Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


A Trans-Austen Historical Romance

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall

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I love reading Austen and the Brontë sisters. Jane Eyre is a favorite, even if Mr. Rochester is the worst and definitely killed his wife. But reading period romances used to remind me, in the back of my mind, that those stories weren’t written for people like me. It wouldn’t have been historically accurate for two queer people to get together and not be shunned by society, right? Or…maybe not. Gentleman Jack has been a breath of fresh air, with a main character based on […]

so very many thoughts about this book

Husband Material by Alexis Hall

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CW: for the ongoing homophobia of Oliver’s family from last book I don’t mean to knock this book at all, but I will say that reading it (and wanting to give it a four) made me realize that Boyfriend Material should have been a five (that has been rectified, even before my re-read) (re-re-read, I should say). I would also recommend anyone who hasn’t re-(re-)read Boyfriend Material since it came out to re-read it before plunging into this novel. I went back and forth on whether I should–full disclosure, […]

“When I am with you, I feel about as far from anything that has ever hurt me as it is possible to be.”

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall

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After reading other Alexis Hall books earlier this year, the excellent Boyfriend Material and the quite good Something Fabulous, I became very excited for the promise of A Lady for a Duke. And that excitement was well placed, as I very much enjoyed this outing. While it didn’t quite reach the heights of Boyfriend Material for me, I felt Hall did a much better job with the tone of historical romance than he had in romp in Something Fabulous, even if the pacing bothered me […]

great book, you’re probably already halfway to reading it

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall

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First Note: READ THE DISCUSSION QUESTIONS that’s all I have to say for now. Also that there’s less (marginal? Confused-and-not-meant?) transphobia than you might think, read with a clear heart and no armor! Full Review: I’ve had a great little back and forth with llamareadsbooks over my note from above re: the transphobia in this book. The point of discussion is basically around Gracewood (the male lead) and how much he sinks before he starts the well-trod-by-male-leads-in-romances apology tour to prove himself worthy of the female lead, […]

“We can make our own world, Viola, with our own rules.”

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall

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This is an emotionally lovely historical romance featuring a trans woman and her childhood best friend and so much pining! Two years after the war, things are not going well for either Viola or Gracewood. Viola used it as an opportunity to change her future, but while she’s happy as a lady’s companion to her sister-in-law Lady Marleigh, she’s still wary of moving about in greater society. Gracewood has taken the death of his best friend particularly hard, and once word reaches Lady Marleigh of […]

My new favorite genre

Something Fabulous by Alexis Hall

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I realize there’s an entire subgenre of queer m/m-focus literature set in Ye Olde Times that has a soupçon of reality (like, there have always been queer people but there’s no Edwardian timeline in which they were openly walking about and getting married), some very specific tropes for characters (usually, seemingly-himbo + someone), and mile a minute sort of pity pitter patter pithy laugh lines. I think seemingly-himbo (the shimbo, we will call him) is probably my favorite foil to the more immediately interesting second […]



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