Christopher is an earl with a classic problem: he needs to marry by 25 in order to secure his inheritance. He's also an earl with a less classic problem: Christopher isn't the name he was born with, and he hasn't always been a man. In order to find a wife, he'll do his duty and move to London for the Season. His butler and his cook convince him he needs a valet, otherwise people in London will gossip, so he hires the handsome James Harding, who has rather un-valet-like roles as Christopher won't allow him to dress him or be on hand while he is abed. It's a closed off world for Christopher, because he can't share his secrets with anyone, not even the servant he's becoming very attached to....

I really enjoyed this transmasc historical romance! Be warned it is a slow burn, because Christopher takes a lot of time to understand his own emotions related to his body and his desires and his past. Ultimately it works really well, though, because in the last 30% of the book, there are some thoughtful conversations about identity and love for a heartwarming story.

“The fact of your existence is a miracle."

**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.**

TJ Alexander expands their work into historical romance with A Gentleman's Gentleman. Earl Christopher Winterthrope, Lord Eden, is a "man of unusual make" who prefers his privacy. Residing in the country estate with only his butler, his cook, and his ornery horse, Orion, seems perfectly sufficient to him. However, Christopher learns of a clause in his late father's will that hinges his inheritance on marriage before Christopher's upcoming birthday. As such, he must take to London and seem a proper gentleman to acquire a wife. And all proper gentlemen have a valet. Enter James Harding, the most proper valet one could ask for, and, unfortunately, dreadfully handsome.

This trans love story is a slow-burn, gradual building of trust and friendship. Both men have secrets they would prefer to have stay that way, but the need for a confidant who can lend assistance is one that cannot be denied. Christopher also still struggles with the circumstances surrounding the loss of his family and the resulting nightmares.

TJ Alexander displayed clever wit in the banter between James and Christopher as well as a clear appreciation for the Regency romcom genre of it all. While the "reveals" are very much laid out for the reader to grasp and understand before the characters, they are no less impactful for being obvious.

I will happily recommend this to readers of the genre and am eager to explore Alexander's backlist and future works.

Thanks to TJ Alexander, Knopf/Pantheon, and NetGalley for an ARC of A Gentleman’s Gentleman. All opinions are my own.

If you’re looking for a queer trans historical romance, this is the perfect book for you! Christopher was an engaging and intriguing character from the start, and I loved the strong contrast between him and James from the very first moment they met. Opposites really did attract with these two, and a lot of yearning, shenanigans, and grand reveals later, the ending feels just as sweet (and spicy) as I was hoping for!

Excited for readers to get their hands on this on pub day!

POV: singular third person

You can expect: Earl MMC, valet MMC, forced proximity, employer/employee, secrets, opposites attract.

Rep: trans MC, gay side character, PTSD (implied), grief, gay main character (implied), bisexual main character (implied)

CW: death of a father figure, death of parents (past), death of sibling (past)

A lush and beautiful historical romance from TJ Alexander! A Gentleman’s Gentleman is soft and romantic and a slow-burn with high payoff!

Thank you Vintage and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Alexander does a masterful job dealing with realism of what it would mean to be trans in this time. This is definitely a slower burn romance, with the tension present and low before finally building to a boil at the very end of the novel.

It's hard for me to find a TJ Alexander book I don't enjoy! I have loved their contemprary books and was so excited to learn they were writing a queer historical! This book was soemthing that will keep me coming back should Alexander decide to write more queer historicals!

This was a bit of a mixed bag for me personally. I absolutely want to see more queer histrom and am so excited to see this one getting published!
I loved the historical world building of this with our isolated trans MC Christopher and the premise of having to get married as part of a will and entailment.
while i love a slow burn the key is stoking that tiny flame so the reader is on the edge of their seat begging the flame to light. i felt like there weren't enough of those passing burning moments to really justify the giving in to feelings moment later. which was so sad because i LOVED the set up - the starchy and proper valet mixed with the laissez faire attitude of Christopher who wants to be left alone to gallivant on his horse could have had so many good moments that we didn't really get.
i did LOVE the side characters though - both Étienne and Miss Montrose and I hope we get more histrom from Alexander featuring those characters!

Thanks to @ireadvintage for the gifted e-ARC and to @prhaudio for the ALC!

Regency romance is my comfort genre. I love that moment in history. The elegance, the passion, the pageantry. It’s the best. And this book captures all of that.

This was my first regency with a trans main character. Christopher is a trans man who guards his identity by being a recluse in the country. He enlists a new valet, James, to help him be presentable to society as he is forced to find a wife to keep his inheritance. If only his valet wasn’t so attractive!

I adored Christopher and James. Their banter and flirtation was delightful. I was rooting for them from the beginning! And the plot was so entertaining. There were several episodes I totally didn’t expect. It was a very satisfying conclusion as well.

I thought the narrator did a great job bringing the characters to life and giving them their distinct accents.

This was a delightful new addition to the regency romance genre and I completely loved it.

I adore queer historicals because the yearning tends to be on full display and that was definitely the case with this story. The forced proximity of the Lord and his valet plot really increased the tension. The slow burn of their relationship was such a delight to read about and I loved how character-driven this story was. It was hilarious to read about Christopher trying not to perpetually thirst over his hot valet. My one disappointment was with the length of this story. I think they needed a little more time to develop their romantic connection. Overall I had a fantastic time and I'm so excited to read more from this series.

Thank you Vintage and Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC of this one. All thoughts are my own.

I am in love with this book. I was hooked from the start. The writing flows effortlessly, injected with hurt and humour in equal measure.

Christopher is immediately loveable. He’s a recluse, independent, considered eccentric by the ton. He has such a big heart, he so clearly loves those close to him even though he doesn’t hold many close.

Harding is disciplined, a little stiff, believes strongly in the order of things and his place in the world. But he’s hiding just as much as Christopher is.

This is an incredibly slow burn and I was living for every moment of it. There was so much pining, so much yearning, so much chemistry. And the wait was absolutely worth it.

There might be a lot of pain between these pages, but the trans joy is strong too.

The emotional depth and feeling in Christopher and James's story had me from the beginning. TJ Alexander continues to be a master of their craft. I can't wait to see what comes next from them.

I love queer historical romance. They show that queer people have always been around, even if the history books like to pretend otherwise. And in times like these, books like this are more important than ever.

Lord Christopher Eden is an eccentric Earl. He doesn't keep a lot of staff, and he prefers to stay a recluse in his country estate. But his inheritance is on the line if he cannot find a wife by his next birthday, which is just a few months away. He hires a valet to make himself appear like a normal Earl and prepares to travel to London. But having a valet makes it very hard to keep his secret - he is a trans man, and no one knows.

This book made me feel so many feels. It was the slowest of slow burns, which made the beginning just a little slow for me, but it was absolutely worth the wait for the swooning (and spice) at the end! I cannot wait for the second book in this universe, because TJ Alexander is SO good at historical romance.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

This book was a delight! I could not put it down.

This is a slow burn, but the pacing itself was not slow. There’s a lot of heart in this book, and (whew) some very deep emotional grief as well.

Historical romances are a favorite of mine, and this author seamlessly gave us a story that will resonate with readers.

I really enjoyed the ending, the author did a fantastic job of giving these two characters the ending they deserved, without changing who they truly are.

I absolutely ADORED this book! The main character, Christopher, is faced with a problem - he must marry before his 25th birthday in order to inherit his family's estate. As a trans man in the regency era, Christopher is faced with trying to find a wife who he can confide his secret in. Christopher is not interested in all of the trappings that being the lord of an estate requires, which includes a large staff. Unfortunately, he knows that in order to secure a wife, he will have to basically pretend to have all the things a head of a estate has, such as a valet. Which is where our love interest James comes in. As Christopher and James get to know each other, Christopher finds himself dreaming of a future where he can live peacefully with James, riding horses together in a life of solitude. ROMANCE ENSUES AND IT WAS WONDERFUL!!!!
The prose and the flow of the story were really excellent and I loved the dynamic between Christopher and James. It was just so delicious I could not get enough!! I also particularly loved all of the side characters and I felt like they added a lot to the story.
Thank you so much to Netgalley for this arc!

*Received as a free ARC*
I was quite excited about this book, as I love A Lady for a Duke and the vibes seemed similar. I was not disappointed! Christopher was delightful. My only complaint is that there wasn't a ton of depth of character in much of anyone else. James got some by the end, but even he could have used some more fleshing out. But I'll still recommend it to people!

—"you must marry to inherit"

—trans hero

—"oh no my new employee is hot"

—slow burn to passion

Heat Index: 6/10

The Basics:

Lord Christopher Eden prefers to keep his distance from society, both because he's somewhat eccentric in general, and because he doesn't want anyone to know his secrets. The trouble is, Christopher is going to lose his estate—and his earldom—if he doesn't marry before his next birthday. On his quest to find a wife, he hires the prickly (some might stay STARCHY) valet James Harding, whose stern attitude is both annoying and, let's be real, super hot. As they become friends, however, Christopher's burgeoning longing for James does pose a complication for the whole "finding a wife" thing...

The Review:

TJ Alexander has become an author I can reliably recommend—you'll almost definitely like or love the book if they wrote it, and this is no exception. I am SO happy to see them hitting the historical romance space when it needs a voice like theirs so desperately. Historical romance is not dead! But damn, if you want to keep it alive you need not only diverse writers, but writers who write unabashedly what they want. That is TJ. They are fearless and they are determined and it's just a joy to read their stories.

While A Gentleman's Gentleman does touch on some very difficult topics—transphobia and homophobia are never confronted directly on the page, exactly, but they're forces that obviously shape the world and the circumstances in which Christopher lives—it has a really breezy, wryly humorous tone infused with some classic Historical Romance Pining. I don't know that any romance subgenre does Pining as well as historical romance, and you get the whole nine yards here.

This is entirely from Christopher's third person POV. While I do admittedly prefer dual POV, TJ does a great job of giving us a very clear picture of who James is, what he longs for, his quirks. Christopher is fairly smitten fairly quickly, but in a "This is so embarrassing and also inconvenient, I can't believe myself" kind of way. (There's also a really good beat wherein he discusses whether or not being attracted to a man makes him LESS of a man—something that was refreshing to see touched upon.) It's as the story goes on and he and James become friends that their feelings deepen. It's gradual, it's natural, but it never feels meandering. This is, inheritance plot aside, overall what I would call a character study romance.

When compared to Alexis Hall's Something series (which I love) I'd say this is sort of between that and a "traditional" historical romance vibe. It's set firmly in a more realistic, if optimistic, historical setting. Christopher does have a close queer friend, but he doesn't have a circle, as Hall's characters often do. And part of that is also necessity, right? Christopher is hiding, and I wouldn't say that the urge to hide is ONLY due to his transness (he has a great backstory that DID feel very classic old school historical romance in a lot of ways). But you're in that middle space, where Christopher isn't ashamed, exactly, but also feels pretty alone because while he has a friend that is gay, he doesn't have any friends who are trans.

By rooting this story in a more grounded world, TJ also gets to highlight the reality of trans history: that it is, in fact, a history. That there were and have always been trans people. And there will always be trans people. Regardless of whatever various corrupt regimes try to tell you. It's not that Christopher is truly alone; it's that he feels alone, and once he realizes he isn't, you can truly feel this weight lift a little.

All while he's falling head over heels in love with a very uptight hot man who's all about dressing him.

The Sex:

Although there is explicit sex in this novel, you do have to wait a good while for it. I'd definitely categorize this as a slow burn; but because the emotions are big and the longing is LONGING, I didn't feel undermined or whatever. Plus, what you do get is truly excellent and really unique to the characters. I don't know if I've read a sex scene before that had the exact same kind of... framing, I guess? In terms of where the characters were coming from emotionally speaking.

Also, Christopher is totally inexperienced, so.... a win for the lovers of virgin heroes (there are dozens of us! Dozens!).

I will say, though—if you're a fan of the stretched out tension? Yeah. There's a scene in this book that does tension SO. RIDICULOUSLY. WELL. I may have pearl-clutched a little.

Look, I'm not gonna ignore the elephant in the room: Trans people are under attack in my country. They always have been, but the loud part is very loud right now. Reading and buying and promoting trans romances should always be a priority. People NEED to be exposed to these love stories. It's political. It's emotional.

And, oh look, you also get to read a really great love story. You're winning on every level. Give yourself that win. Buy this book.

Thanks to Vintage and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is my first TJ Alexander and I am so impressed. They have such an easy to read writing style, the characters were rich, the banter was funny and the romance was oh so slow, but finished with a bang (wink, wink). My first trans romance as well and the author really pulled on the heart strings with the struggle both characters went through to get to where they were.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and author for the e-ARC

A Gentleman’s Gentleman was charming and fun to read.

A slower burn, this was like a quick yet lovely meandering regency romance. Though clunky in parts, I liked the writing style, found the characters likeable, and I enjoyed every page.


This was my first time reading T.J. Alexander and I would absolutely read their work again.



Thank you to Vintage and NetGalley for the DRC

I’m a huge fan of TJ Alexander, and this book didn’t disappoint! While I rarely venture into historical romance, I really loved this.

This book was fairly predictable, and didn’t have a lot of spice, I still found it really enjoyable, and fairly comforting. I really enjoyed both main characters, and seeing themselves grow and develop throughout the book.

Just like others of TJ Alexander’s novels, what I loved the most was the queer joy - trans people have always existed, even when they’re outside the ‘normal’ being able to find gender affirming care and people to affirm you, and not having to apologize for who you are.

I could not help but request this book of this the moment that I saw that it was both transgender and a 19th century romance, because the combination of those two concepts is one of my favorite things to read. The only thing that prevented this book from getting a five-star rating is that the actual real romance part of it wasn't really something until about the last third of the book, and then it felt a little bit rushed. I am not going to talk about my favorite parts yet because spoilers, but I think it was still a really fun read, and thank you to NetGalley and Vintage Books for the advance copy.