For fans of RED, WHITE, & ROYAL BLUE comes BOYFRIEND MATERIAL, a boyxboy rom com that takes a delightful spin on classically heteronormative tropes of fake dating and sort-of-enemies-to-lovers. Unashamed queer characters and a lively sense of humor really pushed this book into the "would read again" territory for me.

This is my first taste of Hall's writing, and it didn't disappoint! Luc is the first person narrator, and I found his voice to be compelling, witty, self-deprecating, and reflective of millennial humor. I particularly loved Luc & Oliver's text messages: they sounded authentic and I almost wish there had been more of their text messaging exchanges. I loved that Hall didn't shy away from romance tropes. Queer people deserve to indulge in tropes, too.

I LOVED Luc's character. He was so insecure and deeply flawed and impulsive in ways that I could absolutely relate. I do think Hall could've done more with the emotional depth explored between each of the characters as moments of tension due to interpersonal relations are resolved rather quickly and glossed over, hence why I'm giving this book four stars instead of five. Overall, this is a great addition to LGBTQ+ romancecs and sure to be a hit.

Some other (disorganized) notes:
- The one critique I'd have is that Luc's voice didn't quite fit in with the adult rom com shelf for me. It teetered closer to NA and maybe even older YA. However, I still adore Luc and it's really refreshing to hear a first-person rom com rather than the typical third.
- I prefer non-explicit sex scenes (RWWB is the most explicit I'll typically feel comfortable with) so I didn't have a problem that BM glossed over the sexy details. However, if you're looking for steamy sex scenes, you won't find that here.
- If you're "conservative" aka not someone who indulges in "socially woke Twitter" or whatever, you probably won't like this book. Which is fine. There's some dialogue relating to being "woke" that some people find off-putting, the same people who found RWWB's progressive elements off-putting. This book may not be for you.

Over all, I loved BM as an escapist fiction I could indulge in despite the chaotic current events around me. I look forward to purchasing a copy once the title is released.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca for your kindness and generosity for approving my request for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

We follow Luc O'Donnell, the son of famous rockstars, as he is a subject to the public eye due to stories and photos that were publicized by someone he once knew. To clean up his image of the scandals and keep the only job who was willing to hire him, he needs to find someone whom he can form a fake normal relationship with. Oliver Blackwood is the perfect man and candidate. Total Boyfriend Material. Being complete opposites, they attempt to work together while Oliver is also in need of a partner to a big event. Together, they settle an agreement to help each other be publicity-friendly by faking a relationship just until everything is settled. Or just until before the faking feels all too real.
.
Two flawed and broken characters make them relatable and make this book feel very close to realistic which had me hooked from the beginning; one is an over-thinker and masks his insecurities by the usage of humor, and one is the seemingly all too perfect man that can do no wrong but also has his own insecurities. Luc feels everything in his life goes wrong. Then Oliver came and he was everything that went right. But as the story progresses, Luc developed very much as a person. Both feel as authentic as they can be and not forced to be perfect as they seek the love and acceptance they long for and embrace each other's imperfections.
.
A few things I thought I did not prefer in a book, I loved in this. I tend to not enjoy books that are mostly character driven and with quirky writing, but I surprisingly loved the story even when there was not much going on, and enjoyed the writing style and the effortless humor this book has. Being a romantic comedy, which I also do not really actively seek, it definitely made me laugh. I loved how the relationship between the two characters did not feel rushed. Both them and the story took the time to develop hence I very much appreciated the pacing. While it is overall fun and fluff, it also contains serious topics such as toxic family, homophobia, trust and abandonment issues.
.
This book was the comfort, the warm hug, I did not know I needed.
.
If you love these 3 F's: fake dating, funny, and fluffy, this book is worth the read.

Excellent book! It was gripping the whole way through. Emotionally aware, socially impressive and dripping with comedy, this novel kept me gripped the whole way through. Not quite marketable to my student's age bracket, but will be recommending it to my senior students.

What a charming book. I really enjoyed this one. The writing was a little weak in places but it was laugh out loud funny and silly. Very decent rom com!

Now, see this space right here? This is where a reviewer might put a quote to pique your interest or make you chuckle. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to do that...since I had to resist the urge to highlight the entire book because I loved every single sentence so much. But if I had to pick only one quote? I would still have to hand you the whole book, because it truly IS that hilarious. Boyfriend Material is very much my sense of humor and incorporates one of my favorite romance tropes (fake dating).

Luc is the son of a washed-up rock star and receives negative press from the paparazzi. He desperately needs a respectable boyfriend to help clean up his image and make sure his work fundraiser to save the dung beetles goes off without a hitch. Enter Oliver, a principled and prickly lawyer, who just so happens to need a date to his parents’ anniversary dinner. I adore both of these characters so much. Sarcasm, bacon sandwiches, and fake dating ensue.

This is one of those love stories for anyone who has struggled to believe that they are enough. Both Luc and Oliver are so relatable, and while Oliver seems to have his life a bit more together than Luc, neither is perfect. Luc’s circle of friends and found family feels lovely and real. Sometimes you just read a book so good that your deepest desire is to get on a plane to England, so you can befriend fictional characters.

Boyfriend Material is hilariously descriptive, each line written with intense care and humor. If you told me I’d be shrieking with laughter as an apartment is described, I would have been skeptical. Boyfriend Material will definitely give you some serious laughs, cringes, and happy tears. As for me, I’ve got to look into saving the dung beetles now. Boyfriend Material releases July 7, 2020. Thank you so much to Alexis Hall, Sourcebooks Casablanca, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A romance that made me laugh out loud far more than I expected. Fake dating, hilarious mishaps, complicated emotions, surprising eating disorder representation, a great queer friend group. Good for fans of Red, White & Royal Blue.

DNF at 15%

I wasn’t feeling it. It was too over the top, and I wasn’t connecting with any of the characters.

“I’m conscious this could be rather burdensome to hear, but you remain the thing I have most chosen for myself. The thing that’s most exclusively mine. The one that brings me the deepest joy.”— Boyfriend Material
__
When I sat down to write this review I was tempted to say, “There are no words for how this book made me feel.”…But then I realized, like, it’s kind of my job to have the words…you know…book reviewer and all… So, *deep breath*, here I go.
__
Ever read a book and it heals a wound you didn’t know you had? Or thought that if someone were to origami your heart—your love, your fears, your happiness, your ideals—into a book it would be THIS one? Have you ever read a book that made you cry even in the happy parts because somewhere along the way you’ve hidden a wounded piece of yourself in each of the characters, and them healing is a piece of you finding a home to heal in as well?
__
Yeah, that was this book for me.
__
The voice is so engaging, so well-written, and it immediately feels like you’ve known these characters forever. I swear on everything that Alexis is Oscar Wilde reincarnated. The writing and dialogue is THAT witty. The voice felt like the gay, contemporary remix of the Importance of Being Ernest. The love is so pure and real, and I most definitely cried during the first sex scene because it was. That. Freaking. Pure.
__
One of my favorite reads this year—and it’s FILLED with wonderful gayness. I adored this book. Lucien and Oliver will forever hold a place in my heart. Everyone needs this little bit of love on their shelf. Please, please, please read this book.
__
Some ending notes:
•Jon Fleming is an ass
~
•Lucien is ME. I have BeEn SeeN.
~
•Oliver is PERFECT. He reads Madeline Miller, for the love of Christ.
~
•Dung Beetles are, like, essential to the continued existence of the world.

I recieved an E-ARC through Netgally from Sourcebooks, so thank you very much.

This book was just everything I needed right now. I didn't know what to expect from it, but I wasn't disappointed.
This is just a very cute story with a lot of silly, funny and weird character, who didn't fail to make me laugh a lot. I might also have yelled a bit from time to time because some of the characters was making some pretty stupid choices from time to time, but it was just fitting for the story, and I do enjoy when they make me react in one way or another.

It does deal with some heavy topics such as mental health issues and homophobia, just a TW for that.

All in all. Solid read and I ended up giving it 4.5 stars.

Boyfriend Material was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. I was so excited to read it! Maybe I was little too excited because I just never feel totally in love with this story. The characters are cute and the writing was witty. It took me forever to get into this story, and I had to make myself pick it up a couple of times. I'm happy I finished it because it was a cute sweet story. It was missing the some emotions and angst. I just never fell totally in love with the characters or the relationship which makes it hard to care. However I think lots of people will ADORE this story!

Boyfriend Material is a romance novel packed with well-loved tropes. Fake dating? Check. Only one bed? Check! Awkwardly catching feelings? Triple check! And despite all of these tropes, it was still a fresh and interesting addition to the romance novel selection.

I'm going to be honest, I wasn't a massive fan of Luc at the beginning. He was, to be blunt, a dick. To be fair, that's what he was meant to be, but still. He messed up a lot (a LOT), and I was a little unsure about whether I wanted his relationship with Oliver to work out, even though I knew it would. However, he did grow on me, and actually he was a fairly endearing character because part of his appeal as a MC was the headshaking he prompted. Oliver, on the other hand, was an instantly likeable character for me, which is possibly because we're very similar but mostly because he's awesome. Though he was viewed through Luc's slightly biased eyes, he was still a compelling character, and the way he contrasted with Luc's brashness worked really well.

One of the best things about Boyfriend Material was the character development, as both Oliver and Luc grew throughout the novel. Luc starts out as a bit of a mess, and while he’s still a bit of a mess, he’s less so. His character development is also not entirely in the scope of his relationship, fake or not, because he grows independently of his relationship. The same can be said for Oliver, as he also had very necessary growth. They slowly become more comfortable with each other, and I really liked that. I have to put an obligatory shout-out to Odile and her ‘oyster dick’ comment (bite d’huitre in French, it rhymes) which got quite a laugh out of me!

Now, I’m a sucker for fake relationships. It’s the pining that does it for me, I think. The fake relationship between Luc and Oliver certainly wasn’t lacking in that, especially since both of them were attracted to each other before entering into the relationship. There is a sufficient amount of tension to keep the whole thing sizzling, and there wasn’t so much conflict that I felt them getting together was hopeless. As these things do, eventually they do end up getting together (presumably not a spoiler considering the genre of this book) but it’s not in an abrupt way, and it felt really natural.  I think that as far as relationships in romance go, Luc and Oliver are probably one of my favourite couples.

It's very much a classic fake dating plot, with pining and misunderstanding and all that jazz, so if you're going into this book expecting tropey romance goodness, that's exactly what you'll get. Because of the inherently tropey aspect of this book, it's a little predictable; to say there's a happily ever after isn't really a spoiler because that's what all of these books have. Alexis Hall does do an excellent job of keeping the reader interested and engaged in the story even though it's generally fairly predictable, which cements this as a great book to read when you need something comforting.

If you’re looking for a summer read that’s light but still interesting, I would highly recommend Boyfriend Material. It’s full of tropey, fluffy goodness, and will leave you with a warm feeling for several hours/days/weeks. I can definitely see Boyfriend Material becoming a summer hit.

Review is going to be posted on my blog on Sunday 5th of July.

Oh. My Goodness. This book.

I stayed up reading it until two in the morning even though i knew the kids would wake me at six. That's how good it is.

I never thought that it would be possible to find a man who out-Darcy's Mark Darcy, but I was wrong - Oliver is all that and more.

And Luc ... you beautiful hot mess. You had me at your skinniest jeans and pointiest shoes.

I loved this book and read it in two settings. It's witty, funny and hard to put down.
I loved the well written characters, rooted for them, laughed and thoroughly enjoyed.
It's highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

RATING: 3/5 STARS

This was a cute read. If you enjoy British humor, I think you'll like this book. The main character Luc is sarcastic and witty - his voice is really unique and keeps the reader on their toes. There were some lovely romantic moments between Luc and Oliver as well. However, by the end I felt like there was unnecessary drama and I lost interest a little bit. I also couldn't get invested in the supporting characters. I ended up giving this book 3 stars because the fake-dating and enemies-to-lovers tropes were overall done pretty well, and there were a lot of amusing scenes and dialogue.

A sincere thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca for providing an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Social: @_shelf.awareness on Instagram

Fake boyfriend stories are hands down some of my favorite stories. I have loved it in soap operas and other TV shows and movies and in books. It is such a great troupe because you know the lines from fake to real will blur and feeling will be caught and everything will change. It’s predictable and comforting and I love it. So whenI saw Boyfriend Material popping up on social media the cover intrigued me and then I read the description and saw it was a fake romance, I was hooked from the get go. And I am happy to report it fit all the things I have come to love about fake romances and left me just wanting more of these two.

Boyfriend Material starts with Luc, the son of a rock star couple that hates all the media attention that comes with famous parents. All it does is ruin his life. After an unfortunate incident that leads to some bad press Luc finds his job on the line. He needs to do something to change his image and do it fast. Enter Oliver Blackwood. Oliver is everything Luc isn’t. He has a solid job as a barrister, is related to no one famous and on paper, looks like the perfect fake boyfriend even though they are complete opposites. But as the two of them start spending time together something shifts. Instead of being opposites they find a connection that could easily turn fake dating into the real thing. The question is, are they ready for it?

Boyfriend Material was truly and entertaining book. Luc and Oliver were such an unlikely pair but they worked so well together. Oliver seemed so posh and stuffy while Luc was all over the place and a mess. But something about that just made them work. They were so charming together and I loved how they flirted and joked around. They were truly perfect for one another. And their friends were the best! They knocked them down when they needed it and lifted them up when they need the push. Both groups of friends were the sounding boards they needed and added something to the story.

I really, really enjoyed Boyfriend Material. It was utterly British and made me laugh from the first page. It also broke my heart and made me extremely happy. I had an issue with one part that swayed this book from being a completely perfect reading experience, but even with that blip I HIGHLY recommend picking this one up and falling in love with Luc and Oliver.

This is the first book I've read by Alexis Hall, and after such a beautiful, witty, and at times intense story I discovered in the pages of BOYFRIEND MATERIAL, this most definitely won't be the last.

With perfectly timed humour, one that captures quintessential British wit and sarcasm so perfectly, it was impossible to not get sucked into Luc's story as he navigates his journey of acceptance and self-belief while finding a man who is so perfectly opposite, it's clear that these men are wonderfully right for each other.

The narrative managed to punch me in the gut a time or two, just as it gripped my heart, making it impossible not to be moved by Luc and Oliver's journeys.

Simply put, I adored both characters. Loved their distinctive voices, their unique personalities, and their connection. And boy was their chemistry off the charts incredible—all without an explicit sex scene.

A truly beautiful romance offering the perfect indulgent escapism.

I loved this book so much! It has all my favorite tropes. Fake dating, check. Mutual pining, check. There was only one bed, check. And the humor was so good, I found myself laughing all the way through. I could have easily read hundreds more pages of these characters, and I am def gonna be reading more of Alexis Hall's works. If you are a fan of Red White and Royal Blue, I absolutely recommend you read this one.

ARC provided by publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Boyfriend Material is a super fun fake dating queer romance novel. If any of those are what you are looking for, then you should probably scurry off and pick up this book! Here is the summary from Goodreads:

Wanted:
One (fake) boyfriend
Practically perfect in every way

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.

So I have already told you I love this book, now I am going to do that thing where you compliment, criticize, compliment, so you begin and end on the happy notes. I also have a small rant about vegetarians that did not impact my rating but just drives me crazy, and if I don’t put it here, I might explode from having no one to express this too.

I genuinely had a hard time rating this book because I sincerely enjoyed the reading experience, but these two factors (one more than the other) keeps pulling me out of the story very consistently over the course of reading the book so that kind of sustained issue so it seemed to merit a four-star rating overall. The first thing that I encountered was that the book is sort of aggressively conversational. This was not necessarily a bad thing, and this was the less noticeable of the two things that pulled me out of the story, after about the first 10% of the book I mostly stopped noticing the narration. In fairness, this style of narration does also have positives, it certainly contributed to how hilarious the books is, and it helped with the immediacy and the development of our main character, Luc.

The part that pulled me out consistently was that most, if not all, of the side characters, are so incredibly over-the-top that some of them were very hard to suspend your disbelief and keep in the world of the book. This was such a weird one because I did really like most of these characters, and at times I found their eccentricities to be charming and reminiscent of the way in which your closest friends are family are deeply strange people when you really know them well. But there were other times where they just seemed so unbelievable that I was completely pulled out of the story. It was such an issue in part because the two main characters seemed real and vulnerable and tangible, so the occasional contrast to a hurricane of wackiness was jarring. This is not to say that I didn’t like these characters, I did, I just also didn’t fully buy their veracity in the same manner I did for Luc and Oliver. So, at times, the side characters and hilarious and fun, and at times they are over-the-top and annoying.

So I wrote my mini-rant about the choice to have the ethical vegetarian eat bacon, and it was far longer than the situation warranted. I am probably going to write a post about vegetarians in books soon because I clearly have a lot of feelings. Basically, my issue comes down to I personally don’t like vegetarians eating meat being a plot device; I find the voice of meat unrealistic because the long term vegetarians I know (and I admit there must be exceptions even if I do not know them) agree that pork smells the worst, and Olivers guy would be at least slightly in distress due to not having enough of the correct bacteria kicking to help digest bacon. I accidentally had a small amount of pork a few years into being a vegetarian, and that night was certainly not romantic.

Back to the things I deeply enjoyed about this book. The book is consistently and deeply funny. I laughed out loud too many times to count and probably on average found something genuinely funny one every page. When reading this book, prepare to giggle for 400 pages.

Hall handles other emotional reactions exceptionally well too! I felt deeply for Luc and his hardships, I was invested in Oliver and his emotional arc throughout the book, and I cried at least one time. Hall really is excellent at leading the reader through the emotional journey he crafted.

I also thought the plot was very well done; Hall totally follows the path of doing the expected thing earlier than the reader anticipated. This is wonderful, especially with a book that used the fake dating trope. You know the story beats that accompany that trope, and Hall excellently places them and manages to bring you as a reader down a more nuanced and interesting use of this trope than maybe you originally expected.

I particularly loved the relationships between Luc and his parents; I think they were excellently handled. I am not here to spoil anything, but his relationship with his dad is a rollercoaster that I super liked where Hall chooses to go with it. And Luc’s mother was delightful and, at times, over-the-top, but her emotional journey through the book was so solid and helped ground Luc’s story in such a wonderful way.

Of course, I have to take about Luc and Oliver’s relationship; this is a romance that is the core of the book. I think the love story is incredibly well done. Hall is deft with showing the reader where the characters are emotionally even when the characters are lying to each other or themselves. I was really incredibly invested in how these two would work out together. Hall is excellent at making you care deeply about this relationship. It is such a fun and engrossing love story.

Boyfriend Material will be published on July 7th, 2020, and is available to preorder (or purchase) here!

I recommend this to anyone who wants an excellent romance, who loves the fake dating trope, and to anyone who wants to read queer stories by queer authors. I have read one Alexis Hall in the past, but imagine I will go read more of his back catalog soon!

I was originally drawn to this because of the cover and because of the comparison to Red, White, and Royal Blue, but outside of it being a queer romcom, it’s hard to find the similarities. I’m a huge fan of the fake dating trope, as well anything remotely similar to Pride and Prejudice, and this felt like the perfect combination of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and Bridget Jones’s Diary, but, you know, queer. I can also see this having a lot of YA crossover appeal, especially for teens who want adult romances without much sexual content.

Boyfriend Material is one of those books I’m finding difficult to review because I basically just want to gush and squee and scream, ‘I loved everything about this book!’ It was hilarious (I had actual tears of mirth running down my face at times), romantic, and full of unexpected feels. It had the perfect balance of hilarity and ridiculousness and also depth and real emotion. Add in a fantastic cast of memorable characters, and Boyfriend Material is easily one of the best books I’ve read in 2020.

Luc was a screwup and he knew it, but he wanted to do better. He’d been trying to fill an emotional void with all the wrong things - casual sex, booze, complete avoidance of his problems. He and Oliver were both so wonderfully, realistically flawed. They didn’t like each other at first, but they needed one another, and they ended up being so good for each other and integral to each other’s growth. Their banter was hilarious and their chemistry was super hot. I rooted for them throughout the book and I swooned hard on several occasions. I also really felt their pain, their insecurities, the self-destructive tendencies that stemmed largely from a lack of self-worth on both their parts. They were so different and yet so similar, and I adored them.

Luc and Oliver weren’t the only fantastic characters in Boyfriend Material. I loved Luc’s zany friend group, his ridiculous co-workers, and his eccentric mother. I’m actually sitting here giggling as I think of all the antics this group of characters got up to. I feel like I’d fit right in with Luc’s quirky group of friends, and I desperately wish they were real so I could be part of it.

Charming, hilarious, heartfelt, and full of British wit, Boyfriend Material is the perfect escape from the hellscape that is 2020. It’s an instant new favourite and one I know I’ll recommend constantly. Also, this would make such a fun, funny movie, so who do we have to talk to to make that happen??