A Lady for a Duke

Viola Carroll, formerly Lord Marleigh and 'killed' at Waterloo, has finally become the woman she was always meant to be but, like Marley's ghost, is weighed down by chains of guilt and fear of discovery. Her best friend, Justin, Duke of Gracewood, has never gotten over his best friend's death. Wounded himself, he uses laudanum and drink to assuage his survivor's guilt. So Viola and her meddling sister-in-law Lady Marleigh set off for Northumberland to rescue Gracewood and Mira, his seventeen-year-old sister. Viola is a great character, full of remorse for those she's hurt by her 'death' but strong in how she deals with the aftermath of the change and never sorry for what she needed to do. Alexis Hall is an excellent writer and he treads the line carefully here as Viola navigates her new world. Regency England has strong expectations on how each sex should behave and what is expected of them. The scene where Viola must serve tea for the first time is both funny and poignant; in her former life she observed the ritual many times, but actually having to serve the tea in a precise manner- well, let's just say she needed some training. Gracewood is also a wonderful character. As friends, he was a counterpoint to Viola's adventuresome nature and they both bring out the best in each other. Watching them fall in love is a wonderful gift to the reader as they navigate new feelings and expectations. Gracewood has to deal with his role as a Duke as well as the bothersome leg wound…

I wanted to give this five stars, I really did. But I felt it was lacking something important. First of all, I am a trans woman, I am out full time and have been on HRT for over five years. To start with what I liked about this, I really loved how we got to see Viola's way of thinking and how she wanted to live her life. I really like how we got full context on the choices she made to start over without telling anyone but her family. So it can be very understandable to any queer person not just a trans person as to why she made the choices she did to be herself regardless of what it costs others. And I really liked that the story was not in first person so we were able to see what Gracewood was thinking as he was processing his feelings on this. I have never seen a well done trans story that was not in first person so this was incredible and really expanded what the story could do. And of course, I absolutely loved that the principle conflict in the story was not Viola's being trans, but that she lied about not being dead, which of course was totally understandable for both sides in context, which only made the story even better. As to what I didn't like... This may dip into spoilers so... I will try my best but fair warning some spoilers will be in here. And it will dip into somewhat NSFW content, I'll try to keep it as PG as possible. SPOILER WARNING, don't read further if you haven't read the book! I didn't like that dysphoria was not even remotely a part of the…

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5 🌶/4 (lots of chemistry but only one or two explicit scenes) If you love Jane Austen & Bridgerton, but want to see more queer rep with your semi-spicy Regency Romance, this is the book for you. Viola grew up with her best friend, Duke Gracewood. They spent summers together, went to school together, and then went to war together. They were the closest that any two people could be, and yet Viola was keeping a secret. She had been born the Viscount Marleigh, but she was in fact a woman. When the two friends go off to war, Viola was injured and finally saw an opportunity. She let everyone believe her dead, and returned to London finally as herself. Her younger brother became the Viscount, and he and his wife take in Viola as she learns to embrace herself and her womanhood in a society ripe with fashions, customs, and gossip. She may have had to give up her title, her money, her lands, but she is free to be truly herself for the first time. And then a letter from Gracewood's sister alerts Viola to the reality that her death has left her best friend a broken shell of himself. She and her sister-in-law travel to the Duke's estate with the goal of rescuing his younger sister in favor of giving her a season in London... but also to help the Duke find himself again. What follows is a beautiful tale of friendship, trust, and love. By telling a trans story in a time period and society so steeped in highly specific gender roles, the author gives us so many insights into…

This is everything I look for in historical romance. The writing, the poesy, literary references…perfect. There is not only a transgender character, but the dynamic of having to reunite with someone struggling to cope with war and the loss of their sincerest and most beloved of friends, now (unknownst) of the opposite gender, is such an intriguing idea. This is an intimate look at friendship, love, and being the person you are and not what others want you to be. Filled with charm and charming characters. I’m so glad this was recommended to me by Nenia Campbell. “So many years he had wasted searching for meaning beyond his legacy, for the freedom to be the man he could be, rather than the man his father demanded. He had tried scholarship, he had tried debauchery, he had even tried war. But he was as trapped and as helpless as he’d ever been, unable to make his sister feel cared for, unable to be with the woman he loved.” “‘I thought you proud and dashing and brave and all that you should be. But I did not understand how much I meant to you or how deeply you felt your father’s hurts. I did not understand your thoughtfulness or your gentleness or—‘ Putting a hand on her wrist, he stilled her with his touch. ‘Viola, please. These are not admirable qualities in a man.’ ‘Then they should be, Gracewood.’” “There was a sense of stagecraft about her, somehow, guiding attention to the cards in her hand, rather than the ones up her sleeve. It made Viola feel oddly safe, this…

The quality of the audiobook itself is excellent. I was a little confused as to the gendered voice of the narrator, since I considered Viola to be the main character, but this is also the first and only book of this genre I've ever read (book club pick), and I eventually discovered the reason behind it. Fair Enough. The story itself felt pretty, uh, circular to me. Viola kept inventing reasons for things not to work, and then! In the final hour, a flimsy villainous plot! And suddenly, the reasons all fell away! It was cute, and I'm glad something in the genre exists that unapologetically features positive trans representation, but ultimately, I really wish the author had leaned a lot more into the Twelfth Night inspiration and played around a lot more with the gender and sexuality themes Billy Shakes already had going on.