Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

5 reviews

sirenricobooks's review

emotional funny relaxing sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Emotional abuse, and Chronic illness

Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Homophobia, Bullying, Body shaming, and Toxic relationship

alexelli's review

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

Has a good plot, fake boyfriend to real boyfriend trope. Good character development, they developed individually and together. Building a relationship together but also building there own personal relationships. Luc’s friends get tossed to the side a lot, only being part of the story when he needs something from them. There is a lot of casual homophobia that they brush over. He will mention it in small call outs but doesn’t really stand up for himself or others. Let’s it happen and makes a small comment and moves on. Not comfortable as a queer person reading. The friends are mostly queer but it feels like a token queer friend stretched into a queer friend group that of course a gay guy would have. Also a weird toss in at the end about Oliver maybe having an eating disorder. Wouldn’t be as bad if more time had been taken to talk about this or if mental health was an overall theme but it seemed like a weird toss in of buzzwords. So overall a good plot but a lot of small issues with writing. Feels like a straight woman writing a straight story and changing the characters last minute. Good read, just not perfect.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Terminal illness, Cancer, Chronic illness, Abandonment, and Addiction

Minor: Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Mental illness

aexileigh's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Sexual content, and Cancer

Minor: Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Eating disorder

jjjreads's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Classism, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Sexual content

v171's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I like to dip my toe into queer romance here and there, and these books are the reason why. This was a funny, quick witted, enjoyable read about a "fake relationship" gone 'real'. At times, it got surprisingly genuine, but for the most part it was an idealized story about a hopeless mess up of a guy and his hopeless romantic counterpart. This hit a lot of the standard beats you might expect from typical romance book but hey, if it aint broke... The queer aspect is definitely what kept me interested, but don't make the mistake of assuming that the plot could easily be translated for a straight couple. The 'queer variable' was of central importance to the development of the characters and I found to be done very sensitively. There were a few subplots that I wish were tied up better or had abrupt endings, but that didn't take away from this book's strength: the characters and their arcs. While not exactly realistic, the characters were all charming in their own way and had a very distinct voice that kept the story interesting with every chapter (I love every member of the friend groups!). The prose was nothing to write home about, but it didn't need to be in order to tell the story that it did. 

As far as romance goes, this was nothing revolutionary. But it didn't need to be revolutionary to be good. And it was very good! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Chronic illness, Homophobia, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Eating disorder