Reviews tagging 'Violence'

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall

87 reviews

maggies's review against another edition

emotional hopeful slow-paced

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

2.0

Oh dear. I really really wanted to like this book. It ticks so many boxes for me and all other Alexis Hall books I've read have been real winners. But it was just so slow and long. Easily could have been 25% shorter. I honestly thought, at the part where

Viola's "secret" was revealed to Gracewood

, that was the primary conflict, and I was shocked to find that was only about 30% through the book. Everything prior had felt much much longer, likely because nothing happened. Viola and Gracewood's internal monologues became tiresome after repeating the same thoughts and feelings over and over again. And finally, by some combination of the written dialogue and the audiobook narration, most of the women ended up sounding whiny and pathetic to me, and it was very off-putting. Perhaps my experience would have been different if I'd read instead of listened, but I don't believe substantially. Ultimately I pushed through because, like I said, Hall has been reliable for me in the past, but this one didn't work for me.

Content Warnings

kingcrookback's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful 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

I enjoyed this! I appreciate how Hall decided not to make Viola being trans the central conflict and instead focused on gender and gendered expectations. (Although, being the anxious person I am, I spent a lot of time worried that that would happen to Viola. That's entirely on me, though.) The yearning and tension were so good, and I enjoyed both Viola and Gracewood as characters both grappling with the internalized prejudices that they've been steeped in.

This isn't a critique of the book so much as me working out my preferences and how the book aligned with them. I'm still at the beginning of my foray into romance, and while I think some combination of LGBTQ+ and "not contemporary" are more my speed, I don't think I really hit my stride with this one. While I enjoyed the characters' introspection, I think I personally need more plot to keep me fully engaged.

Content Warnings

miraileah's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny inspiring 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

4.75

4.75. This was adorable and I loved it. The writing was very well done, and there are several sections that I absolutely loved. The book was quite long, but honestly I wasn’t bored at any point, so I wasn’t terribly mad about it. It did feel like their relationship progressed rather fast, especially from Viola’s perspective. But there were a few short time jumps and I did read the second half quickly, so that could be in my head.

One thing I will say, I was truly thrilled that there was no third act breakup!! The issues in their relationship were at no point miscommunication, issues with Viola being trans, or Gracewood’s disability. Thank god for that.

It honestly felt like a really safe book to read as an LGBTQIA person, all of the triggering content happened prior to the start of the book, so nobody was getting actively traumatized

(except maybe Mira at the end?)

The principal characters were all generally very good to one another, which made it feel much more like them all making it through traumas and troubles together, rather than in spite of one another. That being said though, there is a ton of potentially triggering content in regards to drug abuse and PTSD, so be careful of that. All in all, a very enjoyable read.

Content Warnings

kylarenea_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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

I thought this book was absolutely delightful. One of the friends to lovers romances I've ever read, especially in the round about way they got there.

Content Warnings

seraphimgt's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

onlyonebookshelf's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

3.5

Content Warnings

strange_little_ranger's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional lighthearted fast-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

4.0

Content Warnings

chilivanilli28's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional 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

Content Warnings

littleflowerfairy's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.5

Content Warnings

kato_goldacker's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

3.75

Friends to lovers slow-burn with good Trans Representation.

Recommend for Bridgerton Fans
(go to end for conclusion)

Loved it. When I found this one I knew I had to read it simply because it is exactly what I wanted.
Alexis Hall has some really beautiful writing and ways of describing things, as well as the ability to spark inspiration or thought with the way he puts things. This had a lot of inspiring, beautiful lines and romantic, soft, yearning moments that I really enjoyed, I marked a lot of parts in this book. Hall did a great job with writing a relatable trans character, too.

I did feel that, overall in its execution it’s not a masterpiece of a book, as I still felt like some things were perhaps missing or too simple. I also wasn’t always entirely sure about the pace of the book, I would call it a slow-burn romance, which I liked, but it did change pace a bit later. I don’t think it’s extraordinary story-writing or anything -generally I felt like there were things missing for me to make it a GREAT book, but I couldn’t exactly pinpoint what it was. Depth, the feeling of a more detailedly thought-through plot / story, most likely.

Still, I loved it, and I’m so happy there’s a book with this story.
The characters were lovely and the playful, intimate and teasing interactions and the yearning and pining between Gracewood and Viola were really fun to read.
I’m also really happy we got a bit of spicy/intimate scenes, which I think is great seeing trans characters nicely represented in.

I don’t think you always need an absolutely great story with a unique plot that wasn’t ever written before. Popular tropes can still be enjoyable, and I don’t think it’s necessary to have an entirely period-accurate representation in every LGBTQIA+ novel, especially since -some people argue- it can be nice for us to have something simple, cheesy and stereotypical for once too, just like there’s tons of (non-LGBTQIA+) straight fiction like that.

Conclusion
So I’d say, if you’re not looking for a terribly original storyline but for a happy, hopelessly romantic, historical friends to lovers slow-burn, featuring good and positive trans representation, you will really like this.

About Triggers
I put all from this list I think are (briefly) in the book,
Of course it is for yourself to know but I just need to say I didn’t find this much triggering, even though I am quite sensitive to a lot of those. If drug use is really triggering for you it might be a different thing, for me it is mainly violence related as well as any sexual abuse or transphobia related ones, but I was mostly fine reading this and, despite containing all of those listed triggers, I found this was book that still felt light.

Content Warnings

More...