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.

This book was SO cute and fun!! It's the perfect read for fans of Red, White, and Royal Blue, or British humor/rom-coms, or...I don't know, happiness? I just loved it so much. Oliver and Luc are each so lovably imperfect and the evolution of their relationship felt so real and beautiful. This was also maybe the funniest book I've read this year--so many clever lines and antics of quirky side characters that made me laugh out loud. I will be enthusiastically recommending this title to everyone!

I really enjoyed this book! It gave me the flavor of Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. Luc (Lucien) and Oliver find themselves in a complicated, opposites attract, fake dating trope situation. If you've read the The Royal We or The Heir Affair by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan , you might find similar enjoyment in the description of posh, British society people including hyphenated names, silly nicknames, and the casual inclusion of wealth and status into every conversation. Oliver and Luc are set up by their mutual friend Bridget to help them both by providing a plus one to events they have to attend. On the surface it feels like Oliver, upstanding citizen who wears actual pajamas and cooks delicious french toast, is keeping Luc from utter disaster in his personal life by performing this service. As time goes by, and their connection to one another deepens, other layers begin to emerge in both their friendship and their depth of feeling towards one another. However, some challenges arise that cause them to question their arrangement and their suitability to one another.

This is a book that manages to be serious, funny, and a bit quirky, all at the same time. Luc has a sense of self-worth near zero and so he self destroys in matters of relationships. His friends have the idea of hooking him up with a fake boyfriend; that way there would be no pressure. They find someone who actually agrees, seeing the arrangement as a matter of mutual benefit. Then it starts to get complicated.

A romcom/sitcom mashup in book form - I was delighted!

Luc and Oliver are two completely different men. A fact that was underscored by a previous disastrous attempt at a hookup. Although, more accurately, Luc tried to hookup - Oliver would have not part of it.

However, the two men are brought back together due to a mutual need for a date to take to an event. They strike up a bargain - they'll be fake respectable boyfriends, and part ways after they've attended both respective events.

Oliver's a gem - polite, considerate, and kind. But he can also occasionally have a stick up his backside. He always means well, regardless.

Luc is, to be blunt, a bellend (look at me, learning British slang terms). He's very upfront about how he feels and what he's thinking. So he's very often a total jerk.

But that's just the prickly exterior. Underneath, he's a mess of emotions and daddy issues. It didn't take much at all from me to root for Luc.

Luc and Oliver start off as almost strangers, but that quickly changes. Through snarky banter, odd yet perfect dates, and unexpected heart-to-hearts, the fake boyfriends soon become real friends.

And as they help each other navigate their personal and professional problems, that friendship gradually turns into something more.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Oliver and Luc fall in love. It wasn't without its hiccups, but the two were meant for each other.

I also really liked the supporting cast of Luc and Oliver's friends and coworkers. They were all hilarious!

Overall, I very much so enjoyed 'Boyfriend Material'. If you're looking for a different style of MM, with quirky characters and slightly improbable scenarios reminiscent of sitcoms, I would highly recommend this book!

Thanks so much to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for an advanced copy of Boyfriend Material. This was my first book by Alexis Hall and I've immediately put the rest of his books on my TBR. This was like if someone put everything I want from a rom com, threw it in a blender, and then rearranged it perfectly exactly right just for me. I kept getting serious Bridget Jones/Sophia Kinsella/pick a perfect rom com movie vibes throughout, from the quirky friends, famiily, coworkers, to the various complex subplots. All of that was entertaining and felt intrinsic to the story as a whole. But there were two things that raised this book from a deeply satisfying read to easily my favorite book so far this year: the hilarious writing and the adorable romance. Luc and Oliver were so awful together, and their banter so brutally bad, it went past cringeworthy to utterly adorable. And in the way of the best hate-to-love romances, whenever they offered a sweet word or gesture, I'd just think "awwww" and my heart would explode. Luc's observations, the way Alexis phrased things, had me chortling throughout. That's what makes a book go from a book I read in a week to a book I read all day Sunday, abandoning all other commitments. Off to read the rest of Alexis's books.

This was a very cute romance, and I absolutely adore the fake dating trope. The slowly developing relationship and the chemistry between the two main characters was great, and I read most of this book quickly. Unfortunately, some aspects of this novel fell a bit flat for me, in particular some of the characters that were simply too quirky and unrealistic, which in part made the story too silly for my liking. Nonetheless, a cute read with a good romance I'd recommend to anyone who's into cute M/M-stories and fake dating.

My initial feelings on this book were that the premise and characters were very familiar and it was basically an older, more British version of Conventionally Yours without the gaming convention plot to add charm. I actually considered giving up on it for the first third. And partly that's because I read Conventionally Yours right before it, and partly because Luc and Oliver are a little harder to like than Conrad and Alden, and partly because I felt a little bit alienated by how very very British it all was. I haven't looked up that many words or phrases in a book in ages.

However. I decided to give it another go and actually found myself liking it a lot more as the book progressed - the weird, quirky characters Luc and Oliver surround themselves with sort of grew on me, I guess, as did Luc and Oliver themselves. There were some swoon-worthy moments, and some heartybreak-y moments, and a lot of relatable moments in the second half that raised my final rating by at least a star.

Also kudos to Alexis Hall for writing a contemporary m/m romance novel without adding a load of detailed sex scenes. I know I'm probably in the minority here, but I find them pointless and find they often detract from the story for me. And there was plenty of swoon-worthy romance without them.

Will post my review on amazon and b&n on the publication date.

Well, this was disappointing considering it was one of my most anticipated releases. I just really did not connect with the couple and I didn’t see any chemistry between them. I usually love the trope where one character is the happy sunshine one while the other is grumpy, but I just felt like these characters were SO different and I wasn’t feeling it. Also one minute this book would be funny and almost like a sitcom and the next the characters were going through some serious stuff and it just felt messy to me. However i would protect Luc with my life.

Hall's novel is like a fun mash-up of every really great Hugh Grant romantic comedy over the last thirty years. The story follows down and out Luc, the child of two fairly famous musicians from the 70s and 80s, who is at risk of losing his job after some bad publicity. To get back in the good graces of his boss and overcome the slippery slope of the paparazzi following him, he needs to find a boyfriend to improve his reputation. In comes the posh barrister, Oliver, who also needs a date for an upcoming event. The deal is set; they will be fake boyfriends to improve their circumstances. The story flies by in a series of vignettes and challenges as the romantic comedy roles forward. Hall clearly defines her central couple and shows their chemistry effectively. Luc's supporting cast of friends and co-workers is a highlight, particularly in the penultimate mission for love that was right out of Bridget Jone's Diary and Notting Hill. It's a fun way to spend an afternoon.

Trigger warnings: emotional abuse, homophobia, possible eating disorder, cancer

This was definitely one of my most anticipated releases of the year and I enjoyed it so much!
The characters are what truly did it for me, Oliver especially. Oliver and Luc's relationship was very sweet from the beginning, even though it was supposed to be fake at first, to me it never felt like that. The fact that they cared and liked each other from the first moments is undeniable. I really appreciated how not perfect they were, this made them so very realistic and it gave them a whole lot of layers that we got to discover throughout the whole book. The way they stood up for each other and were there for one another in times of need was adorable and truly showed how supportive they both are.

I would have liked to see a bit more of the romance, instead of a lot of scenes set in Luc's workplace. Even though they might have been fun to read at first, it became quite boring after a while, especially because of Luc's coworkers that I didn't really appreciate. But speaking of Luc's relations, I want to point out how funny Luc's friends were, I really liked them and even though we didn't see a lot of them they truly seemed like a nice group of friends. The same can totally be said for Oliver's friends, but unfortunately we saw less of them since the book is entirely told from Luc's POV. Luc's perspective provides the readers with endless sarcastic comments and typical British humour, which are both things that are always very much appreciated.

This book definitely met my expectations and I'll definitely keep an eye out for other works by Alexis Hall.