The Adventures of a Buttoned-Up Duke and His Bonny Companion
In which our heroine reads Something Fabulous, which lives up to its name.
“Why shouldn’t life be romantic?” It’s a question posed early on in Alexis Hall’s Something Fabulous, a ridiculously fun regency romp about a duke who, in the course of his pursuit of a recalcitrant bride, finds himself dazzled instead by her lovely, infuriating twin brother. The man who poses the question is the brother, whose name is Bonny, short for Bonaventure Tarleton—a name that, like its wearer, is perfectly primed for romance.
The query comes after the duke, Valentine, proposes to Bonny’s twin sister, Belle, who not only refuses, but flees with the intention of running to America. (On the horrors of America as a destination, Bonny says, “They do terrible things to tea over there.”) Valentine, who has led a life so devoted to duty and the appearance of perfect decorum that he has been completely unable to form any relationships—of friendship or otherwise—doesn’t understand Belle, whose refusal of him seems to come from a desire for a life of love and dramatic romance (neither of which he offered in his proposal), nor does he understand Bonny, who desires the same.
Bonny’s question is, essentially, the central thesis of the novel. Bonny and Belle have basically spent their childhoods writing a kind of fan fiction together—unable to access all the books they want to read, they have told each other the stories that they imagine those books might hold. And for Bonny, a romantic duke who falls in love with him has always been one of the starring players of his fantasies. Valentine, by contrast, has never really allowed himself fantasies of any kind. In having Bonny ask why life cannot be like one of his romantic fantasies, it is as though Alexis Hall is challenging his reader to believe in the romance of Something Fabulous—and when the reader bites, Hall offer the delectable reward of a completely charming love story, filled with hijinks, hilarity, and real tenderness.
The hijinks in question include (though not in this order): Some delightfully named inns (the Wobbly Bullock and the Wayward Goat); a meaty blacksmith and an obliging ostler; a man named Cloudesly Whelpington-Byng, Esquire who desperately wants a duel; a broken curricle; frog spawn; bees; and a pair of ladies who tie the duke to a chair, among other obstacles. The principle of Chekhov’s gun applies to this novel, as well as perhaps a new principle of Alexis Hall’s “hunting lodge.”
It is interacting with Bonny that provides Valentine with the greatest peaks and valleys of the novel. The feelings that Bonny inspires, Valentine muses to himself at one point, are “probably the most disconcerting thing that ever happened to him.” Valentine’s path towards understanding his own emotions and desires is slow and full of twists and turns. But it is all the more satisfying when he finally realizes that his need to make Bonny smile, the joy and comfort he feels when he holds Bonny’s hand, and the erotic poetry he spouts when they finally consummate their passion are all a result of one overwhelming feeling: Deep, abiding love.
Read this if you like…
To Love and to Loathe by Martha Waters - If you like the bickering and flirtation
Dickinson on Apple TV - Sure, it’s set in a different time and place but there’s a similar kind of chaotic fun with the contrast of setting and sensibility
More from Alexis Hall
The two I’ve read and heartily recommend are:
Boyfriend Material, a fantastic fake-dating story, both funny and emotional
Hall also has several more books coming out this year:
Husband Material (the sequel to Boyfriend Material)
Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble (the sequel to Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake)