I will admit I went into this book with high expectations. I wanted regency romance, queer romance, adventures and shenanigans and, in short… something fabulous.

Safe to say this book not only matched my expectations but exceeded them. It was everything I could ever have hoped for!

Something Fabulous follows Valentine, the Duke of Malvern, who after a botched proposal to betrothed-since-childhood Arabella Tarleton, joins her brother, Bonaventure ‘Bonny’ Tarleton on a cross-country adventure to try and bring her back and persuade her that life isn’t like it is in romance novels. Bonny is overdramatic and impulsive, but as Valentine learns that love is more varied and complicated than he ever thought possible, he also learns that maybe life is more like a romance novel than he thought.

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I have read a fair amount of queer historical novels in my time, and they are almost universally tragic – even the ones set in places or eras where queer relationships were the norm (I’m looking at you, Song of Achilles). To read a historical romance, that is not just unashamedly queer but joyously so, was like a breath of fresh air. To that end, there are basically no straight people in this book. All of the recurring characters exist somewhere under the rainbow, and to see characters exist so openly in historical fiction is glorious.

Valentine gets to know this community throughout the story (sometimes with hilarious ignorance – Harold, they’re lesbians) and his slow realisation that he is, in fact, a part of the community, was incredibly touching. It’s also worth pointing out that Valentine is demisexual, and it was really great to see that distinguished from the way inexperienced characters are usually treated in historical romance. Bonny and Arabella are both such ridiculous people that you know meeting them in real life would drive you up the wall, but you can’t help but warm to them.

The story is absolutely outrageous, and all the better for it. Every single trope from regency romance is hit, and often subverted to hilarious results. For the sake of spoilers I won’t list them here, but just know that I loved each and every one. Everything is so over the top – from the characters’ names to their personalities to the story itself – and you can’t help but be swept along for the ride. The author describes it as “the campest and silliest and most fun thing I have written”, and I can safely describe it as the campest and silliest and most fun thing I have ever read.

This book was pure joy from start to finish. Now if I could have a whole series of these, please and thank you, I will be on my way.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advance copy for review. All opinions are my own.