A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall

1818. Viola Carrell left a life she used to know on the battlefield at Waterloo: a body that never fit her, a life that never made sense, and a title and wealth that now belong to her brother. And yet, her oldest and dearest friend, the Duke of Gracewood, who believes her to be long dead, needs her help. Gracewood is fighting pain and trauma from that same battlefield, fighting ghosts, and fighting addiction that come after it. Viola’s sister-in-law, the meddlesome Lady Marleigh, masterminds a plan to encourage Viola to aid both Gracewood and his younger sister Miranda. But ghosts will always refuse to stay ghosts, and to a woman who has left an old life behind, it’s a dangerous proposition.

Alexis Hall set out to write a book with a transwoman heroine in which her gender is not the central conflict of the plot, which for a historical romance is not an easy feat. He succeeds in bringing to life a cast of meaningful characters in which Viola’s gender is accepted by those who know her and never doubted by mere acquaintances.

Each of our three main characters - Viola, Gracewood, and Miranda - has their own conflict to face, and Hall treats each with reverence and care. Miranda’s conflict will be recognizable to most readers of historical romance - the socially awkward beautiful bluestocking trying to make a place in society, which is ultimately the plot vehicle, providing an excuse for Viola and Gracewood to re-acquaint themselves. Gracewood’s conflict is much darker, suffering from PTSD and addiction following Waterloo, but also self-doubt from being raised by a father who craved power. Viola’s conflict is the acceptance of love and a relationship we all know she deserves.

This book is heart wrenching and funny, and I spent my entire time reading it on the precipice of both laughter and tears. It’s absolutely tender when needed, with well-timed humor to stifle unease. It’s on the longer side, but absolutely worthwhile, and I devoured it in under 24-hours, craving its resolution.

Alexis Hall always writes books with 1) amazing queer rep 2) enthralling plots and worlds and 3) laugh out loud dialog between the characters. A lady for a duke is an amazing queer romance and I am really hoping for more stories about Viola and Gracewood.

This was such an incredible book that I'm having a hard time writing this review! I loved basically ever second of it and couldn't put it down. The writing was superb and had me highlighting multiple quotes in my kindle. This is also getting the rare achievement of being a book that I will purchase a physical copy of!

When Viola is presumed dead after the Battle of Waterloo, it allows her to be able to truly live as herself for the first time in her life, as a woman. She has few regrets about this, other than that she had to abandon her best friend, Gracewood. She assumes he will grieve and move on but a letter from his sister, addressed to Viola's sister-in-law tells a different story. Gracewood is merely a shell of himself and Viola and her sister-in-law feel compelled to visit and rehabilitate him and help his sister.

I think one of the things that was so successful about this book is that, though Viola is trans and that is a large plot point, the conflict relating to her being trans comes primarily from within her, not externally (from others or society in general). When she does choose to come out to certain people, she is met with primarily acceptance. I loved her story so much.

Gracewood, too, is such a compelling character. For a time that had no word for what he was experiencing after the war (PTSD), the experiences he had felt incredibly accurate. His dialogue in particular were the parts that I kept coming back to. Though he took some time to adjust to the news, his acceptance too, was wholehearted and he did not question his love for Viola. Gosh, I really felt all the feels with this book!!

My only small criticism of this book is that it was perhaps a bit long and I'm not entirely sure that the plot line with the sister at the end was needed. Surely that plotline did help Viola realize things about herself but I think that could have been achieved without it.

I would like to call out the fact that though I loved this book, I am not a trans woman. I look forward to seeing reviews from own-voices reviewers that are undoubtedly more important than my review here.

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3.5

A Lady for a Duke was an enjoyable read, unfortunately though, I did have a bit of a hard time getting into it. The overall plot just didn’t really work for me, but that aside it was still a well written story.

It has the childhood friends to lovers trope and some amazing representation. I do suggest checking the content warnings as well..

The romance was fantastic as there were some beautiful, heartbreaking and angsty moments. I just absolutely loved the development between the main characters.

Another aspect that I really liked was that the main source of conflict in the story and romance had nothing to do with the heroine being transgender.

Again the main issue for me in this book was the plot; it was just quite slow-paced and disjointed.

Overall, this one just wasn’t my favorite but still a good read with fantastic representation. I will definitely continue reading more from this author.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars rounded up! THIS BOOK. I don’t think I want to read another historical romance unless it’s queer? If you’re a fan of Bridgerton (like me) but you also want more queer rep (also me) then I would highly recommend adding this book to your tbr.

First off, let’s talk about the writing. Alexis Hall blew me away with his beautiful and lush writing in A Lady for a Duke. From the first chapter I felt fully immersed in this story. I experienced so many emotions while reading this book and was blown away by the dialogue. The declarations of love were some of the best I’ve ever read and moved me to tears multiple times.

The author notes that while the heroine is transgender, he didn’t want this fact to be the main conflict of the book. I appreciated this and I loved the direction the author took with the narrative. I myself am not a trans OV reviewer so please seek out these reviews as well.

I absolutely loved Viola. I also loved Gracewood. They might be one of my favorite couples in a romance book to date. The tension, their connection, their lifelong bond through childhood friendship, war and loss… all amazing. I really enjoyed how the author brought the characters together and the progression of their chemistry and relationship. It felt so real and so beautiful. I love how much they cherished each other and the care/comfort they brought each other.

The side characters were also amazing! Lady Marleigh was hilarious, as was Mira. I REALLY hope we get a second book about Mira!! The only reason I took off 0.5 stars was because I found it dragged a bit in the middle and I had a hard time focusing. It definitely picked up and the last 40% was amazing!

Would highly recommend this book to anyone! Especially fans of historical romance. I’ll be thinking of this book for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. I will be posting this on my instagram (link in profile) the day of publication. I will be sharing this review on Goodreads and Storygraph.

1st - queer historical regency romance
2nd - Alexis Hall (who is now in my top 3 favorite romance writers - I am here for everything and anything Alexis Hall writes and shared with us)
3rd - the longing, the love, the honesty, the pining, the strong characters, it’s slow burn and a trans heroine and all the love and joy


Seriously put this one on your TBR (preorder it or request it from your library asap) and if you haven’t yet go and read some of Alexis Hall’s backlist starting with Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake + Boyfriend Material

*thanks Forever Publishing for the publicity review copy - out May 24 2022

Okay, I am not really one for historical romances and period pieces, but this book was IT.
When I first heard of the premise, I was hooked right away.
A childhood friends to lovers story set in the 1800s is not something I thought I would ever enjoy, yet here we are.
I dont know what’s better, the story or the way it was written because Alexis Hall’s way of writing sucks you in immediately with it’s beauty.
It deals with tough topics, but they’re balanced out so well with the amazing and sometimes hilarious dialogue, well written character and has such great representation for queer and disabled people.
One thing I didn’t really enjoy was the length. This book is very long and if you love books that take their time and read slowly to really get into it, this is the book for you. Personally I felt like some things didn’t really need to be included because I didn’t feel like they added anything tot he story except as some sort of filler, but once I got passed those, it was a breeze!

I think this story just wasn’t for me. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the fact that the main character was a transgender woman and that wasn’t the main source of the conflict at any point of the story (especially in a historical romance—more of that, please!), but I think I went into this expecting more Boyfriend Material than Victorian romance novel, and I shouldn’t have. And though Alexis Hall is really a talented writer, it was that writing, and the last few chapters of this book that redeemed it for me. I’m glad I stuck with it, but this was a *long* read and started out very, very slow—for me, anyway, but again, this really isn’t my kind of romance story…I’m much more of a contemporary girl.

I don’t really want to spoil anything or say much more because I think people are going to love this and I don’t want to help shape anyone’s opinion on this one, but I will say that I’m so happy writers like Hall exist because they take chances and write what they want to write and have a vast, exciting body of work, and as a person who loves literature, that is what I hope every author can be.

3 STARS

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was so excited when I read the synopsis of this book and it absolutely delivered!
This is a really fun friends-to-lovers historical romance with a trans woman main character. I really liked the main relationship and wanted them to be together. There were a lot of sweet moments and also a little bit of humor and unexpected situations mixed in as well. This book was delightful to read and made me really happy (and the epilogue had me tearing up a little bit).
I really liked the side characters and would love a sequel to focus on them!
When recommending this book I'd like to mention that Viola's deadname is sometimes used when people tell stories about the past. It's never used as a way to invalidate her or attack her, but it is present in the text.
I highly recommend this book to people who like romance, especially historical romance.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC to review.

I am a fan of both Alexis Hall and historical romance novels, so I was very excited to read this book. It also has a wounded hero, which is one of my favorite tropes. And it did not disappoint me.

The novel’s heroine is a trans woman, and Hall does a great job making that part of the book without making it the sole conflict in the story. Instead, it is about love, loss, and coming to terms with your identity. The hero’s PTSD and grief after the war are treated powerfully.

While Hall’s Something Fabulous is a wild romp, this book is much more serious. Don’t expect the playful tone of the other book, but this one still has humor, just with a more serious plot. It is a great read when you want something that will tug at your emotions.

I loved the allusions to both Shakespeare and Mary Shelley. The heroine’s name, Viola, is perfect!

I look forward to seeing what is in store for the secondary characters in future novels.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher.

It is so refreshing to find a romance that can focus on queer joy despite the time period, giving the reader a dashing, swoon-worthy adventure that isn’t interested in prying open all of their old traumas and triggering their fight or flight response.

A Lady for A Duke follows Viola, who uses her “death” at the Battle of Waterloo to rejoin society as her true self. She has found a simple, quiet happiness with her brother and sister in law, who love and support her fully. Problem is, her sister in law’s meddling puts her in the home of Justinian De Vere, the Duke Gracewood and Viola’s oldest friend. Gracewood has spent two years mourning his best friend’s death…but could this intriguing young Viola finally start to pull him from his shell?

The novel is essentially a story in three acts, with a brilliant cast of supporting characters. Viola and Gracewood’s love is so beautiful, and I loved seeing them work together to solve their problems. I also really appreciated the drama coming from characters of different social classes and not the fact that Viola is transgender.

All in all a delightful, warm hearted read that I would suggest to anyone. Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy!

I’m working my way through this one but wanted to leave my review now as I think it’s going to be a slow finish due to the density of the story. I’ve gotten to 60% so far. The writing is beautiful, very deep, & very emotional. The characters are extremely well developed and the relationship building and re-building is very well & complexly crafted. This is a gorgeous story and truly the only minor complaint I have is how dense/slow paced it is. It’s very long and slow moving & so much is resolved by 50% that I’m struggling a bit to stay engaged in the second half.

Romantic and moody, A Lady for a Duke wears its heart very much on its sleeve. Although it bogs down just a bit in the middle (clocking in at nearly 500 pages, it is quite a chunky book!), the ending picks up and then some, leaving the reader breathless.

Alexis Hall has been very clear that this is a romance, but not a romantic comedy, and he is right to make that distinction, but don’t worry — his signature wit is on full display, with lines that made me giggle multiple times in the first few pages alone. There are even a few of his sillier type characters sprinkled throughout the pages.

A Lady for a Duke is a solid winner, a book you are sure to love.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever Publishing for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was actually kind of hard for me to get into--I didn't really know what I was getting into. Though with that being said I really did like this book. The representation was amazing! All I kept thinking about was how people could have gotten through life not being who they truly want to be back in the day. Alexis Hall has done it again: creating a world that we get to see through the pages. Viola is amazing and the side characters are so cool, especially Viola's younger brother Badger. I hope we get to see me of this crew!!!

The latest in a recent flurry of books by the uber talented Alexis Hall, A Lady for Duke hits so many beautiful notes--angsty and sweet, progressive and bound by tradition. In true Hall style, our protagonist has to grapple with the messy pieces of her life and her history before she can truly embrace her own happiness. It's a beautiful story that occasionally gets bogged down by ghosts from the past and the slog of figuring out how to step into the future. It's an EXTREMELY SLOW burn. Around 67% done, I told my husband I was about ready to put the book down because I was NEVER going to get the release I was looking for.

I admit, there were moments I hesitated to finish the book, terrified that Hall would put our MC through the horror of being publicly outed in front of the tonne or something equally painful, but he didn't do that. I'm extremely grateful he didn't and obviously, not doing that was a conscious choice. However, in choosing to shy away from conflict like that, he also shied away from letting the MCs have the kind of relationship drama that's normal to most couples, and certainly most romance novels. The tense silly ridiculous plot involved Gracewood's *sister* and I honestly felt a bit cheated that we couldn't get more action centered on Gracewood and Viola.

This book is a bit heavier than some of Hall's other works and while the angst carried the plot, it also left me longing for a bit of levity and happiness for our MCs. I wanted Viola to reflect some of the absurdities of being a woman, especially a woman in such a highly gendered society, to explore more of how she felt about giving up the privileges her previous male identity, however ill-fitting, accorded her because of arbitrary structures. I wanted her to explore more deeply the way that being a regency woman was her freedom, but also, accepting a new set of chains, some of which, I imagine, would feel incredibly uncomfortable and binding. I feel like we saw so much of the downsides of masculinity in Gracewood, in the severity of his upbringing and his difficulty expressing his grief for Viola's dead persona. Which was another thing Hall left unexplored...that Gracewood could be balls out in love with Viola but still mourn the person she'd been before.

Hall is so talented it's impossible for me to dislike anything he writes. It's worth reading for the beautiful prose and the empathetic engagement with a trans heroine, something rare in romance. One thing I appreciate about Hall's work is there is typically a family member or someone who is fully accepting of a queer MC. And that space like that could exist, even if it's just in books, makes my heart happy.

This absolutely groundbreaking Regency novel turns the subgenre on its head. The writing is complex, the many layers and layers and layers of intrigue and secrets and desires and what-ifs, and it’s all so wonderfully and amazingly and heartbreakingly perfect. The dialogue was spot on, for example when Gracewood said something about Viola having died at Waterloo, she responds with “I was never alive.”

I'm obsessed. Like actually obsessed. I could spend forever with this story and want to hug these MCs. I just adored every minute of this book and it's probably my favorite of Alexis Hall's.

A Lady for a Duke is a soft sweeping tale of friendship, romance, and grief.

Viola and Gracewood were the best of friends growing up except Gracewood didn't know Viola was Viola. When they both ended up in war, Viola made the best of an awful situation and escaped to live as herself. She gave up her fortune and family name and her friendship with Gracewood and it was all worth it for her to finally be herself.

Two years after the war, Viola is living as a lady's companion to her brother's wife. When Lady Marleigh receives word from Gracewood's sister that Gracewood is struggling immensely with depression, pain, and opium and Mira in turn can't find a way to help, Lady Marleigh starts the trip to visit and whisk Mira away. After convincing Viola to join her, Viola comes face to face with Gracewood for the first time in years.

When they finally meet, Gracewood doesn't recognize Viola and Viola doesn't recognize the Gracewood before her. He is drowning in pain and suffering and grief and can't find a way out. He starts to cultivate a friendship with Viola and begins to see a shimmer of light.

When Gracewood eventually recognizes his old friend things go a little haywire from there. Even if they wanted to, Viola is a lady companion and Gracewood is a duke, they cannot be together.

This book is the story of them working through different pieces of grief and finding comfort and joy and love in closest friends.

It's so utterly romantic and heart wrenching and just a beautiful story I'm left feeling grateful to have experienced.

Trans heroine MC, disabled MC with chronic pain and PTSD, secondary sapphic characters

CW: PTSD, grief, guns, alcohol, opium, drug addiction, explicit sex, violence

Below are a couple of my favorite quotes that just wrecked me. They are a bit spoilery so skip if you want.

"Damn the world. The world told you that you had to live the life it shaped for you, and you defied it. The world told me that I had to be as my father was, and I defied it, or I'm trying to. We can make our own world, Viola, with our own rules."

"Strength is not the capacity to hurt. Or the capacity to remain unhurt. It is... What we let ourselves feel. And how truly we love."

"I love you as a man loves a woman, but we both know that love is not bound by such narrow terms. So instead let me simply tell you that I love you. I love you with the unfading flame of my friendship. With every drop of ardour in my blood. I love you with my soul, as some reserve their faith for absent gods. I love you as I believe in what is right and hope for what is good. I love you with everything I am and never was - and if you will only let me, with every day that comes, and every self that I could ever be."

Alexis Hall is one of my favorite writers!!!! I don't read historical romance. A Lady For A Duke is the second historical romance I've been excited to read. Guess who wrote the other one … that's right Alexis Hall! It's called Something Fabulous and it absolutely is!

I received an ARC of A Lady For A Duke from NetGalley and the only issue with that is I can't highlight to my heart's content. Alexis Hall's writing is so highlightable! I guess I'll just have to buy a copy when it comes out!

Viola is so very wonderful. I love her so much and I want to be her friend. Gracewood becomes such a wonderful human being, it's marvelous seeing him evolve. Miranda is adorable. Little Bartholomew had some of the most memorable and witty discussions in the book. Lady Marleigh is hilarious in her bluntness. Badger is like the absent minded professor; so loving but just not quite there, then he comes up with a zinger that is so full of truth.

Read all the way to the end. I NEVER read discussion guide questions. I like thinking about books how I think about them. But I always read Alexis Hall's questions because they are hilarious. I have to say for number 6 NO! Absolutely not!

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is it. Every other regency romance can go home, because this is the only one ever.

I will be honest and say I didn’t really have any expectations going in, as I have never really been interested in reading a regency romance book before, seeing as they are usually very cishet. Needless to say, I was very excited to see one with a trans heroine, and this story is going to definitely be one of my favorites going forward.

I don’t think I can properly express how meaningful it is to be able to see trans characters being able to have their own romances and happily ever afters. There’s still very few places to turn in terms of finding stories that represent us well, and historical fiction can oftentimes be an intimidating place to look due to lack of terminology or historical accuracy vs inaccuracy in the realities of these characters' lives.

Alexis Hall does a wonderful job at portraying Viola and her struggles and fears as a trans woman without that being the primary source of conflict in the story. While much of the conflict does deal with gender norms and expectations of the time period, it isn’t as much related to Viola and her transness, as much as general societal ‘rules’.

It was also refreshing to see how her transness was handled when it was ultimately revealed to Gracewood. I’ll admit, I wasn’t entirely sure how that situation would resolve going into the story, but it was handled with plenty of *ahem* Grace. I loved watching as their relationship developed and as they got the opportunity to meet each other again, and I think I would read 932587 more stories about them just being able to be happy together.

This is definitely a new favorite of mine, and I am eager for this book to be out in the world so that I can get my hands on a physical copy and annotate the hell out of it!

Sometimes, you read a book and know it’s going to be one of your personality trait books, and as I told someone in my DMs this week, Alexis Hall’s A Lady for a Duke is going to be one of my personality trait books. Touching, emotionally vulnerable, sensual, and ultimately hopeful, A Lady for a Duke delivered everything I wanted out of it and then some.

Viola Caroll and Justin de Vere were childhood friends and close companions before war, and after Viola is presumed dead at Waterloo, she takes the opportunity begin a life where she can finally live as herself. But when Viola reconnects with the Duke of Gracewood years later, she finds him changed in different ways—wrecked by grief, reclusive, and struggling with disability due to a war injury. Thinking she can help him recover and put her own feelings aside, Viola discovers some feelings are too powerful to deny.

Childhood friends to lovers is already one of my favourite tropes—my fellow demi folks who are suckers for rich shared histories and pre-existing connections in romance, raise your hands—but adding a character discovering their transness in the process made this an automatic pickup for me.

As with any novel where it seems obvious a character will have to “reveal” or “expose” their trans identity, I did have my reservations about it; after all, I have been subjected to too many novels where a character revealing they are trans feels more like a dirty secret or a ‘gotcha’ moment than the vulnerable, sensitive invitation to a part of someone’s self that it is. This premise seemed rife for that kind of moment, but I am pleased to report it was handled with sensitivity and grace; while that’s not to say there aren’t messy, human emotions surrounding the discussion of Viola’s identity, ultimately it is NOT the primary source of conflict in the novel or the relationship, and that was a beautiful breath of fresh air to me.

What I also loved about A Lady for a Duke was the balance between angst and sweetness the novel struck. Obviously given that both Viola and Justin are war veterans, there are discussions of heavier themes. Justin suffers from a disability in the form of a physical injury and what would be called PTSD today, and Viola is still learning to navigate her new status as a lady’s companion in the world at large. Both characters deal with understandably difficult circumstances, and they also find healing and support in both each other and a cast of robust, interesting (and oh yeah, queer) secondary characters that enrich the novel.

Most of the sweetness comes from the development of Viola and the Duke of Gracewood’s relationship. Y’all, there were moments I just had to put my book down and make incoherent noises of emotional processing at some of these scenes. I am a person who tends to be more sensitive to what I call The Cheese Factor in romance books, in addition to not always vibing with some common amatonormative concepts that can crop up in the genre. But the combination of Viola and Justin’s pre-existing history combined with the tenderness with which they treat each other? A magic, winning formula for me.

Finally, though this novel is not as steamy as others in the genre, I absolutely adored that it did not shy away from having on-page sex scenes written with care and skill. There were some pleasant surprises in this regard for me and I deeply appreciate their inclusion.

All in all, A Lady for a Duke is not only a 2022 favourite for me but a rare and new All Time Favourite. I have preordered it, I will be re-reading it, and I will be tirelessly recommending this one to anyone looking for a regency/period romance read.

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for an advance reader copy.