A review by fionamclary
A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall

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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