Boyfriend Material
By: Alexis Hall
4.5 / 5.0

I honestly was not a big fan of this book in the beginning. I requested the e-book ARC because I loved Red, White and Royal Blue. This book was sold to me as being similar to it. But it is slightly different. It has nothing to do with a President’s son and a British Prince, but does involve people that are in the public eye a lot.
It has a lot of British humor and jokes, which as an American, it kind of went over my head/wasn’t my cup of tea. I know a little bit about British culture, humor and slang, but I still felt like some of it didn’t make me laugh like it was intended to.
Once I got farther on in the book, I started to develop a love for the novel. As much as I didn’t understand all the jokes, I felt like the characters were mine and the more I read, the more I felt almost possessive about them. I got very angry when a character hurt Luc or Oliver.
I know I was reading an ARC, but there were a lot of spelling errors or words put in the wrong order. Hopefully, they caught them before they went to print. Another thing I didn’t like about the novel was the homophobia in it. I understand homophobia is still a thing, but there were a lot of people in Luc and Oliver’s lives who made fun of their sexuality. I really wished there was more support shown in this book. Or even one of them getting angry at the remarks. But they just stood by and let people talk to them as if their sexuality was a bad thing.
This novel shows how love really is. It shows the hardships and the arguments that might happen. However, it also shows how beautiful love can be. Luc and Oliver are very different, but also very similar. It’s important to show characters who seem real and Hall did just that. They made Luc and Oliver seem like my own friends.
Without giving too much away, this novel shows how to cope with many things and how not to let what people say affect you. It also shows the importance of mental health. This novel shows how important it is to work on yourself and how you can overcome any obstacle life throws at you.
In the beginning, I wasn’t sold on this novel. But now it has become part of me. It’s another novel I will hold close to my heart. I will definitely be recommending this novel to LGBTQIA readers as well as new adult/contemporary romance readers. I will be purchasing this book for my collection when it comes out.

Author’s Site: http://www.quicunquevult.com

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Boyfriend-Material-Alexis-Hall/dp/1728206146/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1592156709&sr=8-1

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/boyfriend-material-alexis-hall/1133879159?ean=9781728206141


This review will appear on my blog on July 7,2020.

I basically went in to this book blind, all I knew was that Christina Lauren loved it so I needed to read it. So I was not expecting this to be a fake dating story, which I have previously said is not my favorite trope. However, this was also a little enemies to lover which is my favorite! Here we are following Luc who is struggling at his job for fundraising for dung beetles because of some bad press. In order to make sure he is not fired he has come up with a plan to have a respectable fake boyfriend. Enter Oliver, a somewhat uptight Barrister. The two have known of each other for a couple of years due to a mutual friend, so when Luc needed a boyfriend Oliver was willing to help out! I loved their relationship from the start. The animosity was just the right amount! Both Luc and Oliver have personal things that they need to overcome in this story and I thought it added some great depth. This books was at times both funny and heartbreaking and I could not put it down! I read this in less than 24 hours, it was so good!! I also loved the reference of Happy Hippos which happens to be my all time favorite candy! I can't wait to read more from Alexis in the future! Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for my review copy!

Boyfriend Material is the epitome of a classic British rom-com in that Bridget Jones-esque kinda way.

Luc is the son of two famous 80/90's rock stars who still doesn't have his act together or so the tabloids say. But actually the tabloids are right and he is really in need of cleaning up his act especially if he wants to save his job.

Oliver is a Barrister and is quite straight laced in all aspects of his life but can't seem to keep a man interested for the long run. When Luc approaches him with the idea of them fake dating he decides to put a little twist in his life to see where it takes him.

These two are so utterly different. About as different as two people can be but you can see how these two might just be the perfect compliment to the other and you'll be hooting and hollering for them to just see it.

I loved the entirety of this book. The secondary characters are such a blast!! They add so much dimension and a whole other layer to this story and you want them to be your best friends. I really Hope AH decides to do another story from this cast of characters because I would be first in line to see more into their world.

Absolutely brilliant!!!!

**Received review copy through NetGalley. Voluntarily reviewed**

When it comes to books with the fake dating trope, different people will have different expectations and I’m pretty sure it comes down to what fics you have read in the past. And yes, this intro is necessary for me to explain why I feel about Boyfriend Material the way I do.

See, what I’m personally hoping to get from a story like this is: some cute shenanigans while the pair pretends to be a couple in public, with some mandatory careful (and constantly over-thought) touches and kisses; two people who already knew each other before and actually might be harboring secret feelings for one another; lots of pining and angst because none of this is real and that angst ending with the couple breaking up before they start dating for real some time later.

Boyfriend Material gives you bits and pieces of that, but never concentrated enough. It glosses over the parts where real feelings could be had. And yes, mostly it happens because the guys have adult conversations and that is healthy, but at the same time, the fake dating trope demands some miscommunication to work in a story.

This is not to say Boyfriend Material is a bad book. Not at all. It’s well written, the characters are great, the humour is very good and just how I like it (Oliver’s texts alone are hilarious and make the book a must-read). It’s all good. Which is exactly my problem. I didn’t come here for pure fluff.

So this is really a very subjective matter: if you want a light, cute, fluffy novel with basically no angst, read Boyfriend Material. If, like me, you like to suffer a little bit before you get to the happy ending, maybe read a fic.

This is a truly great example of a rom-com in book form—it’s hilarious (in a way that I think books rarely are) and romantic and very, very fun. Very heavy on the Britishness, and the quirkiness, and the rompiness. What’s not to love?

4.5/5

I really, really enjoyed this book. I figured I would, since it sounds like the type of thing I would love, but I’m glad I was right.

I loved the romance. It was fun, and cute, and the banter was fantastic. I also loved the way Luc and Oliver communicated their feelings and thoughts with one another. It was refreshing to see, since with many books, couples don’t seem to talk and just ignore their problems. Luc and Oliver themselves were great characters to read about as well.

The side characters I really liked. Sure, there could have been a bit more development for some of them, but either way, they were good. I liked how Luc’s friends were super supportive, and his mother too.

Both Oliver and Luc deal with family troubles in this book, and I quite enjoyed how they were handled. It’s nice to see not everything magically resolved by the end, and that being okay. Because that’s just life. Sometimes you can’t fix things, and just have to learn to move on without them.

I think really my biggest issue with this book besides some underdeveloped side characters was that I felt it was just a tiny bit too long. Some parts felt dragged out. And there were a bit too many pop culture references for my liking.

But honestly, I just had a really great time with this, and I would HIGHLY recommend it if you’re looking for a heartfelt romance.

3.5 stars

This was exactly what I needed during this time, because I have been in a reading slump for quite some time now. Every single character in this book was so lovable and I would do anything to spend a day with them. The contrast of personalities between Luc and Oliver and their banter was probably the best thing about this book. The amount of times this book made me laugh out loud is insurmountable.

Now you must be thinking, if you liked it so much, why give it a 3.5 star rating? Well friends, the first 70 percent of the book was great. Filled with laughter, joy, and angst. But after that, the book was basically just the characters navigating their relationship together and even though it was adorable, I'm here to read about the build up. The last 30 percent just felt like a long epilogue to me with a few problems thrown in to try and keep it interesting. The many pop culture references throughout the book also threw me off a bit because I had no idea what they were talking about most of the time.

However, if you're looking for a light read with amazing characters, this is definitely the book for you. I can say without a doubt, that this was a good read.

Boyfriend material was a great rom-com. It struck a fun balance of wacky best friends, absurd coworkers, swoony romance, and a quarter life crisis. Fun, yet cheesy!
My only gripes are that it felt unfinished with a few too many loose ends. If you are looking for something to read after Red, White, & Royal Blue this will definitely check some of those boxes.
3.5/5 stars

This book was amazing!!! Oh my goodness. The characters were perfect, the plot was perfect (I love the fake dating trope), everything was perfect. The build up was so fun. One of the best books of the year!!

Boyfriend Material is one of the best books I've read this year. I stayed up all night to finish it! Luc and Oliver are the definition of opposites attract. Their relationship was cute, sexy, and healing for both of them. This book has wonderfully written characters, lots of wit, and plenty of heartache. I laughed, I cried, and I went "awww".

Delightfully British and an excellent fake relationship story, Luc and Oliver are a wonderfully messy pair that will have the reader rooting for them to get together. I would also classify this as a slowburn, but it is definitely worth it.

This is my first book from this author so I was really excited to read this m/m romance story. However, it let me down. I really tried to find something to enjoy about this story but honestly, there was nothing. I found that the pace of the story was just too darn slow and it made everything seem slow. The whole story was slow! There was nothing interesting about the characters and I didn't care for Luc at all. There's nothing wrong with being awkward but he was rude more than a few times for no reason. His witty comments were okay at best but I'm sorry to say that this story just wasn't the one for me. It's not often that I rate a book less than 3 stars but it does happen and it doesn't mean other readers shouldn't give it a try. It just means that it wasn't the book for me.

I loved everything about this book.

I loved the plot. Fake dating is one of my favourite tropes, and Boyfriend Material played with all of the common scenarios, implementing them perfectly while also including a refreshing take. It also included other well known tropes and situations from the romance genre, keeping the best elements while chosing relatively uncommon but always fitting directions for others.

I loved the characters. Luc, the protagonist, is the epitome of a disaster gay, which is in line with many others of Alexis Hall’s books. In Luc’s case he’s a product of circumstances on which he had no influence, almost all stemming from the rock star father he never even met yet who keeps having an alarming – and mostly unpleasant – impact on his life. It’s ultimately because of him that Luc needs a fake boyfriend.
I also adored Oliver, who ends up being the fake boyfriend. I found him in particular intriguing as a love interest. Love interests are often idealized, I find, particularly when the protagonist is as much of a disaster as Luc is. They are often virtually perfect aside from one dark secret that of course is no big deal in the face of love. If love interest and protagonist are clearly split by one having POV chapters and the other not, it tends to be at the expense of the latter’s characterization, and multiplies the personal issues of the former. Oliver, too, and especially in comparison to Luc, seems perfect at first: Put together, effortlessly sociable, all around acceptable to even the most conservative.
Boyfriend Material masterfully plays with the expectations the romance genre puts on protagonist and love interest. The book could have easily been written from Oliver’s POV, and while the priorities obviously would have been different, it would have been just as interesting and intriguing. Which isn’t to say that I actively missed Oliver’s POV – he was just such an incredibly fleshed out character he would have been a great protagonist in his own right.

I also loved both protagonist and love interest’s (both of whom are white and gay) friend groups. Even if Oliver’s were straight 😉
I find romance books often neglect any and all of the involved characters’ relationships outside of the main romance and possibly one antagonist. To be honest, I almost thought this book would also fall into that trap – but it didn’t. Instead if made thee curve beautifully, and the chapters that prominently featured the friends were some of the best.
Generally, any and all scenes featuring multiple characters were great. The interactions with Luc’s colleagues were hilarious, as were the ones with his clients.

I loved the writing. It was full of Hall’s typical very British humor, particulalry aimed at the upper middle class. I’m not well versed on the finer details of that sort of company, and still found myself laughing and well able to follow. There’s also a lot of situational comendy.

I loved the character development. Luc could be a bit of a jerk at times, but he grows a ton over the course of the book. It expressed itself particularly in how he treats others, but also in how he view and reacts to various situations.

I loved the romance. I purposefully didn’t read the blurb before I went in and thus wasn’t sure who the love interest would be – there were a few candidates that seemed possible, and I actually didn’t think it would be Oliver at first! Once I got past that, I quickly fell in love with Luc and Oliver as a couple. Them opening up and allowing themselves to be vulnerable around ach other because the fake relationship relieves them from pretending to be perfect was executed wonderfully and perfectly captured the essence of this trope without taking it only at face value.

I loved this book. It’s as simple as that. It was highly engaging to me, the characters grew on me very fast. I was interested in seeing them succeed and just do basic interactions. While I was aware this is a very long book for a romance, I still wanted more pages when I reached the end.

I can't remember the time I've had so much fun or laughed out loud so much over a romantic comedy!

Luc O'Donnell and Oliver Blackwell are both emotionally broken. Luc seems unable to avoid scandal, and his job as fund-raiser for a nonprofit intent on saving the "dung beetle" is in jeopardy. Oliver is an up-tight barrister who defends people that have been charged with crimes they haven't, or more likely have, committed. Neither has been able to maintain a relationship.

When Luc, intent on rehabilitating his reputation, needs a respectable date for his organizations's big annual fundraiser, and Oliver needs a date for his horrible family's reunion party, they agree to become fake boyfriends.

Uproariously funny, poignant and full of heart, this novel explores how opposites attract, how love heals, and how friends can understand what you really need without being told. Totally satisfying!

Thanks to Sourcebooks for an early copy.

This is one of the best books I have read this year. It is the story of Luc O'Donnell, son of a rock star that abandoned him as a young child, who is now harassed by the paparazzi and Oliver Blackwood, a local barrister. When Luc makes bad headlines, he needs to rehab his image or risk losing his job. His friends suggest fake-dating a mutual friend, Oliver. It works until fake dating leads to real feelings. This book has two of my favorite tropes: fake dating and slow burn. It uses both to great effect.

This book had me in tears twice and laughing the rest of the time. I loved Luc and Oliver and related to both of them deeply, Each character had an amazing friend group with well rounded characters who have their own backstories. They add humor to what otherwise might be very intense book with the relationship discussions and Luc's issues with his father. Alex is my favorite humorous character with his pathological inability to understand most basic things, including simple jokes. A conversation between Oliver and Alex lead to one of my favorite quotes in a book ever, "I'm not sure but I think you might be getting jury trials mixed up with badgers."

I highly recommend this book, especially if you enjoy your romance with a dash of humor.

This book features a few of my favourite tropes, one of them being fake dating. And the fake dating in this book was incredible! It's very much an opposites-attract romance and I loved Luc and Oliver together. Even though Luc is a bit of an arsehole, he is so loveable and I wanted him to be happy. Oliver was kind of adorable even with use all those big words he likes to use. Oliver kept making me swoon too! You really see Luc grow through the book which I loved. Both of them have things they are working through with Oliver's insecurities and Luc with personal issues and his whole Dad situation. Speaking of his Dad, what an absolute dick.

This book is without a doubt a true rom-com and I couldn't get enough of it. It has excellent British humour and the banter was off the charts. I don't actually read a lot of books set in England and being a Brit I do find that a bit weird but I really liked this one! The side characters added so much hilarity to the story and Luc's Mum and Judy were one of my favourite things about the book besides the actual romance. There is also some fantastic mentions of Drag Race.

I loved Luc and Oliver's relationship as they went from fake to real and I loved reading their text exchanges. I could have read multiple chapters of them just texting if I am honest! This book is super steamy without having any actual steamy scenes on the page which is massive props to the author! I flew through this book and I can't wait for it to be out in the world for everybody to read. This book also has great representation too.

I’m not a fan of writing a review which isn’t positive - and to be honest, I often don’t finish books unless I’m very into them. If this wasn’t a review copy, I think I would have stopped reading quite early on - it took a solid quarter of the book for me to find reading it tolerable. Luc’s narrative voice was often not one I enjoyed - and the other characters are mostly paper-thin cutouts. This is especially noticeable given the comparisons being made with Red White and Royal Blue - a book with a firm cast of characters, all with their own personalities and motivations.
That said - this book is sweet at its heart, and it earned some giggles out of me. The writing hums along nicely - once I’d passed that 25% mark, I was quite happy to keep reading. It was an enjoyable enough experience, just a slightly derivative one without much substance.

3/5 Stars!

This is one of my most anticipated romances of 2020, and I was so excited when I received an E-ARC through NetGalley! A huge thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the ARC!

I do give a trigger warning for: depression, eating disorders, emotional abuse from family members, and homophobia in the workplace and home. This book tackles a lot of mental health issues and deals with characters that are struggling with emotional abuse. The book shows how love can overcome anything.

I loved this book! It was so funny and I fell head-over-heels in love with the characters and the romance. I think my favorite thing about this book is how honest and real both of the characters felt. Luc is not a likable character, but he is also a character that has gone through a really hard time recently and has issues in his past. I felt like both characters have dealt with emotional abuse and trauma, but deal with it very differently. Luc openly shows his depression and unhappiness, where Oliver conceals his emotions, putting on a front that he is happy and fine. To me, showing this difference and how both of the characters dealt with their individual trauma differently was very honest. Everyone deals with their own problems differently. I think what made me like Luc in the end was how he grows as a person, discovering that feeling love and loving someone is worth the risk of being hurt and that his happiness should come from within himself and not based on how others see him. The romance felt natural, and I never felt as if what I was reading was some sort of fantasy (which is really important for me when I am reading romance).

I wanted a lot more of Luc interacting with his friend group and a lot less of him sitting around at work. Also, I wanted to see a bit more of Luc and Oliver after the ending—I felt as if the ending was a bit too abrupt and I wanted to see how their relationship developed a bit more. I also have some other things that I didn’t like in the book, (mainly comments by Luc that weren’t okay. I think the writer made his mean jokes too abusive at times.) but I want this to stay as spoiler free as possible!

Thanks for reading,
Caden

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have been wanting this book since I first heard about it and it did not disappoint. It was hard to put down. There were so many moments I found myself laughing.

I HIGHLY recommend if you're looking for

-m/m fake dating
-a bit of enemies to lovers
- Two characters named James Royce-Royces
-An awesome friend group and text chain
-British humor and a bit of a Bridget Jones' Diary vibe
-Slow burn tension
-Dung Beetles

Both main characters have their flaws. This book is told from Luc's POV. His honesty and stream of consciousness made this a joy to read. It almost felt like talking with a friend, laughing with them, laughing at them. And Oliver was just the sweetest, gruff, british man. There's not much steam to this one, but the moments are sweet, and the tension is phew.

Rating 4.5 stars

Trigger Warning: Homophobia, workplace discrimination, manipulative and emotionally abusive parents, cancer, disordered eating (discussion only), body-shaming (one incident, side-character)

This book was entertaining but frustrating! There were a couple unchecked problematic jokes, and I really felt like Oliver's ethical choices (not using Uber, eating vegetarian) were met with too much scrutiny from Luc. Furthermore, the wrap-up of conflict between these two felt off to me. I did enjoy much of it, but these few things kept me from loving it.