Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - A Lady for a Duke

Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall

10 reviews

fionamclary's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

4.0

This was fun and sweet and heartfelt and successful at being a book with a trans heroine where the main conflict is not about her being trans. But it is very much a book about gender, in which Viola learns to embody her womanhood while rejecting the gendered expectations that don't suit her, and Gracewood learns to redefine what it means to be a man in a way that integrates his past traumas without being confined or dictated by them.

I wish we'd gotten a better picture of their friendship pre-Waterloo and how that affects their present relationship. Especially after the first 150 or so pages, it often felt that little would change about the story if they were complete strangers before meeting at Morgancald post-war.

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daryn's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

this started out so strong for me but really fell off once they went to London. the stakes seemed to disappear after about halfway through and just led to Gracewood and Viola having the same conversation over and over, mixed with a random pointless kidnapping plot. i loved the idea here but think it would have been executed better if the book was slower paced or Viola’s identity was revealed to Gracewood further into the book.

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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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