Reviews with content warning for Grief - Husband Material

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Husband Material by Alexis Hall

70 reviews

levilore_'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense 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

4.0

I really enjoyed this book! It had a lot of great moments, but be aware that it is very different in vibes from the first book. Rather than Boyfriend Material which was much more "fanfic trope" this book deals with what it is actually like being in an adult relationship, what queer love means, marriage as an institution, and grief. It had a lot of amazing moments, but didn't have the iron grip on my heart like the first book, which honestly worked well for the plot/themes. Had some moments that genuinely made me yell out loud from excitement and other times I fully started crying. I only knocked it down a few points because the beginning was a bit slow for my taste.

Now the ending.

I saw other reviews saying they hated this book because the ending was so disappointing and frustrating. I see where people are coming from, the whole build up to the wedding and then for them to not even get married was somewhat disappointing plus the last chapter felt a bit rushed. However, I do not think the ending didn't make sense and I believe many people missed the point of this story.

Throughout the different weddings, Luc and Oliver obviously have different opinions about what marriage means and in Oliver's case, he is still figuring out what being queer means for him. The other weddings celebrate the joy of marriage and how individualized the experience is for each couple. My main takeaway from the book was that for Luc and Oliver, the act of marriage isn't, well, that important. For them, not being married is more important because it's an act of protest. Neither of them really talk about why they want to be married, rather they are both focused on the expectations that they should want to get married. They already do all the things that a life partner does for each other. Luc shows this when he supports Oliver through his dad's death. Oliver supports Luc when they go to Miles' wedding. The only time their communication fully breaks down is when they are trying to plan an event neither of them want. For the characters, the ending makes sense. Is it extremely dramatic and surprising? Absolutely. But through that act, through their complete honesty with each other, they are able to have their version of what love means, which is them bailing on their own wedding, running into the rain, and making out. (I really enjoyed the sweet touch of the rainbow umbrellas)

In a larger context, I enjoyed this book because it explores the complexity of queerness and marriage. They talk about how marriage is an important right for queer people, but there is no right way to be queer. Having that conventional expression of love, for a relationship that started and continues to be unconventional, just doesn't work for them. And that's the point of the ending. Did it annoy me that they wasted all that time and money just to not get married? Yes, it did. Do I think they could have just had a big party and skipped the ceremony? Absolutely. But I think that's the whole point. From the outside, them running off looks absolutely ridiculous and stupid, but character wise it makes sense because honestly they are both kind of ridiculous and stupid. People want everything to be wrapped up in this beautiful bow of marriage = happiness but I think Alexis Hall uses this book to show how true queerness is about accepting that not being married, not having the flashy rainbow ceremony, should be just as beautiful as all those things. The idea of "love is love" should not just be "love is love if you follow the traditional normative conventions of how love should be expressed", but rather "love is complex and weird and that is beautiful too". And I personally think that is more impactful than them getting married in the first place.

Content Warnings

londonbridget98's review against another edition

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emotional funny slow-paced

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

2.5

a waste of my time. read boyfriend material as a standalone.

I will say i love Alexis Hall’s writing. The side characters were fun and interesting and well-fleshed out, and the humor was really on point. I just felt like we kept going in circles and circles and circles with the same arguments and zero resolutions. I wish I’d never read it and could have just stayed in my happy boyfriend material bubble.

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escsmith's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No

2.0

I wish I hadn't read this, the first one was enough.
I dislike a lot of this book to be honest. Luc is insufferable, so whiney and immature throughout.
I like the characters less now that I did before. I felt like everything was handled poorly, from the 'am I gay enough' conversation that happened repeatedly, the grief, and everything about the wedding.

I am so glad they didn' get married, because every moment during the tedious arguing I was thinking they should not be marrying one another.

The redeeming qualities of this book were the side characters.

Content Warnings

jadehusdanhicks's review

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emotional lighthearted reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

I honestly don’t think I’ve ever read such an underwhelming sequel. If written well I think I’d really enjoy Luc and Oliver’s dynamic but this just didn’t hit the spot for me. It dragged out unnecessary arguments, had predictable plot if

a bunch of weddings and a funeral

.

Although arguing is part of even then healthiest relationships, the amount in this book was downright unhealthy. It really put a downer on where live and made this a drag for me to finish. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this duology to anyone wanting a well written realistic queer romance reccomendations.

Content Warnings

babyleo's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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kathis_wonderland's review

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emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

4.0

Husband Material by Alexis Hall is the second book in the London Calling series. Luc and Oliver are in a relationship of over two years now and everything seems quite perfect. But people all around them are getting married and Luc feels he should propose too. But things happen and the perfect happy ending seems far away.

After absolutely loving the first book in this series, I was equally excited to read this one. Right at the beginning I have to say that the first book was so much better than the second book, but I am a sucker for the fake-dating trope. Still, I really enjoyed this book. It was good the read about their relationship going quite well (most of the times). Luc is still quite immature, which already annoyed me in the first book.

Throughout the book I was quite scared of the ending.

I honestly did not want them to get married. If I were in Oliver's position and someone proposed to me the way Luc proposed, I would have been quite heartbroken. It does not have to be super romantic, but it should be something one thought about and did not do as a knee-jerk reaction. Both of them weren't ready to get married. I hoped that they would properly talk about marriage at some point in the book and call of the wedding. I was ready to not really like this book if they actually got married.

But the ending was perfect (for me)! Couldn't have wished for anything else.

Now I am quite excited to read the third and last book in this series. I don't have the highest of hopes for the next book, but I enjoy these books. The writing style is different to those that I am used to and I like that. I still am a massive fan of the first book and will recommend that one whenever someone asks of my opinion.

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kal517's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted 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

3.5

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bookobsessedmommy's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

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

3.75

Oliver and Luc are drowning in weddings. It seems like everyone they know is getting married, and they're happy for them of course. They're happy together, but every book need some sort of conflict and there are a few sprinkled throughout all surrounding the theme of weddings/marriage. This almost felt like a novella collection until I got to the end, and I was honestly feeling like it was all vibes/no plot. I feel like for the actual point of the story, this could have been a LOT shorter. Even with that, I love them so much that I happily listened to all the aimless fluff.

The ending was an interesting choice. I've heard this discussion in other queer books, but I've rarely seen people willing to commit so hard to not submitting to heteronormative behavior in this way. I love that they get to stay together, because I love them, but I'm furious that it took so long. You literally have done all this work, got all these people there, and neither of them ever brought this up. They kept getting lost in the details, and maybe that's a good way to avoid discussing what's actually important. This might be the most realistic representation of miscommunication I've read now that I think of it.

I would love another "Five years later" novella just to see where everyone ends up.

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mels_reading_log's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed the continuation of Luc and Oliver’s love story. This book starts 2 years from where the last one ended and everyone around the couple are getting married. The guys have very different ideas of what a wedding should look like, traditional, super rainbows and loud music, parents invited… there is a lot to work out. I did like the first book better, but I will always love a fake dating trope better than just a normal relationship story.

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just_one_more_paige's review

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emotional funny lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.0

Look, I cannot lie, I wasn't planning to read this. I loved Boyfriend Material, but I was also happy with where it ended and didn't know if I needed/wanted more from the story. And then. And then the RWARB movie came out and I watched it daily for a week and I was struggling with some *real* emotions because I needed more like it...like I needed everything I read/watched to be exactly that, over and over. It's been awhile since I've had feelings like that about something I've read/watched. The hangover feels were (are) SO big. Googling read-alikes brought me quickly to Alexis Hall's work, which makes sense (I actually should have gotten there on my own, tbh)...it's all similarly snarky and steamy and wonderful. But the issue was that I have already read quite a few of his novels (at least the ones my library has, which is where I am financially at in my book-life), because, let's be honest, I already knew I loved his work. And thus, I found myself picking up this sequel in the hopes that it would ease my heart a bit.

In the last book, Luc and Oliver met, fake dated, fell in love for realsies and fought through a number of family issues with the help of each other and their friends. Now, as seems to be the natural progression of aging and relationships, everyone around them is getting married and the pressure to follow suit is intense. But are they ready? And is that even what they want for themselves? Told in the well-loved format of "four weddings and a funeral," Luc and Oliver work through the difficulties of attending and planning weddings as their relationship develops in depth and they try to figure out what their HEA actually looks like.

Let me just start by saying that picking this up was the right call. I was one chapter in and had already laughed out loud a couple times. Alexis Hall success! I mean, don't get me wrong, it's mostly fluff and filler. There's not really a plot, per se, just a lot of time spent with characters you already know and love and you're just watching them live their lives. Like, look, I realize this may not be everyone’s cup of tea (British jokes!) but I loved this long-term-committed-relationship banter. It’s honestly not something you get a lot of in romance, the snark and love and (borderline ridiculously inane) arguments, without the tension and drama of "will they, won’t they" because they already have. And I get that that tension is part of what makes romances great to read, but sometimes, and in this case as a person in a similar-sounding committed relationship, seeing it on page it’s really heartwarming and enjoyable! Kudos to Hall for keeping it real in this way. (And also, what a perfect book vibe to read to start a ten-year anniversary trip). So basically, it's fluff, but it's exactly the fluff I wanted.

In other news, Hall's writing remains unmatched, in my opinion. It's hilarious and creative (he uses words like "flummoxosity" and how can you not love that?) and real and so easy to read. Plus, there is one moment, during the funeral part of the novel, where Oliver gives a eulogy that is just...stunning. It’s a literary masterpiece of writing and Hall is a genius of humanity complexity and that sweet-authentic-messy-funny that is the hallmark of being a person. So good.

Despite there not being much of a plot, I could not put this down. The growth that Luc and Oliver experience separately and as a couple here is everything. Perhaps it's not as break-neck or groundbreaking, but it felt so genuine and there are so many times that, as a reader, I could recognize myself in their feelings and choices and even if mine were different, the conflict remains so relatable, while also retaining enough of a comic edge that it doesn't overwhelm and keeps the reading experience on the lighter side. The side characters mostly help with that as well - all our favs are back, with some new or bigger roles from previous bit characters - and as always, that supporting cast added a lot of fun and movement to the overall novel, even though the focus remained largely on Luc and Oliver.

A final note, I've seen a ton of reviews of people hating on the ending. Honestly, I loved it. It was the right choice for the characters and the way it played out, and when, was so in line with who they each were.And it's both because of their growth and because of how much more growing they have left that it happened like that. Everyone's HEA is different and they got the one they wanted and isn't that what we all deserve? Yes, it is. And I was here for it.

A delightfully entertaining read that filled the exact hole I needed it to, I acknowledge that my original reaction of not wanting to read more about Luc and Oliver was misguided and I'm thrilled to have been proven wrong.

“You had a bad experience once, and you’re afraid it’ll happen again. But past performance is no guarantee of future results.”

"Even after two years. When surely it should have stopped feeling this way: all, you know, intense and stuff."

"...it’s for those of us left behind to pick over ourselves and ask, ‘Am I this way in spite of this person or because of them?’ And so often the answer is simply yes."

"How could something that objectively did not matter become the hill you were most determined to die on?"

"Lucien,” he said softly. “You know you are the truest thing I have ever dared choose for myself. And we are the only thing I’ve ever had that I haven’t let other people define for me."

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