.

I loved the representation, both LGBTQ+ and disabilities, both physical and mental (does PTSD count as a disability? It kinda feels weird to call it that.) I really liked the idea of a historical book focussed on a trans heroine, and I loved how supportive her family were of her. This is a very cozy book with a happy end and very feel-good overall. I just wish the interactions were both more historically accurate and more in-depth.

"That I did not know how to see you," he told her, "is not your lie."

It is impossible to put into words how wonderful this book is. Any fan of historical romance will love this one. Gracewood is not just a duke, but a war hero. He was severely injured in a war that took his best friend's life and has hidden himself away at his country estate to medicate his pain with alcohol and drugs. Viola Carroll believed she would never see Gracewood again since making a difficult choice that changed her life forever. Gracewood only knew Viola as his very best friend, Lord Marleigh. The emotional ride that follows is a beautiful story of two friends reconnecting and re-learning how to love themselves and the people they have become.

The representation in this book is stunning. Hall never ceases to hold back from challenging circumstances and the reader is the better for it. I loved how accepting the characters were of Viola as well as how confident she is in the choices she made. The care with which Hall handles PTSD and the aftermath of war is particularly well done. While the book felt a bit on the long side, I enjoyed the different settings and additional characters throughout. I laughed and cried and loved right along with Gracewood and Viola. I read this book both in ebook and audio and thoroughly enjoyed both. The audio rendition was really well done. Kay Eluvian did a great job with both the tone and emotions of all the characters. I am a massive fan of Hall's work and continue to look forward to reading anything he writes in the future.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

I have loved every Alexis Hall book I’ve read, but this one dragged a bit. I think it could have been much shorter. As I listened, I was sure I was at the end a couple times, only to find out I had more than 50% left. I also would have liked to see more of Viola’s transformation, it feels like we missed a big part of her story.

I would have liked Myra to have her own story, instead her being such a huge part of Viola & Gracewood’s. They’re such a wonderful couple and I wanted to learn much more of their story.

Kay Eluvian is a brilliant narrator! Her ability to switch between voices is so smooth that it’s hard to believe this isn’t performed by multiple narrators.

DISCLAIMER: I received this book free from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book so much! I'm not trans, but I was so happy to see a trans person represented in this regency setting. I hope that trans people read this and confirm that it's good representation as I don't think that it's own voices (but not sure how the author identifies). The fact that, not only does this book exist, but that it is so extremely joyous and heart warming is just everything.

Not only did I love the main characters, even the minor characters felt so well rounded and some of them were hilarious! And the plot was just perfect. The character development of our Duke was so amazing to see. And he was such a good person. I just love that we can imagine that queer people could live and have just wonderful existences. We need more queer books that aren't devastating and this ticks that box perfectly.

I also loved that the audiobook narrator is also trans. She did a wonderful job with the narration and characterisation of the different characters. I just can't get enough of all of the representation. Could this be any better? No!

I really enjoyed the concepts, as well as the representation and the emotional journery I was taken on while listening to this audiobook. The inclusion of a trans- heroine in a historical romance novel was very refreshing, and whicle that made for some very heavy topics to be discussed there was still and element of lightness which came through in the romance between Viola and Gracewood, and the epilogue was just the icing on the cake.

Story: 3 ⭐️
Steam: 3 🔥 light smut- one scene around 75%
Audio: 5 🎧

I wanted to love this book so much. And I did for about the first 40%. I was totally into the story and loving it. Unfortunately after this point the story just dragged. It felt like the focus of the story moved off the romance and toward the side plots. The book was long and felt very long. I found myself speeding up the audiobook so it would be over faster.

I loved the queer aspect of this story and the fact that the characters were happy and living their lives. I saw a few negative reviews about how they didn’t have enough pushback for being queer but I argue that not all queer stories need to have queer suffering. Just let us be happy please 👌🏻

Alexis’s writing is beautiful and always gives good vibes. I want to be clear that what I didn’t like was the length and the shift from the romance being center to it being a side plot in the second half of the story.

I really tried to like this book but I just couldn't. Overall, this book felt very boring and it was a long book so that was a long time to be so repetitive. I'm not sure what I was expecting with this book, but I certainly didn't receive it.

A delightful and fun read. The characters were very lovable and charming especially Viola. Though I did enjoy this immensely I do have to admit my interest was dwindling towards the end, however I believe the epilogue made up for it.

A Lady for a Duke centres on war veteran Viola Carroll who, two years earlier, found herself in a position to escape her old life and finally live authentically as herself. She is coming to terms with the fact that she is no longer the head of the household and will no longer stand to inherit when she unexpectedly finds herself returning to the home of Gracewood, her best friend, who believes she died in the war. She is shocked to find him given in to his grief, hooked on laudanum, and living with chronic pain. While he doesn't recognize her, he does feel a special kinship with her and, with a mutual attraction, they begin a delicate courtship.

Squee-ing at this one and wondering how Alexis Hall delivered something both wholly original and lived in at the same time. It's Bridgerton if Bridgerton cared about anything other than pretty people having sex.

I've read a lot of Hall's work recently and on a scale from Boyfriend Material to Pansies this one sits firmly on the serious side. While it does contain some of his signiture witticisms, it takes itself seriously. It's not by any means dry but is the complete opposite of his other recent regency romance, Something Fabulous.
The writing here is spectacular, by the way. Lyrical, gorgeous and time period appropriate.

A Lady for a Duke is set out in three very defined parts with three distinct conflicts. It was quite a smart move on Hall's part as the novel itself is quite long and definitely needed to be broken down into smaller, disgestable pieces. I think the first section was my favourite as I found Viola's inner turmoil over whether to tell Gracewood the most interesting part. She sees the pain her absence has caused him and wants desperately to help him heal but at the same time she is falling for him and is deathly afraid of his rejection. Viola is so down to earth and kind that it's more than easy to empathize with her situation and want only the best outcome for her. I will say, though, that during this time Gracewood doesn't do one thing that would make believe he would be anything but excepting of her. He loved his old friend and now he is falling in love with her.

I found it so wholesome that everyone who knows Viola for who she truly is are almost immediately accepting. It skips the trauma of coming out to hostility and closed minds that is often presented in trans and LGBTQ+ narratives and subverts the expectations we have of that time period.


As this is an Alexis Hall novel there is always a good chance of a sex scene occuring. I'm not always one for sex in books, I don't enjoy them and tend to take them less seriously. However, I was super impressed with the delicacy in which Hall handled this one. Both Viola and Gracewood have some very deep seated insecurities about their bodies and how the other may perceive them. It was absolutely glorious to read the ways in which they supported each in these insecurities while also making it very clear that it is a non-issue, they are perfect exactly as they are.

It's absolutely gorgeous and I highly recommend for anyone looking for an old school regency romance with compelling characters and a message of self acceptance.

I received the audiobook from Hachette Audio. It's was beautifully read by Kay Eluvian.

THIS BOOK!!! I was enchanted by this book from the very first page and that enchantment was present through the entire book. I have read historical romances with trans and genderqueer heroes but never one with a trans heroine. I loved that Alexis made the deliberate choice to introduce Viola post transition and not have any conflict involving her being trans. I loved that there was no deliberate misgendering (there were references to Viola’s deadname but Viola herself was never deadnamed). Having a trans heroine was fascinating because the gender roles of the time were so specific as well as the power inequality between men and women was so steep. While never a source of conflict or much discussion, the references to Viola’s prior life and the fact she gave up a title, wealth, and power to be her true self never ceased to blow me away.

I absolutely adored Gracewood. He is everything that could be asked for in a grumpy broken hero. His character was so well rounded and though out that each of his chapters felt like I was uncovering a new layer to him. I loved his love of Viola both before and after he knew who she was. His uncomfortable relationship with his sister felt so authentic and served as an interesting foil to his easy warmth with Viola. Together he and Viola truly make each other better. I loved that while it was a slow burn, this book was open door. It is important to not hide intimacy with trans characters behind doors and to treat that intimacy with the dignity it deserves, and I believe that Alexis did just that. I liked that there was additional LGBTQ representation in the book in the form of lesbian and bisexual side characters. The side characters in this book were an absolute delight, and in the case of Viola’s brother and sister-in-law the source of much hilarity. As is the case with all of Alexis’s books the humor is so cleverly woven into the story that each word must be read and appreciated. I don’t have all the words to express how much I loved this book. I would happily read another book in this world.

The audiobook was a very pleasant surprise. I absolutely love that it was read by Kay Eluvian, a transgender British woman, as it added another level of authenticity to the story. The audio was easy to listen to and together with Alexis's clever words it was an absolute delight. I highly recommend both the audiobook and normal book and am very happy to have experienced both.

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for the digital ARC and audiobook, and Forever for the gifted copies.

This was Everything. I am aware that I say that... not infrequently, but when I love things, I really love them. And this... I had high hopes, because lets be honest, I love everything Alexis Hall writes, but this was so much more.

Regency romance? check. Loads of pining? check. Loads of queer and unconventional characters? check.

I've read books like that before, of course. Not many, not nearly as many as I would like, but there are some. But I've never read one with a trans main character, and I didn't anticipate how deeply it would hit me, as a nonbinary person who, like Viola, has struggled with my identity and my body and my desire.

Viola Caroll is strong and determined and fierce and deeply, painfully relatable. She is unapologetically herself and I love her for that. Gracewood accepts her and loves her as she is and it's possibly the most revolutionary idea in the whole book. Most dukes would not be so accepting, I think -- although Gracewood has spent his life trying to break free of the idea of what a duke can be so maybe it's not so surprising. Surprising or not, it makes for a beautiful love story.

This falls more on the angsty side than the humorous side, unlike many of Alexis Hall's other works, though it is still funny in parts. It's what I was in the mood for, though, so it worked out. The writing is, as I have come to expect, absolutely gorgeous. I highlighted so many passages, and I know I will be returning to it again. I just hope we get a sequel - Mira's story would be an excellent candidate.

This book also touches on grief, child abuse, addiction, and chronic pain, and tackles these topics gracefully. The characters are flawed and human and real, even the side characters. And, more than anything, it shows the deep love and acceptance between the characters, despite their flaws. I loved every minute of it.

The narrator performs the story beautifully, though I had my doubts in the first few mintues. The character voices are distinct and easy to understand and fit the characters' personalities and the emotion and humor come through perfectly (which is good, because this story is all about a lot of emotion).

*Thanks to NetGalley, Forever (Grand Central Publishing), and Hachette Audio for providing an e-arc and audio arc for review.

This was positively spectacular, Viola and Gracewood are another favourite couple of mine from the author. Their banter was superb and I had absolutely no trouble believing that they were friends and continue to be. The humour was peak Alexis and I found myself laughing out loud throughout the story, I loved the characters and found them truly compelling and sex scenes had me blushing like a schoolgirl.

I want another book following them because that epilogue has me intrigued. I have read many romance novels but no epilogue has made me feel the way this one did. I adored this and I wanted to go back and relisten to the audiobook the second it ended.

The narrator did a wonderful job and made for a truly spectacular listening experience.

Thank you to Hachette Audio for letting me listen to this book. I was very keen to read it, and this was an even better experience.
First of all. this is my first trans historical romance, and I think it will also be my last. Any other story would have me comparing them and it'd probably fall short.
The story had everything. It was emotional, angsty, exciting, and quite realistic despite being fiction. It was longer than I imagined, and yet, the plot didn't drag or get old.
The author delved into the many complexities of Violet's situation concerning society, family and friends.
The narrator did a fantastic job with all characters and definitely has a wonderful voice for audiobooks.

This book is amazing. I loved every part of it, from the characters to the story to the romance to the friendships and family. It’s joyful, but also full of serious topics such as the war and the mental and physical scars it leaves.

The book is also unpacking male privilege, gender and how you’re supposed to behave.

The narrator is good, except I didn’t like the laughs and sighs they narrated. I like my books read as they’re written. But, I know people like that sort of thing (I could be a bit biased, since I’m listening 2x speed and laughs sounds ridiculous then).

Highly recommended book and audiobook
/ Denise

This book? This book is the good stuff! It's *chef's kiss* perfection! It's easily one of my favourite books this year, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I finished it a few days ago.

✨ "I would have died for you, and I nearly did, but I could not live for you" ✨

A Lady for a Duke is a historical regency romance but probably unlike ones you've read before. It's got pining like you wouldn't believe, friends to lovers, fantastic banter, incredibly well-rounded characters, and a great deal of angst that's balanced with a lot of humour. It also features a strong, lovable trans heroine in Viola and an imperfect, wonderful disabled hero in Gracewood whose chemistry is amazing. And, of course, this book has an excellent happy ending.

I have been staring out my window with my head in my hand for what feels like days, sighing dramatically and yearning for a love like the one I've just read about in A Lady for a Duke. It's still hard for me to fully put into words all the things I love about this book because there are so many but chief among them are how the world created feels so fully realized, superb the writing is, and how authentic and interesting the characters are.

✨"My soul calls to yours and yours to mine, and that will never change" ✨

Viola being a trans woman in the regency era obviously comes with many challenges, and I felt her fear and pain as viscerally as I felt her joy and love. Her strength and surety in who she is was wonderful and inspiring, and I fell in love with her incredibly quickly. I've not read many books featuring trans characters but A Lady for a Duke is by far the one that's done the best job of both making it part of who Viola is and also making very clear it's far from all she is.

Gracewood had a similar complexity and nuance to him as a character. While scarred from the war and suffering from his past, he was still essentially a good man trying his best. His easy acceptance of his own love for Viola once he discovered she was his presumed dead best friend was wonderful. Yet it didn't feel forced or fake as he still made some stumbles along the way but all along you never doubted his heart.

Another thing I loved was that while gender roles were quite strict in this era, the book made sure to point out the ridiculousness of them and also to have the characters question and push against them.

✨ "Fuck the world. I will change it for you if I have to"✨

I honestly just want to live in Alexis Hall's words forever! This is only the second of his books I've read but I've already lined up a handful more because I'm so in love with his writing. I listened to the audiobook version of A Lady for a Duke and I can highly recommend it. Kay Eluvian did a most excellent job narrating it and though it's nearly 16 hours long, I never once tuned out. In fact, I got this ARC on a Friday night and thought there was no way I'd be able to finish the book in time for its release the following Tuesday. However, once I started, I did not want to stop and when I did finish, I wished there was more for me to read.

Something I really appreciated was that the publisher and author made sure the audiobook narrator, as well as the model on the cover of the book, were trans women. It should be almost a given for this book and should be more common in general, but I was still pleasantly surprised and impressed when I found this out.

A Lady for a Duke was just actual perfection, and I'm already excited to reread it.


Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

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.

This was a quiet angst historical romance. A lady for a duke was my first Alexis hall book, and I now get the hype. The angst between the characters were heartbreaking and amazing. The first few chapters had me a bit confused, but after that I really enjoyed it

I received an audiobook copy of A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Words cannot describe how much I enjoyed listening to this novel. The narrator does an amazing job of distinguishing each character, of which there are plenty. However I will state that at times it was a little difficult to remember the importance of some of the characters because of how quickly some are introduced. Even though this became a bit annoying, by the end of the story it did become easier to remember the characters as the plot unfolded.

Furthermore, the pacing of the story works well with the plot and does not seem to rush through anything. Additionally, the slow burn style of the first half of the novel allowed for their romance to blossom in a way that was endearing and passionate. Overall, this novel portrayed a stereotypical(ish) lady and duke romance with a much needed twist and a satisfying ending.