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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
In Something Fabulous, Alexis Hall does a great job at sending up Regency Romance, writing with an Austen-esque satirical style that unfortunately never came close to the same levels of heart as Boyfriend Material, in my opinion. The premise of the story is that Valentine teams up with Bonny to track down his supposed fiancée, and in their wild chase, the two of them fall in love instead. While there were some very sweet moments in the story, especially regarding self-acceptance, and I thought the demisexual rep was handled well, I felt some strange choices were made with regards to the pacing in the final quarter of the story, which left me bored when I should have been most invested. I felt no time at all was taken to allow the reader to settle in with the characters at the beginning of the story, so I never really cared very much about either MC. This is an utterly ridiculous caper story, and it's meant to be, but the back and forth between Bonny and Valentine must have taken up the vast majority of the book, and for me that left it feeling somewhat lacking in comparison to the plot. I enjoy a dialogue-heavy story, but there were times when this pushed my limits. I assume these choices were made purposefully, because the author doesn't struggle to write deeply moving characterisation in Boyfriend Material, but this is quite a different story, and didn't appeal to me anywhere near as much.
adventurous
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I waffled quite a bit with this rating, unsure what to settle on. On one hand, I felt that the setting, context and background characters felt very unrealistic <spoiler (So many gay characters? In one place? With no shame or worry or complication? In this era?) and that took me out of the story a lot. Another problem was I felt most of the characters were not likeable most of the time - I don’t even want to read the sequel because I don’t care about Arabella. However, the writing was really, really good. I thought that with some work, this author could write really good books (and given that I like other Alexis Hall books, it shows). The emotional bits were great, there was a lot of humorous moments, and the dialogue was fun. Also, I LOVE Peggy.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
The first half of this book is this - "Twenty-eight year old virgin has his sexual and romantic awakening amidst a chaotic [and painfully awkward] chase across the English countryside with 2 of the most melodramatic and manipulative twits (who happen to be twins) ever committed to the page.
The second half of this book is this -
So frustrating! I'm not sure why I kept reading this book. I guess I empathized with Valentine, since I too, often get stuck in my own head and it hinders my happiness and personal growth.
This entire story is told from Valentine's POV and it seems the poor guy can't do anything except react to the people around him. He has no agency when it comes to what he thinks he has to do because of who he is. Bella and Bonny are truly awful brats who make life hell for Valentine, yet somehow, I'm glad V finally
This book is not bad, but not amazing either. Hall's sense of humor is dry and fantastic, and I really enjoyed the banter amongst characters! But I found it hard to keep my suspension of disbelief that the the very first sexual encounter of a clueless Duke involved but hey, if that's your jam, you do you, babe.
Will I read the next book in this series? Perhaps.
The second half of this book is this -
Spoiler
"Twenty-eight year old gets shot in the arm and finally learns to 1. chill out, and 2. get out of his head and COMMUNICATE with the people he cares about.So frustrating! I'm not sure why I kept reading this book. I guess I empathized with Valentine, since I too, often get stuck in my own head and it hinders my happiness and personal growth.
This entire story is told from Valentine's POV and it seems the poor guy can't do anything except react to the people around him. He has no agency when it comes to what he thinks he has to do because of who he is. Bella and Bonny are truly awful brats who make life hell for Valentine, yet somehow,
Spoiler
Valentine falls in love with Bonny?Spoiler
talked to his mom (who is the most understanding mom on the planet!) and realized he could actually be happy and he could make others happy too. Go figure.This book is not bad, but not amazing either. Hall's sense of humor is dry and fantastic, and I really enjoyed the banter amongst characters! But I found it hard to keep my suspension of disbelief that the the very first sexual encounter of a clueless Duke involved
Spoiler
tongues up assholes,Will I read the next book in this series? Perhaps.
After how much I loved “A Lady for a Duke,” I was excited to read this. However, I had to DNF at 40% when Valentine got tied up at the cabin. I hated how Arabella was spinning lies about Valentine and suggested murdering him, and were supposed to find this funny or something? And when Bonny doesn’t help him, I was just done. This traveled into abusive territory, and I couldn’t finish. I can’t fathom that the author that created such amazing characters for A Lady for the Duke created a book where I struggled to like any of the characters and actively disliked some of them.
Hi don’t think there’s a book of Alexis Hall i wouldn’t read. It’s always fun, i always find myself giggling or laughing out loud at the banter.
Honestly it was all chaos from beginning to end and love. When you get one person who know who they are, and another who is trying to find out who they are because it was never a possibility or a question to him. And you add in the mix, so many chaotic side characters and an overly dramatic Twin sister. I have enjoyed it so very much.
My fav character: Valentine, he went through alot started coming to terms with who he is and having to decide between his title/responsibility -and that new feeling he has that he surely didn’t understand.
My least fav character: Arabella omg omg omg i wanted to strangle her through the pages i wanted to yell so much stop being dramatic listen for a danm second Jesus, she made it hard for me to be empathetic.
My fav scene: i think it’s a tie between the bee incident and the swamp incident i can’t decide.
My fav quote: it’s a whole paragraph “Valentine has never pondered overmuch on the rudiments of passion. He had assumed it was embedded in what one experienced.that it was never given or taken but built between you in trust and pleasure and hope. A willingness to bare the truths of yourself. This was not the sort of things that comes easily to V-indeed he had carefully constructed his life around avoiding it. With B though, it felt worth trying. It felt like it would have been impossible not to.”
Absolutely great rep for queer people and a honorable mention:Peggy i love love them.
Honestly it was all chaos from beginning to end and love. When you get one person who know who they are, and another who is trying to find out who they are because it was never a possibility or a question to him. And you add in the mix, so many chaotic side characters and an overly dramatic Twin sister. I have enjoyed it so very much.
My fav character: Valentine, he went through alot started coming to terms with who he is and having to decide between his title/responsibility -and that new feeling he has that he surely didn’t understand.
My least fav character: Arabella omg omg omg i wanted to strangle her through the pages i wanted to yell so much stop being dramatic listen for a danm second Jesus, she made it hard for me to be empathetic.
My fav scene: i think it’s a tie between the bee incident and the swamp incident i can’t decide.
My fav quote: it’s a whole paragraph “Valentine has never pondered overmuch on the rudiments of passion. He had assumed it was embedded in what one experienced.that it was never given or taken but built between you in trust and pleasure and hope. A willingness to bare the truths of yourself. This was not the sort of things that comes easily to V-indeed he had carefully constructed his life around avoiding it. With B though, it felt worth trying. It felt like it would have been impossible not to.”
Absolutely great rep for queer people and a honorable mention:Peggy i love love them.
This was a bonkers ride. Everything was absurd and funny. But the emotional moments really hit.
I think I would read a cereal box if it was written by Alexis Hall. I’m only giving 4 stars instead of 5 because I don’t know if I’ve ever hated a character as much as I hated Belle.