Reviews

Boyfriend Material // *Squeal*

August 7, 2020 /

Author: Alexis Hall
Published On: July 7, 2020
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Genre: Fiction, NA, LGBTQ+,
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Synopsis:

Luc O’Donnell is tangentially–and reluctantly–famous. His rock star parents split when he was young, and the father he’s never met spent the next twenty years cruising in and out of rehab. Now that his dad’s making a comeback, Luc’s back in the public eye, and one compromising photo is enough to ruin everything.

To clean up his image, Luc has to find a nice, normal relationship…and Oliver Blackwood is as nice and normal as they come. He’s a barrister, an ethical vegetarian, and he’s never inspired a moment of scandal in his life. In other words: perfect boyfriend material. Unfortunately apart from being gay, single, and really, really in need of a date for a big event, Luc and Oliver have nothing in common. So they strike a deal to be publicity-friendly (fake) boyfriends until the dust has settled. Then they can go their separate ways and pretend it never happened.

But the thing about fake-dating is that it can feel a lot like real-dating. And that’s when you get used to someone. Start falling for them. Don’t ever want to let them go.

Let me just start out with a very real, very important quote from this book:

“I can’t make you sleep on the sofa in your own house.”

“I can’t make you sleep on the sofa when you’re a guest.”

(We’ve got a ONE. BED. scene!!!!!!)

Honestly, I knew this book would be amazing when I found it on the shelf in the Barnes & Noble romance section four days before release. If that’s not a good omen, well, then I don’t know what’s wrong with me.

This book was everything I wanted it to be and more, and I’m not at all shocked that I enjoyed (almost) every minute of it. It was just the fun, quirky, SUPER British romance that I needed to throw me back into a reading mood, so to that I say *chefs kiss*.

Things I liked:

  • Luc: My sweet, clueless, hot mess of a child, oh how I love you. Luc is such a disaster but you can tell he’s just trying so hard and I adore him for it. His dialogue made me laugh countless times, and I loved how unapologetically clueless he was. I also liked that even after he met Oliver and “matured”, he still maintained those chaotic personality traits that made him just a little bit (okay, a lot) of a catastrophe.

  • Oliver: Oliver was truly not what I was expecting? Half of this had to do with the fact that I had no idea what a barrister was and mistook it for “barista”, which is definitely not correct and so embarrassing. At first I thought Oliver’s pretentiously complex word choice and general stick-in-the-ass demeanor was a little too much for me, but I grew to adore this grump and really enjoyed reading about him!

  • Oliver & Luc: Their relationship was so. cute. Even though they’re pretty much polar opposites (and I worry about the actual success of a relationship like this in the real world), I loved them together! The banter, the unconditional love and support, the slow burn!! All the things I love.

  • Bridge: Was hilarious and the way she types in all caps SENT ME. Her job in the publishing industry had me grinning and I loved her love for Luc and her friends. She was so cute and I honestly want a book about her and Tom even though I’m kinda mad at him for passing up my sweet boi Luc.

  • London: This book was so….British?? London is probably my favorite place in the whole world, and the references to the tube and the queen made me so happy. The British slang was also so much fun, even if I didn’t understand half of it.

  • The little elements: Little things, like Luc working for a dung beetle preservation charity, or his two friends who happen to both be named James Royce (and married, making them both James Royce-Royce), or Luc’s mom being obsessed with RuPaul’s Drag Race. These made the story so much more entertaining, and also just made me laugh.

Things I disliked:

  • The ending: Don’t get me wrong, I loved the ending in that it wrapped up nicely in the way that I was expecting it to. However, I think that it felt a bit rushed, and I wish we would’ve at least had an epilogue or a “five months later” so we could see a day-to-day life of these characters after all the dramatic stuff goes down!

  • The clueless characters: It felt like almost every character in this book except for Oliver was kind of…unrealistically (for lack of a better term) dolt-ish? Bridget, Alex, Miffy, Rhys, Luc’s mom, Judy, even the James Royce-Royce’s were just really randomly chaotic and had dialogue and moments that would in no way ever be plausible for a real conversation between adults. I get that the story was supposed to be a bit silly and whimsical, but seeing so many characters act so foolish got a bit old after awhile.

I really, really liked this one and I’m glad I picked it up instead of letting it sit sadly on my shelves for…indefinitely. I decided to give it a 4 stars instead of a full 5 because while I definitely liked it and will reread at some point, I just don’t feel that 5 star magic that will forever impact me!

Rating:

Have you read Boyfriend Material? How did you like it?

Thanks guys!xx

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