You need this in your life if:

- You’re a sucker for the fake boyfriend trope
- You love self-deprecating humor and characters who mess up
- You love opposites attracting 😉
- You want a heavy dose of British wit
- You miss Alex and Henry from Red, White and Royal Blue

Review:

You can tell a book is going to be a good one when you find yourself cackling multiple times and the pages flying by while you do it. Boyfriend Material was one of those books. The dialogue and banter in this book? Pure gold.

As you would probably expect from a British comedy, there are loads of characters that are just so particular in their ways, you can’t help but crack up whenever they grace the pages. From Luc’s colleagues from work who try their best to understand and make jokes that fail spectacularly to Oliver’s peculiar group of friends who are overbearing but have their heart in the right place and should most definitely be kept away from alcoholic beverages, there were just a lot of moments that made me cackle. Sure, sometimes the humour is very pointed and exaggerated but it all feels natural to the characters. In all honesty, it reminded me a lot of the humour from one of my favourite sitcoms of the 90s, The Nanny. As long as you take some of the comments with a grain of salt, I think you’ll enjoy the humour, too!

And the characters, oh how I loved the characters in this one. Oliver is this high-strung, straight-laced person who is just too good for this world. And then we have Luc, who’s been in the press his entire life just because of a second-rate superstar for a father and has to deal with the pressures that come with that private life being splashed across the tabloids whenever he missteps. I just loved these two very opposing characters deciding to fake date to appease someone they’re trying to keep off their backs and the conversations between them had me in stitches. From Oliver’s face-palming moments whenever he texts Luc to their discussions of Luc’s messiness and overall disregard for any ethical issue ever all while trying to figure out whether their feelings are more than just for show, every interaction just kept me so invested in how it was all going to end!

The storyline following Luc’s father reaching out to him to try and rekindle a nonexistent relationship was also so well done and left me just as heartbroken as Luc must have felt. There is a lot of discussion surrounding what makes a parent good or bad and it definitely tugged at my tear ducts watching Luc open himself up and being vulnerable faced with someone who has inadvertently made his life incredibly difficult.

With that said, this book also had quite the cinematic feel to it! The descriptions of the places Luc takes the reader, from his mother’s home to the vegan restaurant he meets clients at, just flowed really nicely and painted a picture in my mind.

The only caveat I really have with the book is the discussions surrounding vegetarianism and veganism. Being neither of those, I didn’t even pick up on the offensive descriptions and comments sprouting in this book until I read reviews from other people who relegated their own feelings about this. In hindsight, I think what I read as part of the pointed humour I talked about, definitely could be considered derogatory and therefore I feel like there needs to be fair warning that there’s some cajoling into eating meat (even though the vegetarian in the book voices the desire himself) and more than a few digs at vegans and vegetarians that could have been handled better.

All in all, Boyfriend Material is a laugh-out-loud story about a hot mess of a guy fake-dating his polar opposite to save his reputation, a book that brings all the feels and will surely keep you flipping those pages late into the night!

This ARC was received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Alexis Hall writes romances that can only be described as literary therapy.

Like, literally, they're these wonderful romances that have characters grappling with crippling insecurity and 21st century prejudice, and illustrate how essential healthy and honest communication is to a relationship. Also, your feelings are fucking VALID.

THESE ARE THE BEST.

This is up there with Helen Hoang works for modern romance storytelling. We don't have to keep writing the same shit- we can have healthy and contemporary romances with diverse stories featuring modern issues.

I've been reading romance since I was 12. Starting with harlequin and historical romance and almost all of them were sexist af with white, straight leads. I would say about 1 in 10 had a rape storyline (looking at you early Johanna Lindsay). And it was like for a long time. Finally we're getting new stories that are with the times.

This is the fucking future of romance and I am so excited.

Recommend for fans of Helen Hoang, or Red White and Royal Blue. If you like this, try Hall's How to Bang a Billionaire series (basically the author's response to Fifty Shades and it's the best)

I absolutely adored this new romance by Alexis Hall. Fake dating is one of my favorite tropes and I felt like the relationship between Luc and Oliver developed so naturally. I loved their dynamic and the way the two went from slight adversaries to friends to actual lovers. Both characters felt well developed and I rooted for them and shook my fist at them in equal measure. It is a wonderful story full of laughs and some tears and absolutely ridiculous British names.

Things I loved:
- Alex Twaddle
- The whale joke
- Luc’s relationship with his mum
- Beetle Drive

Things I didn’t like:
- Um, literally nothing, pretty much a prefect book in my opinion

Really fun, romantic book that I really need right now with the world being on fire.

Luc's father is famous so Luc gets to share the fame of articles being written about him and dodging the paparazzi without any of the befits like money. After one night tripping and falling on the street finds him being written about, his job is at risk. So he needs to find a boyfriend who looks stable enough for the press. He lands on Oliver, who is a clean-cut barrister. Then Luc starts catching feelings for his fake boyfriend.

This book is funny. Luc is funny. He works with upper class people who are so very posh that they remind me of a Monty Python sketch. His friends are funny. Oliver can be funny once he relaxes.

In the end, I wished that we had another book about Luc and Oliver going into therapy for their family related issues. Luc for his trust and abandonment issues and Oliver for his family's emotional abuse. Their relationship together becomes so strong that I would love another book of them dealing with this pain together.

The one thing I didn't like about the book was that Luc's low self worth reminded me of myself too much.

Boyfriend Material
By: Alexis Hall
4.5 / 5.0

I honestly was not a big fan of this book in the beginning. I requested the e-book ARC because I loved Red, White and Royal Blue. This book was sold to me as being similar to it. But it is slightly different. It has nothing to do with a President’s son and a British Prince, but does involve people that are in the public eye a lot.
It has a lot of British humor and jokes, which as an American, it kind of went over my head/wasn’t my cup of tea. I know a little bit about British culture, humor and slang, but I still felt like some of it didn’t make me laugh like it was intended to.
Once I got farther on in the book, I started to develop a love for the novel. As much as I didn’t understand all the jokes, I felt like the characters were mine and the more I read, the more I felt almost possessive about them. I got very angry when a character hurt Luc or Oliver.
I know I was reading an ARC, but there were a lot of spelling errors or words put in the wrong order. Hopefully, they caught them before they went to print. Another thing I didn’t like about the novel was the homophobia in it. I understand homophobia is still a thing, but there were a lot of people in Luc and Oliver’s lives who made fun of their sexuality. I really wished there was more support shown in this book. Or even one of them getting angry at the remarks. But they just stood by and let people talk to them as if their sexuality was a bad thing.
This novel shows how love really is. It shows the hardships and the arguments that might happen. However, it also shows how beautiful love can be. Luc and Oliver are very different, but also very similar. It’s important to show characters who seem real and Hall did just that. They made Luc and Oliver seem like my own friends.
Without giving too much away, this novel shows how to cope with many things and how not to let what people say affect you. It also shows the importance of mental health. This novel shows how important it is to work on yourself and how you can overcome any obstacle life throws at you.
In the beginning, I wasn’t sold on this novel. But now it has become part of me. It’s another novel I will hold close to my heart. I will definitely be recommending this novel to LGBTQIA readers as well as new adult/contemporary romance readers. I will be purchasing this book for my collection when it comes out.

Author’s Site: http://www.quicunquevult.com

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Boyfriend-Material-Alexis-Hall/dp/1728206146/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1592156709&sr=8-1

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/boyfriend-material-alexis-hall/1133879159?ean=9781728206141


This review will appear on my blog on July 7,2020.

I basically went in to this book blind, all I knew was that Christina Lauren loved it so I needed to read it. So I was not expecting this to be a fake dating story, which I have previously said is not my favorite trope. However, this was also a little enemies to lover which is my favorite! Here we are following Luc who is struggling at his job for fundraising for dung beetles because of some bad press. In order to make sure he is not fired he has come up with a plan to have a respectable fake boyfriend. Enter Oliver, a somewhat uptight Barrister. The two have known of each other for a couple of years due to a mutual friend, so when Luc needed a boyfriend Oliver was willing to help out! I loved their relationship from the start. The animosity was just the right amount! Both Luc and Oliver have personal things that they need to overcome in this story and I thought it added some great depth. This books was at times both funny and heartbreaking and I could not put it down! I read this in less than 24 hours, it was so good!! I also loved the reference of Happy Hippos which happens to be my all time favorite candy! I can't wait to read more from Alexis in the future! Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for my review copy!

Boyfriend Material is the epitome of a classic British rom-com in that Bridget Jones-esque kinda way.

Luc is the son of two famous 80/90's rock stars who still doesn't have his act together or so the tabloids say. But actually the tabloids are right and he is really in need of cleaning up his act especially if he wants to save his job.

Oliver is a Barrister and is quite straight laced in all aspects of his life but can't seem to keep a man interested for the long run. When Luc approaches him with the idea of them fake dating he decides to put a little twist in his life to see where it takes him.

These two are so utterly different. About as different as two people can be but you can see how these two might just be the perfect compliment to the other and you'll be hooting and hollering for them to just see it.

I loved the entirety of this book. The secondary characters are such a blast!! They add so much dimension and a whole other layer to this story and you want them to be your best friends. I really Hope AH decides to do another story from this cast of characters because I would be first in line to see more into their world.

Absolutely brilliant!!!!

**Received review copy through NetGalley. Voluntarily reviewed**

When it comes to books with the fake dating trope, different people will have different expectations and I’m pretty sure it comes down to what fics you have read in the past. And yes, this intro is necessary for me to explain why I feel about Boyfriend Material the way I do.

See, what I’m personally hoping to get from a story like this is: some cute shenanigans while the pair pretends to be a couple in public, with some mandatory careful (and constantly over-thought) touches and kisses; two people who already knew each other before and actually might be harboring secret feelings for one another; lots of pining and angst because none of this is real and that angst ending with the couple breaking up before they start dating for real some time later.

Boyfriend Material gives you bits and pieces of that, but never concentrated enough. It glosses over the parts where real feelings could be had. And yes, mostly it happens because the guys have adult conversations and that is healthy, but at the same time, the fake dating trope demands some miscommunication to work in a story.

This is not to say Boyfriend Material is a bad book. Not at all. It’s well written, the characters are great, the humour is very good and just how I like it (Oliver’s texts alone are hilarious and make the book a must-read). It’s all good. Which is exactly my problem. I didn’t come here for pure fluff.

So this is really a very subjective matter: if you want a light, cute, fluffy novel with basically no angst, read Boyfriend Material. If, like me, you like to suffer a little bit before you get to the happy ending, maybe read a fic.

This is a truly great example of a rom-com in book form—it’s hilarious (in a way that I think books rarely are) and romantic and very, very fun. Very heavy on the Britishness, and the quirkiness, and the rompiness. What’s not to love?

4.5/5

I really, really enjoyed this book. I figured I would, since it sounds like the type of thing I would love, but I’m glad I was right.

I loved the romance. It was fun, and cute, and the banter was fantastic. I also loved the way Luc and Oliver communicated their feelings and thoughts with one another. It was refreshing to see, since with many books, couples don’t seem to talk and just ignore their problems. Luc and Oliver themselves were great characters to read about as well.

The side characters I really liked. Sure, there could have been a bit more development for some of them, but either way, they were good. I liked how Luc’s friends were super supportive, and his mother too.

Both Oliver and Luc deal with family troubles in this book, and I quite enjoyed how they were handled. It’s nice to see not everything magically resolved by the end, and that being okay. Because that’s just life. Sometimes you can’t fix things, and just have to learn to move on without them.

I think really my biggest issue with this book besides some underdeveloped side characters was that I felt it was just a tiny bit too long. Some parts felt dragged out. And there were a bit too many pop culture references for my liking.

But honestly, I just had a really great time with this, and I would HIGHLY recommend it if you’re looking for a heartfelt romance.

3.5 stars

This was exactly what I needed during this time, because I have been in a reading slump for quite some time now. Every single character in this book was so lovable and I would do anything to spend a day with them. The contrast of personalities between Luc and Oliver and their banter was probably the best thing about this book. The amount of times this book made me laugh out loud is insurmountable.

Now you must be thinking, if you liked it so much, why give it a 3.5 star rating? Well friends, the first 70 percent of the book was great. Filled with laughter, joy, and angst. But after that, the book was basically just the characters navigating their relationship together and even though it was adorable, I'm here to read about the build up. The last 30 percent just felt like a long epilogue to me with a few problems thrown in to try and keep it interesting. The many pop culture references throughout the book also threw me off a bit because I had no idea what they were talking about most of the time.

However, if you're looking for a light read with amazing characters, this is definitely the book for you. I can say without a doubt, that this was a good read.

Boyfriend material was a great rom-com. It struck a fun balance of wacky best friends, absurd coworkers, swoony romance, and a quarter life crisis. Fun, yet cheesy!
My only gripes are that it felt unfinished with a few too many loose ends. If you are looking for something to read after Red, White, & Royal Blue this will definitely check some of those boxes.
3.5/5 stars

This book was amazing!!! Oh my goodness. The characters were perfect, the plot was perfect (I love the fake dating trope), everything was perfect. The build up was so fun. One of the best books of the year!!

Boyfriend Material is one of the best books I've read this year. I stayed up all night to finish it! Luc and Oliver are the definition of opposites attract. Their relationship was cute, sexy, and healing for both of them. This book has wonderfully written characters, lots of wit, and plenty of heartache. I laughed, I cried, and I went "awww".

Delightfully British and an excellent fake relationship story, Luc and Oliver are a wonderfully messy pair that will have the reader rooting for them to get together. I would also classify this as a slowburn, but it is definitely worth it.

This is my first book from this author so I was really excited to read this m/m romance story. However, it let me down. I really tried to find something to enjoy about this story but honestly, there was nothing. I found that the pace of the story was just too darn slow and it made everything seem slow. The whole story was slow! There was nothing interesting about the characters and I didn't care for Luc at all. There's nothing wrong with being awkward but he was rude more than a few times for no reason. His witty comments were okay at best but I'm sorry to say that this story just wasn't the one for me. It's not often that I rate a book less than 3 stars but it does happen and it doesn't mean other readers shouldn't give it a try. It just means that it wasn't the book for me.

I loved everything about this book.

I loved the plot. Fake dating is one of my favourite tropes, and Boyfriend Material played with all of the common scenarios, implementing them perfectly while also including a refreshing take. It also included other well known tropes and situations from the romance genre, keeping the best elements while chosing relatively uncommon but always fitting directions for others.

I loved the characters. Luc, the protagonist, is the epitome of a disaster gay, which is in line with many others of Alexis Hall’s books. In Luc’s case he’s a product of circumstances on which he had no influence, almost all stemming from the rock star father he never even met yet who keeps having an alarming – and mostly unpleasant – impact on his life. It’s ultimately because of him that Luc needs a fake boyfriend.
I also adored Oliver, who ends up being the fake boyfriend. I found him in particular intriguing as a love interest. Love interests are often idealized, I find, particularly when the protagonist is as much of a disaster as Luc is. They are often virtually perfect aside from one dark secret that of course is no big deal in the face of love. If love interest and protagonist are clearly split by one having POV chapters and the other not, it tends to be at the expense of the latter’s characterization, and multiplies the personal issues of the former. Oliver, too, and especially in comparison to Luc, seems perfect at first: Put together, effortlessly sociable, all around acceptable to even the most conservative.
Boyfriend Material masterfully plays with the expectations the romance genre puts on protagonist and love interest. The book could have easily been written from Oliver’s POV, and while the priorities obviously would have been different, it would have been just as interesting and intriguing. Which isn’t to say that I actively missed Oliver’s POV – he was just such an incredibly fleshed out character he would have been a great protagonist in his own right.

I also loved both protagonist and love interest’s (both of whom are white and gay) friend groups. Even if Oliver’s were straight 😉
I find romance books often neglect any and all of the involved characters’ relationships outside of the main romance and possibly one antagonist. To be honest, I almost thought this book would also fall into that trap – but it didn’t. Instead if made thee curve beautifully, and the chapters that prominently featured the friends were some of the best.
Generally, any and all scenes featuring multiple characters were great. The interactions with Luc’s colleagues were hilarious, as were the ones with his clients.

I loved the writing. It was full of Hall’s typical very British humor, particulalry aimed at the upper middle class. I’m not well versed on the finer details of that sort of company, and still found myself laughing and well able to follow. There’s also a lot of situational comendy.

I loved the character development. Luc could be a bit of a jerk at times, but he grows a ton over the course of the book. It expressed itself particularly in how he treats others, but also in how he view and reacts to various situations.

I loved the romance. I purposefully didn’t read the blurb before I went in and thus wasn’t sure who the love interest would be – there were a few candidates that seemed possible, and I actually didn’t think it would be Oliver at first! Once I got past that, I quickly fell in love with Luc and Oliver as a couple. Them opening up and allowing themselves to be vulnerable around ach other because the fake relationship relieves them from pretending to be perfect was executed wonderfully and perfectly captured the essence of this trope without taking it only at face value.

I loved this book. It’s as simple as that. It was highly engaging to me, the characters grew on me very fast. I was interested in seeing them succeed and just do basic interactions. While I was aware this is a very long book for a romance, I still wanted more pages when I reached the end.

I can't remember the time I've had so much fun or laughed out loud so much over a romantic comedy!

Luc O'Donnell and Oliver Blackwell are both emotionally broken. Luc seems unable to avoid scandal, and his job as fund-raiser for a nonprofit intent on saving the "dung beetle" is in jeopardy. Oliver is an up-tight barrister who defends people that have been charged with crimes they haven't, or more likely have, committed. Neither has been able to maintain a relationship.

When Luc, intent on rehabilitating his reputation, needs a respectable date for his organizations's big annual fundraiser, and Oliver needs a date for his horrible family's reunion party, they agree to become fake boyfriends.

Uproariously funny, poignant and full of heart, this novel explores how opposites attract, how love heals, and how friends can understand what you really need without being told. Totally satisfying!

Thanks to Sourcebooks for an early copy.

This book features a few of my favourite tropes, one of them being fake dating. And the fake dating in this book was incredible! It's very much an opposites-attract romance and I loved Luc and Oliver together. Even though Luc is a bit of an arsehole, he is so loveable and I wanted him to be happy. Oliver was kind of adorable even with use all those big words he likes to use. Oliver kept making me swoon too! You really see Luc grow through the book which I loved. Both of them have things they are working through with Oliver's insecurities and Luc with personal issues and his whole Dad situation. Speaking of his Dad, what an absolute dick.

This book is without a doubt a true rom-com and I couldn't get enough of it. It has excellent British humour and the banter was off the charts. I don't actually read a lot of books set in England and being a Brit I do find that a bit weird but I really liked this one! The side characters added so much hilarity to the story and Luc's Mum and Judy were one of my favourite things about the book besides the actual romance. There is also some fantastic mentions of Drag Race.

I loved Luc and Oliver's relationship as they went from fake to real and I loved reading their text exchanges. I could have read multiple chapters of them just texting if I am honest! This book is super steamy without having any actual steamy scenes on the page which is massive props to the author! I flew through this book and I can't wait for it to be out in the world for everybody to read. This book also has great representation too.

I’m not a fan of writing a review which isn’t positive - and to be honest, I often don’t finish books unless I’m very into them. If this wasn’t a review copy, I think I would have stopped reading quite early on - it took a solid quarter of the book for me to find reading it tolerable. Luc’s narrative voice was often not one I enjoyed - and the other characters are mostly paper-thin cutouts. This is especially noticeable given the comparisons being made with Red White and Royal Blue - a book with a firm cast of characters, all with their own personalities and motivations.
That said - this book is sweet at its heart, and it earned some giggles out of me. The writing hums along nicely - once I’d passed that 25% mark, I was quite happy to keep reading. It was an enjoyable enough experience, just a slightly derivative one without much substance.