Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall

130 reviews

shinypurplepants's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted

• 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

Lovely mix of yearning and romance 🥰 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, War, Classism, Deadnaming, Ableism, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug use, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Grief, Misogyny, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Transphobia

honeycupreads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

I really loved this book! The main characters were so loveable and their individual struggles were depicted wonderfully and handled with such care. I was slightly worried going into this book since I’ve not read many historical romances but I’m glad to say that this was such an easy read I genuinely did not want to put it down.

I did feel like the last 15% or so with the secondary plot line was pretty unnecessary and could’ve been excluded. It was sort of reminiscent of a wattpad plot twist and definitely threw me off, in a bad way, but overall didn’t ruin the story for me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Addiction, Deadnaming, Ableism, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Violence, Vomit, War, and Kidnapping

jei_reads_sometimes's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Grief, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Kidnapping, Ableism, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Sexual content

lilac_rose's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense slow-paced

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

4.25

This book made me happy and I'm not going to expand on that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Ableism

Moderate: Transphobia and Deadnaming

Minor: Sexual assault

mobymaize's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Death, Drug use, Dysphoria, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Grief, Homophobia, Medical content, War, Classism, Death of parent, Outing, Sexual content, Deadnaming, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Ableism, Body shaming, Alcohol, Addiction, Child abuse, Infidelity, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Gun violence

bluejay21's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Ableism and Drug use

annacs's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Ableism

Moderate: War and Kidnapping

Minor: Child abuse

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Grief

Moderate: Transphobia, Violence, Classism, Deadnaming, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual content, War, and Ableism

robin_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

1.0

This is the first book by Alexis Hall I truly neither liked nor enjoyed, which hurts my heart. 
It was very long, the pacing was odd and soooo much was happening. The connection between Viola and Gracewood just wasn’t there for me. 
I did like the queerness and the historical aspect but that’s about it, unfortunately. 
However, the narration of the audiobook wasn’t for me either. 

Additional TW/CW: PTSD and flashbacks 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, Drug use, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Ableism, Gaslighting, Sexism, and War

Minor: Vomit

kingcrookback's review against another edition

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Drug abuse, and Addiction

Moderate: Ableism, War, and Deadnaming

Minor: Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Transphobia