This book? This book is the good stuff! It's *chef's kiss* perfection! It's easily one of my favourite books this year, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I finished it a few days ago.

 

A Lady for a Duke is a historical regency romance but probably unlike ones you've read before. It's got pining like you wouldn't believe, friends to lovers, fantastic banter, incredibly well-rounded characters, and a great deal of angst that's balanced with a lot of humour. It also features a strong, lovable trans heroine in Viola and an imperfect, wonderful disabled hero in Gracewood whose chemistry is amazing. And, of course, this book has an excellent happy ending.

 

I have been staring out my window with my head in my hand for what feels like days, sighing dramatically and yearning for a love like the one I've just read about in A Lady for a Duke. It's still hard for me to fully put into words all the things I love about this book because there are so many but chief among them are how the world created feels so fully realized, superb the writing is, and how authentic and interesting the characters are.

 

 

Viola being a trans woman in the regency era obviously comes with many challenges, and I felt her fear and pain as viscerally as I felt her joy and love. Her strength and surety in who she is was wonderful and inspiring, and I fell in love with her incredibly quickly. I've not read many books featuring trans characters but A Lady for a Duke is by far the one that's done the best job of both making it part of who Viola is and also making very clear it's far from all she is. 

 

Gracewood had a similar complexity and nuance to him as a character. While scarred from the war and suffering from his past, he was still essentially a good man trying his best. His easy acceptance of his own love for Viola once he discovered she was his presumed dead best friend was wonderful. Yet it didn't feel forced or fake as he still made some stumbles along the way but all along you never doubted his heart. 

 

Another thing I loved was that while gender roles were quite strict in this era, the book made sure to point out the ridiculousness of them and also to have the characters question and push against them.

 

 

I honestly just want to live in Alexis Hall's words forever! This is only the second of his books I've read but I've already lined up a handful more because I'm so in love with his writing. I listened to the audiobook version of A Lady for a Duke and I can highly recommend it. Kay Eluvian did a most excellent job narrating it and though it's nearly 16 hours long, I never once tuned out. In fact, I got this ARC on a Friday night and thought there was no way I'd be able to finish the book in time for its release the following Tuesday. However, once I started, I did not want to stop and when I did finish, I wished there was more for me to read.

 

Something I really appreciated was that the publisher and author made sure the audiobook narrator, as well as the model on the cover of the book, were trans women. It should be almost a given for this book and should be more common in general, but I was still pleasantly surprised and impressed when I found this out.

 

A Lady for a Duke was just actual perfection, and I'm already excited to reread it.

 

 

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.