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olivialandryxo's review against another edition
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, untilit 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
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
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.
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))
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, and Grief
violet_pages'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexual content, and Vomit
mxfahrenheit's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing
Moderate: Cancer and Homophobia
Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder, and Vomit
iamstraightasanoodle's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Biphobia, Cancer, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Homophobia
beccasbookcase's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Drug use, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content
zombiezami's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I so enjoyed listening to the audiobook of this. The author really made the author's humor shine through. I really felt for Luc, and I'm glad he learned to value himself. I did not love the treatment of Oliver's vegetarianism with him deciding to eat bacon at the end . Not saying it's not realistic for people to struggle with why they're doing something, but it's just not a helpful message.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content
Minor: Ableism and Animal death
Self-loathing, Carnism, Abandonmentbrianareads'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, Cancer, Drug use, and Homophobia
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: Emotional abuse and Mental illness
Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, and Homophobia
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