A review by baroquecowboy
Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

okay i wanted to like this because i Love the fake dating trope (regardless of how ridiculous it is), but this just didn’t hit the spot. maybe i just need to stick to reading ao3 until there are better mlm books with this trope released bc the writing was rough and the level i would expect from unedited fanfiction. Also the fact that this was published in 2020 and many of the pop culture references already feel dated, doesn’t give me much hope for this holding up to the test of time. 

beyond the issues with the writing, the side characters were awful. none of them were developed enough to be useful to the story and if anything were only used as name drops to connect other characters. for example, the dialogue revolving around bridget’s job was funny at first but eventually became tiresome to the point that i skipped over her lines every time. and when it comes to the coworker alex, i can’t tell if we’re supposed to have a tainted vision of him being that stupid due to Luc being an unreliable narrator or if it was being used as comedy but either way it doesn’t translate well. 

the only reason i got as far as i did (chapter 49) is because i liked Oliver’s character and the way that Luc’s character was developing as he grew closer to Oliver. but then when they finally seemed to be on the same page and happy, everything falls apart? i understand using conflict as a plot twist towards the end but this wasn’t done well, especially after you already hit the climax of the story at Oliver’s parents anniversary party. quite frankly i would probably have been better off if i stopped reading after the beetle drive (chapter 42). 

if i finish the last few chapters I might come back and make an edit however at the moment it’s looking unlikely