Rating: 6/10

Husband Material takes place 2 years after the events of Boyfriend Material and has a "4 Weddings and a Funeral"/90s romcom feel to it. Luc and Oliver have grown a lot together over the past few years, but still struggle to work on their mental health that they both had in book 1. I liked that those mental health issues didn't just magically go away after they'd been in a relationship for some time. The banter and love between Luc and Oliver was as great as ever. My main problem was the abrupt way that it ended. I would have been okay with the ending if there was any sort of slow buildup to it, but mostly it felt really out of place. I think since the release, Hall said that there will be another book or 2 following this one, but I mostly wish the ending was different or had been less abrasive. It was so seemingly out of left field, that I knocked a whole star off of my rating of the other 95% of the book, which I quite enjoyed.

Thanks to netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

"Husband material" is the amazing sequel to the already great "boyfriend material". Luc and Oliver are in a serious relationship and could just live happily ever after if it weren't for all their friends, who are starting to get married and therefore building up some pressure! The decision to get married themselves should be the most romantiv thing ever but proves to be a starting point for a lot of drama ... I just adore these two together. They are really different and you love each one on its own but the way they act around and with each other is just so much fun, that you do not want to stop reading. I especially liked, that they actually talk to each other and don't build up some fake drama just because someone did not want to admit to his feelings. Super fun! I want more!

Even though I liked main characters and their friends, I didn't feel connected to the story. I felt nothing in the story to hook me up. They are messy and stuff but the situations felt similar and repetitive.
I had some higher expectations because I generally love lgbtq genre. and I thought I would love this.
Though I didn't read Boyfriend Material, I think it was not difficult to connect with characters (except for James Royce-Royce, I am still confused about that :\) And repeated mentioning of Ana as Ana with one n, was so frustrating.
People who love Boyfriend Material might love this, but I am not sure.

A fun and lively romance read, which is a wonderful follow up to the very popular first book Boyfriend Material. Light hearted and joyous throughout.

I love Luc and Oliver! I really hope this series keeps going because these two opposites are just the cutest couple. I love Luc's mom too she always makes me laugh. Fantastic, loved every minute of it, laughed out loud so many times!

I loved Boyfriend Material (one of my top reads) but this one didn't vibe with me. I'm not sure why. I like the characters. I like the side characters. I just didn't feel invested in the story. The conflict was repetitive and the ending was rushed. I'm so bummed, as this was one of my most anticipated reads of the year.

Husband Material is a worthy (if perhaps unnecessary) follow-up to Boyfriend Material. Luc, Oliver, and their ragtag group of friends are all as charming and hot messy as ever. By virtue of the fact that Luc and Oliver have been together for 2 years now, this romcom is a bit less rom and more com than its predecessor--which is fine, because these books are legitimately laugh out loud funny, but without the standard romance formula plot to lean on it did feel like things meandered a bit. But it was still a lot of fun and I'll keep reading the series if Hall keeps writing it!

Husband Material is kind of a mess. Luc and Oliver are messes, so in some ways that fits. But in others, it left me disappointed and processing the ending for a week before I stopped hating it.

Husband Material picks up two years after the end of Boyfriend Material. Luc and Oliver are settled into a relationship and are kind and loving towards each other while also working through their own stuff.

The first half of the book (indeed, until the funeral) feels a lot like Boyfriend Material fanfic. Husband Material is again in Luc's point of view, which looks an awful lot like Luc's point of view during Boyfriend Material. Luc and Oliver attend weddings -- a queer wedding, an aristorcratic straight wedding -- which are extreme examples of queer and straight marriage culture, respectively. Oliver is uncomfortable at the former and Luc at the latter.

The book turns when Oliver's father dies and Oliver has to contend with both his family and the way his father messed him up. Luc (and the reader because of POV) watch Oliver struggle with queerness and identity and what it means for him to have been raised in this extremely heteronormative and somewhat abusive context but then live his life as a gay man and want to share it with someone who feels very comfortable with the trappings of the queer community.

This becomes the focal point of the book when Luc and Oliver decide to get married. (In point of fact, Luc realizes later that he proposed to Oliver because it was easier to do so then, like, tell him he loves him. Everyone's just a little fucked up.)

And then the fights about the wedding begin. Luc wants it to be kinda gay, Oliver feels extremely unrepresented by the trappings of gay marriage culture. As a couple they work; as a couple planning a wedding, they don't.

And this is the thing that's extremely important to remember when going into the ending. Luc has a panic attack the night before thinking about getting married. Oliver's cold feet happen 2 minutes before the ceremony when he and Luc decide not to get married but to stay together, and run laughing into the sunshine.

The end.

The ending is the thing about this book that's the messiest of all. I actually, after processing it, like the ending. It shows an incredible amount of growth on Oliver's part. He's so gay that he doesn't want to get married because marriage is heteronormative. I don't know about in Britain, but that strain of thinking has been part of the gay community throughout the fight for marriage. It's a good decision for these characters and I know why they did it.

But it took me a minute.

I would say that this book delivers a successful HEA (as the characters decided what it looks like on their terms) but not a successful ending as it leaves the reader (or at least left me) in a state of suspension. There was no resolution, no epilogue. It felt incomplete. What Hall didn't do is give the reader time to process this in the book. No discussions between Luc and Oliver, Luc and his mom, Luc and Bridget (bff). Instead we are the wedding guests saying, what just happened here?

Thanks, I hate it.

I do so adore Luc and Oliver and enjoyed revisiting their world. But, truth be told, this one didn’t quite have the magic of the first book in the series for me.

My favorite thing about the first book in this series (and it is a proper series, now, which is super exciting!!) was just how... easy it was. BOYFRIEND MATERIAL felt like a 300 page conversation between friends. The problems aren't earth-shattering. The drama isn't far-fetched. The characters in that book, while sometimes a bit absurd for comedic effect, are extremely normal. They could be <i>your</i> coworkers. They could be <i>your</i> neighbors.

And the brilliant thing about HUSBAND MATERIAL is that it picks right up where BOYFRIEND MATERIAL left off. I read this book when I wanted something familiar to sink back into, when everything else was going haywire and I had to overextend myself in six different directions. There's nothing better than forgiving, simple, and fun when you're in a mood like that.

My only real complaints with this book have to do with the ending, even though - avoiding spoilers - it was extremely on-brand for the characters and their personalities. I just would have liked to have seen a bit <i>more</i> than what we got.

And I think that's a great problem to have - because now I can just pick up the third book in this series when it comes out, and soothe whatever future life problems I might be facing. Consistency is king, and this book is certainly royalty.

(Special thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca for the NetGalley ARC!)

Frankly, this book left me conflicted. Coming fresh out of the ending I completely understand why it is the way that it is. And yet I wish it was different. And I wish it wasn’t as rushed and I could be in the moment of the meaning of that ending more.

But I need to talk about the rest of the book as well. And I really enjoyed that. Alexis’ writing is so much fun. It’s amusing and weird and it makes me smile. I don’t really care about any of these characters to be honest, but the way this is written is enough for me to enjoy myself.

Luc is a mess. Oliver is a mess. They are a wonderful mess together that somehow (sometimes) works. And I’m glad I read this second book and look into their characters more. Because even though I might not like them all that much, Alexis makes me want to read about them anyway.

I loved being back in this world. Finding out more about Oliver's family was very nice. However, in doing so you lost any potential for details about his friends.

The ending somewhat surprised me in the since that it wasn't exactly as the title suggested.

I was not a fan of how choppy the writing was this time. I felt as if there were some plot holes with Luc's friends. They seemed to suddenly disappear.

The story itself was a joy to read and I look forward to reading Alexis Hall's next book in this adorable series.

Husband Material was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022 and I was so excited to get my hand on this! It is such a rare thing to get a sequel to a romance novel, and Alexis Hall did not disappoint on giving us lots of hilarious banter as well as plenty of Luc and Oliver sweet moments. However, I think the cycle of Luc/Oliver messing up and then figuring it out over and over again was getting tiresome. It was very repetitive and the part of Boyfriend Material that I didn’t like, so I was not super excited that we got too much of it in Husband Material. Once we got to the end of the book, the ending was not satisfying enough for me after all the long-winded stressful rollercoaster I was taken on. I think this book could’ve been shorter and saved the reader a lot of anxiety lol! (I’m just too attached to the characters to be but through that!!)

Overall first half of the book is 5 stars
Second half of the book was 2 stars
Overall it’s a solid 3 star read for me :)

I overall enjoyed this sequel. It was a cute rom com in the image of 4 Weddings and a Funeral and Bridget Jones' Diary. I liked see our main couple a couple years into their relationship and how it has developed and thrived and at times not so much. Listening to the audiobook helped to better understand the voice of the characters. While at times ( a lot) I could have slapped Luc for his decisions and thoughts, I think that just made his character more believable and relatable especially due to his traumatic past. I thought the ending was a bit rushed and it felt like it just ended...maybe an epilogue would have been nice. I definitely laughed embarrassingly loud in my car quite a few times listening to this. Overall, I enjoyed following our two main characters and Luc's quirky group of friends.

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I gotta be real, y’all. I know I may get some hate for this. . .

I did not love this sequel. And I really liked Boyfriend Material! The banter, the characters, the fake dating. . .loved it. This one though? It misses the mark for me. Let me explain. . .

The first half of this book is them going to like a million weddings I do not care about. Some involved “hilarious hijinks” I, again, did not care about. It became tedious. And the discussions about rainbow balloon arches and what is really means to fit into the LGBTQIA world is important and interesting dialogue. . . .but they re-hash the argument *multiple* times in the book and that becomes tedious. Also, Luc and Oliver are *constantly* fighting. At a certain point I was like, “Yeah, maybe Luc is right to doubt this relationship.” And the ending. . . . .ummmmmmmmmm. . . .

Where this book shines is when we brings things back to to reality for a bit. I don’t want to spoil anything, but it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. I was drawn into those sections and wanted more. So overall, this book was tedious for the first half, somewhat redeemed itself in the second half, and then gave us that ending. Okay. Here’s hoping the third is the stronger book.

Happy to have this wonderful couple back. Not quite as wonderful as book one but I do love their banter and the settings.

I…..do not know what to think. I quite enjoyed most of the book, but the ending really threw me. The banter and the wit was great, and I loved revisiting the lively characters, but I was a wee bit disappointed in the ending.

I’m going with 3.5 - 4ish Stars here, this is tough, because I LOVED 99% of this book, and then well not so damn much. I fell so hard for Oliver and Luc in Boyfriend Material that I pretty much had grabby hands when it came to Husband Material. And, it delivered, until it didn’t! I loved the realness and quirkiness that is Luc and Oliver, they are not perfect, they have their flaws and it was embraced so perfectly. I guess for me I don’t completely understand how it all went down and the reasoning as to why.

I loved seeing these two grow together, the sweetness, the humor, the struggles, the moments of real genuine ‘we are in forever love,’ it was all there. I laughed and swooned and felt for them in the difficulties, 100% invested.

Will I keep reading? YES because I love these guys but I also feel like maybe it was the title that was misleading, the premise had me expecting one thing and then some weird curveball was thrown and I just didn’t know how to deal. It didn’t come together for me. I’m all for finding a path and making it your own; I get that but something was missing here, it didn’t feel like it fit everything I’d come to feel and expect for these guys. It was more of a punch in the feels.

I’ll be waiting for more because damn it I love them!

I loved getting to reunited with some fave characters but this one didn’t quite match the magic of book one. I think this one might have gotten a little bit lost because it didn’t follow one of the core romance tropes, like Boyfriend Material did with fake dating.
With that being said I still really enjoyed myself. I always have a good time with any Alexis Hall book. You just can’t beat the witty humor and dialogue!

Like all of Hall's other books, Husband Material was witty and well written. How do I say it stressed me out, but in the best possible way. The author blended beautiful moments, with the stress we've all been through when we realize all our friends have gotten married. I blasted through this book in two days, completely incapable of putting it down. As different as Luc and Oliver are, I love their moments of honest communication and connection. Absolutely beautiful.