Boyfriend Material

This fake dating romance was exactly what I needed to get through a quarantine slump.

Luc O'Donnell, because of his absent famous asshole father, is routinely showing up in the tabloids. (Not least of all because Luc is a bit of a disaster.) After an innocent picture gets published with a scandalous twist, Luc is in danger of losing his job unless he cleans up his public image. Enter, Oliver Blackwood, well-dressed, but seemingly stuck up, defense lawyer. The two decide to pretend to date to help both of themselves out.

Boyfriend Material is hilarious and charming and full of two very different people learning that they like that about each other… if only they could communicate it!

This book is probably not for everyone (British humor and all too real insecurities) but it was definitely my kind of book. As soon as I saw the description of a romance set in England with fake relationships troupe and sarcastic humor I wanted to read it. These characters start out unlikely because of their many insecurities and issues, but I instantly connected to these completely real feelings and the vulnerabilities underneath. I enjoyed the awkward conversation, banter, teasing, and heartfelt realizations. I'm a sucker for great dialogue and the dialogue between these two characters was perfectly imperfect, smart, and sounded like people I wish I could be friends with. I read this book in one sitting because I needed to know what happened to these two characters I quickly loved and wanted to protect from all bad things so they could be happy. I also adored how British this book was from the setting to the dialogue to the humor. I could keep gushing about it, but really you should just read it for yourself if this British story about two struggling men finding themselves and each other speaks to you. It made me feel less alone and smile which is exactly what I needed right now.

I read this book in a single day. I adored it. It's witty and sweet, with a fantastic cast of characters, and two romantic leads that you want to root for from the start. Highly recommended.

This is very much of the air of Bridget Jones to me and I loved it! It's such a fun read and a fun addition to LGBTQ romance. The main character of Luc is hilarious. He's self-deprecating, fiery and just so funny. He's a hoot and so is his family. Oliver is very much the Mr. Darcy proper guy, but he's so much more than the pristine exterior. They're coming together in the fake relationship is hilarious and seeing their relationship go from fake to real was very easy to enjoy and want to continue reading.

Go but it now! Right now! Stop reading this review and go read this book. Well, if you insist on reading this review...

Luc reminds me of Brigdet Jones in that they are both lovable dumpster fires. Oliver, at first, has a very Darcy vibe but develops into something much deeper than a mere trope. Halfway through this book, I had to recommend this to a bunch of my friends because it is so good. Good and funny, which is hard to pull off but, Alexis Hall pulled it off.

I loved Boyfriend Material so much! This is my second arc from Alexis Hall, and honestly I'm not surprised at how much I enjoyed this: their writing is so...precious? But in a "Gollum" way, as in "this is the most wonderful thing in the world it's beautiful" as opposed to a less positive connotation. The POINT is that Boyfriend Material is a wonderful book, and it defied my expectations on several counts which I loved (thank you for ignoring several conventional gay romance tropes!). The characters were delightful and weird, and several of the dung beetle bits made me laugh very loudly--I refuse to spoil them though so that others may laugh as I did.

tl;dr: This book is beautiful, dung beetles are funny.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is already a strong contender for my book of the year! I'm a sucker for the fake relationship trope so I had high hopes for this and it absolutely did not disappoint. Full of snark, bickering and moments of softness, I really came to love the characters (especially Alex!) and I was rooting for the main characters to get their happy ever after. The pacing works perfectly for the slow burn romance and the angst is believable too. Highly recommended!

This book was exactly what I wanted in a fluffy, tropey romance right now. I had to force myself to go to sleep and not peek at the book while I was supposed to be working, and I still finished it way too quickly. I loved the characters and the whole fake dating set up and pay out was perfect.

This book is utterly charming, funny, and appealing! Luc and Oliver are endearingly human and each is messed up in his own way. They both are in need of a fake boyfriend, but of course one thing leads to another and they soon find everything becoming only too real. I laughed out loud and had tears in my eyes, and really, what else do you want from a romantic comedy? Author Alexis Hall is someone to watch! Highly recommended.

Wow. This book completely exceeded any and all expectations I had going in. I expected romance with a little humor but I was blown away by how at-once adorable and hilarious this book was. It's not often you get the two best tropes (enemies to lovers and fake dating) in the same book and they're done this well but this book delivered. I also was pleasantly surprised by how relatable our two main characters were, especially considering Luc has famous parents and Oliver is a lawyer. I still felt such a kinship to the two of them and I was rooting for them the entire time. I hadn't read anything by Alexis Hall before this but I am a new fan and I can't wait to get my hands on something else.