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goldensisyphus's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Poor Valentine. He really deserved better. Both Bonnie and Belle shat all over him. Valentine is the only likeable character. No wait, Belle's cross-dressing lover Peggy is lovely.
I almost DNFed this book so many times because of the outrageous way the MMC Valentine was being treated.
I almost DNFed this book so many times because of the outrageous way the MMC Valentine was being treated.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Confinement, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Violence
galleytrot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
READ: Mar 2023
FORMAT: Digital
BRIEF SUMMARY:
In this historical fiction/romance set in 1800s England, Valentine (the Duke of Malvern) feels he’s upholding his father’s wishes by asking Arabella for her hand in marriage. When it turns out she’s not as thrilled by the idea as he’d anticipated, her twin brother Bonny drags Valentine along on a chase from Surrey to Dover in an attempt to intercept the runaway fiancée on her flight to the Americas. The twins are both far more of a handful than Valentine ever could have imagined, and Bonny opens Valentine's eyes to a world he had no idea was even possible.
ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: 4 / 5⭐
Boy, what an adventure. This book’s got everything: carriage chases; daring escapes; duels; kidnappings; torrid affairs; battles of wit; bees galore; a pair of devoted fanfiction authors; and, a rather surprising amount of peach feasting.
I’ve got to hand it to Valentine. For all that he is quick to lose his temper and is doing his best to live a quiet, comfortable life out of the eye of scrutiny and controversy, he sure does stick to it when I would have turned away and washed my hands of the entire situation. Before Bonny could even get him out of the house, the twins had completely exhausted my social meter and left me thinking, “Nope, time to go home.” I lost count of how many events in their grand adventure I though would be the straw to break the camel’s back. But they just kept on going.
This book is an absolute cartoon of a historical fiction. Nearly every character is a caricature, all of them over-the-top. Most are theatrical and thriving on the adventure. A small handful are just along for the ride. Peggy might be the only sane character. I like Peggy.
TECHNICAL / PRODUCTION: 3.5 / 5⭐
I’ll be honest, I’m more inclined to categorize this ‘historical fiction’ as a fantasy instead. Hall notes at the beginning of the book that linguistic liberties are taken, and just about everyone in the book is queer. This is not an exaggeration. Valentine leaves his comfortable world that operates precisely as one would expect a gray-and-drab-1800’s-England to operate, and he stumbles into this explosive, colorful, high-octane alternate reality that shakes the foundation of everything he thought he knew to be true.
I’ll be honest, I’m more inclined to categorize this ‘historical fiction’ as a fantasy instead. Hall notes at the beginning of the book that linguistic liberties are taken, and just about everyone in the book is queer. This is not an exaggeration. Valentine leaves his comfortable world that operates precisely as one would expect a gray-and-drab-1800’s-England to operate, and he stumbles into this explosive, colorful, high-octane alternate reality that shakes the foundation of everything he thought he knew to be true.
This book was both exhausting and frustrating to my poor little comfortable, introverted mind. I didn’t dislike it, but I did need to take a lot of breathers. My own patience was tested too many times. A DNF was never on the table (this book is still fun, for all the characters were tedious) but there were points where I wished it was. Repetition was used a number of times for comical purposes, and it mostly hit, but there was one scene in particular where I had to skip dialogue more times than I ought to have because of the repetitive content.
I’ve read a fair number of Hall’s books now and I have adored just about all of them. This one might be the one I liked the least, and it’s still not even close to terrible; at least, not compared to some of the other authors I’ve been reading recently. Something unusual I did encounter here was the occasional typo or grammatical error, and a number of clunky dialogue choices unrelated to the inclusion of modern phrasings. From what I can recall, most of Hall’s works I’ve encountered have been extremely well-put-together, so it was a bit of a surprise – enough for me to take note.
FINAL THOUGHTS - OVERALL: 3.75 / 5⭐
Read this book. It’s an experience, and it’s got a lot going for it. It’s far from perfect but it’s still a good time.
This book has representation for gays, lesbians, genderqueer or -fluid individuals, and demisexuals/demiromantics. Multiple badass women do badass things. There is at least one dark-skinned character described.
The following elaborates on my content warnings. These may be interpreted as spoilers, but I do not go into deep detail.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Blood, Gun violence, Homophobia, Violence, Confinement, Cursing, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Misogyny and Death of parent
readingthroughinfinity's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I'm a big fan of Alexis Hall books and while there were parts of this that I really enjoyed, there were also parts that just didn't work for me. I enjoyed the burgeoning romance between Bonny and Valentine and the witty humour, but some scenes felt too drawn out (the chair scene and all the chasing) and there wasn't a lot of depth to the plot. I also wasn't a huge fan of Arabella until the end (and even then, I didn't really warm to her). I can see what the author was trying to do with her character but I think it means people will either find her funny or really dislike her. This was still an enjoyable romance, but I think it could have worked better with faster pacing and more moving parts in the plot.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Death of parent, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Violence
colloreda's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Violence
ohheyitskaitlin's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Cursing
Moderate: Gun violence and Gaslighting
Minor: Abandonment, Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcohol, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Lesbophobia, Transphobia, Blood, Violence, Confinement, and Misogyny
kathleenmcg's review
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Classism, and Gun violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent and Violence
anniereads221's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Homophobia, and Sexism
breadbees's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Homophobia, Classism, Cursing, Sexism, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Misogyny
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Grief, Blood, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Outing, and Abandonment
pey333's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Gun violence, Grief, Blood, and Violence
Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Sexism
valereads's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
"If we lived life as though it were a novel, we'd spend all our time becoming embroiled in improbable adventures and spouting nonsense about filling our vast and empty souls with joyful aches."
This was my first Alexis Hall book and it's safe to say it will not be my last. This laugh-out-loud funny historical romcom follows Valentine (who is really a Duke), when his fianceé flees after his proposal he finds himself chasing her across England with her imaginative twin brother Bonny.
The first thing to say about this book is that it was extremely funny. I found myself laughing aloud on multiple occasions. I really enjoyed Hall's self-aware humour.
This book was incredibly beautifully written. I highlighted many phrases and paragraphs in this novel because I could not get over the beautiful writing. Hall is a master of language, I was surprised a book could be so poetic while also being humorous and even sexy at times.
That being said this book wasn't perfect. I felt like the pacing was a bit off in this one with them constantly catching up to Arabella then losing her again and the third act break up happening with just three chapters from the end. It didn't always flow naturally.
I also found some of the characters extremely difficult to like. Valentine makes a lot of bad decisions but he grows on you especially when he is able to admit his mistakes. I imagine many would struggle to like Arabella. Some aspects of her actions were understandable when you put yourself in her shoes but other times she takes things too far and it becomes extremely difficult to sympathise with her. That said I'd be interested in continuing in the series to see if she redeems herself later. Bonny and Peggy were extremely likable and I am so excited to read Peggy's book next.
Overall this was a highly enjoyable and beautifully written book. I recommend it to any adults who enjoy historical romance, romcoms or both!
Content Warnings: homophobia, violence, explicit sex
"If we lived life as though it were a novel, we'd spend all our time becoming embroiled in improbable adventures and spouting nonsense about filling our vast and empty souls with joyful aches."
This was my first Alexis Hall book and it's safe to say it will not be my last. This laugh-out-loud funny historical romcom follows Valentine (who is really a Duke), when his fianceé flees after his proposal he finds himself chasing her across England with her imaginative twin brother Bonny.
The first thing to say about this book is that it was extremely funny. I found myself laughing aloud on multiple occasions. I really enjoyed Hall's self-aware humour.
This book was incredibly beautifully written. I highlighted many phrases and paragraphs in this novel because I could not get over the beautiful writing. Hall is a master of language, I was surprised a book could be so poetic while also being humorous and even sexy at times.
That being said this book wasn't perfect. I felt like the pacing was a bit off in this one with them constantly catching up to Arabella then losing her again and the third act break up happening with just three chapters from the end. It didn't always flow naturally.
I also found some of the characters extremely difficult to like. Valentine makes a lot of bad decisions but he grows on you especially when he is able to admit his mistakes. I imagine many would struggle to like Arabella. Some aspects of her actions were understandable when you put yourself in her shoes but other times she takes things too far and it becomes extremely difficult to sympathise with her. That said I'd be interested in continuing in the series to see if she redeems herself later. Bonny and Peggy were extremely likable and I am so excited to read Peggy's book next.
Overall this was a highly enjoyable and beautifully written book. I recommend it to any adults who enjoy historical romance, romcoms or both!
Content Warnings: homophobia, violence, explicit sex
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Homophobia