Husband Material is a welcome return to the world and characters of Boyfriend Material.
Two years on and all our favourite characters are back. It’s lovely to see that while Luc is very much still Luc he is also more confident in himself and in his relationships now. And his friends and family continue to create havoc in their own assorted entertaining ways.

Hall has a fantastic way with words and anyone who loved Boyfriend Material should thoroughly enjoy this equally funny follow up.
As a side note I’m delighted to see that the excellent Joe Jameson will reprise his excellent narration in the audiobook version. Highly recommended in whichever format you prefer- or indulge yourself with both,

I've been waiting for this book for a long time and I finally got to read it.

For those who don't know “Husband material” is the next part of “Boyfriend material” a book that I read last year and that I really liked. The story takes place two years after the first part, with Luc and Oliver already established as a couple.

This story is perfect for fans of rom-coms, as it has many themes in common with the romantic movies of the 90s, although with a more current approach. The characters still have very wacky personalities, always arguing with each other over the strangest things. There is a lot of chaotic energy in this book.

I liked the way the family problems of both are approached. It's nice to see a story that deals with family problems without romanticizing them. Above all, I liked that a large part of the book was dedicated to Oliver, who was somewhat forgotten in “Boyfriend Material”.

However, while I quite liked the book, I feel like the final story arc was too rushed. Despite the fact that there was a previous development, the climax is in the last 2% of the book and then it ends. I think the conversation about marriage was interesting enough to drag on a bit in the last few pages.


In general, it is a fun sequel that preserves the soul of the first part, but I would have liked to be a little more satisfied with the ending.

I’ll admit to being a little wary about Husband Material, being that it is the sequel to Boyfriend Material, which in my opinion is a self-contained romance novel. Husband Material doesn’t feel like what one might expect from a romance novel, but it is still strongly focused on the relationship arc of the characters and ends with a happily ever after.

Husband Material follows Luc and Oliver as they navigate being a couple surrounded by friends getting married and dramatic family dynamics. There’s a lot of heavy material in this book, as Luc and Oliver clash on self-expression, feeling like part of the LGBTQ+ community, and how family mindsets really can mess you up. One of the aspects of this book that was so fascinating to me was that in a “typical” romance novel, you generally have two characters who are not together and you spend the book wondering how they’re going to get together in the end, but in Husband Material, we have two characters who are already together, and I spent the book wondering how they were going to manage to not break up at the end.

If Boyfriend Material was more Luc working out his issues, it felt like Husband Material definitely leans toward Oliver working out his issues. It’s interesting because the book is told completely from Luc’s perspective, but I still feel that the reader gets enough insight from Oliver’s conversations with Luc that you can really feel how Oliver is struggling. And if Boyfriend Material is about starting a relationship, Husband Material is about keeping that relationship, and how it isn’t always easy, but definitely worth it.

However, even though Husband Material tackles some pretty weighty topics, that doesn’t stop it from being absolutely laugh out loud funny at times. I envy the way Hall can put together a conversation between the characters - the back and forth of the dialogue is so smooth and readable. I loved getting to immerse myself back in Luc and Oliver’s world, with their friends and family. I do recommend that if you haven’t read Boyfriend Material yet, I would read that first. Though Husband Material could mostly stand alone, I don’t know that it would be as enjoyable without having read Boyfriend Material.

I really enjoyed Husband Material. It’s a delightful read that manages to humorously show how two people can be together while they are still growing and changing. While I love reading about the new relationships that most romance novels depict, Husband Material tackled the actual day to day relationship, where you don’t have the constant butterflies and it’s more about choosing to be with a person again and again, despite differences, and despite the fact that people change over time. I wholeheartedly recommend both Boyfriend Material and Husband Material for an actual rom-com reading experience that also manages to bring the emotions.

I loved the 1st book so much & I was nervous about reading book #2 - I didn’t want my “plan” for the characters to be “messed up” - This sequel far exceeded my expectations!!!! 5 star book + 5 stars for the PERFECT sequel!!!

I was so excited about a sequel to Boyfriend Material because I loved it so much…

Unfortunately, it pains me to say, I wasn’t a fan of Husband Material 😬

I have just finished and I feel sad. Sad that Luc and Oliver’s relationship was overly dramatic and toxic. Sad that James Royce and James Royce-Royce were treated like a joke, sad that Bridge and Tom’s relationship had a ridiculous incident. Sad that I read it.

Boyfriend Material made me fall in love with Luc and Oliver. Made we happy for their fictional lives and romance. HM made me feel annoyed at them.

My suggestion, read BM and end it there. Go away knowing that the characters are in a good place.

Thanks Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for allowing me to preview Husband Material in advance in exchange for my honest feedback.

Nothing about this book worked for me. There was no character growth, the primary conflict was poorly developed and introduced far too late in the book, and the ending was unsatisfying.

This review contains spoilers for many major events in the book and the ending. CW for discussions in this review of eating disorders.

<u>The primary conflict is underdeveloped and poorly explained</u>

The climax in this book resolves the question, “Should Oliver and Luc get married?” But this question is not introduced until Part 5, which starts at 82%.

Up until this point, the primary questions addressed by the book are, “What should Luc and Oliver’s wedding look like?” and “What do Luc and Oliver’s event-planning preferences say about them as people?" These questions are resolved (to the extent anything is resolved in this book, i.e., not very much) by 95%, and then at 96% we learn, for the very first time, that Luc doesn’t like the idea of marriage. We find out at 98% that Oliver doesn’t either. They have one very brief conversation about their mutual objections, agree to call off the wedding, and the book ends.

Instead of feeling like the ending resolves an issue that’s been explored throughout the story, the reader is blindsided by totally new feelings and problems mere pages from the end, given no time to examine them, and then told all is well. This is an incredibly unsatisfying way to end a book, especially in a genre where the reader expects to feel more certainty about the future trajectory of the romantic relationship.

I get that this ending is meant to mirror what happens at the end of Four Weddings and a Funeral, just as the structure of the book mirrors the structure of the movie. (Why it was necessary to copy this or any other movie is a separate question.) But copying the ending of a movie isn’t satisfying unless you make that ending work for your story as well, and Hall has not done that here. Rather than using the other weddings and the funeral to explore the issues that give rise to the ultimate conflict, as well as the character motivations that allow the conflict to be resolved, Hall uses Parts 1-4 to address entirely separate things. The first wedding is pure romcom shenanigans, the second wedding is about whether Luc is over his ex, and the third wedding is devoted to the “What do Luc and Oliver’s event-planning preferences say about them as people?" question. The funeral is about Oliver’s relationship with his family and is the best part of the book, though it’s only nominally related to any of the actual conflicts.

At no point before 96% does the book even hint at either character’s objections to marriage (ostensibly because neither wants to hurt the other by bringing it up sooner). And forget asking what marriage means to either of them, what they want to get out of being married, what their goals are for their relationship, what alternatives to marriage might look like, or anything else along those lines. Those questions are never raised, much less discussed or answered. I have no idea what Oliver or Luc wants out of their relationship other than “to be together,” which is not actually an answer to anything.

The unsatisfactory nature of the ending is exacerbated by the fact that Luc’s objections to marriage make no sense. He laments to his best friend, Bridge, that he wants to go back to the period in the relationship where things were easy, and insinuates that he’s worried about the conflicts marriage might introduce to their relationship. (Long-term commitment is somehow different from marriage, apparently.) He tells Bridge that marriage isn’t just a piece of paper because: “It’s everything marriage means to everyone who’s ever been married ever, or known anybody who’s ever been married ever, or everyone who’s ever been told they can’t get married ever. It’s this huge thing that eats things, and I think it’s going to eat me and Oliver.”

So… he’s basically worried he can’t live up to societal expectations? But isn’t the solution deprioritizing societal expectations and actually talking to your partner about what you want for your relationship and how best to make that happen? I can accept this as a legitimate concern people might have, but “I’m scared of marriage” is the start of a conversation, not the end of one. It’s hard to feel like Luc has made the right decision when this is his reasoning, and frankly it makes me doubt the entire relationship when this is the level of thought that goes into such an important decision.

Oliver appears to have a principled reason for objecting to the concept of marriage (he believes it’s an inherently straight institution and doesn’t want to apply that framework to his life) but the fact that he couldn’t raise this issue until literally the day of his wedding says terrible things about where this relationship is at the end of the book.

<u>The secondary conflict is bizarre</u>

The conflict that gets the most page space is, “What do Luc and Oliver’s event-planning preferences say about them as people?"

Luc is convinced that Oliver doesn’t like rainbow-themed events because he has internalized homophobia and doesn’t value the queer community. Oliver tries to explain that he doesn’t feel represented by rainbow stuff, but Luc doesn’t accept this as valid. At one point he even says, “And now it seems like you’re going to want our wedding to be this mega-traditional bells-and-incense thing with no queer iconography because you’re so insecure in yourself that rainbows make you uncomfortable.” Oliver’s response to this is to metaphorically wring his hands and say “maybe you’re right, I need to go think about it.” In a later conversation, Oliver says, “If we get married underneath a rainbow balloon arch, we’ll be denying who I am, and if we don’t, we’ll be denying who you are.”

It gets to the point that, after seeing pictures of Luc at his bachelor party at a queer art gallery, Oliver suggests they might need to break up because Oliver will never enjoy going to the same types of events as Luc. Why they can’t just enjoy separate things like any healthy couple, I don’t know, and neither do they.

The “resolution” to all this is Luc explaining that he mostly understands that he and Oliver express their identities differently, but it’s hard to “get his brain around.” Oliver doesn’t like being something Luc has to “get his brain around,” but that’s a problem for another day, or something.

Do either Luc or Hall realize that plenty of queer people just don’t like dance parties or rainbows, sometimes simply because they don’t enjoy them? Do they understand that taking a rejection of these things as rejection of the queer community is exclusionary to all queer people who have different preferences? Why does compromising over wedding décor have to be a rejection of either partner’s identity? Why do décor preferences have to be a statement of identity in the first place? Why does the book tacitly endorse the idea that Luc is right and Oliver is wrong by having Oliver reconsider his positions but Luc never does the same?

Why is so much of this book focused on analyzing event-planning preferences instead of more important questions like what Oliver and Luc want out of their relationship? I don’t know what this portion of the book was supposed to accomplish, but whatever it was, it failed.

<u>Luc is a self-centered asshole</u>

Luc is one of the most self-centered main characters I’ve ever read in romance. <i>Everything</i> in this book is about him and his feelings, even things that have nothing to do with him. It would be one thing if he started the book this way but grew as a person throughout the story, but he doesn’t. The best anyone gets is Luc acknowledging from time to time that he’s making things about himself and then <i>keep doing it</i>.

The worst example, by far, is how Luc thinks about Oliver’s eating disorder. On noticing that Oliver is reluctant to take his clothes off, Luc thinks, “I tried to be sensitive to Oliver’s body image issues, I really did. But, at the end of the day, he looked like him and I looked like me, and sometimes it was hard to remember that when he was being down on himself, he wasn’t being down on me by association.” He also rationalizes Oliver’s insecurities (simply accepting them as valid is too much to ask) by noting that Oliver isn’t as fit as he was before, because “the problem with giving yourself an eating disorder in pursuit of an impossible beauty standard was that if you got rid of one, you got rid of the other.” In other words, Luc supposes he can accept Oliver’s insecurities because they probably aren’t about Luc, and anyway, they’re factually correct because Oliver’s body is less attractive now. You’d expect these comments from a romance villain, not a romance hero.

Luc’s selfishness extends to his proposal to Oliver, as well. He proposes because he’s feeling insecure and worried about what it means to move in with each other. He doesn’t put any thought into asking the question, and he and Oliver have apparently never talked about marriage before. Oliver’s answer isn’t even shown on-page, that’s how irrelevant it is. Then, when Luc realizes maybe Oliver deserves a better proposal, he goes to one jewelry store and begrudgingly picks out a ring without any prior thought about Oliver’s preferences (and thinks about how he definitely won’t be going to more than one store because that’s too much effort). Then the actual proposal is basically unplanned and all he says is “how great you are and how… like… feelings you make me.” He can’t put even a tiny amount of effort into figuring out how to express his feelings, despite Oliver taking great care to express his feelings to Luc during their previous conversation about moving in together. All of this is supposed to be endearingly incompetent but instead it’s just rude and thoughtless.

Even Oliver’s dealings with his family, including his grief over his father’s death, are about Luc. When the two are going to meet with Oliver’s parents to talk about the wedding, Luc offers no emotional support whatsoever despite knowing how difficult the situation is for Oliver. Instead of spending time that morning mentally preparing (which he explains is important to him), Oliver has to spend time making French toast for Luc so he’ll get out of bed. And when Oliver is grieving, Luc sits around uselessly wishing Oliver would tell him how to comfort him. He makes no effort to figure out what might help Oliver, just sits around whining to his friends about how he's worried Oliver will dump him due to his grief.

Luc, and by extension the book, is so self-centered that Oliver could have been replaced by an emotional support animal for the first 45% and it would have made no difference to the story. All he does is show up to dispense support or wisdom. He has no thoughts or desires beyond what Luc needs at any given moment.

The entire book is like this. Luc forgets his best friend’s wedding vows the moment he hears them because they’re not personally meaningful to him (his best friend’s happiness apparently doesn’t reach that threshold). Someone acknowledging that a past situation was hurtful to Luc is them playing the “you’ve-got-every-right-to-be-angry card to guilt [him] out of being angry.” Bridge learning that her fiancé might be cheating on the same night Oliver and Luc have plans is the universe conspiring to make Luc look like a shitty boyfriend.

He’s also a complete dick to all sorts of people, from acquaintances encountered at weddings (outright telling someone he hasn’t seen in ages that he’s a prick, while making small talk at a wedding), to jewelry store employees (accusing them of insulting him and then getting mad when they’re offended).

A lot of this would be forgivable if it resulted in character growth. But it doesn’t. Luc is a self-centered dickhead for the entire book and never even notices how shitty he is, much less does anything about it.

<u>Luc only cares about appearances</u>

Luc’s number one concern in any situation is how things looks to other people, not what’s best for him as a person (much less Oliver, who’s a total afterthought the entire book).

As discussed above, Luc fears marriage because of the associated expectations from other people. Luc also admits to Bridge near the end of the book that he proposed to Oliver because he was feeling insecure after his ex’s wedding and wanted to “show or prove” that their relationship was working well. And right before the wedding, he thinks the guests are waiting for him and Oliver to “prove our relationship was just as good as theirs.”

Similarly, he wishes Oliver had been on time to Bridge’s bachelorette party because then he could have “had proof” to show Miles that his life is good now, and he wants to go to Miles’s wedding to “show my ex-boyfriend, my ex-boyfriend’s fiance I’d met once, and a bunch of strangers that I was free and happy and over it and moving on with my new, infinitely better boyfriend.”

This obsession with appearances extends to absolutely everything, no matter how mundane. He can’t even appreciate small things about his partner because of what other people might think. Holding Oliver’s hand is a skill developed on “embarrassing” walks in their neighborhood. Oliver calling dogs “woofles” isn’t cute, it’s “embarrassing” (see a theme here?). His thought on seeing Oliver wearing his engagement ring is how “mediocre” the ring is.

His bachelor party is the best part of getting married because of how cool it makes him look that he’s having a “super-queer, super-modern non-gender-specific animal party full of exciting people in an exciting venue organized by my exciting lesbian best man.” Tokenizing one of your best friends? Totally fine and not at all something to scrutinize in yourself.

Instead of just picking his best man based on who he’s closest to, his first thought it about what his choice will say about gender roles and his awareness of them: “Picking a best man was a complicated business. Because you didn’t want to be gender normative, but if you got too role-reversy you ended up with something that was gender normative in the other direction.” (Hall apparently felt compelled to point out each and every instance of normative thoughts or behavior as though doing so is, in and of itself, saying something worthwhile. It isn’t.)

A better book would have realized that all of this, especially proposing for the sake of appearances, is terrible and would have had Luc address this flaw. But he never does.

<u>Other miscellaneous problems</u>

* “Her name was Ana with one n, and he said he’d met her ‘on the social media.’ Given that like many of Rhys’s dates she was bizarrely hot and carried herself in a way that suggested she had incredible body confidence, I suspected he’d met her on one social medium in particular.” (This is a reference to OnlyFans, which Rhys had earlier mentioned he was on.) Having your character assume a confident, attractive woman must be a sex worker is not canceled out by a sex work-positive speech by the woman later.

* There are endless pop-culture references in this, to the point of acting out a scene from Pretty Woman and using Love Actually as an explanation for one character’s feelings in another scene. Good luck to readers who aren’t familiar with these references and won’t get the feelings or ideas these scenes are intended to convey, I guess.

* I love how this book is simultaneously hyperaware of superficial heteronormativity but actual heteronormativity in the writing is ignored, such as including the tired “only women care about weddings” trope in how Bridge and Tom’s involvement in, and reactions to, their wedding are described.

* It’s absolutely baffling to use an easily disproved legal myth as the way to prove the cleverness of your lawyer character. For anyone wondering, no, you cannot avoid a theft charge by forming the intent not to pay for your meal after you’ve eaten the food.

* Over-the-top romcom bullshit like a publishing company booking an author’s book tour in New York, Texas; Los Angeles, Texas; and Las Vegas, New Mexico isn’t funny, it’s exhausting. This whole book is way too convinced of its own cleverness and would be substantially improved by deleting 90% of the “clever” lines and references.

I started this early, but got cross when Luc seemed to think it was okay to attend his ex's wedding. I put it down for a while, and then came back as the release date approached.

What is good about Luc is his utter honesty and self-awareness about his own neuroses. It's easy to understand why he sits on a fragile edge of constant panic that Oliver will leave him. We understand completely when he makes the (bad) decisions he does, it's just sometimes, they are hard to take, and I want to shake him while I hug him and try to lift him to a better place in his own head. Impossible right?

Oliver also has to take a quick quiet moment with himself. He's portrayed so consistently and as flawed as he is, he often makes more sense than Luc, and I side with him more (am I bad to do that?) This is interesting because we never get to see his point of view, so everything is through Luc's (biased) eyes.

The four weddings are simultaneously hilarious and terrible. So many things go wrong, but it's so funny and warm and clever. The funeral is tragic and heart-breaking but also reveals some much needed insight for both of the boys and a couple of other side characters too.

Look, when these boys are fighting, I don't want to read it. But somehow they manage to arrive at a place where they can push through. Thank god. The ending for me is perfect.

Thanks to publisher and Netgalley for advanced copy. I am sure everyone who read 'Boyfriend Material' will pick this up and get something out of it. This author is very authentic and fresh. It's out on August 2.

I love the voice of Alexis Hall, they are a wonderful combination of snarky, witty, and insightful. I loved how the many parts of the book took Luc and Oliver through all their friends (and ex) and their weddings to show the audience what they liked and didn’t like about weddings. Many of us have had these experiences, it feels like everyone we know is getting married and how they do it influences us. This is fun book because it talks about growth in self development- but also in relationships. It speaks about the need for talking about issues but also getting professional help. It has great humor and also great depth. I loved this book but definitely recommend Boyfriend Material first because part of the glory of this book was seeing how the characters developed in the past two years.

What this book gives: Luc and Oliver!! I loved them so much together and we get this really sweet side of them. I had anticipated this so much from the minute I heard there was going to be a sequel.

Luc deals with even more personal growth in this book through its ups and downs. Oliver was also just the best.

What this book doesn’t give: the same feeling from Boyfriend Material. I didn’t feel that angst (I mean obviously, since the book deals with them as a couple instead of the dynamic they had previously), but I didn’t feel that same excitement in this book.

It was great in different ways. They both definitely made me FEEL, but in separate ways. Still, while this wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for, it was such a wonderful read that I enjoyed so much.

After reading Boyfriend Material, I was anxious to get my hands on Husband Material to see how Lucian and Oliver had been getting on with their lives. Seeing how these two continue to navigate their relationship made for another interesting adventure.

Luc and Oliver are living their lives and just like anyone else, they are dealing with real world issues, they are a hot mess at times and the things they are going through make them completely relatable. There is no doubt how much these two love one another and the issues they are dealing with show the progression of their relationship from Boyfriend Material to now. In the previous book they were falling in love and now they are finding ways to work through issues and be there for one another in ways they haven't had to be before.

Once again this book had all the feels. It made you laugh, smile, cry and hurt for both Luc and Oliver. I will say there were times that parts felt very repetitive and drawn out, but I still enjoyed it.

**I voluntarily read an early copy of this title courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review**

Boyfriend Material is one of my favorite books, so Husband Material was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022. I had read some reviews from others before getting the arc, some good and some not, so I tried my best to go in with an open mind. Unfortunately, it didn’t help. I was quite disappointed with this book, but before I get into why this sequel didn’t work for me, I do want to take a second to talk about the positives.

Firstly, I absolutely loved the format. I know there’s mixed reviews on this, but I thought it was an interesting, unique way to show Luc and Oliver at different points in their relationship. I also really enjoyed that the side characters played a bigger role than they did in Boyfriend Material. One of the only things I wished had been different about Boyfriend Material was getting to spend more time with them, so I was happy to get my fill in the sequel.

Secondly, I loved to see Oliver’s character development from the first book. I loved getting to see more of his personality shine through (Mean Oliver was particularly delightful). I loved that he was slowly but surely starting to let go of the idea of being “perfect.” I loved that he finally stood up to his parents, and I loved that he continued to do so even when it would have been easier to back down. I liked Oliver just fine in the first book, but I really grew to adore him in this one.

Finally, I’m pleased that Luc and Oliver ultimately chose not to get married. It was clear from the moment Luc proposed and Oliver accepted that neither of them actually wanted to (or at the very least, not right then), but rather felt like that was the next step they had to follow in their relationship. Just because they can get married and their friends are getting married doesn’t mean their relationship is any less serious or valid because they choose not to. It’s not a take I see very often in romance books, so I was happy to see it in Husband Material.

And that’s about the extent of what worked for me.

The problem (and what ultimately ruined the book for me) was Luc himself.

I know characters like Luc aren’t always people's cup of tea, but personally I loved him in Boyfriend Material. Yes, he was a bit of an asshole. Yes, he was self-absorbed. Yes, he was emotionally repressed and self-deprecating. The reason none of this bothered me was because 1. he was and had been in a very dark place in his life for years and 2. a big part of the plot of Boyfriend Material was him digging himself out of that hole, realizing what he had gone through wasn’t an excuse to treat people badly, and ultimately try to be better. I’ll take a flawed character doing their best to better themselves even if they mess up along the way over a boring, unrealistic character who does no wrong any day of the week.

Husband Material Luc was obnoxious at best, and downright cruel and manipulative at worst. He felt like a caricature of himself and by the end of the novel, I genuinely couldn’t understand why Oliver still wanted to be with him. He had clearly grown in certain areas from Boyfriend Material (i.e. more confident in himself and his abilities, not letting his father’s behavior affect him, etc) but he felt so, so much worse in others. I think the problem lies in trying to emulate Luc and Oliver’s dynamic from the first novel, which included a lot of banter and poking and prodding. The difference is that in Boyfriend Material, Luc and Oliver were in a fake relationship and had spent years being mostly antagonistic toward each other. They weren’t always kind or understanding or respectful of each other's boundaries. In Husband Material, they’re actually together and have supposedly been in a happy, stable relationship for two years. What wasn’t a huge deal in a fake relationship is unhealthy in a real one. Their dynamic in Husband Material ended up feeling very uncomfortable and toxic, and in my opinion that’s largely because of Luc.

I absolutely loved part 1, but part 2 and 3 is where stuff started taking a turn for me. It was established in Boyfriend Material that Oliver had never felt particularly connected to the queer community and even felt isolated from it at times, and while Luc didn’t relate, he also didn’t make a big deal out of it. He very much does in this book. Now, I understand that the difference between then and now is that they’re actually in a relationship in Husband Material. Values and common interests and opinions matter a lot more when you aren’t faking it. Even though I don’t understand how that didn’t come up at some point in the last two years, I’ll give Luc the benefit of the doubt that until he went to Miles and Jojo’s wedding, he didn’t realize how much he missed feeling connected to the community. I totally get that and if it had been handled well, I think it would have been a very interesting plot point.

It was not handled well. Luc did not handle it well. He more or less implied that Oliver had internalized homophobia from the way his parents raised him, which in all fairness is entirely possible. The problem is that Luc consistently brought it up at inappropriate times (you know, in the middle of multiple weddings) and in a way that clearly upset Oliver. Even though he did recognize he crossed a line and apologized he still did it again and again and again. As Oliver had to point out to him multiple times, he already has a therapist. The way Luc continued to push him over the matter felt less like trying to help Oliver and more like Luc being manipulative and self-serving.

There was actually a lot about part 4 I liked, so even though I absolutely had issues with the way Luc was behaving toward Oliver during the previous parts, I felt like it was getting back on track.

And then part 5 happened. Let’s go through some of Luc’s greatest hits in this part.

-After getting into a fight with Oliver about wedding stuff, he goes to his mom’s house to cool off. When Oliver calls him, apologizes and admits that he just wants their wedding to be perfect (something that Oliver has always strived for, to an unhealthy degree), Luc is relieved because it means Oliver is the problem in the situation, not him. Not exactly the nicest thing to think about your fiance, even if he didn’t say it out loud, and it feels kind of unfair to put all the blame back on him.
-At their dinner shortly after, Oliver admits it’s entirely possible his lack of desire to connect with the queer community in the way Luc does stems from being raised by homophobic parents, but that it’s impossible for him to ever truly know. Either way, it’s how he feels. If they have a rainbow arch (i.e. a symbol for their differences in opinion) at the wedding, they’re denying who Oliver is and if they don’t, they’re denying who Luc is. Essentially, Oliver tells Luc they’re always going to have fundamental differences in opinion on the matter. He then tells Luc that they met each other when they were both in dark places and now that they’re no longer in those places, maybe they’re not right for each other and so Oliver gives Luc an out. Not because he wants one, but because he thinks Luc does.
-Luc proceeds to get upset and tell him it’s just a balloon arch. He then says he never intended to make Oliver feel bad for being a “bad gay”, even though he has consistently brought in up throughout the book and very obviously made Oliver feel bad about it. He essentially tells Oliver he’s making too big of a deal out of the situation, when Luc himself is the one who has been making a big deal about it the entire time. Some serious revisionist history there.
-The night before the wedding, Luc comes to the realization that he doesn’t want to get married, but he decides to go through with it anyway even though the thought of it is literally making him sick because he can’t do that to Oliver, especially not when Luc is the one who proposed in the first place. Right before the wedding, when Oliver tells Luc he doesn’t want to get married, rather than feeling, you know, relieved, Luc gets angry and proceeds to dump a trash can over Oliver’s head (while he is literally sitting there crying). Even though in his head Luc admits he’s being a hypocrite and he understands, he proceeds to ask Oliver why he didn’t just say no when he proposed and allows him to take the blame. Even though Luc admits he basically accidentally asked Oliver to marry him.

So they decide to stay together but not get married and everything is all good. The end.

Seriously?

Any positive emotions I felt toward Luc (and his relationship with Oliver) were thoroughly destroyed in part 5. He was absolutely awful in this book. It was like all of his flaws from Boyfriend Material were magnified and weaponized, and I’m genuinely in shock that Oliver wanted anything to do with him by the end. Oliver certainly wasn’t perfect, but I felt how much he loved Luc and how much he wanted things to work between them. I didn’t feel the same from Luc. Even though he said multiple times he loved Oliver and wanted to be with him, it didn’t feel that way. I was fully expecting them to break up by the end of the book, their relationship was that much of a mess.

Listen, I get that relationships are hard and you’re going to fight and have issues, but this didn’t feel like that. The whole book was a cycle of Luc hurting Oliver, realizing he hurt Oliver and immediately starting a running commentary about how he’s such a terrible person who doesn’t deserve love blah blah, apologizing and then doing it again. Luc managed to create most of the problems in the book, and yet Oliver was the one who mostly took the blame. And yeah, Luc was self-aware about his behavior, but being self-aware that you’re a hypocritical asshole doesn’t make you less of a hypocritical asshole.

I think what’s even more disappointing about the whole thing was that there were moments throughout the book where they were very sweet and supportive and kind to each other, and it reminded me of why I liked them so much in the first book. At the end of Boyfriend Material, I felt so happy with and hopeful for their future. After Husband Material, I felt like these were two people who should very much not be in a relationship with each other.

Thank you NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Casablance for an ARC of Husband Material

Alexis Hall is a wildly versatile author. I never quite know what to expect from him. And although this was a sequel, it still took me a moment to get my bearings on what this book was going to be, and once I'd sort of recognized the trappings of a 90s era rom-com, focusing as much on the supporting cast as the couple itself, it started to click for me. While there were fun, and funny, moments in this book (Alex Twaddle being one of my favorite characters ever), the relationship between Luc and Oliver added complexity and drama. Not to mention swoons -- I appreciated getting to experience a bit of the Luc/Oliver normal as well as their sweet new discoveries. Aside to say: I identify so hard with Luc's messiness. I don't know how well this book would work as a standalone since a lot of the early bits felt like fan service to remind us why we loved all these characters, and as a fan, I enjoyed all of that. I managed to spoil myself before getting to the end, so I don't know how I might have reacted otherwise, but knowing what I knew, the clues were abundant throughout that this ending was not out of left field and did feel earned. I'd recommend reading Boyfriend Material before this. Then of course go read everything else Alexis Hall has written.

ahhh i have many thoughts and many feelings! mostly, i just feel so so… content. i fell in love with two very complicated humans in Boyfriend Material and this ending to their story was so cathartic, so therapeutic that it just feels so true to their characters, where they are at in life and in love, and where(who) they are on there way to (being). the humor that Luc provides as our mc pov is still present throughout, which i loved. (i can’t wait to listen to the audiobook!!) the soft and hard moments where luc and oliver love each other so openly made my heart ache, my gut clench, and my soul melt.

i want to thank Alexis Hall for sharing such a great love story with us, with funny, nuanced, and real life characters.

Husband Material is everything. A mash-up between Four Weddings and a Funeral and Bridget Jones' Diary, but make it gay.

I loved Boyfriend Material because it's fake dating and opposites attract. Husband Material, by definition as a sequel, is less a romance. Now that Luc and Oliver are together, can they make it work?

Luc is still self-centered and self-sabotaging. Oliver is still self-sacrificing and still cares too much what other people think. Neither are good at communicating. Their issues are sad even though they are funny.

I liked that Oliver was in therapy, but Luc needed to be in therapy, too. And they could use couple's therapy as well.

As with Boyfriend Material, the friends and relatives are the best part. They bring out the best/worst of our heros. I hope Oliver gets some friends of his own soon. He needs them.

If you liked Boyfriend Material, of course you're going to read Husband Material. Crank the expectations down a few levels. It's a great book with excellent writing, but it's doesn't have the punch that Boyfriend Material did. But it was great to be back with Luc and Oliver and the gang.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for access to an advanced e-copy of this book.

Oh my. I didn’t realize that exactly what I needed was to be back with Luc and Oliver. What a treat! It was like being back with old friends and jumping back into conversation like no time has passed at all. I love these characters, their friends, and family.

🇬🇧Again, the British wit and humor was perfection and the entire friend group still give me Bridget Jones vibes. They get into the craziest situations!
🇬🇧Tons of Pretty Woman references throughout the whole book …. Be still my heart!!
🇬🇧Luc’s mom. That is all.
🇬🇧Smashing traditional relationship norms and expectations.

If I’m being honest, I wanted more of Luc and Oliver happy together and less bickering - the point of the story I know.

I’ve got to say, that ending had me slightly shocked and very worried. But honestly, after thinking about it - perfection. ♥️

🤝This is a situation where you really HAVE to read BOYFRIEND MATERIAL first. You won’t regret it!

What a good sequel! I loved meeting all of the characters again and see what they had been up to for the last two years. Oliver and Lucians relationship is so comforting to me. If you loved the first book in the serious you will definitely love this as well!
The book follows Lucian and Oliver two years after the first book ended, and you see how they have grown, both individually and as a couple. They battle with how they see marriage and how the relationship should evolve, now that everyone except them is getting married.

I love Alexis Halls writing style, and both Luc and Oliver are such good characters. I also really enjoy all the side charters and the diversity! Easy 5 star read!

So much like with the first book, I enjoyed the relationship between Lucien and Oliver, but the writing is just really subpar.

I had my concerns after finishing Boyfriend Material, but I was really into Lucien and Oliver together I was willing to give this one a try. And, like I said I did enjoy their relationship but there are just a significant number of issues with the writing that I don't think I could continue again with this author's future work.

The issues presented and plot points were RIDICULOUSLY repetitive, and I felt like the whole book was just going in circles. The whole angle of political correctness that interweaves in all of the characters' conversations felt like they were beating a dead horse. The ending kind of frustrated me because it felt like the whole rest of the book was pointless and I just think it could have been handled differently if that was the route the author wanted to go.

I did enjoy that there seemed to be some character growth with both Lucien and Oliver. But I also didn't appreciate that we were being told how much growth he had made. A lot of this book was more of the telling instead of showing which was frustrating.

Overall, I'm glad I continued and read this sequel but I'm also glad to be moving on from Lucien and Oliver.

He sat on the edge of the sidewalk and looked down at his mud-soaked shoes. The rain had slowed to a drizzle, but he was reminded of the downpour he had just waded through with the sopping wet clothes plastered to his skin. He held his head in his hands as he listened to the sounds of strangers walking by, none of them giving a care in the world to his predicament. But then he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Husband Material picks up two years after Boyfriend Material and we get reacquainted with Luc and Oliver. The fun banter and humor was still alive in this book… but I’ve got what could be an unpopular opinion on this one…

Honestly this does not compare to Boyfriend Material… I feel this continuation wasn’t necessary and the relationship between Luc and Oliver could have been left alone. Boyfriend Material was such a fun, sweet story, but this second book undid that for me. Luc treated Oliver horrible in this story and the way he spoke to him and was so condescending made me cringe. The gaslighting that went on and the constant berating of Oliver’s feelings really rubbed me the wrong way. I just wasn’t a fan of this book.

Honestly… read Boyfriend Material… I loved that one! And you can read this one as well, because maybe you’ll love it. I never want to deter someone from a book, but I had to share my honest thoughts.

I loved being back in this world with Oliver & Luc. The situations that the group of friends all find themselves in are laugh out loud funny---it is the friendships that really made this book work. The second half of the book was heavier which isn't to say bad. It took an interesting turn with relationship dynamics and how life affects those. The ending was....something I am not sure worked for me or not.

For the vast majority of this book, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I laughed out loud a lot and tore through the book in about a day and a half.

There were some moments where I felt like there was some character regression from the first book, but for the most part, it was like returning to your happy place and was thoroughly enjoyable!

Up until - and I'm sure you'll see this caveat a lot as more people start reading the book - the last 10% of the book. It is not the ending I expected. And it's sort of lingered with me and had me telling my husband how glad I am that we ended up getting married 😂

For the most part, I liked this book. I thought it showed the real parts of weddings, not just the romantic ones, and did an excellent job of exploring what marriage and weddings are and what it can mean to different people. I really liked that part.

Like I said, I still really enjoyed the book. Just the ending was a little disappointing and abrupt, but hopefully it'll get resolved in the third book.