Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Boyfriend Material

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

214 reviews

bootrat'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? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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bzliz's review against another edition

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emotional funny slow-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

3.0

This was very close to being a DNF for me because the first 150 or so pages absolutely crawl by. I persevered and was rewarded with the cute, queer rom com I was looking for, complete with all the best tropes: fake dating, opposites attract, past family & relationship trauma that need to be overcome, and not one but two sets of quirky friends who equally love and tease their respective main character.

Readers beware: unless you are deeply steeped in British cultural references, there are many things that will go over your head but they are absolutely not relevant to the plot so it’s okay.

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thebookraiders'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? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Det var en stark 4 hela vägen till slutet när Oliver, som jag absolut inte gillade i början men som visade sig ha en väldigt bra karaktärsutveckling 👏🏼, började bete sig lika idiotiskt som Luc gjort under hela boken. Det räckte liksom med en karaktär som var ett emotionellt inkompetent pucko. Det blev även alldeles för mycket will they/won’t they på väldigt kort tid i slutet för min del.

Blir ändå 3,5 stjärnor eftersom den var både mysig och rolig + otroligt bra inläst!

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eligru's review against another edition

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funny hopeful 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

4.25

So fun! I'm all here for Luc's sense of humor and extremely Bristish similes, the quirky friend groups and Bridget's bookish crises :D
Excited to see what they all get up to in the next book😁

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fridayoddity's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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 wasn't ready for the wreckage this book would do with my feelings. I really enjoyed reading it even though at first, I admit, I had doubt (first pages can be misleading).
The way the two main characters go through different kind of emotional trauma processing and how much relatable some it can be is front and center in the story even if it looks like a light hearted romantic comedy, it isn't exactly one and I truly appreciated that.

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thepoieszedlife's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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ashwaar's review against another edition

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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? Yes

4.0

I'm not a romance fan.. it just isn't my genre. I find many of the tropes annoying and frustrating, and the dialogue often seems stilted and cliched. I’m actually a little bit of a hater. However, this is the first purely romance book I’ve read that has managed to change my attitude. It’s adorable, witty, cute, and our main characters are so good together that you’re constantly rooting for them.

Lucien is the semi-famous, washed-up son of an 80s rock legend. With his dad and, by extension, Lucien himself, coming back into the spotlight, he needs to find a polite, presentable boyfriend to restore his reputation ahead of an important charity event. He comes to an agreement with Oliver, who also needs a plus-one for a family gathering, to fake date until the events are over and the tabloids have become bored of Lucien’s lack of misbehaving.

However, fake dating is never really a good idea if you don’t want to end up real dating, as inevitably happens in this trope. Lucien doesn’t have the best personality, and he's pretty rude and thinks he’s better than everyone else whilst also being extremely self-deprecating. However, you learn to love him anyway, and it's really rewarding to see him grow as he becomes closer to Oliver. Speaking of Oliver, he is also a really interesting character. At first glance, he's a pretty perfect boyfriend until we start to look closer and see it's all a carefully built façade that he’s trying really hard not to break.

It can be tough to absorb what these characters think of themselves, as they’re their own harshest critics and, as a reader, you don’t want to let them believe that.. you want them to be happy. There are a lot of characters in this book, and for the most part, the personalities are pretty distinct. However, I felt like too many people were introduced at once in certain scenes. Some characters were over-dramatic cartoons or not really there at all and just faded into the background.

But despite this minor issue, I don’t really have any other complaints. I thought this was a solid, well-rounded, character-focused novel with a lot of energy and heart behind it. I’m keen to follow up on Lucien and Oliver, and I’ve already got the second novel, Husband Material, in my queue at the library.

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