Reviews with content warning for Bullying - A Lady for a Duke

In the two years since Normandy, Viola's best friend, Gracewood, has thought she was dead. In reality, Viola was figuring out how to be herself rather than the boy she was raised to be, and assumed that her best friend would move on with his life when she was no longer in it. Instead, she discovered that in his grief he had turned to drink and laudanum, terrifying his sister and staff with the depths of his despair.

When Gracewood finally learns that Viola and his best friend are the same being, a new set of complications arise, as the social pressures on the lives of a duke and a lady's companion are deeply felt, and seem inescapable. As a trans person, it's tough to read what seems like transphobia coming from the love interest, even briefly, but the way it's handled and how both characters react to that moment serves to make the story stronger overall.

I like the care paid to developing Gracewood's relationship with his sister, dealing with the trouble has in relating to a teenage girl when he is a man who was raised to give orders rather than to listen. Viola and Gracewood were both changed by the war, but Gracewood's experiences left him visibly scarred and mentally shaken in ways that affect him on a daily basis. This is handled variously throughout, as Gracewood gradually becomes confident to not accept casual ableism from others, but it takes a while.

I love how Gracewood slowly notices more and more of Viola's wardrobe, appreciate that she designs and sews/embroiders it herself. It's made clear that Viola hasn't had previous sexual experiences because she would have either had to have them as a man (which she was uncomfortable doing, even before figuring out her gender), or would need a partner who was not scared off by her body after meeting her as a woman. The eventual sex scenes with Gracewood are careful and intimate, treading the line between being specific about the logistics involved involved and giving Viola space to be feminine and sexual without triggering dysphoria. More than that, with Gracewood's support as a partner she gets to feel good about her body in a sexual context, that it is a woman's body because it is hers, and not based on whether it aligns with some standard of gender presentation.

Things I love, in no particular order: Viola's sister-in-law, and her interactions with her nephew; the audiobook narrator's excellent performance; the way the b-plot gradually becomes more important as the initial tension from the social difficulties of Viola and Gracewood's relationship fade in the face of their care for each other.

A LADY FOR A DUKE is self-contained and ends very satisfactorily, but it does appear that a sequel is planned (which I will eagerly await). Everything I could want handled is covered either in detail, or implicitly by the epilogue, which is set several years after the events of the main story. It seems that future books would be unlikely to feature Viola and Gracewood as main characters, but, based on the title of the sequel I think it will involve one of their relatives (which would be great, I'd love to have them play a role again after they were so wonderful here).

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mobymaize's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It was really nice to read a regency era romance novel, a genre I don’t typically consume, with a trans woman protagonist, a person just like me :)

ALSO HOLY FUCK THERE IS SOMETHING INCREDIBLE & HOT ABOUT FALLING IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHERS WORDS. also HOLY SHIT THE SEX SCENE!!!!!!!!!! absolutely magnificent.

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seraphimgt's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

The prose was beautiful and very reflective of a regency period piece. The love professions were incredible and had me kicking my feet ♡ Not to mention the VA put their whole vaussy into the audio book. My main complaint was that it ran a bit long. Otherwise, a wonderful book.

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takarakei's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Cannot recommend the audiobook for this enough! The narrator was so fantastic and I looked up their other books because I was so impressed with the voices, tonal inflections etc

I’ve heard people say this book is too long and I think if you’re reading a physical copy I could see that - I didn’t quite feel that way with the audiobook (except for a few parts where I felt things dragged a touch). Overall this was a beautiful poignant historical love story between two people growing together in unlearning what the gender binary tells them they are each supposed to be/do/feel/ etc. There are some absolutely beautiful sweeping dialogue passages. This book and mainly it’s side characters are also supremely hilarious which I enjoyed immensely.

3.5/5 🌶️

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kelisabeth's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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mermaidmomma's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I am a fan of historical romance as is and I adored this twist on it!! I really enjoyed the tension that grew better Viola and Justin. I love the fact that the 3rd act conflict had nothing to do with Viola being trans and that also wasn’t the central focus of the novel. Viola was just Viola to those who knew her past and that is exactly how it should be.

Also, I must say I loved Mira and I cannot wait for her story. I really hope we get more of her and Stevie.

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kshertz's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I think the fact that I didn’t stop listening to this book for two days and finished it super quickly speaks for itself. It was so awesome to read about a trans person getting to live the life they wanted back in a different time period. The explanation made so much sense and the characters themselves were very well done. I really loved them and cared about what happened to them. This would be a 5.0 but it took forever to get to the sexiness. Which if you know me I need multiple and very often.

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