Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape for providing an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've seen some Alexis Hall books floating around, but this was my first reading of one. Hall doesn't do the greatest job of filling readers in to what happened in the previous book (evidently he had a relationship with his best friend's now-fiancé?), so it's probably best to read the series in order or be ready to extrapolate from context lues (or just live in ignorance bc it's essentially a frothy romance).

Luc, the child of 80s rock star parents, lives his current life in 5 sections of this book, beginning with best friend Bridget's hen party (or, non-gender specific bird party). This kicks off a piece by piece story of Luc coming to terms with the seriousness of his feelings for boyfriend Oliver, who he seems not to know all that much about despite their having dated for 3 years. We go through 3 weddings and a funeral before we arrive at Luc and Oliver's impending wedding, but their snippishness with each other over the wedding planning (Luc likes big gay balloon arches, which the very buttoned-down Oliver finds hideous) might lead them to realize they are too different to survive the long term. Will these two crazy kids make it work?

What worked: the voice acting in this audiobook was GREAT! And I never say that. Joe Jameson should narrate all UK-based audiobooks from hereon out. He's great with accents, he's great tonally, his women's voices sound like actual women. A++

What didn't work (for me, anyway): Luc/Lucien takes an awfully long time to behave like a 30 year old adult man. I know, this is common in romance novels, but damn! He's a ball of unconfident mess, and it gets annoying. I do find it hard to believe that Luc would be happy with the denouement in this story if he were a real person.

Luc's childishness aside, the story is fine. It has some very funny moments, and I enjoyed it overall. I DID NOT like the ending. It felt as though Hall didn't want to cave to a "Hollywood happy ending," but also didn't want the characters to be too unhappy. So we end up with what feels like completely manufactured relationship drama (honestly, I checked to make sure I hadn't missed an important scene bc I was so lost as to the 180 degree turn that occurred) so we can have a crisis and then a solution. Ugh.

Hopefully Hall's next venture with these characters will be a little less messy.

I loved the first book in the series, but Husband Material just didn't do it for me. All of the little side characters, like Luc's coworkers and all his friends took a back seat to the main relationship--- which I guess is what happens as we get older! Still it lost some of the magic of the novel without all of those cute side stories with semi annoying characters. I found both Luc and Oliver to be more annoying than in Boyfriend Material and I got to the point that I didn't care what they did.

With that being said, I did like the ending as it felt like they had grown up and were making the best decisions for them.

I can’t get enough of Luc and Oliver and this book delivers a sweet and only slightly angsty follow up to the first book. Friendships and misunderstandings abound and through it all I just had to keep reading in one sitting until I found out what would happen to my favorite British duo. Can’t wait for the next one.

2.5 stars

I'm sorry but I just didn't care about pretty much 3/4th's of this book, it seemed to drag on forever and then nothing happened. I will read the 3rd just because I enjoy the friendship dynamics but I'm iffy about it now.

Setting this one down for now. I just cannot fathom going to an ex’s wedding for any reason and it makes it very hard to get engaged in the story.

A wonderful follow-up to the smash hit that is BOYFRIEND MATERIAL!

Alexis Hall is one of my absolute favorite writers on this planet - they have such charming wit and hilarious jokes, while also being extremely talented at writing such incredible characters and stories that will leave you weeping and ready for more.

BOYFRIEND MATERIAL is a favorite of mine, and I am so glad I got to re-visit Luc, Oliver, and the whole gang again! The chaos and hijinks in this story were amazing, and I really loved reading about Luc and Oliver trying to survive four weddings and a funeral, with a rainbow arch looming over their relationship the entire time.

Something Alexis Hall does an incredible job at is opening up doors to social commentary that often times does not get discussed. The idea of feeling 'gay enough'' or feeling included in your community (or not conforming to what others believe is inclusion) is something I believe is not discussed very often. I appreciated seeing this being such a pivotal conversation in Luc and Oliver's relationship, because it made it feel all the more real.

All in all, I was very happy with this sequel, and I can't wait for FATHER MATERIAL!

The good things about this book: the audiobook is narrated by the same very talented actor, who does lots of lovely voices and accents.

The bad things about this book: ...all the rest? I found Luc pretty self-centered in BOYFRIEND MATERIAL, and he certainly hasn't changed. It was weird to me that no one had suggested therapy, and that no one has in the interim, and seeing Luc and Oliver back on the page made me realize just how badly Oliver also needs therapy. The way Luc thinks about Oliver's relationship with his body and with food seems honestly quite harmful to me, and I'm not going to get into the weeds on proper expression of or identification with one's sexual identity and the community that comes with it but I really didn't feel comfortable with the way Luc felt about Oliver not loving the rainbows, et cetera.

It makes a lot of sense to me that many people felt let down by this book - if the first one were one I'd held real close to my heart, I would be disappointed, too. I didn't think BOYFRIEND MATERIAL necessitated a sequel, and this book really proved to me that it didn't. If you were satisfied by the first as a stand-alone, don't waste your time here.

Thank you Sourcebooks and NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you Dreamscape Media for my gifted audiobook.

I need to start with the fact that I read this as a standalone, so this was my first introduction to Oliver and Luc. I really enjoyed the character development and following along through their journey.

My only complaint was the length of the book. I felt that it was on the longer side for no good reason. Otherwise, I would recommend this book.

This started pretty slowly but by the time it reached the end, I wasn't mad to have spent more time with this cast of characters.

This is the sequel to boyfriend material. Luc and Oliver have now been together for two years, and find themselves busy with friends weddings, this prompts them to become engaged themselves, but planning a wedding might prove more difficult than they think. This was awesome the ending was fitting it was funny it was nuanced and interesting and I liked the queer discourse that was actuality what people talk about. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the ARC.

I loved the first in this series (Boyfriend Material) and was so happy to have received a copy of the audiobook of Husband Material from NetGalley to continue the journey into Luc and Oliver's world. I enjoyed the romance and funny situations that they kept getting themselves into. Although I did get a little irritated with the arguments they were having, it did make sense in the end. The ending was definitely not like any other book I've read before and I'm still not sure exactly how I feel about it. But it was definitely a wild ride that I was happy to take.

I am so sad to say that after reading other reviews for Husband Material, I am not going to read this sequel. I loved the first book too much and I am disheartened by the negative reviews and don't want this book to taint my love of Boyfriend Material.

Husband Material is a romance novel if said novel featured the third-act breakup a quarter of the way through and then kept resolving and repeating the same breakup until the final page. To Alexis Hall’s credit, I still had a pretty good time with this. I’d say it’s mostly due to Luke’s banter with essentially every person he interacts with and a cast of side characters that were quirky and fleshed out in a way that reads if not true to life, at least entertaining. I live in perpetual fear that I will one day run into someone remotely resembling any one of Luke’s co-workers.

The promise with writing a sequel to a romance novel is that the first book - by definition of the genre - had already concluded with the happy ending. The tension’s abated, the misunderstanding’s resolved, and the couple is together. Anyone who went into Boyfriend Material with the premise of fake dating, enemies to lovers and loved it is not getting that same dynamic here. You instead get two years into a relationship, stressed, and constantly bickering lovers. It’s a choice dynamic, and not one of the top ten tropes in the romance genre.

Where this novel really sold me was the shenanigans around Luke’s friends and their many weddings, alongside the absolute absurdity of his mother and her friend Judy. But it also leaves plenty of unresolved relationships floating around that I felt had closure in the first book - specifically with Luke and his scumbag father. And there’s no worse way to dampen the mood in a romance novel than the sudden untimely death of a parent of one half of the couple halfway through the book.

In the end, I don’t think fans of Boyfriend Material will respond to this sequel with the same kind of love the first one received - as the dynamic between the two leads is completely different. But if you go into this looking more for a contemporary novel with commentary on the idea of marriage as an institution inhabited by a cast of very fun characters I think it’s worth the read.

Thank you to the publisher Dreamscape Media for providing an audiobook ARC via NetGalley for an honest review.

Husband Material by romcom author Alexis Hall is a delightful follow up to Boyfriend Material. It's two years after the first book ended, and despite Luc's insecurities, self deprecation, and fears, him and the OCD, sometimes intense, but always endearing Oliver are going strong as an "IT" couple.

Narrator Joe Jameson is back to give his precise comedic timing and heartfelt talks. Luc and Oliver are going to weddings and a funeral (yes an ode to the Hugh Grant movie) and are feeling the pressure to become legally bound. Will they? Won't they? Either way the good news is Father Material is next!

I received a free copy of this audiobook from Dreamscape Media via #netgalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this audio arc of Husband Material.

I personally think Alexis Hall can do no wrong. Husband Material was a more serious epilogue to it’s sillier counterpart, Boyfriend Material. I like getting to see the lives of Luc and Oliver as they struggle with comparing their own relationship to the people around them. I do with that this book had some more silliness like the former did but all in all I thought this was a really great listen. Also, love that the narrator from the first was the same! He’s incredible.

It was such a treat to be back with these characters again. I love the found family aspect of this with how Luke and Oliver's friends come together around them constantly. It was full of complex issues and hard real world issues, but it still remained hilarious and heartfelt. I loved it!

After listening to Boyfriend Material on audio I was so so excited to receive this advanced listener’s copy! I was a huge fan of the first installment of this series but honestly could not get into Husband Material.

I felt SO lost during the first 30%. I was not sure what was going on…. I think the author reintroduced way too many characters all at once that I was overwhelmed. The book didn’t really seem to have a direction or main plot… or maybe I was just missing something. Of course, I still loved Luc and Oliver being Luc and Oliver, but I did not feel as invested in their relationship during this book as I did with the first. Whenever they interacted it seemed as if there was a conflict or argument. I just wanted some happy moments minus fighting and conflict. By 93% I really wanted there to be just happiness between Oliver and Luc and still they were fighting.

There were some funny moments and of course sad moments as well which I think the author handled very well. I cannot forget to mention how wonderful the narrator is. In both books I have been totally blown away by how their accents fit each character PERFECTLY. I also catch myself being like… are there 20 narrators because there is no way this is the same human. And yet it is! Amazing.

Overall, not the biggest fan of Husband Material but will continue with the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an advanced listeners copy in exchange for an honest review.

Oh Luc and Oliver. They definitely would not be a pair you would put together. Total opposites but they are ying and yang and balance each other out. This book basically is wedding season and everyone around them are getting married. This in turns make Luc think about their relationship and if that is the step they should be going in and if marriage would validate their relationship. There are lots of ups and downs along the way but I feel that both Oliver and Luc learn and grow a lot in this book. It is very witty and clever. I was a smidge disappointed at the end but I also understand where the author was coming from and it seemed fitting for this couple.

Thank you to the publisher for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this one, maybe better than the first. I loved that the ending was uncertain through much of the book and the relationship was very real!

First of all, I received this ARC in both ebook and audio format and I broke my long standing rule of trying not to start a series in the middle. Granted, this is only the second book, but never the less, it should be noted that I did not read book 1.
As I mentioned before, I didn't read the first book so I got to meet Oliver and Luc as an already established couple. I immediately liked Oliver, but Luc was a bit harder to get a handle on. Honestly, he wasn't a great boyfriend - the word frenetic is a word that comes to mind. Oliver seemed like the more stable and laid back of the two and I think their differences were part of what made them work (again, I'm not sure how they got together but they were truly opposite personalities). It becomes apparent pretty quickly that Luc has commitment issues and he tended to run hot and cold in the relationship. I was surprised when he asked Oliver to marry him (even though by the title of the book I had already assumed the story arc) and it felt like Luc was not really emotionally prepared to take the next step even though he did ask the question. I really felt for Oliver with the way Luc kept trying to make him feel bad about the fact that he didn't really associate with the over the top end of the spectrum in the LGBTQ+ community. Everybody is different and I couldn't understand why that was such a sticking point with Luc.
I had several problems with this book and the main issue was probably that I just really didn’t like Luc. He really was an awful boyfriend, and honestly, he had issues outside of his relationship with Oliver that showed a lot of immaturity. But, in these stories, we often see the protagonist learn and grow. They start at one point and by the end of the book we can see the growth. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen in this book. Luc never grows. I never saw him get any better, or stop to think about a different perspective other than his own. He even made the death of Oliver’s father about HIS feelings. Then, to top things off, the book’s ending is AWFUL. Why the heck did I take the time and effort to read all of this crap to have it end the way it did? I wasn’t happy. It didn’t show any growth. In fact, there was NO closure. Not an epilogue to show how their actions were received, what the effect of their decisions were….nothing. So honestly, after I read/listened to the last word, I felt like it was just a complete waste of time. That RARELY happens to me so when it does, it means something.
The other thing that I felt while reading/listening to this was that it felt “preachy”. I felt like the author was trying to beat me (and Oliver) over the head with the “proper” way to feel about the entire LGBTQ+ community. That was something new. I am a huge fan of this genre and some of my favorite authors write in this genre. T.J. Klune comes immediately to mind. What makes his books so completely amazing is that he gets you to where he wants you to go in a way that eases you into a place that you didn’t even realize you were going to. The character development and the story arc are so seamless that you do not even realize that you are at the end until you reach the last page and you are devastated that it is over. This book however was a challenge to continue, to keep reading/listening to and I found myself constantly looking to see how much longer I had until it was over. To me, that more than anything told me I was done. I will not be continuing with this series.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and listen to this ARC. The opinions above are mine and mine alone.