Reviews with content warning for Body shaming - Boyfriend Material

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Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

86 reviews

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

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emotional funny 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

4.5

One of my favorite romances that I’ve read lately! It’s funny, joyful, heartwarming, and so much more. I would highly, highly recommend:)

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queerloras's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

I love Alexis Hall and I can't WAIT to read Husband Material.

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johns6ka'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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thatswhatshanread's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.5

I’m clearly in the minority on this one. I really wanted to like it, I mean who goes into a book wanting to hate it? And I don’t hate it, I’m more just disappointed. Maybe Alexis Hall’s writing is just not for me.

My takeaways:

• Unnecessarily dumb (like DUMBBBB, like it’s not even funny it’s just annoying) and insufferable characters like Alex Twaddle

• Takes every chance it can to remind you it’s set in the UK, like every other page. If there’s one thing I’ll never forget about this book it’s that it’s set in England and everything is very British, so British, so silly quirky British all of the time (I love the UK setting and British men are top tier but come on?????)

• The blatant homophobic comments and themes that are glossed over even when one of them is fairly central to the plot? The main dilemma that requires the “fake boyfriend” trope revolves around the fact that Luc is AND THIS IS QUOTED FROM THE BOOK “the wrong kind of gay” and he must find a partner to help clean up his act and thus become “the right kind of gay” in order to save his job. Like????

• The lack of chemistry. Luc was okay but hard to find appealing or connect with. I understand his caveats but they didn’t make sense enough to be believable that he would be with Oliver. Oliver was the saving grace of the story, I enjoyed him and his personality, unfortunately though he didn’t save the whole story. Needed more development, would’ve rather read from Oliver’s POV tbh!!!

Idk. I kinda skimmed through the last half of the book because I lost interest. I wish Luc and Oliver all the best in the other two books but I will not be reading them. Thank you don’t hate me byeeeee

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cady_sass's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.0

Kinda shocked by all the glowing reviews? Lucien is a miserable, insufferable twat and Oliver deserves so much better. There’s not nearly enough character work done to convince me of why Oliver is into any of this. I get it, luc had a shit dad and it messed him up but you don’t get a free pass to be a dick forever because you have daddy issues. Get some therapy, my guy. There is some truly fantastic banter at times and nearly all the side characters are wonderful but it’s not enough to save it.

Also, Lucien makes him a **bacon sandwich** after they make a point the WHOLE book to clearly say that Oliver doesn’t consume meat for moral/ethical reasons, and Oliver is just like “yeah gimme that bacon” ???? What is happening

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bumblemee'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
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I guess the most telling thing is that I paused this book for like a year, because I couldn't handle the thought of these two guys getting in even more emotional drama instead of just being happy together. I was too emotionally invested to suffer through that. This book is very .. exaggerated in a lot of ways, and I guess that either annoys you or sucks you in and makes everything feel way more intense than you anticipated. For me it was the latter. Luc and Oliver got me frustrated in the best way possible by being fucked up in ways that made everything so unnecessarily hard for them.
I think the author did a good job at writing these stubborn messes and their relationship and handled emotional situations with a lot of care. Oh, and all that while being very funny.

On the other hand, I think the amount of humor was a little much at times, especially with basically every character that wasn't Luc or Oliver. Yes, the side characters were loveable, but at the same time, they weren't given the depth they would've deserved. They each got their quirk and even when in serious situations, they had to be funny. Not that they didn't say important things and got good points across, but I don't know, I just feel like it wouldn't have been too much to ask to have them be totally serious for once, just to underline that they are in fact human beings. For some characters all I can say is that they were a little absurd. And I get that that was the point and you just had to go with it (which I did for the most part), but it was just a little much.

I would definitely recommend this book if you want a fast read (given you don't have to pause bc you got ridiculously emotional) with a lot of heartfelt and sweet moments. Would also recommend for hurt/comfort enthusiasts.

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augustrogue's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted tense 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

Well, that was... fine. I enjoy the fake dating trope, especially with a heap of mutual pining, and this certainly has that. There were quite a few sweet and funny moments. But the ending fizzled a bit for me, and there were just a tad too many abrupt and unrealistically dramatic misunderstandings.

Some other issues I had with it:

* The James Royce-Royce thing was supposed to be funny I think, but there was no real way of differentiating between them so it kind of blobbed into one character.

* Several of the characters, especially Luc's coworkers, are very neurodivergent-coded and kind of bullied and made the butt of the joke a lot. Made me a bit uncomfortable.

The side-plot of the emotionally immature and neglectful parents was somewhat compelling (if frustrating), but I don't know if that pulls the rest of it up enough. So. Three stars it is? Doubtful that I'll read the sequel.

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