A Lady for a Duke

That epilogue was such a beautiful ending. I just want to read that last paragraph over and over again.

✨✨✨✨

It must be so hard to live with ptsd. One wrong trigger and you are trapped in the worst memories of your life. I mean I have generalized anxiety and panic attacks but at least I'm not trapped inside a memory, reliving it.

Perhaps there were things you could only learn about yourself when you shared them with someone else.

A Lady for a Duke had all the makings of a perfect book for me:

★ Queer Representation
★ Regency Era Historical Fiction
★ She Fell First, But He Fell Harder

There's so much to love about this book, and I wanted it to be a 4 or 5 star read so badly — but there were a few too many ways that it fell short for me.

The Good

★ Major props to the voice actress in the audio book, Kay Eluvian, who gave each character a truly unique voice. I would pay for her to narrate my grocery list.
★ Fantastic representation! Viola being a trans woman was a big draw for me to read this book, but I was so pleasantly surprised by Gracewood! So often we read books with brooding protagonists who are Tragic and Misunderstood, but with no explanation for why. Seeing Gracewood struggle with war-time PTSD, an opium addiction, and toxic masculinity was so refreshing and well done. One of my favorite moments in the book was when he has a flashback from the fireworks and is finally able to cry without opium/alcohol in Viola's arms.
★ Sometimes in books it's not clear WHY they like each other/belong together, but there were so many parallels between their character arcs that it felt natural. They're both defying what society believes they were born to be and learning to fearlessly embrace themselves — and each other. What would you give up to be yourself?
★ Just so many sweet moments between Viola and Gracewood that had me kicking my feet. Gracewood is always