madiroo91's review against another edition
3.0
I read this book not really knowing anything about it other than that it was LGBT and I wanted to read it for Pride month. the book was okay. I didn't really have high expectations going into it so it wasn't a let down or anything. It wasn't bad by any means just wasn't something, that if asked for LGBT material, I would have at the top of my list of recommendations.
I will say though, if you do plan on reading this book.... do not read it at work lmao
it goes from innocent to rated R in a turn of a page and suddenly you have an elderly patron asking to check out and interrupting a very steamy scene haha.
It has laughs along the way and ends happily so overall can't complain.
I will say though, if you do plan on reading this book.... do not read it at work lmao
it goes from innocent to rated R in a turn of a page and suddenly you have an elderly patron asking to check out and interrupting a very steamy scene haha.
It has laughs along the way and ends happily so overall can't complain.
yosilvanini's review against another edition
4.0
A very solid 4.5! Witty, campy, funny and queer AF. Le quito .5 nada más porque hay un personaje que verdaderamente me hizo enfurecer más de una vez, aunque es súper entendible y creo que hasta necesario que exista for plot purposes. Highly recommended if you are into farses and regency romance
bookedwithgloria's review against another edition
4.0
“For heaven’s sake, 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 cast and empty souls with joyful aches.”
“Yes,” said Tarleton, “and?”
Valentine Layton, Duke of Malvern has a serious problem on his hand. He has committed to honor his late father's wishes and marry Arabella Tarleton. Unfortunately, Arabella does not take to kindly to this idea and flees in the middle of the night which compels her twin sister, Bonaventure "Bonny" Tarleton to implore Valentine to chase after his sister in an act of "true love."
Overall I loved this story. While I understand Arabella being the main catalyst of this story taking place, it did not negate me from hating her. She was overly dramatic, manipulative and overall not such a good person. Like, I get it, I would be pissed if I had to go away from my genderfluid lover, but she was also only using her to quote "she loves that she loves her."
Bonny, had his moments... but he was such a light, communicative and unapologetically himself. Valentine's ignorance of everything outside of "proper" was endearing and the pair were great together.
There was exploration of each other and open communication. We also get a man *begging* for forgiveness and honestly... I'm here for strong men humbling themselves.
Such a good book with a good amount of spice and groveling; what more could you ask for.
"Only to you, my heart" - VALENTINE YOU ABSOLUTE GEM.
“Yes,” said Tarleton, “and?”
Valentine Layton, Duke of Malvern has a serious problem on his hand. He has committed to honor his late father's wishes and marry Arabella Tarleton. Unfortunately, Arabella does not take to kindly to this idea and flees in the middle of the night which compels her twin sister, Bonaventure "Bonny" Tarleton to implore Valentine to chase after his sister in an act of "true love."
Overall I loved this story. While I understand Arabella being the main catalyst of this story taking place, it did not negate me from hating her. She was overly dramatic, manipulative and overall not such a good person. Like, I get it, I would be pissed if I had to go away from my genderfluid lover, but she was also only using her to quote "she loves that she loves her."
Bonny, had his moments... but he was such a light, communicative and unapologetically himself. Valentine's ignorance of everything outside of "proper" was endearing and the pair were great together.
There was exploration of each other and open communication. We also get a man *begging* for forgiveness and honestly... I'm here for strong men humbling themselves.
Such a good book with a good amount of spice and groveling; what more could you ask for.
"Only to you, my heart" - VALENTINE YOU ABSOLUTE GEM.
ailengarcia's review against another edition
2.0
2,5 estrellas en realidad porque está entre que estuvo bien y que me gustó.
Lo terminé hace unos días y todavía sigo pensando en cómo hablar de él porque me da bronca. El libro y Hall porque dale, desgraciado, por qué me hacés esto. Es el segundo libro de él que leo y con ambos sentí lo mismo, una sensación de amor-odio porque lo que hace bien lo hace muy bien, y lo que hace mal lo hace muy mal. Y en este libro en específico lo que hizo mal fue crear a la pelotuda de Arabella. Pocas veces en mi vida lectora, sino es que ninguna, una protagonista me dio tantas ganas de sacarla del libro solo para cagarla a palos. Por favor, qué mina INSUFRIBLE. Es pura y exclusivamente su culpa que yo no haya podido disfrutar este libro como debería. Y lo peor es que es un personaje secundario, pero no uno de esos que aparece poco, no, sino que toda la trama gira en torno a ella y sus idioteces y llegó un punto en el que solo quería que se termine. Me torturó posta.
Sacando eso, el libro estuvo bien. Tiene algunas cositas que considero que podrían haber estado mejor, pero en general me gustó mucho el romance y cómo se fueron dando las cosas. Y la representación demisexual estuvo muy bien.
Lo terminé hace unos días y todavía sigo pensando en cómo hablar de él porque me da bronca. El libro y Hall porque dale, desgraciado, por qué me hacés esto. Es el segundo libro de él que leo y con ambos sentí lo mismo, una sensación de amor-odio porque lo que hace bien lo hace muy bien, y lo que hace mal lo hace muy mal. Y en este libro en específico lo que hizo mal fue crear a la pelotuda de Arabella. Pocas veces en mi vida lectora, sino es que ninguna, una protagonista me dio tantas ganas de sacarla del libro solo para cagarla a palos. Por favor, qué mina INSUFRIBLE. Es pura y exclusivamente su culpa que yo no haya podido disfrutar este libro como debería. Y lo peor es que es un personaje secundario, pero no uno de esos que aparece poco, no, sino que toda la trama gira en torno a ella y sus idioteces y llegó un punto en el que solo quería que se termine. Me torturó posta.
Sacando eso, el libro estuvo bien. Tiene algunas cositas que considero que podrían haber estado mejor, pero en general me gustó mucho el romance y cómo se fueron dando las cosas. Y la representación demisexual estuvo muy bien.
wintersorbit's review against another edition
5.0
Something Fabulous is, as it says on the tin, something truly fabulous. I wasn’t sure this book would fit my reading tastes, as I’d never read a historical romance novel before, but Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall has become one of my absolute favorite books after I listened to it multiple times this year, so I figured I might as well give his new historical romance a try. It’s safe to say I didn’t regret that decision.
This book follows Valentine Layton, also known as the Duke of Malvern, whose father always wished he’d marry Arabella Tarleton. When he finally finds the courage to propose to her, it doesn’t quite go how he’d expected it to, and Arabella runs away. This, in turn, upsets Arabella’s twin brother Bonny, who essentially demands Valentine to come with him to chase Arabella down and keep her from running away to America with her friend Peggy.
Valentine is, I suppose, a product of his time. He’s somewhat stuck in his conservative ways, which means he sort of frowns upon Bonny’s homosexuality and is confused by Peggy’s genderfluidity and her friends-with-benefits relationship with Arabella. When he starts to feel some form of attraction towards Bonny, he’s even more confused, as he’s never really felt that towards anyone before. Valentine’s arc surrounding his (internalized) homophobia and coming to terms with his (what in modern times would be known as) demisexuality was one that I found surprisingly relatable. In general, Valentine’s grumpy loner tendencies were ones that I found a little bit too recognizable, but I loved the way he was slowly drawn out of his shell by the people around him.
The central romance between Bonny and Valentine was genuinely a delight to read and had a hilarious grumpy/sunshine-type dynamic. It takes some time for them to truly get to know each other, but once they do their interactions are so much fun. Seeing a queer relationship like this one in a historical context makes me feel emotional in a way that contemporary romance just can’t quite do, and this made me realize I should go looking for more queer historical romance. The sequel, Something Spectacular, will follow Peggy, which means we’re getting historical romance with a nonbinary protagonist? Sign me up.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed Something Fabulous and am very grateful for the opportunity to read and review it early. Alexis Hall definitely wrote another one of my favorite 2021 reads. I would absolutely recommend checking this out if you like campy queer Regency romance, asexual spectrum representation in a historical context, and/or grumpy/sunshine dynamics.
Content warnings:
Author-provided: Sexual content (on page; graphic), mentions of deceased parents (deaths happened in the past), character held captive, character threatened with being shot, pistol duel, character suffers a gunshot wound (survives), animal death (bird; accidental; resulting from the duel), mention of spiders
Additional warnings: internalized ace- and homophobia, homo- and transphobia stemming from period-typical ignorance
Thank you to Montlake and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC for reviewing purposes.
This book follows Valentine Layton, also known as the Duke of Malvern, whose father always wished he’d marry Arabella Tarleton. When he finally finds the courage to propose to her, it doesn’t quite go how he’d expected it to, and Arabella runs away. This, in turn, upsets Arabella’s twin brother Bonny, who essentially demands Valentine to come with him to chase Arabella down and keep her from running away to America with her friend Peggy.
Valentine is, I suppose, a product of his time. He’s somewhat stuck in his conservative ways, which means he sort of frowns upon Bonny’s homosexuality and is confused by Peggy’s genderfluidity and her friends-with-benefits relationship with Arabella. When he starts to feel some form of attraction towards Bonny, he’s even more confused, as he’s never really felt that towards anyone before. Valentine’s arc surrounding his (internalized) homophobia and coming to terms with his (what in modern times would be known as) demisexuality was one that I found surprisingly relatable. In general, Valentine’s grumpy loner tendencies were ones that I found a little bit too recognizable, but I loved the way he was slowly drawn out of his shell by the people around him.
The central romance between Bonny and Valentine was genuinely a delight to read and had a hilarious grumpy/sunshine-type dynamic. It takes some time for them to truly get to know each other, but once they do their interactions are so much fun. Seeing a queer relationship like this one in a historical context makes me feel emotional in a way that contemporary romance just can’t quite do, and this made me realize I should go looking for more queer historical romance. The sequel, Something Spectacular, will follow Peggy, which means we’re getting historical romance with a nonbinary protagonist? Sign me up.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed Something Fabulous and am very grateful for the opportunity to read and review it early. Alexis Hall definitely wrote another one of my favorite 2021 reads. I would absolutely recommend checking this out if you like campy queer Regency romance, asexual spectrum representation in a historical context, and/or grumpy/sunshine dynamics.
Content warnings:
Author-provided: Sexual content (on page; graphic), mentions of deceased parents (deaths happened in the past), character held captive, character threatened with being shot, pistol duel, character suffers a gunshot wound (survives), animal death (bird; accidental; resulting from the duel), mention of spiders
Additional warnings: internalized ace- and homophobia, homo- and transphobia stemming from period-typical ignorance
Thank you to Montlake and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC for reviewing purposes.
tunatanga's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-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
3.75
I really felt bad for Valentine and his fiancée was really immature. But Bonny was delightful and their relrionship was very wholesome.
triftwizened's review against another edition
3.0
Like chocolate mousse, this was a fun, fluffy lark of no real substance. Also like chocolate mousse, one could argue that it does have substance but it’s all bad substance. I am choosing not to argue that so please refer back to my initial statement: fun, fluffy lark with no real substance.
wellactjoally's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
3.5
The banter and the word choices are excellent. The book is a bit of a romp but there are points where the ways the other characters relate to one of them feels weird.
thesydda's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
kavasghost's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-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
3.5
This was really cute. I liked all the characters a lot and the subplots were good too. I really enjoyed the way the romance was written. Very sweet and genuine l it had good pacing and a great payoff. I definitely wondered at points how we would get to the hea but that was just part of the fun.