From the acclaimed author of Boyfriend Material comes a delightfully witty romance featuring a reserved duke who's betrothed to one twin and hopelessly enamoured of the other.
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.
CONTRIBUTOR(S): Nicholas Boulton (Narrator)
PUBLISHER: Montlake (Amazon)
YEAR: 2022
LENGTH: 364 pages (10 hours 52 minutes)
AGE: Adult
GENRE: Historical, Romance
RECOMMENDED: Yes
Queer Rep Summary: Lesbian/Sapphic Secondary Character(s), Gay/Achillean Main Character(s), Genderqueer/Nonbinary Secondary Character(s), Closeted/Questioning Main Character(s), Ace/Aro Main Character(s).
SOMETHING FABULOUS is a gay, historical romance about slowly prying loose a Duke's grip on the metaphorical closet. The Duke is, through a combination of birth and inclination, very isolated from what reality is like even for the lesser ranks of the nobility. He was raised with the idea that things must be done for duty, and he considers marriage to be one of those required actions. This causes a problem when his fiancée wants him to either be romantic and convince her that he loves her, or to not propose at all and just let her live her life. What he ends up doing satisfies no one, which is to propose by explaining to her how this is a good plan for their families and their houses and it should be done for duty and heritage, and because he is willing to be unhappy in order to fulfill an obligation he doesn't know how to understand her refusal of the same. He also seems very oblivious about his own feelings and inclinations. This is both because he does not have an outside model for what kind of man he can be, and because when he does find out that his fiancée's twin brother sleeps with men, it is a revelation that is so tied to how generally indecorous the man is, that at least at first it makes him worry rather than opening up a world of possibilities.
One of the things I appreciate about Alexis Hall's writing is their ability to portray completely different narrative styles and ways of approaching writing in different genres. However, every once in a while they succeed in pulling off something that, however well executed, is not to my taste. I struggled to finish SOMETHING FABULOUS because it was too light-hearted, happy, and relationship-focused, without some other problem for them to address. I don't enjoy books where an interpersonal relationship is the main source of tension, and this was no exception. My only complaint is that it does a great job of being a thing I almost never like, hopefully that description helps it find its readers who are less like me.
If you like this you may like:
- Swordcrossed by Freya Marske
Moderate CW for sexual content, confinement, gun violence.
Minor CW for alcohol, toxic relationship, suicide.
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