Something Fabulous by Alexis Hall
Published on January 25, 2022 by Montlake
Historical Romance

Review by Kate

Something Fabulous is a sheer delight of a romance novel. It’s a dramatic, gay, fluffy, joyous book that I enjoyed so much I have already re-read the first quarter before even starting this review. 

At the beginning of Something Fabulous, Valentine proposes to Belle, who adamantly does not want to marry him. She runs off in the middle of the night (as one does in a Regency romance), and Valentine and Bonny, Belle’s twin brother, go after her. Needless to say, hijinks ensue (aka my favorite kind of book) as Valentine and Bonny spend time together on the road. Most of the actual action in the book is the chasing after Belle road trip, but as that is happening, Valentine is having some serious revelations about himself. Per this tweet from Hall, Valentine is a demisexual and him realizing he might have feelings of the romantic and sexual sort for another person is a large part of the story arc. 

Something Fabulous does not want for tropes. We’ve got a grumpy/sunshine pairing (Valentine being the grump, Bonny the sunshine), an inn with only one room with (gasp!) only one bed, and the whole falling for the wrong twin situation. All of this, plus the road trip, is a wonderfully fun combination with non-stop action.

Another thing of note is that this book has the most queer people I have ever seen in a historical romance. I’m fairly certain there were only maybe three straight characters who were barely on the page at all. It was so great seeing that kind of representation of both a variety of identities as well as different relationship pairings. 

My single complaint was that for most of the book, I didn’t understand the vehemence Belle demonstrated in not wanting to marry Valentine. Her side of the story isn’t clear until the end, and it’s a bit frustrating, because though her actions are obviously the impetus for the events of the book, sometimes they are over the top. 

Something Fabulous gives me Band Sinister by KJ Charles combined with The Rogue Not Taken by Sarah MacLean vibes. The banter is stellar (I highlighted 42 passages, which I think is a record for me) and the characters are amazing. I highly recommend picking this one up if you like historical romance (or even if you don’t). 

Content notes: Gunshot violence

Grade: A-

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