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.

3/5 Stars!

This is one of my most anticipated romances of 2020, and I was so excited when I received an E-ARC through NetGalley! A huge thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the ARC!

I do give a trigger warning for: depression, eating disorders, emotional abuse from family members, and homophobia in the workplace and home. This book tackles a lot of mental health issues and deals with characters that are struggling with emotional abuse. The book shows how love can overcome anything.

I loved this book! It was so funny and I fell head-over-heels in love with the characters and the romance. I think my favorite thing about this book is how honest and real both of the characters felt. Luc is not a likable character, but he is also a character that has gone through a really hard time recently and has issues in his past. I felt like both characters have dealt with emotional abuse and trauma, but deal with it very differently. Luc openly shows his depression and unhappiness, where Oliver conceals his emotions, putting on a front that he is happy and fine. To me, showing this difference and how both of the characters dealt with their individual trauma differently was very honest. Everyone deals with their own problems differently. I think what made me like Luc in the end was how he grows as a person, discovering that feeling love and loving someone is worth the risk of being hurt and that his happiness should come from within himself and not based on how others see him. The romance felt natural, and I never felt as if what I was reading was some sort of fantasy (which is really important for me when I am reading romance).

I wanted a lot more of Luc interacting with his friend group and a lot less of him sitting around at work. Also, I wanted to see a bit more of Luc and Oliver after the ending—I felt as if the ending was a bit too abrupt and I wanted to see how their relationship developed a bit more. I also have some other things that I didn’t like in the book, (mainly comments by Luc that weren’t okay. I think the writer made his mean jokes too abusive at times.) but I want this to stay as spoiler free as possible!

Thanks for reading,
Caden

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have been wanting this book since I first heard about it and it did not disappoint. It was hard to put down. There were so many moments I found myself laughing.

I HIGHLY recommend if you're looking for

-m/m fake dating
-a bit of enemies to lovers
- Two characters named James Royce-Royces
-An awesome friend group and text chain
-British humor and a bit of a Bridget Jones' Diary vibe
-Slow burn tension
-Dung Beetles

Both main characters have their flaws. This book is told from Luc's POV. His honesty and stream of consciousness made this a joy to read. It almost felt like talking with a friend, laughing with them, laughing at them. And Oliver was just the sweetest, gruff, british man. There's not much steam to this one, but the moments are sweet, and the tension is phew.

Rating 4.5 stars

Trigger Warning: Homophobia, workplace discrimination, manipulative and emotionally abusive parents, cancer, disordered eating (discussion only), body-shaming (one incident, side-character)

This book was entertaining but frustrating! There were a couple unchecked problematic jokes, and I really felt like Oliver's ethical choices (not using Uber, eating vegetarian) were met with too much scrutiny from Luc. Furthermore, the wrap-up of conflict between these two felt off to me. I did enjoy much of it, but these few things kept me from loving it.

i'm angry about this book and here's why:

plot: since luc's parents were both quite the celebrities in the 80s, he makes it into the newspapers a lot of times. now, his father, who he hasn't met before, has cancer and suddenly wants to have a relationship with him. on top of that, things aren't going well at his charity job, their donors are leaving because of the negative headlines about luc's 'gay bad boy' image. the only option now for him is to get a fake boyfriend to clean up his act, right?


believe me, for the first 20% of this book, i loved it. i laughed so much. it was relatable and it was undeniably queer. you can imagine how disappointed i was to go from funny jokes to rape jokes like 'i think I might have to sexually assult him'. that's a quote from the book. i can't believe people actually still write these things, it wasn't critized at all, it was just there.

and from then on, luc continues to become more unlikable. he shames his fake boyfriend (oliver) for being 'too ethically correct', because he's a vegetarian and doesn't want to take ubers. oliver doesn't tell luc that he should be a vegetarian as well, he just /is/ one, but luc keeps making disgusting jokes about it throughout almost every chapter. at last, luc even convinces him to eat bacon, even though oliver has been a vegetarian for YEARS and says that he shouldn't do it. that's abusive. (also i can't imagine some who has been vegetarian for years just randomly deciding to eat bacon again because it would make their bf happy?!)
oliver's friend group also says things like 'you're our only gay friend already, you can't also be our only vegetarian friend as well'. let that sink in.

and even though luc has friends of different sexualities, when another friend tells luc about a woman who married a woman and luc asks if she's a lesbian and the friend answers that it'd be a bit strange of her to marry a woman is she wasn't, luc doesn't think there's anything strange about that AS IF BI AND PAN AND OTHER SEXUALITIES DONT EXIST?!

thanks to netgalley i received a digital early access copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

I went in expecting a cutesy fake-dating romance, and that's pretty much exactly what I got! I adored all of the friends introduced, although the plot twists were all predictable, but the thing that stood out most was how laugh-out-loud HILARIOUS the writing was. Definitely worth passing a lockdown day with!

Heat Factor: Oliver has some stern daddy energy, and I am here 👏 for 👏 it! 👏👏👏
Character Chemistry: These two beautiful wrecks gave me butterflies
Plot: “My life is a bit of a mess, and a fake relationship will possibly help me fix it. Or complicate it. Or make it so much better.”
Overall: I stayed up until 4 a.m. reading this book and didn’t even realize it. And I wish I could both devour it again and also slowly savor it.

From the moment I saw the cover of Boyfriend Material, I wanted it. I don’t think I’d even read the Arden St. Ives trilogy at that point, but of course after I had, I wanted to acquire Alexis Hall’s entire backlist, so my desire to have this book went through the roof.

But dreams really do come true, and I got an ARC (thank you, Sourcebooks Casablanca!), and I was in no way disappointed at all, not even the teensiest bit.

Part of the appeal of this book is the story itself. Please see:
- Fake relationship (the best kind of forced proximity)
- Opposites attract (hot mess + perfectly together pairing)
- One bed (sleepovers make it look real dontchaknow)
- Slow burn (make it mean something!)
- Found family (friends who’ve got your back no matter what)
- Name that nobody else uses (when the LI uses the full name and everybody else uses the nickname...sigh)

And part of the appeal is Hall’s writing. The voice is Luc’s, and it’s a sort of resigned-to-the-ridiculous hilarious that brings the book to life. It’s marvelously clever and witty. A little irreverent. Truly delightful. And this comedy creates a lovely balance with what is, at the end of the day, an extremely heavy love story.

Because a massive part of the draw for me, personally, is Hall’s writing style, I think it’s important to give you a taste. The cast of supporting characters, as well as the personality differences between Luc and Oliver, make for some really entertaining consideration of the foibles and humanity of humans. Then, too, Oliver’s opacity due to the story being told from Luc’s POV makes Oliver’s little embarrassments and emotional vulnerabilities (really everything that makes him 3-dimensional) all the sweeter, since we get to see and consider them just as Luc does.

Anyway, here’s a scene from Luc and Oliver’s first dinner date that captures a bit of their personalities and dynamic and also gives you a glimpse of that voice that delights me so:


“Ah. Lucien, then.” He said it perfectly, too, with the half-swallowed softness of the final syllable, smiling at me—the first full smile I’d seen from him, and shocking in its sweetness. “Vraiment? Tu parles Francais?”

There’s really no excuse for what happened next. I think maybe I just wanted him to keep smiling at me. Because for some reason I said, “Oui oui. Un peu.”

And then, to my horror, he rattled off God knew what.

Leaving me to scrape the bottom of the barrel of my GCSE French, for which I’d received a D. “Um…um…Je voudrais aller au cinema avec mes amis? Ou es la salle de bain?”

Utterly perplexed, he pointed. So I was obliged to go to the bathroom. And when I slunk back, he immediately confronted me with “You don’t speak French at all, do you?”

“No.” I hung my head. “I mean, my mother used both when I was growing up, but I still turned out stubbornly monolingual.”

“Then why didn’t you just say that?”

“I…don’t know. I guess I assumed you didn’t speak French either?”

“Why on earth would I imply I could speak French, when I couldn’t?”

I stuffed a teetering forkful of pie into my mouth. “You’re right. That would be a deranged thing to do.”


For real, though, I stood at my kitchen counter and laughed. I rocked in the hammock outdoors and laughed. At one point (still pretty early in the book), I was laughing on the couch, and my husband said, with peak grumpiness, “No book is that funny.” So I described to him the first scene in which Luc tries to tell his co-worker a joke (there are several, and they are all amazing), and I ended up cry-laughing while my husband was also laughing because I had obviously become unhinged.

Like a true romance junkie, I spend hours and hours (and books and books) looking for a love story that thrills me. Slow burns are very good for this, because we get to see an emotional relationship developing and physical desire beginning to compete with emotional desire, and when that first kiss finally happens at just the perfect moment…

Oliver and Luc have both been interested in each other since they met (this is suspected but not initially confirmed where Oliver is concerned), but due to both of them being absolute messes in different ways, their experiences of those interactions were such that neither thought the other was interested, and it made them grumpy. When Luc is low-key desperate to save his job, they’re thrown together again when their mutual friend declares that Oliver would be absolutely spectacularly perfect for fixing Luc’s image problem (plus she thinks they’d just be perfect together, period). Luc spectacularly bombs their first real date (see above), they agree to a fake relationship, and things get moving.

Luc is a mess thanks to his background and the spectacularly unhealthy ways he decided to deal with what was, I grant you, an absolutely dreadful, heartbreaking situation. By contrast, Oliver, who is extremely controlled, appears to be everything that Luc is not. And to an extent that’s true, but Oliver has his own demons to battle, even if they are less apparent than Luc’s. The care with which Hall doles out breadcrumbs to Oliver's personal struggle makes that whole situation just as compelling as Luc's much more obvious and dramatic struggle. As you might imagine, this could (just maybe!) get in the way of a HEA for these two.

I often struggle with messy protagonists because I have a tendency to be extremely frustrated with them, but the way Hall writes Luc’s completely lucid awareness of his own terrible and self-sabotaging behavior creates this empathy bubble that I can sink right into. It’s easy to understand Luc’s defensive compulsions because it’s also easy to understand that he doesn’t necessarily want to run Oliver off, but being vulnerable is truly terrifying to him. I also might not agree with their decisions (and as the story progresses, there are some doozies on both sides), but it’s easy to understand why they’re making the decisions they’re making.

To conclude: This book was absolutely amazing, like, to the point that I received an advance copy of the ebook and then also preordered the trade paperback - when I never have multiple copies of books, and my book budget is actually quite small - because I want to hold it in my hands and keep it forever.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report.

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall is absolutely fantastic. One of my favorite books of the year; I couldn't put it down! I devoured this book in less than a day, and oh my--my heart is full.

Luc is tangentially slightly famous. His dad was a famous rocker, and occasionally Luc finds himself in the tabloids, looking less than put together after a night out. This wouldn't be a big deal, but he works at a non-profit, and some of their donors are concerned about his "lifestyle choices." He needs a respectable boyfriend to clean up his image--STAT.

Oliver is an uptight, straight-laced lawyer, who can't seem to maintain long-term relationships. He's existed on the periphery of Luc's circle of acquaintances, and honestly, Luc doesn't like him. At all. But Oliver's single. Luc's single. Maybe they could work something out. After one really weird lunch date, Oliver agrees to a temporary but mutually beneficial fake-dating relationship.

But....what happens to a fake relationship when feelings start to feel, well, real?

Luc and Oliver are #goals. Their story had me laughing and crying and laughing some more. They're so different, and yet they make each other better. And since I'm a sucker for all things British, it didn't hurt that these two handsome boys are Brits, through and through. You can't help but root for their happy ending.

I have preordered a finished copy to sit on my shelf beside my much-loved copy of Red, White, and Royal Blue. If you loved RWRB, order Boyfriend Material NOW so you can read it as soon as it comes out July 7th! It's the exact same brand of delightful.

A huge thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for my e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I almost gave up but I’m glad I powered through because this was a fun British romp. Luc and Oliver are polar opposites but can totally be pretend boyfriends. Until things get messy and feelings change and things start to feel real. I picked up this book because of the cover, I almost put it down because of the size of the text, and I finished it because of the amazing story it told.

Boyfriend Material is essentially queer lad lit. It focuses on Luc, the son of two musicians from the 80’s who after he gets papped, needs to find a guy to date who will improve his reputation for the sake of his work. Enter Oliver, a vegetarian barrister who Luc would rather not date but, somehow, they agree to fake date and wind up falling in love.

This book was completely hilarious. I wound up staying up way later than I should and crying with laughter as I was trying not to make any noise. Both Oliver and Luc were complete messes and this led to a lot of emotional moments but together? Together they were cute and ridiculous and so enjoyable. They have a joke where they don’t send dick pics, nope, Oliver sends Luc pictures of famous people called Richard instead.

It sounds bizarre but so many things about this book are. Luc’s work buddies are dumb as hell but Luc telling Alex jokes reminded me of the after credits scene in the Vicar of Dibley where Geraldine tells Alice jokes at the end of each episode but she’s too dimwitted to understand it. One of the jokes was even the same! This isn’t the only very British reference, nope, Luc’s straight best friend is called Bridget and her boyfriend? Tom. Tom also being the name of Bridget Jones gay best friend. I don’t know if this was on purpose or not but it amused the hell out of me.

The familial relationships in this book are difficult. Luc gets along with his mum but his dad abandoned him and has recently turned back up and the less said about Oliver’s family the better. These relationships have meant their romantic relationships aren’t exactly the best but it’s understandable and they help each other grow past that. And while we’re on the topic of relationships; the friendships are wonderful and I just…I loved it so much.

I’ve pre-ordered a physical copy of this book and am so excited to read more like this by Alexis Hall.

This book was everything I could want but didn’t know I needed. I never expected to truly come across m/m lad lit outside of fanfiction and I’m so happy I have. This book is a firm favourite and I suggest you all read it as soon as its out.

I haven’t read nearly enough M/M romances or quirky British romances so it took me a little while to acclimate to this one, but once I did I absolutely fell in love.

The author has created a cast of characters that all play integral roles in the development of a hilarious and yet intimately genuine romance that had me on the verge of tears more than once from laughter as well as raw vulnerability. I truly enjoyed this book so much more than I thought I would. I have seen many compare it to the likes of Red White and Royal Blue, which I have not read but know the general concept of. It also follows a M/M fake dating romance but with both British characters in Boyfriend Material.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who needs a book that will wrap them in a warm hug and have them laughing so hard they temporarily escape from the stress of real life. It was escapism at its best which often doesn’t happen for me in contemporary books. My only complaint was how contrived the plot book was, but I’m starting to get the feeling that’s just the norm in contemporary romances and I’m the only one who seems bothered by it.

Overall 4 stars to this one. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publishers for an early review copy. This comes out July 7.