Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
About the level of silliness I expected from Alexis Hall, and quite a liberal use of the thesaurus. An enjoyable and ridiculous read.
This book was so much fun. Everyone is queer. And the plot is chaos. I had the best time reading it!
Both characters were somewhat insufferable in different ways. The regency set dressing didnt work with the characters/modern writing style (which we were warned about, but still was jarring and didn't flow). I managed to finish, but it did take a bit as the pacing was very repetitive--find runaway, make dumb choices or say something awk, runaway runs away again after really cringey scenes, rinse and repeat.
It’s a big ole gay romp. There’s not much more to say than it’s an absolute delight. Something Fabulous tells the story of Valentine who is betrothed to Arabella who doesn’t want to marry him so she runs away. Arabella’s twin brother Bonny insists that Valentine join him on the search for Arabella and the pair develop feelings for one another. That’s it. That’s the entire book. It’s low stakes, low angst, and just a wonderful read.
Alexis’s writing style is so filled with humor that reading his books are just fun. The sarcasm and general humor in this book had me snorting with laughter. I absolutely loved both Valentine and Bonny and didn’t want their story to end. I loved that pretty much everyone the pair ran into on their chase was also queer. I was pleased to find that this was not a closed door romance. I didn’t want the book to end. I can see myself rereading this one.
Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for the ARC.
Alexis’s writing style is so filled with humor that reading his books are just fun. The sarcasm and general humor in this book had me snorting with laughter. I absolutely loved both Valentine and Bonny and didn’t want their story to end. I loved that pretty much everyone the pair ran into on their chase was also queer. I was pleased to find that this was not a closed door romance. I didn’t want the book to end. I can see myself rereading this one.
Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for the ARC.
The banter in this book was absolutely hysterical. Sometimes it was a little too much but that's okay. So the author tells the reader right at the beginning "almost everyone in this book is queer". Never a truer statement. Valentine is supposed to marry Arabella Tarleton but her brother, Bonny, rushes into Valentine's room to tell him she has run off. Bonny thinks it will be so romantic for Valentine to chase after his bride. It is not. Valentine has no romantic feelings for Arabella and she has no feelings for Valentine. On the adventure Valentine starts to have feelings for Bonny but he has never had a romantic interest in anyone so he is very confused. So many hijinks ensue in this novel. The ending left me with a smile on my face and that is all I want out of a romance novel. A lot of sexy times in this book but also a lot of heart.
"It's a good job you're such a feast for the eyes because otherwise you'd be completely unbearable. Instead of merely mostly unbearable."
"This is England. If people died of rain, there'd be nobody left."
"All of me is yours. Books included."
"How did you comfort someone you were in the middle of destroying?"
"I will not live in your margins, Valentine, when all I've ever wanted is to be your hero."
"Why would it be normal to be upset at my son for falling in love?"
"It's a good job you're such a feast for the eyes because otherwise you'd be completely unbearable. Instead of merely mostly unbearable."
"This is England. If people died of rain, there'd be nobody left."
"All of me is yours. Books included."
"How did you comfort someone you were in the middle of destroying?"
"I will not live in your margins, Valentine, when all I've ever wanted is to be your hero."
"Why would it be normal to be upset at my son for falling in love?"
“You are... beautiful. So beautiful that my throat clenches and my stomach flips when I as much as glance at you, and I wonder how the world turns when such wanting exists in it.”
Not to sound trite, but this made me giddy with happiness. Like, it gave me so many butterflies in my stomach. It was adorable, an absolute romp, campy as hell, sexy, and with all the humour that I expect from an Alexis Hall book. I've said a lot of times that not every author's sense of humour works for me, but 9 times out of 10, Hall works for me. This historical romance was a breath of fresh air, and exactly what I needed. A buttoned-up duke is chasing his tempestuous, runaway bride-to-be, along with the help of said bride's twin brother. And of course, he and the twin brother fall in love.
Here's the thing. I tend not to like queer historical romances where homophobia does not exist within the world, whether it's a kind of alternate history thing, or the author just doesn't address it at all. I know everyone's mileage will vary on this, but to me, it's so lovely to have queer historical romances where there is that kind of adversity, but our characters manage to fall in love and find happiness anyway. In this, it's not so much that homophobia doesn't exist in this world, but it's just extremely tangential to everything happening. The book is brimming with queer people, from the main characters to incidental side characters, and it's light and funny and fresh, tongue-in-cheek clever in a lot of ways, but never reaches a place of 'bigotry doesn't exist'. I really, really loved and appreciated that. Especially when it came to Valentine, who is working out his own newly discovered feelings and everything that's possible for him.
This is kind of a childhood-acquaintances-to-lovers romance, and I loved the aspect of rediscovery, and finding out who the other person has become as an adult. Valentine is so fucking funny; I love him so much. Kind of an idiot, but endearingly so. Bonny is the perfect match for him; loud and vivacious and confident and annoying. Again, endearingly so. As I tend to, I enjoyed the fact that we only had one POV, and more so the fact that it was Valentine. It's a simple but effective way to draw out and create some tension, not knowing what the love interest is thinking. Some parts of this were a bit slow, especially towards the end. But in general it was just such a fun romp and delighted me every step of the way. It was wonderful having a demi main character and a fat love interest.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Nicholas Boulton, which I loved very, very much. Fellow Dragon Age fans will probably recognise the voice, and that did throw me off maybe one or two times,. But, I mean, I love his Hawke voice and I loved all of his voices here as well. I laughed out loud several times during this book, and a lot of that is due to the narration. I am delighted to know that this isn't a stand-alone, because I dearly want Peggy to get a romance. And in general, I'll read pretty much anything Hall writes.
“love, friendship, kindness, laughter: they were all stars to be strung in constellations of your own making.”
I tried to like this book but I could not get past how terrible everyone was to the main character