On the HahaFiction shelf
Something Fabulous
Something Something · Book 1 · 2022
Valentine, Duke of Malvern, makes a dutiful proposal and sends Arabella Tarleton fleeing. Her twin brother Bonny insists that the duke help track her down. As the two men head toward Dover, Valentine finds his attention drifting to his troublesome traveling companion.
From the author’s blurb
“Valentine Layton, the Duke of Malvern, has twin problems: literally.”Read the full description at Alexis Hall author description
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What makes it funny?
Bonny drags the painfully proper duke out of bed at four in the morning to join the chase. Publishers Weekly points to the deliberate use of modern words in the Regency setting, including lumberjack and debrief.
The comedy at work
Hall puts a formal aristocrat among people who treat romance with extravagant seriousness. Familiar courtship and road-trip conventions supply opportunities for increasingly implausible behavior and deliberate anachronisms.
Try this if…
A historical rom-com for readers who want a queer romance with broad, exaggerated gags and a duke pushed far outside his comfort zone.
Good to know
The author’s guidance includes graphic sex, captivity, a pistol duel and an accidental bird death. Publishers Weekly notes that the book gives its jokes more attention than period atmosphere.
A few distinguishing details
- A duke falling for his fiancée’s twin brother
- Regency courtship with deliberate anachronisms
More funny historical romance
Sources & further reading
- Publishers Weekly review
Review
- Author
Author commentary
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