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brianareads's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
At first I was a bit put off by <i>Boyfriend Material</i> by Alexis Hall because not only is it a rather large book for a contemporary romance, the colors and design give it a textbook vibe which is unsettling but I think that’s just because red, white, and blue is absurdly patriotic to me. I get it and I enjoy the character design but that’s my shallow complaint about it. I also didn’t understand why a child of rock stars had to clean up his image but I think the book goes into that well.
To put it simply, I adored the heck out of this book and it was hard to put down. In fact, I only put it down because it was the night of the first day of 2021, I was still nursing a hangover and my sleep schedule was out of whack. I felt my eyes tingling around the 52% mark and went to bed. I couldn’t wait to pick it back up because of Lucien “Luc” O’Donnell and Oliver Blackwood.
I fell in love with Luc from the start. He is the twenty-eight year old son of a rock legend and an Adele-esque Irish-French singer. His father was a hot mess and his mother is a bit of an eccentric. Luc is the subject of lots of tabloid drama that is of the coke bender, dirty alley hookups with strangers, tons of casual sex, hot mess spectrum of tabloid fodder. Still, I find Luc to be so tender, raw, and sensitive. I wanted to roll him in a ball and feed him lots of French toast. He is someone who is begging to be loved and the way he tells this story in such a vulnerable and warm way makes it easy to root for him. While Oliver is much more tame and modest by comparison, I love him because Luc loves him. That’s not to say that Oliver doesn’t have his own set of issues—he’s a people pleaser with an obsession with controlling himself to the point of placing unrealistic restrictions on himself.
While there isn’t anything particularly new about the fake dating trope here, what is different about this book is that it fully transported me into this story. It’s set in contemporary London with realistic (compared to genre fiction) characters but it’s not the typical romance novel that solely serves the purpose to entertain. I will think about Luc and Oliver for a long time because they feel like real people that I could know. They’re certainly one of my favorite literary couples at the moment and with legions of romance literature out there, I believe that’s an accomplishment.
Luc’s non-existent relationship with his dad and the self-described co-dependent relationship he has with his mother is relatable for me so I felt for him as he was trying to navigate this. The feeling of wanting to be loved but also being ashamed of wanting that so badly made me emotional because I recognize those thoughts. 2021 is the year that I will be turning 28 which is the same age as these characters, so that was an added special moment for me.
Another thing to love about this is that it’s very British. London is a third main character in this but beyond London, it takes us into other dynamics of British culture. For example there is a Welsh character who touches on the English aloofness and disinterest when it comes to relations between England and Wales. There are posh social scenes in this that go into the elitist educational system in the UK that doesn’t beat the reader over the head with how problematic it is. I was delighted to hear names of restaurants that exist in London in real life from a tourist perspective. When people think of a “New York novel” being extremely New York or a “Paris novel” being unapologetically Parisian, I would say that <i>Boyfriend Material</i> is 100% a “London novel.”
I find this book approachable, fun, emotional, honest, beautiful, endearing, cheesy, obnoxious (in a good way), and just an important book to read at a time like this. The ending almost worried me because I got a sense that Luc did all of the chasing in this novel with his job, dad, Oliver, and friendships but I was pleased that he got to be chased in the end.
<b>Reading Challenge:</b> <a href="https://twitter.com/PopCReadathon">Pop Culture Readathon</a>: 80s films
<b>Challenge Prompt:</b> “Can't Buy Me Love” — Fake Dating
To put it simply, I adored the heck out of this book and it was hard to put down. In fact, I only put it down because it was the night of the first day of 2021, I was still nursing a hangover and my sleep schedule was out of whack. I felt my eyes tingling around the 52% mark and went to bed. I couldn’t wait to pick it back up because of Lucien “Luc” O’Donnell and Oliver Blackwood.
I fell in love with Luc from the start. He is the twenty-eight year old son of a rock legend and an Adele-esque Irish-French singer. His father was a hot mess and his mother is a bit of an eccentric. Luc is the subject of lots of tabloid drama that is of the coke bender, dirty alley hookups with strangers, tons of casual sex, hot mess spectrum of tabloid fodder. Still, I find Luc to be so tender, raw, and sensitive. I wanted to roll him in a ball and feed him lots of French toast. He is someone who is begging to be loved and the way he tells this story in such a vulnerable and warm way makes it easy to root for him. While Oliver is much more tame and modest by comparison, I love him because Luc loves him. That’s not to say that Oliver doesn’t have his own set of issues—he’s a people pleaser with an obsession with controlling himself to the point of placing unrealistic restrictions on himself.
While there isn’t anything particularly new about the fake dating trope here, what is different about this book is that it fully transported me into this story. It’s set in contemporary London with realistic (compared to genre fiction) characters but it’s not the typical romance novel that solely serves the purpose to entertain. I will think about Luc and Oliver for a long time because they feel like real people that I could know. They’re certainly one of my favorite literary couples at the moment and with legions of romance literature out there, I believe that’s an accomplishment.
Luc’s non-existent relationship with his dad and the self-described co-dependent relationship he has with his mother is relatable for me so I felt for him as he was trying to navigate this. The feeling of wanting to be loved but also being ashamed of wanting that so badly made me emotional because I recognize those thoughts. 2021 is the year that I will be turning 28 which is the same age as these characters, so that was an added special moment for me.
Another thing to love about this is that it’s very British. London is a third main character in this but beyond London, it takes us into other dynamics of British culture. For example there is a Welsh character who touches on the English aloofness and disinterest when it comes to relations between England and Wales. There are posh social scenes in this that go into the elitist educational system in the UK that doesn’t beat the reader over the head with how problematic it is. I was delighted to hear names of restaurants that exist in London in real life from a tourist perspective. When people think of a “New York novel” being extremely New York or a “Paris novel” being unapologetically Parisian, I would say that <i>Boyfriend Material</i> is 100% a “London novel.”
I find this book approachable, fun, emotional, honest, beautiful, endearing, cheesy, obnoxious (in a good way), and just an important book to read at a time like this. The ending almost worried me because I got a sense that Luc did all of the chasing in this novel with his job, dad, Oliver, and friendships but I was pleased that he got to be chased in the end.
<b>Reading Challenge:</b> <a href="https://twitter.com/PopCReadathon">Pop Culture Readathon</a>: 80s films
<b>Challenge Prompt:</b> “Can't Buy Me Love” — Fake Dating
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Cancer, and Drug use
Minor: Eating disorder and Emotional abuse
sheerpoetry's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Mental illness and Emotional abuse
Minor: Drug use, Alcoholism, and Homophobia
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