A review by escapistlit
The Boyfriend Subscription by Steven Salvatore

fast-paced

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

2.5

i was so excited by the idea of this book when i first heard about it a long while back, so i’m really bummed by how much i didn’t like it. admittedly, i had high expectations bc i’ve read so many great Pretty Women-inspired fanfic and they were miles above this… had i known initially salvatore was a ya author and this is their adult debut (it made a lot of sense when i found out), my expectations would have been adjusted, but this was still really disappointing. 

i liked the pro-sex work angle, but i wouldn’t go far enough to say it was discussed. it came across too superficial for me and there’s a plot element towards the end that was such a missed opportunity i feel, and badly executed. 

overall there was no real resolution? the romance was unsatisfying, and the other threads around it, including things involving the antagonist just…meandered off? 

i also couldn’t tell the characters apart. this is dual first person pov, but other than some vocab differences and awkward french thrown in, there were multiple times i forgot who’s pov i was in the middle of and had to skim around to find either a reference to crystals and mindfulness or plant metaphors, or just one of the mc’s names. they were cute at times but this didn’t have the yearning and angst that makes fake dating my favorite trope. 

this had a lot of promise but it really wasn’t for me. this was more ben alderson but contemporary romance or the vibe of wattpad romances that were picked up by trad pub. i can see it doing well for the tiktok algo. the cover is fantastic tho and it took me too long to realize it’s a scene in the book lmao. 

thank you to the publisher for the review copy