Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

45 reviews

veronicantonsen's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted 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

3.75

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macykey's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-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

This book was so freaking PRECIOUS! I was hooked from the first chapter and everything was just so cute and lovely. The book isn’t too smutty, so if that’s not your jam you won’t be disappointed. It describes everything right up until the actual act. 
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chloevienna's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad 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

4.25

everyone go read this!! super underrated and funny romance book with a diverse set of characters, and genuinely healthy relationships (both romantic and non)!! 
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hayleyvem's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted 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

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junovverse's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful 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

4.75

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rayne_1906'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? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

4 hours 9 minutes - This book was, to put it simply, okay. The plot was fine. The characters were likeable, if not a little two-dimensional at times. Oliver's character was a little hard to digest at times, but it grew on me. The writing style was a little heavy-handed at times, and some topics could have been handled a little less obviously, like the eating disorder topic. However, the book was very funny at times, and was a decent read, if a little dull at times.
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caseythereader's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

 - BOYFRIEND MATERIAL is the kind of book that feels like a warm hug. Who doesn't love working through childhood trauma with banter and hijinks?
- Honestly I keep trying to think of more smart words to put here and wind up just sort of waving my arms around with how much I loved it. It's all the best things about romance novels.
- Plus, some truly hilarious secondary characters. I would read a whole book on Alex bumbling through his office job.
- Also, the audiobook is fantastic. 
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plumpaperbacks'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? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I was eager to read this because I’d seen multiple comparisons between it and Red, White and Royal Blue, my favorite romance novel. While Boyfriend Material does feature a similar relationship dynamic and equally hilarious banter, it wasn’t quite as amazing as I’d hoped it would be.

I wasn’t expecting such a focus on Luc’s and Oliver’s complicated family dynamics. The former’s father has been diagnosed with cancer and wants to fix their poor relationship, whereas the latter has emotionally abusive parents. I sympathize with both guys—I wanna give Oliver a hug—and I can especially relate to Luc’s situation, as sans cancer, I have a similar relationship with my own father. However, some of Luc’s comments regarding his father’s diagnosis seemed insensitive, and it rubbed me the wrong way. That is, until
it was revealed that the asshole never had cancer. Are you kidding me??? This discovery had me angry at the character and unsure what to think of the author. I’m sure Hall is great, but I question why he made this choice.


The way Luc and Oliver supported each other warmed my heart. Theirs was a bit of a messy romance, since both of them are the epitome of gay disasters, but I loved it nonetheless. Recently I’ve realized that fake dating is one of my favorite tropes because I love seeing characters’ dynamics shift from an arrangement to real affection, so of course I loved these two, loved their story. And, as an added bonus, they teased each other frequently, which was quite amusing.

This would’ve been a five star read if not for the events of the last hundred pages. Everything seemed to be going well. I was grinning and laughing at almost every page. And then everything went so wildly wrong.
I honestly thought the scene after Luc and Oliver had sex, where Oliver broke up with Luc, was just Luc’s bad dream. I thought he’d wake up, panicking, but find Oliver asleep next to him, cuddled up beside him, and all would be well. All was not well. They really did break up the following morning, and I was *this close* to throwing my book across the room. If not for the fact that I read the scene at four in the morning, thus didn’t want to wake anyone up and also didn’t want to damage my paperback, I might’ve. They didn’t make up until the last few pages, and I was genuinely concerned the book would end with them going their own separate ways. Thank every god it didn’t, because I can’t properly describe how much I would’ve hated that.
While things ultimately worked out, I found the ending to be sadly unsatisfying.

Overall, this wasn’t a bad book. It was mostly enjoyable, and quite entertaining. I’d recommend to those looking for a quick romance read, so long as you don’t go in with extremely high expectations.

Representation
  • gay protagonist and love interest
  • achillean romance (m/m)
  • queer side characters (includes gay, bisexual, and lesbian rep; one achillean couple and one sapphic couple (f/f))
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violet_pages's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-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

3.75

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mxfahrenheit's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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