I tried getting excited about this book in numerous formats: digital, audiobook, etc. But every time I sat down to read or listen to 10 Things That Never Happened, it felt like a chore.

While I loved watching the relationship between Jonathan and Sam grow, it was an extremely slow burn that felt more like a side point to the amnesia and family plots. There is also a LOT of UK colloquialisms, which made it harder for me to understand, since I live in North America. I found myself going back and re-listening/rereading moments to try to figure out what was going on.

While it wasn’t for me, I would recommend this to any UK reader that loves this universe by Alexis Hall!

this had some good moments, but overall i didn’t enjoy most of it. the first half felt a bit drawn out and the ending felt rushed. i thought the plot was just okay, and the writing style wasn’t really for me. i didn’t find either of the MCs to be very likeable, and i didn’t find any of the other characters had much development to be invested in them.

Was this book pitched as "While You Were Sleeping" but more grumpy? There are a lot of similar elements, just jumbled up and British. The Sandra Bullock movie is one of my all-time favorite romcoms but I'm also a big fan of a dose of realism and some "issues" in my romance (paradoxical, I know) and this book is a mix of both. I've read a number of other Alexis Hall books and he's in fine form here, the rambling leashed tightly to a narrative structure that allows for goofy/sweet asides such as, "Like Mariah Carey at Christmas, all I want is you." There's a twist that doesn't quite work for me toward the end (it felt like the author kept something secret about the person who's head we were in the whole book, thus keeping me from actually knowing or sympathizing with the main character) but darn it if it wasn't still quite emotionally affecting.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and sales are ramping up, even for the bed and bathroom chain that Sam Becker works at. But as the snowflakes fall, so do the numbers for the Sheffield chain, prompting Sam’s boss, Jonathan Forest, to begin demanding cuts to staff. Feeling some sense of loyalty to the people he’s worked with for a while now, Sam decides to tell Jonathan where to shove it – except that shove lands Sam directly in the hospital with a killer concussion and a massive misunderstanding between him and his boss.

With a plot straight out of a soap opera, readers tag along with Sam as he navigates his bout of fake amnesia and the real feelings of falling for his grump of a boss. Hall’s book was entertaining and enjoyable, if not a small bit predictable at the end. Though I did enjoy this novel, I found myself wishing that I liked it more, almost as much as I did when I read “Boyfriend Material.” Though Sam was a thoughtfully written character whom I connected to when reading, I struggled a bit to even like his love interest, who was less of a grumpy person with a sunshine interior and more of just a grump overall.

That said, if you’re looking for something with a Christmassy feel to it and a few enjoyable tropes thrown in, this might be the book for you! Just make sure that you don’t go in with the expectations that it’ll be as highly rated as “Boyfriend Material.”

Additionally, if you’re looking for a spice level, you won’t find it here. Though there were scenes that alluded to sex, there was nothing overt (which was just fine by me!)

I received a ARC of this in exchange for an honest review. Rounded down from 3.5 stars.

Very much the vibes of Boyfriend Material, something that feels very cozy after reading many of Hall's books. This novel is very Christmas themed so I think that's missing from the marketing.

10 Things That Never Happened follows Sam who is a manager at a bed and bath retailer. He is very content with his job but there is just one problem his boss Jonathan is the worst. Jonathan makes Sam come to the flagship store to show him the way the store should be run. While Sam is there he trips and gets a concussion. As a result, Sam makes it seem like he doesn't remember anything because he thinks he is about to get fired. Jonathan is forced to take care of Sam. As the two get closer they might end up having feelings for each other.

I do not think I am a fan of Alexis Hall, to be honest. This is the first book of his I actually finished, I DNFed all of the other books I have read by him. I didn't really enjoy this one if I am being honest. The whole amnesia plotline was not really well executed. It seemed to be like the author just forgot about that when it was supposed to be a major part of the book. I felt like the amnesia plotline made it seem like Sam was trying to take advantage of Jonathan. Which just left a bad vibe for me. I really didn't feel a romantic connection between the main characters. That was also something it seemed like the author forgot about, and then at the last second added some romance vibes. This book also dragged on. I feel like the author included a lot of details about minor characters that we did not need since it did not add anything to the overall story. I really wanted to like this one but it had way too many flaws for me. I think at this point I am not going to read anything else by this author since I am always let down.

This is an interesting book. The setting is in England. It was fun to learn about Bubble and Squeak and other foods and monetary terms. This is a book about two men. Samwick (Sam) and Jonathan, Sam’s multimillionaire boss that owns three Bed and Bath stores. After a head injury that results in Sam having amnesia (or does he) Jonathan is responsible for Sam’s care. The story twists and turns through life’s challenges for both men. This book has trials, wrongs are righted, friendships, and romance. I was given an advanced reader copy by NetGalley and I am freely sharing my review.

For starters, I'm always looking forward to see what Alexis Hall does next so when I heard this book was coming out, I knew I had to read it! This book was such a blast!! At first I wasn't sure about the premise given it is a workplace romance and I personally am not for that sort of power dynamic, along with the fake amnesia trope, BUT this is Alexis Hall and I love to see how he takes your usual romance tropes and turns them on their head. And that he did with this! I found myself pleasantly surprised by both Jonathan and Sam, especially after the halfway mark once more of their romance starts to come into play. I may have openly gasped at one or two moments that I genuinely did not see coming. In general, they both felt like real, nuanced people and that made their romance much more believable and it was very exciting to see where this book was going to go next. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a lovely gay romance to read during the holiday season!

a true enemy to lover romcom that I enjoyed! I love the banters between Sam and Jonathan. While the employer x boss trope got me worried for a bit, I appreciated how Hall handles this topic! Such a cute little story!

This was a pretty enjoyable book. The overarching plot doesn't make much sense, and Sam really does deserve to be fired, but the characters and banter are enough to keep the book afloat. Despite it's length, it does read pretty quickly. The romance at the center is a great slow burn, though I wish there was a bit more discussion of actual feelings. The ending doesn't quite hit the note it's aiming for, and the emotional ending reveal ends up leaving a wandering story feeling unfinished. Still, I never considered putting it down because I liked the characters enough to keep reading.

I absolutely loved this book. I should start out by saying that I'm an American, so I was all about the British slang and references. Someone from the UK would definitely be better at identifying if the language corresponded to the characters and where they are from, but I absolutely loved it. Sam Becker is a former plumber from Liverpool who ends up managing a local branch of a bed and bath retailer (Splashes & Snuggles), which he isn't the best suited for. Sam gets called to the main branch by his VERY grumpy boss, Jonathan, and ends up being fired before falling into a display model shower and becoming disoriented long enough for Jonathan to think he has amnesia. Hilarity and "awwwwwwww" moments follow as Sam tries to keep up the lie that he has amnesia while staying with Jonathan due to his head injury. This all takes place in London during Christmastime, which adds a coziness to the story that I loved.
I found little details about this book are what really made it for me. I love the way the characters had to identify the specific make and model of any sort of bed and bath accessory, including the models of toilets, showers, bath tubs, etc. This really added something for me that made me chuckle each time. I also loved the interaction between Jonathan and members of his family, which helped show an entirely different side to his grumpy character. This book was very slow in terms of anything spicy happening, which I actually really liked. It was focused on the relationship between the two main characters, and not so much on anything physical. That being said, I think anyone who enjoys MM romance would really enjoy this book.
Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book!

I'll preface this by saying that I actually haven't read Boyfriend/Husband Material (I know, I need to 😂). I actually first fell in love with Alexis's work through the Spire universe, particularly For Real, which is the closest thing I can compare this to in terms of Hall's bibliography AND while this has totally different vibes than For Real, I still felt very connected to the leads here. With that out of the way, I had a blast with 10 Things That Never Happened. It has quite a few of my favorite tropes, amnesia (even if it's fake here), a forbidden thing going on with the boss/employee, and there's quite an opposites attract dynamic going on here too. There's one major thing that I don't like about the whole setup, which is that obviously Sam is faking the amnesia, but I do think that Alexis handled the lie really well here. Overall, the book really did give me fun early 2000s romcom movie vibes with the shenanigans of the family and the semi-Ebenezer Scrooge vibes from Jonathan and Sam helping him to reconnect with his family all while getting into the Christmas spirit.

My favorite thing about this book is honestly Jonathan. It was really charming to see him from Sam's point of view, and to be honest, I feel that I definitely didn't appreciate Sam more until the end. Probably because so much of this focused on Jonathan in the first place that I had so many questions about Sam, and there were times where I got a little frustrated with Sam pushing so hard despite not knowing Jonathan's full dynamic with his family. But things still tied up really well, and I really liked the contemporary romance vibes here. (And honestly, I'm just so glad that his family truly are a good bunch so there wasn't much drama there.)

The pacing overall worked for me, but like some of Hall's other titles, while the attraction build-up worked really well, I do wish there was a little more build-up in the relationship side of things and that's part of why it's not a full 4 for me. At the same time, maybe that's why I'm happy with the ending here too because while I used to describe Hall's books as HFN, I really did believe in the two of them here, particularly with the chance that there will be a sequel with these two again. So all in all, you don't have to read London Calling before this one (but there are probably some easter eggs that I missed), and Jonathan and Sam were really cute together. I enjoyed the way both of the characters helped bring each other out, and the side characters (for the most part) added great flavor. I can't wait for whatever comes next in this series!

This is Alexis Hall at his best! The concept of faking amnesia seemed a little iffy to me, but the characters feel so genuine, and the side characters, from the employees at the store to Jonathan's family, are so wonderful. There's a bit of grumpy (Jonathan)/sunshine (Sam). I loved all the little references to Lord of the Rings (with a name like Samwise...). And I teared up at the end. Exactly that kind of rom-com that has my heart.

I've never *not* enjoyed a book by Alexis Hall and this one is no different. It's not quite a rivals to lovers story but there's some power dynamics that are well done. It was fun seeing how deep of a hole the main character could dig himself into and the conversation when they finally get honest with each other felt realistic.

Story: 4.5 ⭐️
Steam: 2 🔥 closed door

I absolutely love the fast paced humor this author delivers. These characters were all so lovable and had amazing banter. The story was a perfect mix of plot and romance with SO many of my favorite tropes. It was overall a great time.

3.5/5 stars

Alexis Hall is a hit or miss author for me and this was a hit! I wasn't sure about the premise at first because I'm not a big fan of books that hinge on lying or misdirection but this was done with just enough levity and chaos that is was fun. Sam and Jonathan had a fun chemistry and I found myself laughing out loud at many points during the book.

Alexis Hall never fails to deliver well-written, real-feeling characters in wild circumstances. I do wish certain aspects of the relationship between Jonathon and Sam were explored a little more (and maybe they will be in Material World #2?), but I think the gaps leave just enough room for your imagination to fill in the rest. This book made me laugh out loud several times, to the point it disturbed my grumpy dog who just wanted to sleep in peace and not hear his mom helplessly giggling over a chicken and a lemon.

It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize how 10 Things connects to the London Calling universe, but once it clicked, it was like a delightful little surprise.

10 Things is a nice, fairly quick read with a lot of heart.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for this ARC!

This was my first year starting to read M+M LGBTQ and this is going to the top of my list! I adored this book it is such a fun story and the characters are fun and had me laughing out loud!

If you want a cute romance with a fun story and great character development I suggest picking this one up!

5 Stars!

"...I don't know how I'm supposed to go the rest of my life without being kissed by you again."

Sam Becker likes his job. Managing a bed and bath retailer isn't glamorous, but it's worth it for the band of misfits who keep the store running. If only the owner wasn't the worst. Jonathan Forest should have hired someone other than Sam. Determined to set things right, Jonathan orders Sam down to London for a difficult task, only for a panicking Sam to trip, bump his head, and maybe accidentally imply he doesn't remember anything? Faking amnesia seemed like a good idea when Sam was afraid he was getting sacked. Still, now he has to deal with the reality of Jonathan's guilt and the unsettling fact that his surly boss might have a softer side to him.

This is the third book in the Material World/London Calling Universe and the first one that isn't about Luc & Oliver! They stand on their own, though, because apparently Jonathan only shows up in a brief scene in Husband Material (I don't remember that, but sure!)

I love and appreciate what Alexis Hall is trying to do with these books. Create these very over-the-top, ridiculous, and kind of unglamorous romcoms with some really, really unlikeable main characters. It makes these silly (silly!!) premises feel realistic and more complicated.

Despite all the over-the-top moments and arguments, Alexis manages to include these tender moments between the two characters that make me lose it. This book is about two lonely, stubborn men finding each other due to absurd circumstances and accepting that they may deserve more.

I know it's not everyone's thing, but I'm a sucker for an unlikeable mc. And it doesn't get more unlikeable than Jonathan Forest. Jonathan is the grumpiest of grumps; he's mean, and no one would want him as a boss. But like any grumpy/sunshine story, we get to see him unfold through Sam's eyes, to see his reasons for being the way he is, letting his guard come down, but this time with Sam together with him.

As one of the few people who loves Husband Material, if you're scared to read this bc you didn't vibe with HM, I don't think you need to worry! This has a similar tone/structure to Boyfriend Material, so if you liked that one, read this!!

I had such a good time with this. It wasn't as impactful as Boyfriend Material because I don't see a lot of myself in any of these characters (and also not to be a grinch, but I would have liked it more if it was less Christmassy), but still!! It's definitely a book I see myself returning to!

(especially whenever the audio comes out bc I want to listen to Sam's scouse accent!!

Thank you to the publisher for this ARC, however I feel this is my last Alexis Hall for a while. I coul not bring myself to finish it but I made it far enough for this gem: "This story is already long and very silly. I was seeing how long and silly it could get.”
This captures the book perfectly.

I get where Sam is coming from but it's too much, too naive, too nice, too unrealistic. Whereas, I know nothing about Jonathan. Yes he's a dick (I don't know what is mentioned more: that he is a dick or the Merlin 8mm blah blah shower) but there was no depth or nuance or empathy for him. Like not even an inkling. Sam was unlikable and Jonathan... may as well have been a piece of cardboard.
The banter I once found charming in Hall's writing is now, to quote his own writing "long and silly". It goes in circles and does not move the story forward. I mean seriously, someone who finished the book please tell me if the Merlin 8mm blah blah foor comes back to make a point because if not, this book could have been 5 pages shorter if they just said "shower door" instead of specifying it every. single. time.

Trust me, I wanted to love this! But the last couple of books from Hall have lost nuance, empathy, and their editor apparently.