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@jm_bibliolater and @pattyisbooked are doing a #BookstaReviewWeek and since I stubbornly post like 99% reviews even though the algorithm hates it, you know I had to join in! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Thanks to @readforeverpub for an advance copy of A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall, out TODAY! 🍾 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ If you’ve been following me for a while, you probably know that I’ve been deep in a historical romance rabbit hole this year, so when I heard Alexis Hall had written one, I knew I had to read it. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Lost to pain, grief, and drugs, Gracewood is no longer the man he once was. There’s only one person who can reach him through it all - Viola - but doing so means risking everything she has built for herself. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ If you love love, if you love banter, if you love friendship, if you love angst, this one is for you. Alternately heart wrenching and funny, I got swept up in this story. Viola and Gracewood are people who have known and loved each other always — and watching them recognize and find their way back to each other was so beautiful. Both of them must learn to live as they are, rather than how the world wishes them to be. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I did feel like the book was a little long, but pacing aside i think it’s obvious I enjoyed it (and it’s lack of act three breakup 🙌🏻). ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Hall said in an author’s note that he wanted to write a romance about a transgender heroine where being a transgender heroine was not the central conflict of the story, and while I’m not in a position to comment on the representation in the novel, as a historical romance lover, I was SO excited to see this story (and cover!) become part of the HR world. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ We love a content warning at the beginning of the book with a note from the author! CW: drug abuse, deadnaming, PTSD, sexual content ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ID: I’m holding a kindle displaying the ebook cover of A Lady for a Duke in front of the rain covered window of my car. via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/Cd8ROMhL8L4/