Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Boyfriend Material

Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

93 reviews

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I enjoyed this book after about the 30% mark, before then Luc was annoying and pretty hard not to scream at in your head. But by the end, I loved him and Oliver even if I occasionally wanted to slap them upside your heads. I would have liked more spice! But I know if you wish to have a mainstream M/M romance you can't usually get too graphic with that. In the end, I enjoyed it and laughed a lot, as well as cried a bit too.

Content Warnings

thatswhatshanread's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I’m clearly in the minority on this one. I really wanted to like it, I mean who goes into a book wanting to hate it? And I don’t hate it, I’m more just disappointed. Maybe Alexis Hall’s writing is just not for me.

My takeaways:

• Unnecessarily dumb (like DUMBBBB, like it’s not even funny it’s just annoying) and insufferable characters like Alex Twaddle

• Takes every chance it can to remind you it’s set in the UK, like every other page. If there’s one thing I’ll never forget about this book it’s that it’s set in England and everything is very British, so British, so silly quirky British all of the time (I love the UK setting and British men are top tier but come on?????)

• The blatant homophobic comments and themes that are glossed over even when one of them is fairly central to the plot? The main dilemma that requires the “fake boyfriend” trope revolves around the fact that Luc is AND THIS IS QUOTED FROM THE BOOK “the wrong kind of gay” and he must find a partner to help clean up his act and thus become “the right kind of gay” in order to save his job. Like????

• The lack of chemistry. Luc was okay but hard to find appealing or connect with. I understand his caveats but they didn’t make sense enough to be believable that he would be with Oliver. Oliver was the saving grace of the story, I enjoyed him and his personality, unfortunately though he didn’t save the whole story. Needed more development, would’ve rather read from Oliver’s POV tbh!!!

Idk. I kinda skimmed through the last half of the book because I lost interest. I wish Luc and Oliver all the best in the other two books but I will not be reading them. Thank you don’t hate me byeeeee

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cady_sass's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Kinda shocked by all the glowing reviews? Lucien is a miserable, insufferable twat and Oliver deserves so much better. There’s not nearly enough character work done to convince me of why Oliver is into any of this. I get it, luc had a shit dad and it messed him up but you don’t get a free pass to be a dick forever because you have daddy issues. Get some therapy, my guy. There is some truly fantastic banter at times and nearly all the side characters are wonderful but it’s not enough to save it.

Also, Lucien makes him a **bacon sandwich** after they make a point the WHOLE book to clearly say that Oliver doesn’t consume meat for moral/ethical reasons, and Oliver is just like “yeah gimme that bacon” ???? What is happening

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