This was a cute and charming little book that unfortunately, in my eyes, fell short of the Red, White, and Royal Blue comparison that the cover so resolutely demands (seriously- compare the covers of these two books and tell me that there isn't at least a LITTLE "inspiration" involved.) However, unlike RWRB, I didn't care very much about these characters or the plot. Sure, they're cute, and the plot is charming enough, but it felt like all fluff and no substance. Again, perhaps it's because I read (and loved) RWRB, which had some serious consequences and tension beneath the cute fluffiness, that I made these comparisons - and I'd feel guilty for doing so if not for the fact that this book so clearly wanted to cater to the same crowd. It's fine, but I'll just be rereading RWRB.

Some familiar elements but managed to sidestep the obvious and make an interesting plot with loveable characters. Loved the humor.

A complete triumph. This book needs to by hyped and hyped hard.

Honestly, it’s one of the best romance novels I’ve ever read. It’s raw and genuine and side-splitting hilarious.

Luc’s narrative is absolute perfection. Seriously, so perfect I can’t even put it into words. He is on the top of the list when it comes to first person narrators.

To put it plainly... I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH!!! At this point I’m hoping it’ll be optioned to become a movie because the population of world needs this story in their lives.

This book was a sweet romance of rediscovering how it feels to care for someone and let them in past the outer shell you show the world. Luc has been burned quite a few times and throughout the book works harder and harder to trust Oliver and be vulnerable around him (even if it means talking through a bathroom door). Oliver has been in a string of relationships that never go anywhere because Oliver is always on his best behavior around them, mistakenly thinking they want a perfect version of him, and not just him.

Due to the nature of their fake relationship, it takes the pressure they both normally put on relationships out of the equation allowing them to be themselves, the good, the bad, and the ugly. And it turns out, despite being opposite in nearly every way, they’re a good fit.

The book is very well written and each character is nuanced and fleshed out. I thought Luc’s mom and best friend were particularly hilarious as were his friends. Oliver’s family came off a bit one-note with their typical upper-class snobbery and ignoring their children’s’ feelings.

Here is the thing. I wanted to love this book so much more than I did. Don’t get me wrong, I liked this book enough to give it four stars, but I didn’t desperately need them to be together at the end. A few things kept it from being five stars for me. The sex was very fade-to-black. I felt like I earned the right to be a part of the sexy times, not have it be “between them”. HELLO, WHAT ABOUT ME!

McDreamy to McSteamy: McDreamy and a bit McInsecure

Classy to Nasty: Classy pg-13 fade-to-black loving

Hero rating - Luc: 🍆🍆🍆🍆

Hero rating - Oliver: 🍆🍆🍆🍆

Overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Boyfriend Material - Alexis Hall (7/7)


Rating 4.5 / 5 Stars

** Thank you to Netgalley, Source Book Casablanca, and of course, Alexis Hall, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am an absolute STAN of delightfully British contemporary romance novels. Boyfriend Material is just that and MORE. It also has one of my favorite troupe - fake dating to real dating romance. It is always fun to see how relationships evolve when this is introduced as a plot point. On top of that Luc and Oliver have one of the best slow-burn possible. They are messy and a perfect fit at the same time. I was delighted with every page of this book and hated it when it ended.

The British humor in this book MADE IT for me. Beyond all of the other things I loved about this book, This was probably one of the best things. I moved to the UK a while ago and being able to read and understand some of the humor before it is explained is the best! It was snarky and truly beautiful as a whole.

This was the escape I needed and I am so looking forward to Alexis Hall’s next book.

So did you decide to read it yet?

A few decades ago Luc’s parents were household names worldwide: his father, a rock star; his mother, a one-hit wonder who’s still comfortably living off the royalty checks. Now his dad is aiming for a comeback as one of the hosts/team leaders on a singing competition show…and he’s hoping for another chance to get to know the son he walked out on over twenty years ago.

While Luc is perfectly content to continue working for a dung beetle nonprofit and failing at relationships, his father’s reemergence in the spotlight also puts a spotlight on Luc. And it’s a less-than-favorite light. With his drunken escapades splashed on the front pages, Luc needs to do some image PR – and fast before he loses more dung beetle donors.

Enter Oliver. A perfectly bland, perfectly boring lawyer who’s an ethical vegetarian and regularly changes his sheets, Oliver is just the ticket: a few fake dates is exactly what Luc needs to clean up his spoiled reputation. Unfortunately fake-dating can feel an awful lot like real-dating…

Fake relationships is my ultimate trope. I love it. If there’s a fake relationship in a book, chances are I will absolutely read it. Boyfriend Material was no different: the moment I first heard about it I knew it needed to be in my life ASAP.

Let’s start off with the good, mmkay? The representation. Just about every single main character is LGBT. Luc and Oliver are gay as are two of Luc’s closest friends. Luc’s ex is now dating their token (in their words) straight friend. Rounding out the group is a Muslim lesbian couple. Apart from the one bestie, all the straight characters take a backseat in this novel which was refreshing to see.

The humor was also great – several times I caught myself actually laughing aloud. Luc’s mother was also an absolute delight and completely shone in any scene she was in. And how can I pass up a career at a dung beetle nonprofit.

And, disappointingly, that’s where the good ends. I wanted to rip my hair out every time Luc or Oliver “broke up” with the other, only to go crawling back hours later. They fed off the other’s drama and I was not having it. I can deal with one over-the-top, climactic, break-up scene before the couple realizes they’re Meant To Be and live happily ever after. In Boyfriend Material I honestly lost count the number of times they called it off – the last time I truly thought it was for good as the end of the book was drawing to a close and they still hadn’t gotten back together.

Luc’s dad, that entire storyline, was another downfall of this novel. The book could have benefited from a hundred or so pages cut…and this would have been just the part to get the ax. It added nothing to the story (apart from further drama), led to a big cancer reveal, then led to a nope, it’s not cancer reveal. The reader is then left to decide whether the dad lied about his diagnosis or if he truly believe he had cancer. Yawn.

While Boyfriend Material had a lot of good within its pages, it was outweighed by the bad, by the meh, by the eye-rolling. There were genuinely funny moments that had me giggling, but the unending drama between Luc and Oliver – the countless break-ups, the arguments through bathroom doors and constantly pushing the other away because of feelings made this book feel every single one of its 400+ pages.

4.5 stars

Sometimes it takes a fake boyfriend to turn your world around.

In Alexis Hall's newest book, Boyfriend Material, Luc is the son of musicians, and while he never met his rock star father, it’s not stopped the tabloids from covering Luc’s every misdeed, especially with his father’s resurgent career.

Since everyone just assumes Luc is a depressed lush who flits from guy to guy, he feels it’s easier just to behave that way. And since he's only had disappointing relationships, it's best not to expect anything else.

But when the media coverage of his exploits starts to impact his job as a fundraiser for a charity, a colleague suggests he pretend to find the “right” sort of man and fake a relationship, so the media can provide more positive coverage. Luc’s best friend has just the guy: Oliver, a handsome barrister who has often acted as if Luc is the last man on earth he’s interested in.

However, Oliver could benefit from having a fake boyfriend, too, so he reluctantly agrees to Luc’s scheme. As the two get closer (for “verisimilitude,” as Oliver puts it), they discover that each is far more complex—and appealing—than they thought. But could they ever succeed in a “real” relationship?

If you don’t know what happens next, you’ve not read a romance before. Yet it didn’t matter that you could predict the way the plot unfolded—these characters were fun and charming and sexy and damaged and I was there for every second of it.

I’ve always been a fan of the fake relationship trope in rom-coms, and I love reading M/M romances that aren’t all steam or all drama. This was such a great read, and I’d love to see lots more of Luc and Oliver, as well as the great supporting characters. This was funny and thought-provoking and emotional and a bit steaamy as well.

NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca provided an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

boyfriend Material is the book we needed in our lives and didn't know it. Such a perfect Rom com with pride! I want a boyfriend like this too!

<i>A huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ecopy in exchange for an honest review.</i>

Full disclaimer: I got approved for this book one day before publication, at 3pm, so I clearly didn't have time to read it before it came out. Luckily Storytel (and Scribd!) had the audio available, so I listened to this book.

Best. Choice. Ever.

This book... This book became an instant favorite in no time whatsoever. I laughed out loud several times in the first minute. And I kept laughing throughout the entire book. This book was such a feel good book, and a perfect book for bad days. There is some angst towards the end, but it's all quite minor. The end itself is <i>very</i> rushed, and the book really could have used an epilogue to tie it all up. That's about the only thing I would change, though.

I have read several reviews calling this book silly, and juvenile. I have seen people calling this book too serious.

Safe to say there are a lot of contradicting views, and what it comes down to is what another reviewer said quite eloquently: it depends on what you expect from this book. If you expect this to be like all the fake dating fanfics, this isn't it. This is more mature, and our guys barely know each other. It has less angst than a fanfic would have. It doesn't have the bits we generally love in fanfics.

What it does have, is fake dating, in an original novel, with lots and lots of humor.

Ironically, a lot of people say this book reads like fanfiction, but as a complaint. I am saying this book reads like fanfiction as the highest compliment possible. Fanfiction has a bad rep due to disasters like FSOG, but so many of the fics I read are infinitely better than a lot of the original novels I read. People using this as a bad thing, probably don't read fics.

Is this the best book ever written? Of course not. It's a romcom. It's silly (but supposed to be and therefore a good thing!), it's funny, but it also deals with some more serious issues. Luc isn't the best person out there. Oliver has a lot of buried issues of his own.

Could some things be handled better? Yes. Oliver's friends not respecting him being vegetarian felt off to me and was wholly unnecessary. They could have made jokes while still having some proper food for him. And the end, as I previously mentioned. For a while there I thought it would either have an unhappy ending, or should have a sequel. So perhaps this shouldn't be a full 5 stars, but I just loved it too much over all. It made me feel happy, it made me smile, it made me laugh, and that counts for something. For me, it counts for everything.

The narrator did an absolutely amazing job, as well. Every voice was distinct, and there were different accents. The Welsh character, actually had a Welsh accent, can you believe it?? The inflection, intonation.. it was just perfect. I would wholeheartedly recommend the audio!

I would recommend this book if you just want a fun queer read without having the highest expectations in terms of it being the best book ever. It's fun. Have fun. Laugh. Yell at these idiots. And join me in feeling the feels!

Funnily enough, I’d just finished reading To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, which is also about an arrangement between two people who pretend to be in a relationship for various reasons, so Boyfriend Material kind of felt like a continuation of that niche in the fiction genre. I enjoyed Boyfriend Material very much. It made me laugh out loud numerous times even though I didn’t understand the majority of pop references with exceptions to the Pussy Cat Dolls and One Direction. Perhaps you have to be British or older or both to get them. Anyway, what I did get was the humor of this situation. Two hopeless romantics who are hopeless at romance being forced together through a bizarre series of poor choices, odd circumstances, and special events.

Luc’s group of miscreant friends were like a combination of the friends from Bridget Jones’ Diary and a trainwreck on fire after the explosion that derailed it. Truly made me wonder if Luc really was that bad at relationships or if his would-be significant others met that group and ran for the hills. I found Bridget’s disasters at her publishing job to be absolutely hilarious. They were definitely a highlight! I found his thick co-workers to be slightly less entertaining as they made me question how someone so dumb could survive so long. Did Alex put anyone else in mind of Thick Kevin from Pirate Radio?

Speaking of train wrecks, poor Luc is quite the disaster though he truly is his own worst enemy and spends far too much time whining and proclaiming his loserdom when he could actually be doing something to change his life. I did tire of his ceaseless self-loathing, but still empathized with him through the various hurts and relationship crises that he endured throughout the story.

Overall, I liked the plot and the characters. It was a fresh and different read. I must admit that I did find it went on a bit too long. I was definitely ready for it to be over before it actually came to an end, but it was entertaining, and I would definitely read other books by Alexis Hall.

I love a good trope lean-in, and “fake boyfriend” gets such great romcom treatment here in Alexis Hall’s BOYFRIEND MATERIAL.
•
Luc is only a 2nd-gen celeb: of interest by dint of being the progeny of celebrities, and estranged from his most famous parent at that. But it’s enough for the paparazzi to occasionally fuck up his life. Now an ill-timed photo has put his job at risk. Oliver is a clean-living barrister—a little uptight, but possibly perfect for getting Luc out of the pickle he’s in...assuming they can stand each other that long.
•
You know exactly where this book is going the moment you open it, which is the reading experience I am looking for when I can’t sleep between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m. Hall reaches past trope’y fun to engage with the reality of mental health struggles, the need to ‘fix yourself’ to be good/ready/available for another person, and navigating toxic family relationships in ways that are gratifying but never TOO angsty. And there were enough moments of laugh-outloud hilarity to make this emerge from a sea of books I read on an insomniac tear but forget once I re-emerge into the land of the living.
•
This was exactly the British romcom I was hoping for when I picked it up, a fab summer read with some meat on its bones and clever dialogue. Fingers crossed we’ll be getting more stories from the colorful cast of supporting characters. Thanks to @runoutofpages for putting it on my radar, @librofm & @dreamscape_media for the ALC (the narration in this one is a friggin’ DELIGHT, 10/10, high rec), and @sourcebookscasa & @netgalley for the dARC. BOYFRIEND MATERIAL is out now!

The first third or so of the book was a bit slow for me, but once I got into it, I really enjoyed the story. Luc and Oliver are complete opposites, but agree to "fake" dating. And as usual, the fake dating evolves into something more.

I loved the relationship between Luc and Oliver and the strong supporting characters. The writing and dialogue were witty and entertaining. It was a great summer read!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

While I enjoyed the romance between the two main characters, I felt as though the conflict came too late in the story. Furthermore, the mini subplots did not seem like a necessary addition, as it seemed contradictory at times.

What a fricken phenomenal book! This was everything I could have hoped for. While the first chapter didn’t captivate me, once I got a few chapters into the story, I became really intrigued and connected with the character. I love the emotional depth to the characters and their stories. They seemed so real and genuine. I loved their relationship, their struggles, and their progression. This is definitely one of my favorites from 2020. I need more from Alexis Hall!

I wish I could give this book more than five stars - it's definitely one of my favourites (if not my favourite) of the year! It's a genuinely hilarious rom-com (like, laugh out loud funny, which is rarer than it should be!) and the love story between Luc and Oliver was just perfect. The whole cast of characters (with a couple of notable exceptions) were intensely loveable, and I feel like I'm missing them all already. Do not start this book late in the day, as you will stay up all night reading it. It's truly addictive!

This book was so fun and gut wrenching at the same time. I absolutely loved Oliver's quirkiness and Luc's openness. It’s so fun reading the parts of the book where they’re interacting. Their bantering and the addition of their friends, just adds so much to the story. Two of my favorite scenes were at Oliver's parents and the road trip. I’m also really loving the British slang and tidbits, it makes me miss London even more.

This fake boyfriends story has it all and I think anyone who reads it will love it too.

I really enjoyed this book. A lot of very high quality LGBT+ literature has been coming out over the past two to three years, and this, I believe, is one of the best that I have read. The characters are pretty believable, especially for one being the son of a has-been rockstar, and I think that readers can really connect with their vulerability throughout the novel.

I think that people should really care about this book because I think it really humanizes the characters. People see themselves in Luc and Oliver because, again, of their vulnerability, but also because of their self doubt and fears. I especially liked that the book subtly (or not so subtly) pointed out how poorly people often treat members of the LGBT+ community, maybe without even realizing it, or maybe they do realize it or think that their reactions are not noticeable. But people notice how you treat them. Luc certainly noticed when his donors gave him disapproving looks for holding his boyfriend's hand. He and Oliver certainly noticed when Oliver's friends were making comments. When donors pulled out of his fundraiser for his "lifestyle" but claimed that "it had nothing to do with the gay thing." I am not LGBT+, but I have plenty of LGBT+ friends and they have all had similar, or even worse experiences themselves. It is important to show people that their actions matter and that people notice when these things are happening, even if you think you're being sly or not obvious about it.

I also particularly enjoyed the Drag Race references.

Lastly - I understand the reasoning for including Luc's father in this book - meeting this man he has never really known and hoping for a relationship - but I don't think it quite did enough for me. I wanted more, or at least a little bit more resolution. This seemed like a under-utilized plot point that was built up but didn't really go anywhere.

I will be reviewing this book on my blog, www.rosiesreads.com, but have not yet had a chance to post my review.

Smarting from a broken heart, Luc can hardly be bothered to leave his flat to go to his boring job or to parties where he always gets trolled by the paparazzi. When Luc's boss threatens to fire him due to a string of tabloid exposés, Luc decides to clean up his reputation by dating a sensible, decent man....as long as it's not Oliver Blackwood, the too uptight, too boring (but also HOT) barrister. After a disastrous date, Oliver and Luc, driven by mutual desperation, strike up a fake dating scheme to help each other out, but what happens when verisimilitude starts to feel very real?

I adored Boyfriend Material! It reminded me of Bridget Jones' Diary, and kept me laughing and swooning until the last page. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to escape into a clever, heartwarming novel. <3

As a huge fan of LGBTQ+ stories, I really wanted to love this, but I’m afraid I had to DNF at 20%. I found the main character intolerable, which I know is sort of the point, but I just couldn’t keep reading his internal dialogue. I’m glad so many readers are enjoying this book, though, as I think it’s so important for LGBTQ+ stories to be told. Sadly, though, this one just wasn’t for me.

Luc O'Donnell is a mess. He’s been a mess for as long as he or anyone else can remember. Now that his has-been rock star father is back on TV, suddenly Luc is back in the public eye and it’s threatening his job as the fundraising savior of the Dung Beetle.

After being papped, and, as usual, the story behind the photos being twisted, he’s in need of a public image makeover to save not just those beetles, but also, his job.

Enter Oliver Blackwood—the clean cut, three-piece suit wearing barrister. A friend of a friend, who Luc has interacted with before, but is pretty certain actually detests him. Oliver is also in need; he has some engagements coming up that he doesn’t want to attend alone.

So, these two make a deal: to be fake boyfriends in the hopes it will help Luc improve his image, and help Oliver make it through his parents’ anniversary party with his sanity.

It hurts me to say that this book wasn't what I was hoping for.

I adore the fake boyfriend/girlfriend trope. It might just be one of my favorite things to read. There's usually always lots of feels, and a lot of unresolved tension that eventually goes <i>boom</i>. The buildup. The will he/won’t he. All that makes me a happy reader, most of the time…

Don't get me wrong, there was lots of buildup here; lots of push and pull, and lots of bad behavior by both characters pushing each other away. And I’m usually okay with that, because when they finally do come together? That's my jam.

This time, though... I felt cheated out of the actual good stuff. Like, I want to read <i>that moment</i> when one or the other just can’t control themselves anymore, and gahhhh I’m sad to say Luc and Oliver’s climax was…underwhelming at best, which breaks my heart because I had very high hopes for this one, and it just didn't deliver for me.