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taelights's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I had previously dnf this book but I decided to go back and give it another chance seeing as the audiobook was available through the library and I wanted to listen to something lgbt+ because I had mostly been listening to thrillers a lot recently. While I started off enjoying it more this time by the end I found myself wishing i hadn't given the book a second chance.
First of all the book dragged. It was so long and for what? Plus there is apparently a sequel too? Unnecessary in my opinion and I definitely won't be reading it.
While I did find some of the jokes funny I felt most of them fell flat and the author was trying too hard to be funny. I felt like I was reading a "crack" fic that was trying too hard rather than an actua published book. Plus some of the "jokes" were a bit of problematic - including rape/sexual assult ones, biphobic ones, etc. Plus I thought the book did play into some harmful stereotypes of both lesbians and bi/pan people. And as a vegetarian I did not like the way vegetarian and vegans were portrayed in this book and it felt like the author really likes forcing vegetarians to eat meat which is gross of them.
The negatives:
1) Both of the main characters need some major therapy; both individual and couples. Yet after after a whole book dealing with their flaws and trauma and incompatibility and trust issues these things just seem to go away at the end in an unsatisfying way. I hate the whole "love will fix all your problems" thing. Like damn I hope these two characters went to therapy next book but I doubt it lol.
2) While Oliver and Luc had chemistry at the beginning of the book I thought they lost all their chemistry. I was no longer believing in their relationship and routing for them towards the end. Plus THREE breakups in one book is a bit extreme. By the third I kind of didn't even want them to get back together.
3) I thought the side lesbian relationship was problematic like they play into both the lesbian age difference trope and while I personally love age gaps in general it's annoying when it's like 90% of lesbian media. Also it played into the whole gross lesbian married to man and cheats on him with a woman trope. Also the lesbian friend felt like the angry lesbian trope.
4) I also felt that there was harmful bi/pan stereotypes in this. Like having one of Luc's ex boyfriends being a bi man who leaves a gay man for a straight woman.... It kind of plays into the harmful belief that bi people will always leave their same sex partners for a straight relationship.
5) The characters were all extremely one dimensional. The side characters especially but so were Luc and Oliver honestly.
6) As a vegetarian I was extremely disappointed in how the author handled a vegetarian character. Between making the vegetarian character eat meat not once but twice, the love interest who convinced him to eat meat basically commenting that it's sexy he's going against his morals and eating meat, characters acting like being vegetarian is so strange and different and such an inconvenience, and being like yeah he's obviously only vegetarian because he has an eating disorder. Honestly I between the jokes about vegans/vegetarians and the whole forcing one to eat meat just made me so uncomfortable and I honestly believe this author has something against people who don't eat meat which is weird of them.
7) The whole reason for the fake dating plot line didn't make sense in the first place.
8) The whole plotline with Luc's dad didn't make sense and didn't have a satisfying conclusion at all and just made the whole element of the book seem needless.
I could go on. I just really did not like this book by the end.
First of all the book dragged. It was so long and for what? Plus there is apparently a sequel too? Unnecessary in my opinion and I definitely won't be reading it.
While I did find some of the jokes funny I felt most of them fell flat and the author was trying too hard to be funny. I felt like I was reading a "crack" fic that was trying too hard rather than an actua published book. Plus some of the "jokes" were a bit of problematic - including rape/sexual assult ones, biphobic ones, etc. Plus I thought the book did play into some harmful stereotypes of both lesbians and bi/pan people. And as a vegetarian I did not like the way vegetarian and vegans were portrayed in this book and it felt like the author really likes forcing vegetarians to eat meat which is gross of them.
The negatives:
1) Both of the main characters need some major therapy; both individual and couples. Yet after after a whole book dealing with their flaws and trauma and incompatibility and trust issues these things just seem to go away at the end in an unsatisfying way. I hate the whole "love will fix all your problems" thing. Like damn I hope these two characters went to therapy next book but I doubt it lol.
2) While Oliver and Luc had chemistry at the beginning of the book I thought they lost all their chemistry. I was no longer believing in their relationship and routing for them towards the end. Plus THREE breakups in one book is a bit extreme. By the third I kind of didn't even want them to get back together.
3) I thought the side lesbian relationship was problematic like they play into both the lesbian age difference trope and while I personally love age gaps in general it's annoying when it's like 90% of lesbian media. Also it played into the whole gross lesbian married to man and cheats on him with a woman trope. Also the lesbian friend felt like the angry lesbian trope.
4) I also felt that there was harmful bi/pan stereotypes in this. Like having one of Luc's ex boyfriends being a bi man who leaves a gay man for a straight woman.... It kind of plays into the harmful belief that bi people will always leave their same sex partners for a straight relationship.
5) The characters were all extremely one dimensional. The side characters especially but so were Luc and Oliver honestly.
6) As a vegetarian I was extremely disappointed in how the author handled a vegetarian character. Between making the vegetarian character eat meat not once but twice, the love interest who convinced him to eat meat basically commenting that it's sexy he's going against his morals and eating meat, characters acting like being vegetarian is so strange and different and such an inconvenience, and being like yeah he's obviously only vegetarian because he has an eating disorder. Honestly I between the jokes about vegans/vegetarians and the whole forcing one to eat meat just made me so uncomfortable and I honestly believe this author has something against people who don't eat meat which is weird of them.
7) The whole reason for the fake dating plot line didn't make sense in the first place.
8) The whole plotline with Luc's dad didn't make sense and didn't have a satisfying conclusion at all and just made the whole element of the book seem needless.
I could go on. I just really did not like this book by the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Cursing, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Homophobia, Sexual content, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Cancer, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Outing, and Sexual assault
Biphobiaduchess_fayte's review
emotional
funny
medium-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
4.75
Lucien: I unlocked my phone and pinged a message to Oliver: "do fake boyfriends fake text?"
Oliver: "Sorry to keep you waiting. I've thought about it and we probably should text each other for the sake of verisimilitude"
Lucien: "No wonder you're single if the second text you send a guy includes the word verisimilitude"
This is the first rom-com I've ever read, and I tend to stay away from the romance genre in general because I'm just not a big fan, but omg. "Boyfriend Material" is so funny! It has the perfect blend of actual relationship drama, pure comedic gold, and words that I had to google multiple times because I kept forgetting the meanings.
The conversations between the two main characters, Luc and Oliver, were so much fun and I found myself almost tearing the pages while laughing out loud. Of course, not everything in this book is hilarious, (in a book it rarely is) and Alexis Hall tackles plenty of serious topics as well. The author always does it with a little bit of humour though and this made this a really enjoyable and entertaining read.
The good thing about those moments is that they were all either called out or challenged by some of the characters (mainly ahem... Luc) and I really appreciated this approach. Alexis Hall deals with prejudices, bias and a good dose of discrimination but the author does it in a healthy kind of way.
ALSO; Luc and Oliver were such a great couple! Yes, they might have started fake dating because at that point in their lives they both needed it to save their reputation, but they were always honest and forthright! And this was extremely refreshing!!! And, most of the conflicts in this book didn’t actually come into being because of some miscommunication between the MCs but because the characters were so used to dealing with their problems on their own. They were stuck in their habits and problems and had a tough time letting anyone in, which considering both of their backstories was relatable.
There's only one thing I don't like much about the book, and that would be Luc's father. It's not even the character himself because of course he's a complete and utter asshole, but it's the way he was introduced into the story, the writing was kinda wack, and the way he just disappeared in the end? I feel like it was a loose end the author was desperately trying to tie up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Cancer, and Violence
Moderate: Cursing, Abandonment, and Homophobia
Minor: Terminal illness, Lesbophobia, Religious bigotry, Stalking, and Xenophobia
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