Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Materiał na chłopaka

June 2024-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖
This was a good re-read. I think this book was emotional and it helped me feel more connected to the characters. Luc and Oliver were adorable.

September 2022-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📱
This was good. I liked this book. Luc and Oliver were a cute couple.

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owliglot's review against another edition

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emotional 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

5.0

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bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition

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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

4.5

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katywhyte's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing 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

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sami_leigh's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5
🌶/5

I'm conscious this could be rather burdensome to hear, but you remain the thing I have most chosen for myself. The thing that's most exclusively mine. The one thing that brings me the deepest joy.

🇬🇧 First person POV (Luc)
🇬🇧 Fake dating
🇬🇧 BANTER! 🙌🏻
🇬🇧 Forced proximity
🇬🇧 Enemies to lovers (somewhat miscommunication)
🇬🇧 Growth in our MCs!
🇬🇧 Nickname
🇬🇧 Representation of diverse sexualities.
🇬🇧 Well established -and hilarious -secondary characters

⚠️ Cancer, abandonment, homophobia, references to drugs and alcohol.

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wardenred'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

4.0

“Are we really bad at this?” I asked. “We’ve been fake dating for three days and we’ve already fake broken up once.”
“Yes, but we fake resolved our difficulties and fake got back together, and I’m hoping it’s made us fake stronger.”

I cracked this book open with the full intention of loving the hell out of it. After all, it's by Alexis Hall, and he's one of my favorite romance authors. And my friends have been recommending it to me for ages. And everyone kept saying it had the vibe of a far more adult Red, White & Royal Blue, and I absolutely adored that one. Oh, and finally, it's a fake dating romance with a tint of enemies-to-lovers, how cool is that?

However, for the first looong half of the story, my heart just wasn't in it. I kept trying to figure out what was wrong. There were plenty of hilarious moments. And plenty of dramatic moments with feelings. And lots and lots of compelling characters and cool scenes and amazing banter. But somehow, all of it refused to come together into a single engaging tapestry.

It was in the second half that I realized what wasn't working for me: I would have loved this book so hard if it was from Oliver's point of view and not Luc's.

I mean, I don't mind Luc. And he's certainly the logical choice for the POV character if there only has to be one. He's the one with all the stuff going on: family and work and paparazzi and his life and mind both being a huge mess. But Oliver was just so more compelling to me. I would have loved a book focused front and centered on someone who is so put together (but also a strongly contained mess on the inside, because aren't we all), and who gets confronted by and pulled into all of Luc's chaos and inadvertently helps Luc find his footing while slowly losing and then regaining his own.

I felt like Oliver's arc was so much more interesting and had more depth, but it took so long for it to truly become prominent on page. Because we spend the entire book in Luc's POV, and Luc sure took his time to actually see Oliver. He kept catching glimpses here and there, but then his own insecurities kept getting in the way.

So all in all: I enjoyed the story, but not how it was told/presented, I guess. And it well may be a case of "it's not you, dear book, it's me," so I guess 4 stars will be a fair rating.

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botanicalprofanity's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

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