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A review by bisexualwentworth
A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.
I definitely didn’t like this book as much as everyone else seems to.
Look, I want to make it very clear that Alexis Hall succeeded in his goal to write a historical romance with a trans main character in which her trans identity is not the main source of conflict. Yay!
Viola and Gracewood’s relationship was very sweet.
Hall handled gender and disability quite well. I have no complaints there.
Mira was by far my favorite character (loved her Frankenstein fixation!), and I would love to read a book about her finding love (especially if her love interest is not a man cause regardless of who she finds attractive, I don’t think that character would be happy married to a man within her particular social circumstances).
My main problem with this book was that it was far too long. It’s about 150 pages longer than industry standard for an adult romance novel (historical or contemporary), and it drags horribly at times. The characters also have the same conversation over and over.
The random villain in the final 1/4 of the story didn’t bother me conceptually. I thought the plot was fine. I just wish he’d been set up better and earlier. I also think there was some wasted potential for tension between Viola and Gracewood during all of that. Maybe the villain plot could have happened earlier and the official getting together could have been later (but with more tension and less repetition).
I enjoy Alexis Hall’s characters and his humor quite a bit. I just want him to write shorter books and pace them better.
I definitely didn’t like this book as much as everyone else seems to.
Look, I want to make it very clear that Alexis Hall succeeded in his goal to write a historical romance with a trans main character in which her trans identity is not the main source of conflict. Yay!
Viola and Gracewood’s relationship was very sweet.
Hall handled gender and disability quite well. I have no complaints there.
Mira was by far my favorite character (loved her Frankenstein fixation!), and I would love to read a book about her finding love (especially if her love interest is not a man cause regardless of who she finds attractive, I don’t think that character would be happy married to a man within her particular social circumstances).
My main problem with this book was that it was far too long. It’s about 150 pages longer than industry standard for an adult romance novel (historical or contemporary), and it drags horribly at times. The characters also have the same conversation over and over.
The random villain in the final 1/4 of the story didn’t bother me conceptually. I thought the plot was fine. I just wish he’d been set up better and earlier. I also think there was some wasted potential for tension between Viola and Gracewood during all of that. Maybe the villain plot could have happened earlier and the official getting together could have been later (but with more tension and less repetition).
I enjoy Alexis Hall’s characters and his humor quite a bit. I just want him to write shorter books and pace them better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, and Misogyny
Moderate: Violence and Transphobia