The story was too unbelievable, especially the amnesia . The love interests didn't fit, and Sam's harshness was unattractive so why did Jonathan desire him?

Alexis Hall's works are some of my favorite reads but this one was NOT for me.

Thank you Sourcebooks for the complimentary copy.

This was my first book by Alexis Hall. I love m/m romances and am always looking to discover new authors in this area so when I got approved for the ARC for this I was super excited! Unfortunately this ended up being a mixed bag for me.

I enjoyed some parts of this but it was hard for me to connect to the characters. Sam was too much of a pushover and his tendency to try and save one employee at the expense of everyone else got on my nerves by the end of the book. Johnathon is all about the bottom line which didn't necessarily bother me.

I liked the opposites attract aspect to the story. It just dragged on and on for too long and I found myself losing interest quite frequently. I don't think this authors writing is my style but hopefully it's yours!

3 stars. Thank you for the arc!

First I want to thank #netgalley for the reading of ARC. I’ve never read an Alexis Hall book before and I was really excited to get this one. I wanted to love it but it fell flat a bit for me. I loved the premise of the story, and it’s at Christmas time, and it’s in Britain, but I didn’t love it. I did enjoy it and loved the authors writing style. I would recommend this book and I look forward to reading more by this author. Both the MC’s were boring, but Jonathan’s family is perfect. I loved their chaos and I really enjoyed how the author brought that to life.

10 Things That Never Happened, book one of Material World-

I’ll tell you one thing that never happened-
Me, connecting with this book. Each chapter dragged on and on, and on, and on…
I found this book lacking most things that make a book enjoyable. The one thing it did have, is a plot. Unfortunately, the plot alone could not carry the entire book. I found the main characters insufferable. Jonathan was the most dry, serious, all about numbers, money and the bottom line. He could care less about the actual livelihoods of people. Sam was the biggest push over and cared entirely TOO much about everyone else’s well being before his own. The support characters were over the top, each having their own quirks that made them outcasts, in general.

Sam suffers an accident at work and fakes amnesia in hopes that Jonathan will grow a conscience and change his mind about having fired him moments before Sam’s accident. Because of faked amnesia, Sam moves into Jonathans home so that Jonathan can keep an eye on him. This is how their story begins…and it took entirely too long to get to this moment of the book! And, for as long as it felt for this book to take getting to the end? The ending felt completely rushed. Sam has amnesia for the whole damn book and then BAM! Gone. What?!

Although this book was an entire “miss” for me, the grumpy sunshine trope and the banter were written pretty well. I received an advance reader copy and am leaving my review voluntarily.

How is it that I have never read an Alexis Hall book before?? Now I want to listen to this book just for the accents.
Apparently I had marked Boyfriend material and Husband material as Want to read, so I plan to find the audiobooks.
As an American I was surprised at the stores that Sam worked in and that Jonathan owned. A store that sold beds and toilets and all the accoutrements for both sounds interesting.
Jonathan is the owner who acknowledges that the Sheffield branch of his store that Sam manages is not doing well. We the readers see that he actually isn't a very good manager, but when he goes to London to ask Jonathan not to fire his workers ( though most are incompetent due to Sam's poor management skills) he somehow falls into a shower display and gets a concussion. In a split second he sort of claims he has amnesia and this starts the plot going.
I don't want to give more away, but for me, Christmas with Jonathan's large, contentious family, along with Sam being helpful, and his ugly cat Gollum attaching himself to Jonathan, is what made the book fun for me. With witty dialogue, a grumpy Jonathan and a sunny Sam, I found the book quite fun.
Thanks to NetGalley for my review copy
In exchange for an honest review. I will be recommending this book to people looking for an interesting gay romance.

I’m always excited to pick up an MM romance and one that features two British men, sign me up. “10 Things That Never Happened” is a sweet, fun and heartfelt romance that I enjoyed immensely.

Sam is like almost every working man out there, he mostly likes his job. Sure it wasn’t his dream to run a bed and bath retail store but it pays the bills. When his awful boss, Jonathan Forest calls him up to London for a meeting, he is sure that he is getting fired. But one accidental bump to the head and some assumptions by all, Jonathan thinks he has amnesia and Sam doesn’t deny it.

This was such a cute MM romance and I loved the plot of the story. Sam is in a job he really isn’t a fan of and he has a boss who makes things even more difficult. That instantly makes him so relatable. Jonathan is a classic grump and workaholic. He puts a lot of pressure on himself to have his company succeed so his family has everything they could possibly need. They are a classic grumpy/sunshine duo and they balanced out each other so well. I loved their banter and I found myself cracking up several times with them. Gollum the cat was the perfect cat in all of his cat qualities. The ending was so sweet and wrapped up their story wonderfully.

Okay listen. I love Alexis Hall's absurd, slightly-over-the-top humour in his romance, even though it requires a certain suspension of disbelief to accept that these ridiculous people and situations can exist. Unfortunately, that's also my major qualm with this one. The amnesia plot (tm) is just a bit too ridiculous to believe, and there's a weird lack of chemistry between the two main characters. I don't really get how Sam and Jonathan ended up falling for each other. Like don't get me wrong, it was enjoyable enough to read, but I definitely had to read it with the mindset that they're in love because I said so, not because I could actually see it.

I find that Alexis Hall's books are either amazing or bad, and this one is weirdly somewhere in the middle. I still had fun reading it, but I won't pick it up again.

Perfect for fans of The hating game or Red, White & Royal Blue, this enemies to lovers, fake amnesia, workplace holiday romance will make you laugh and warm your heart all at the same time. Full of family drama, found family, the perfect 'Grinchy' MMC and good on audio. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

** SPOILERS AHEAD**

This one was a tricky one for me, I did enjoy it but not as much as I remember enjoying Boyfriend Material. I found Sam a bit of a confusing protagonist - he continually risks everyone's jobs to defend one EXTREMELY incompetent employee (which I get he was considering that Brian had his grandmother to support) but it got a bit excessive - like now you're risking everyone else's jobs for his sake??? and it felt a bit confusing as he didn't really read like a dogooder in other aspects of his life. Not to mention we're meant to think Jonothan is the bad guy for wanting to fire him...? when this one employee is ruining thousands of dollars of stock...?

I think it also suffered badly for not having Jonothan's perspective, I think it could've really worked well to ramp up the angst and pining if we got to actually hear him agonise over liking Sam/firing him/the amnesia which also would've made us feel MUCH worse about Sam's lies. It also limited the chemistry between them which ultimately ended yo being pretty luke warm.

Moving on to the amnesia plot, I LOVE an amnesia (fake or real) plot but this one just didn't work that well for me. It dragged on for so long and most of the time it didn't even make sense why Sam was even bothering. He kept saying it was to buy time to come up with a solution but like we don't ever see him doing much problem solving? Aside from thinking throwing a good party will help? And after the feelings started occurring it didn't make sense that he continued to keep it going for so long when at literally any moment he could've just gone "omg woke up my memory back, can't believe you had to live with me after firing me hahaha!!" and play it super cool.

All in all, it just fell extremely flat for me and Isn't something I think I would reread.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and Netgally for an E-Arc in exchange for an honest review.

🏳️‍🌈 ARC Review 🏳️‍🌈

Sam has been called down to see the big boss in London. With his retail store struggling, he decides to face his boss and try and save his misfit employees, if he can. But after a misstep he ends up in hospital and somehow his boss thinks he has amnesia and is the only one around to take care of him. But maybe just maybe this could help save his store and employees…

If you loved Boyfriend Material you will 100% love this. It has exactly what you want from Alexis Hall: hilarious side characters, heart warming family moments, a slow burn romance with imperfect protagonists. Honestly, I laughed and cried in this book!! It was perfection with the added bonus of hating capitalism and classism. I couldn’t stop reading it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you love Alexis hall, Jesse Sutano, Lex Croucher, you will love this book. Thank you so much to @netgalley and @sourcebookscasa for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. 10 things that never happened comes out on 17 October.

I had a blast reading this romance! Both of the main characters were written so well I felt like they were real men. One was a lonely workaholic boss and the other was a lonely sales manager who worked for that boss. The story takes place at Christmas which feels like the worst time to be lonely and alone. This story captured my attention to the point I read faster to help them get through all their blunders and find out how much they needed each other. The workaholic boss’ family members were a real hoot!

This book is not quite a meet-cute, more of an enemies to lovers trope. It’s fun/light read and you have to assume from the start that this amnesia lie is going go come out at just the wrong time. Johnathon’s crazy family is great and wonderful, they may be the best part of the story, and while the guys do get frisky later on, it’s very fade-to-black, PG at most. Overall it’s a feel good read with just a bit of angst.

Please note, I received an ARC copy of this book for review from NetGalley, but that never influences my honest reviews of books or authors.

This was such an awesome and fun read/listen.
Do you remember the classic rom-coms from the 90s that we love to rewatch whenever they are on TV because they were great and fun and it feels like current movies are not as great? Well, this book is like watching a classic 90s rom-com, it will make you laugh, swoon and maybe cry.
10 things that never happened is about Sam and Jonathan. Sam works for Jonathan in a bed/bath store and he is not doing so great but he doesn't want anyone fired. when Jonathan threatens to fire him and his staff, Sam might be pushed to fake amnesia. What could possible go wrong right? The rest of the book is filled with great banter, lots of grumpy/sunshine and all the warm and fuzzy feelings. I also appreciated that you don't need to have read either boyfriend material/husband material to get right into this book.
I mainly listened to his book and highly recommend the audio. Be mindful it has a British accent and it took me a little to get used to it (english is my second language).

Non-stop lovers’ tiff with a hilarious stream-of-consciousness.

10 Things That Never Happened is a first-person perspective novel that I inhaled with no second thoughts. The entirety of the book felt like living in Sam’s mind, happily watching while he (and Jonathan) colossally Fucked Shit Up. This is the slowest of burns, the fights between Sam and Jonathan were endless. Only weirder, is that they were good. It was strangely thrilling watching them bitch and snap and be entirely entertaining without ever crossing into toxic territory. I only regret that the long-awaited intimacy was not quite as blazing as their rows.

Based on Jonathan’s personality alone, this book had every right to be a slow burn. It did wonders in emphasizing his stubbornness to its fullest extent of the word. But I do wish we saw a shift in him that was more than a peg above marginal. Ultimately, Sam and Jonathan’s relationship dynamic was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, and it was refreshing to see their imperfections in constant plain sight. They weren’t immediately made for each other (like, at all) but they made intentional adjustments that prompted their jagged edges to fit together perfectly.

★★★★★ (4.5 stars)
As always, Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Sadly DNF'd at 33%...

Thank you to netgalley and sourcebooks casablanca for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

Having never read the author's work before I'm not sure it's for me. The style is different than a lot of things I read and while the premise is interesting it quickly gets frustrating.

Jonathan so far is annoying, grating and his absolute refusal to accept help and/or talk about things because “no one will understand” is frustrating.

Sam started off seeming sweet and quirky but now seems a bit annoying and frustrating himself. While I understand his fear of being fired, the whole “they didn't let him finish his sentence” reason for Jonathan thinking he has amnesia is wearing a bit thin. He should just tell him already and deal, but I get the feeling he won't be.

Jonathan's family is funny-ish but so far they also seem kind of rude? Just barging in, disrespecting his wishes re: smoking in the house etc.

The constant & over use of the full name of products starts to get grating less 1/3 of the way in. Saying the brand name once or twice is more than enough but saying the whole thing every single time it's mentioned is unnecessary.

As a non-UK I find myself having to google a lot of slang which is unfamiliar. The author does acknowledge that a lot of their readers aren't from the UK at the start of the book and provides an idea of what accent the main character has but gives no reference for slang and other things that non-UK readers might benefit from.

I was incredibly excited to have the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book for @NetGalley because Boyfriend Material, one of Hall's previous books, is one of the most charming, heart-warming, and laugh-out-loud books I've ever read.

Sam is the manager of a branch of a kitchen and bath chain. He isn't a great manager, and his team isn't great either, but they are a madcap little family who all need their jobs for different reasons. They also all hate Jonathan, the super-boring, super-serious, super-dick-ish company owner. Jonathan has called Sam to corporate headquarters in London. During a heated argument about the state of Sam's store, Jonathan accidentally knocks Sam into a shower display, rendering him unconscious with a severe concussion. With doctor's orders to be monitored 24/7, believing he has amnesia, and a looming lawsuit, Jonathan has Sam move in for the duration of his recovery. But, as these two unlikely roommates discover more about each other, hate becomes begrudging appreciation and, ultimately, love.

Damn, I wanted to love this book. Alexis Hall is superb at creating a cast of quirky characters, which she does in spades with Sam's co-workers and Jonathan's family. However, the spark between Sam and Jonathan never materialized for me. If this was a dual POV book, it may have helped, but Jonathan seemed to lack dimension, and the amnesia-reveal third-act breakup was looming from the novel's onset. That being said, I love the way Hall writes with quirky analogies and strange turns of phrase. This one didn't hit the mark for me, but I'll always come back for the next from Alexis Hall.

This was a really cute, holiday-ish romance!

The plot was very original and I liked the wide array of characters. The romance was a little slow-moving for my taste, but when it happened it was very cute!

I think this is an original, run, holiday read!

This book is a classic case of "It’s me, Hi, I am the problem, It’s me." 10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall definitely has sharp wit and charming banter. It also has the entertaining back and forth between a grumpy boss and a smarta&& employee with the holiday cheer. It was very fun a lot of times.

The major obstacle for me was the pure UK language and mannerism used in the book. Since the book is in a first person POV, the whole narration was set in a dialect that I was not comfortable with. It was taking a lot of time for me to understand what the characters are saying. This is a enemies to lovers grumpy Sunshine boss employee romance but I felt I spent most of time with Jonathan's family and Sam's found family in the store. Before I could even feel the love..it was over. It has a very fast hastily executed third act break up that just resolved without much conflict.

So what did I like about book? Sam is a sunshine-y optimistic person with soft heart. He always sees the best in people even at his own perils. I love how openly and freely he loves. He managed to see the real man behind the harda&& boss..beyond the workaholic owner who only cares about the profit and wants to fire the employees Sam consider as his family. Jonathan has a lot of issues. He is emotionally stunted because he just pushes all the difficult emotions somewhere in recess of his heart. And he kind of isolated himself from every person who actually loves him. But the accident in store, followed by Sam's mild concussion and then Sam faking the memory problems and then Sam staying with him and invading his boring life..changed everything. I wish I could see a bit more of their emotional connection. I loved the dry humor. The hilarious interactions among Jonathan's family members. The holiday vibes. But I missed the actual romance part.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for sending me the ARC

4.75

"10 Things That Never Happened" was an absolute pleasure to read.
Alexis Hall's latest work stole my heart, and it has, unexpectedly, become one of my favourite reads of the year; or, at least, one I'll remember with joy, and a full, satisfied heart.

It was unexpected.
Because yes, I'm loath to admit it, especially in an arc review, but Hall's latest release in this literary universe of British wit, messy meet-cutes and chaotic disaster characters, "Husband Material" was not my favourite; actually, despite the fact that I did rate it somewhat favourably, every time I think about those last few chapters I still get angry.
So, obviously, I was a bit worried about this novel. Scratch that, I was VERY scared: the blurb sounded too amazing to be true, the cover was *chef's kiss* gorgeous, and Jonathan, in his brief appearance in HM, had already stolen my interest with his grumpiness. I'd been crossing my fingers and toes since then that I'd be able to love this book.

So yes, I was very surprised and damned pleased about the fact that I managed to absolutely adore "10 Things That Never Happened". I devoured this book: I never wanted to leave Sam and Jonathan, and I never wanted to leave Sam's traitorous cat Gollum, and Jonathan's chaotic family, and their shared lives in Jonathan's mansion-like house, their hilarious, heart-warming banter, their unbelievable, unforgettable chemistry.

Both protagonists were damned lovable, and complex and peculiar and felt so, so real.
Sam, god. He's got a bit of Luc's messy, disastrous tendencies, and his witty humour, but none of Luc's most hateful qualities. Sam's generous and a bit (ehm, more like a lot?) naive, he's kind and funny, and also pretty much a bit of an interfering git. He's physically incapable of staying out of things, and he's also convinced that people aren't physically able to do stuff, and grow and save themselves, without his help/interference. And he's also a tiiiiny bit judgemental.
Yes, I know, those don't sound like good qualities, and they're not (I wanted to kick him quite a few times, I admit), BUT they are realistic traits. Real, complex, contradictory traits that make a character feel like a real person, and make them relatable too.

And Jonathan! He's an absolute dick. He's bossy and angry, grumpy and self-involved; he doesn't think before he speaks, he seemingly cares more about his business than actual people, and yes, his cold, hard façade is an acquired taste. And I loved him too.
Angry grumps are my weakness, I admit, so I would have adored him regardless, but Jonathan goes through an amazing character development that left both clutching my heart and applauding Alexis Hall.

< “What,” asks Jonathan Forest with a layer concern hastily dropped over a deep well of contempt, “are you doing?”
“What’s it look like I’m doing?”
“I dread to think.” >


< “What are your thoughts on parsnips?”
"I thought they went downhill after their third album. What do you mean, what are my thoughts on parsnips? I don’t have thoughts on parsnips. Who has thoughts on parsnips? Who has time to have thoughts on parsnips?” >

And oh god, I loved their relationship.
It's built upon quite a lot of assumptions, and lies, and anger and dislike, but it also slowly morphs into something lovely, and true and heartwarming. Their chemistry was unbelievable, and their banter was so hilarious it left me cackling out loud; and their most quiet, intimate and vulnerable moments left me reeling. I loved them together so, so much, and I'm absolutely crushed that my time with them has come to an end.

The world of vibrant, witty characters around them, from Jonathan's chaotic family to traitorous, adorable Gollum and Sam's quirky colleagues, are also completely unforgettable.
I admit, at times they became a bit too much; and also, while I do love quirky characters, snarky banter and witty humour, Alexis Hall's brand of those things doesn't always work for me because at times the line between funny and mean gets quite a bit blurred (re: Luc and his abominable behaviour in regards to Oliver in "Husband Material") (yes, I'm still bitter about that!)

Despite that, I still loved this book and I had such a great time with it. It left me with a full heart, a huge smile, and it's ending left me for once, fully satisfied (even though it's still a quintessential Hall ending, AKA quite brief, it features an unexpected epilogue!).
I can't wait to re-read this book, and I can't wait to see what my fellow reviewers think of it.

Book Review
10 Thing that Never Happened by Alexis Hall

📚Superstore meets coronation street vibes
📚Predictable
📚Grumpy cat Gollum
📚Tons of LOTR references( the MC is named Samwise)
📚Use of butthurt appropriately in a sentence ( my 21 yr old recently explained this new lingo to his old “mam”)
📚Bubbles and squeak- evoked childhood memories

This book had me kinda feeling “been there, done that”. It reads like a TV show and was entertaining but didnt hit the spot. A solid read but not my favourite from this author.

Thanks to @netgalley and @sourcebookscasa for my digital ARC in return for an honest review. Opinions expressed are my own.