{"id":27842,"date":"2026-09-28T14:47:45","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T18:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=27842"},"modified":"2026-09-29T15:59:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T19:59:41","slug":"something-extraordinary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/27842","title":{"rendered":"Something Extraordinary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Something Extraordinary<\/em><\/a> (2024) Alexis Hall<\/a> (Something Fabulous #3)<\/p>\n

\"Something<\/a>Set in England in ~1814<\/p>\n

I’ll be honest–I put off reading this because in earlier books I found Bella annoying and frustrating and I didn’t want to spend time with her. But she was a little better in book two, as was Horley Comewithers, so I moved it up my TBR.<\/p>\n

So when I got sick, this seemed like a good opportunity to dive in. Although the first day reading mostly made me more nauseated, so that was slow.<\/p>\n

In Something Spectacular<\/em><\/a>, Bonnie and Belle kidnap Sir Horley and his fiance Verity Carswile, because marriage seems like a terrible idea for the extremely gay Sir Horley. But he claimed he didn’t want rescued, so they turned him loose.<\/p>\n

But on the eve of his wedding, Belle tried again, and discovers Sir Horley on a bender.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy sweet child\u201d\u2014he reached out, catching clumsily for one of her curls, letting it twine about his finger\u2014\u201cpeople don\u2019t drink to be helped. They drink because they can\u2019t be.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So she kidnaps him again.<\/p>\n

Another shrug. \u201cWhatever I believe, it doesn\u2019t seem to have made a damn bit of difference. Because here you are. Attempting to disrupt my life all over again.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been worried,\u201d Belle cried. \u201cAttempting to disrupt someone\u2019s life is one of the ways Bonny and I demonstrate affection.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of the ways you demonstrate you don\u2019t have a fucking clue about how the world works.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We learn why Sir Horley felt he had to follow his aunt’s wishes and get married.<\/p>\n

To be fair,\u201d he went on, mildly, \u201che is not the only man whose life I have ended. But the others I murdered at Wellington\u2019s side. So those deaths were glorious, patriotic, and just.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And we also see Belle struggle with being aromantic–despite her wishes for romance and romantic love.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we have comprehensively established, I am in love with nothing and no-one.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The kidnapping, turned elopement, turned kidnapping is precisely what you’d expect from Alexis Hall and this series.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is already the worst elopement in history.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe very worst?\u201d asked Sir Horley, as he allowed Belle to lead him towards the gate, only staggering through three more herbaceous borders en route. \u201cIn the whole of human history? That feels a vainglorious claim.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I very much liked Sir Horley in this story, and quickly became unannoyed with Belle as she tried to help Sir Horley and come to terms with her own nature.<\/p>\n

As with the previous two book, I was able to enjoy it by classifying it as a fantasy and NOT an historical romance, except that the only element of fantasy was how queer everyone was and how no one got arrested and hanged for it. (Why did I need to do this? Because generally in queer historicals the threat of hanging\/beatings\/horribleness lies lies in the background and I fret if characters don’t lock their doors. Here, there is no worry about that.)<\/p>\n

What made me find this book particularly good was that I didn’t want to read it because I disliked one the main characters immensely. That I quickly did an about face is a pretty good recommendation for a story in my opinion.<\/p>\n

Characters<\/strong>: Horley Rufus Grandison Comewithers, Arabella Tarleton, Bonny Tarleton, Valentine Duke of Malvern, Mrs. Ruth Greenleaf, Mr. Roland Bogstwaddle, Gilead Postlethwaite, Miss Verity Carswile, Mr. Valour Carswile, Hannah, Tom, Mr. Francis Smith, Mr. Asher Andrews, Uncle Wilbur, \u00c6thelfl\u00e6d (piglet), Margaret Peggy Delancey, Orfeo, Lady Farrow, Roberta \u201cBob\u201d Everley, Rufus Comewithers, Ygraine Comewithers, Stella<\/p>\n

Cover design by Hang Le<\/p>\n

Publisher: Montlake<\/p>\n

Rating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Something Extraordinary (2024) Alexis Hall (Something Fabulous #3) Set in England in ~1814 I’ll be honest–I put off reading this because in earlier books I found Bella annoying and frustrating and I didn’t want to spend time with her. But she was a little better in book two, as was Horley Comewithers, so I moved […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13,27,30,938,292,2,204,33,207,148,26,56,934],"tags":[227,540,198,581,50,544,918],"class_list":["post-27842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-10","category-alternate-history","category-british","category-dual-point-of-view","category-ebook","category-fantasy","category-good","category-historical","category-mental-health-rep","category-queer","category-romance","category-sexual-content","category-trigger-warnings","tag-alexis-hall","tag-aromantic","tag-bdsm","tag-bisexual","tag-boinking","tag-mm","tag-something-fabulous"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-7f4","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":25817,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/25817","url_meta":{"origin":27842,"position":0},"title":"Something Spectacular","author":"Michelle","date":"February 9, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Something Spectacular (2023) Alexis Hall (Something Fabulous #2) I was somewhat hesitant to read this book as I thought it was Arabella's book, and I'm not sure I can handle an entire book with her as the main characters (Bonny was difficult enough and that book wasn't from his point-of-view)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Something Spectacular","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Something-Spectacular-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25811,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/25811","url_meta":{"origin":27842,"position":1},"title":"Something Fabulous","author":"Michelle","date":"February 8, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Something Fabulous (2022) Alexis Hall (Something Fabulous #1) I struggled the first time I read this, partially because I was having a difficult time reading anything, and partially because I went into it thinking \"historical romance\" instead of \"fantasy rom com\". This time I went in thinking fantasy rom com\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Something Fabulous","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Something-Fabulous-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24339,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24339","url_meta":{"origin":27842,"position":2},"title":"Murder Most Actual","author":"Michelle","date":"March 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Murder Most Actual (2021) Alexis Hall These are desperate times, Miss Blaine. And desperate times call for desperate measures.\u201d \u201cDesperate measures that mostly cause problems for people who aren\u2019t you?\u201d \u201cPeople who aren\u2019t me,\u201d said the colonel, \u201caren\u2019t really my concern at the moment.\" Marriage was getting to the end\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Murder Most Actual","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Murder-Most-Actual.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19725,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/19725","url_meta":{"origin":27842,"position":3},"title":"Something Fabulous","author":"Michelle","date":"January 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Something Fabulous (2022) Alexis Hall (Something Fabulous) Set in Historical England. To be honest, I don't think this is historical England as much as fantasy historical England. Which is fine, since as he says in the author's note, almost everyone in the story is queer. Valentine Layton, the Duke of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Something Fabulous","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Something-Fabulous.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Something-Fabulous.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Something-Fabulous.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Something-Fabulous.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Something-Fabulous.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Something-Fabulous.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20913,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/20913","url_meta":{"origin":27842,"position":4},"title":"Waiting for the Flood, Audio Edition","author":"Michelle","date":"October 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Waiting for the Flood, Audio Edition (2016) Alexis Hall narrated by Alexander Doddy (Spires) This is one of my favorite Alexis Hall stories. I primarily listen to Fantasy and Mystery, but thought I'd see how I felt about this. I still love the story, but I think romance isn't a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14138,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/14138","url_meta":{"origin":27842,"position":5},"title":"Waiting for the Flood","author":"Michelle","date":"March 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Waiting for the Flood (2018) Alexis Hall (Spires) If you've read Alexis Hall, you may think you know what to expect from this story. Chances are you are completely wrong. It has been two years since Marius decided he was no longer in love with Edwin, and moved out of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Waiting for the Flood","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Waiting-for-the-Flood.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27842"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27848,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27842\/revisions\/27848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}