Title: Something Fabulous
Author: Alexis Hall
Genre/Themes: Queer historical romp
Release Date: 25 Jan 2022
My rating: 5 Stars
Blurb
Valentine Layton, the Duke of Malvern, has twin problems: literally.
It was always his father’s hope that Valentine would marry Miss Arabella Tarleton. But, unfortunately, too many novels at an impressionable age have caused her to grow up…romantic. So romantic that a marriage of convenience will not do and after Valentine’s proposal she flees into the night determined never to set eyes on him again.
Arabella’s twin brother, Mr. Bonaventure “Bonny” Tarleton, has also grown up…romantic. And fully expects Valentine to ride out after Arabella and prove to her that he’s not the cold-hearted cad he seems to be.
Despite copious misgivings, Valentine finds himself on a pell-mell chase to Dover with Bonny by his side. Bonny is unreasonable, overdramatic, annoying, and…beautiful? And being with him makes Valentine question everything he thought he knew. About himself. About love. Even about which Tarleton he should be pursuing.
Review
This is a lovely, light-hearted and fun, more full-on silly at times, Regency m/m romance and I enjoyed every minute of it. It's an opposites attract kind of romance, where the MCs go on a wild chase and have the most ridiculous adventures and in the mean time fall in love.
Valentine, the Duke of Malvern, has my whole heart. He spends most of the story in a state of profound confusion, physically uncomfortable and in deep emotional turmoil. It's not just that his life is completely overturned, his worldview is shaken to its core, his understanding of who he is and what he wants/can have in life is dramatically changed. And it's not an easy journey for him. I wanted to give him the biggest hug and tell him that everything will be all right, that happiness and love is very much in the cards for him. He is demisexual and I loved how that was represented in the story and found it very relatable on a personal level. His whole story touched me deeply.
And then we got Bonny who all light and bright colours and joy. The way he treated Valentine, the way he loved him, it was glorious and sexy and tender and so, so life-affirming.
This is truly a warm hug of a book full of queer people in Regency times living fulfilling, happy lives, on their own or with a partner.
I tend to go for high drama, high conflict romance and this was exactly the opposite and it worked brilliantly for me. It's the perfect escape read for stressful times that made me very happy and content.
No comments:
Post a Comment